Life can be messy.

This week I found myself responding to a complicated issue concerning a controversial meeting which was planned for this Friday on the IHM campus. The meeting has been canceled.

One thing I’ve learned from this experience is that any event touching on politics needs careful scrutiny before it takes place at our campuses. I’ve put in place for the parish office a simple process to make sure careful scrutiny takes place. Additionally, I am considering whether additional policies would help our parish be a place where people with varying political views feel welcome and at home. I’d like to tell you what happened.

Before August 1, IHM had a multi-year good relationship with the Boulevard Heights Neighborhood Association (BHNA); SSP Parish continued that collaboration. We let the group use the IHM Father Keaney Center without cost as a way to support their work to make the neighborhood better.

This fall BHNA decided that they wanted to host a town hall meeting between state legislators and local citizens about proposed state legislation concerning issues affecting our city. BHNA partnered with an organization called Freedom Principle MO to organize the event. BHNA would host the event and Freedom Principle MO would sponsor it. Since BHNA meets at the IHM campus, they planned to use the Father Keaney Center to hold the event. I’m writing this on Wednesday January 10; the event was planned for Friday, January 12.

The issues under consideration and the legislation proposed to address the issues are controversial. By that I mean that different people have greatly differing views about what should be done, and many people care deeply about the issues.

A number of parishioners came to me with concerns about the event. I am grateful for everyone’s input, and for those who pointed me to Freedom Principle MO’s X (Twitter) feed, where the discourse is regularly mean-spirited and petty. I spoke with BHNA this week, and they decided that Freedom Principle MO would no longer sponsor the town hall. BHNA took over directly the sponsorship and direction of the town hall.

At that point it was my intention to let the town hall go forward under BHNA’s sponsorship and direction. However, God’s providence arranged for a forecast of inclement weather, and BHNA decided to cancel the

It may be that some people will remain unsatisfied or uncertain after this outcome. For that reason, I thought it right to provide a thorough explanation for why I did what I did. You can read it here; we’ll also have some printed copies available in church this weekend. I felt the explanation was too long to print in the bulletin. 

As ever, your thoughts and ideas are most welcome. May God bless you, and continue to pray for our parish!