H
HagiaSophia
Guest
I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I read this entire story I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, pull my hair out or beat my head gainst a wall. I have printed key paragraphs from it below so you can get the gist - but I must say the entire story is worth a read to follow the “rest of the story” -
"…after 3 faithful Catholics were denied Eucharist** at the Bishops Mass** in Nov. 2002. We were arrested and spent 30 hours in jail awaiting arraignment for trespassing at the Hyatt. Instead of just paying the fine as Soulforce has usually done in the past, we decided to take it to trial. Our trial was in January 2003 and we ran into all sorts of frustration when they postponed it for almost a week, and then when we returned we were told that there weren’t enough people for a jury.
*
The three of us almost decided to just plead guilty and go home - actually we did decide that, but one of our pro bono lawyers shared with us his vision of trial as liturgy. All 3 of us, hearing the analogy, were convinced that we should go ahead with the trial. Because the trial had been postponed, **Bishop Gumbleton was able to testify in our behalf! **
When it came time to sentence us, the judge apologized for “our” church - she too was Catholic and said that extreme violence had been done to us when we were denied Eucharist. She said it was clear that we were guilty, but that she was going to do something she’d never done in her 17 years as a judge - refuse to impose sentence on us.* She even urged us to return to the Hyatt in November and help the bishops understand, but to do it legally the next time. She ended the trial saying, “Go in Peace.”
Partially as a result of the trial, Judge Mildred Edwards decided to retire and enter seminary. She ended up at Washington Theological Seminary and was in a class with an acquaintance of mine who ended up interning at my parish in California this summer.* Charlie relayed to me that she told the story of our trial to the class. I asked him to carry back a letter when he returned to DC and we have been in communications with Judge Edwards ever since.
soulforce.org/denomination/rc/usccb2004/peacemass.shtml
"…after 3 faithful Catholics were denied Eucharist** at the Bishops Mass** in Nov. 2002. We were arrested and spent 30 hours in jail awaiting arraignment for trespassing at the Hyatt. Instead of just paying the fine as Soulforce has usually done in the past, we decided to take it to trial. Our trial was in January 2003 and we ran into all sorts of frustration when they postponed it for almost a week, and then when we returned we were told that there weren’t enough people for a jury.
*
The three of us almost decided to just plead guilty and go home - actually we did decide that, but one of our pro bono lawyers shared with us his vision of trial as liturgy. All 3 of us, hearing the analogy, were convinced that we should go ahead with the trial. Because the trial had been postponed, **Bishop Gumbleton was able to testify in our behalf! **
When it came time to sentence us, the judge apologized for “our” church - she too was Catholic and said that extreme violence had been done to us when we were denied Eucharist. She said it was clear that we were guilty, but that she was going to do something she’d never done in her 17 years as a judge - refuse to impose sentence on us.* She even urged us to return to the Hyatt in November and help the bishops understand, but to do it legally the next time. She ended the trial saying, “Go in Peace.”
Partially as a result of the trial, Judge Mildred Edwards decided to retire and enter seminary. She ended up at Washington Theological Seminary and was in a class with an acquaintance of mine who ended up interning at my parish in California this summer.* Charlie relayed to me that she told the story of our trial to the class. I asked him to carry back a letter when he returned to DC and we have been in communications with Judge Edwards ever since.
soulforce.org/denomination/rc/usccb2004/peacemass.shtml
