UPDATED: 10/12/2012
The
following was posted on the TEC Pittsburgh
Agreement Affirms Commitment to Shepherd’s Heart
Homeless Ministry
The following is the text of a Joint Statement issued October 9, 2012 , by the Episcopal
Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church in the United
States and Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship:
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and Shepherd’s Heart
Fellowship are pleased to announce an agreement to promote and sustain
Shepherd's Heart's ministry to the homeless, military veterans, and others in
similar need, and to enable the Episcopal Diocese to have a lasting investment
and involvement in that ministry.
Key features of the agreement pave the way for Shepherd’s
Heart Fellowship to take full title to all property at its present location at
Pride Street and Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood, including
the portion of that property currently held by the Episcopal Diocese, and allow
Shepherd’s Heart to seek a more favorable financing of its debt on this
property. While the Episcopal Diocese will no longer guarantee payment of those
loans once the refinancing occurs, the Episcopal Diocese will leave the value
of the current equity in the property in place as an investment in the ministry
of Shepherd’s Heart, for as long as its outreach to the homeless
continues.
The agreement builds on a long-standing support of the
Shepherd’s Heart ministry by many parishes of the Episcopal Diocese, who, along
with individual parishioners, regularly donate, prepare and serve meals to the
Shepherd’s Heart congregation. This has continued in spite of differences
over whether Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship validly withdrew from the Episcopal
Church in October 2008 and is now part of the Anglican Church in North
America . The agreement sets this issue aside in favor of
mutually serving the homeless, the poor, and the addicted. Both parties
recognize the new relationship between the Episcopal Diocese and Shepherd’s
Heart Fellowship is not of an ecclesiastical nature, such as would normally
exist between a diocese and a parish, but one of cooperation and collaboration
in a specialized ministry. Because of this unique use of the Shepherd’s
Heart property, the parties have agreed that this agreement should not be
interpreted as a model for resolving other property disputes.
"More than 140 community partners, including 100
churches of all denominations, work alongside us in this ministry to homeless
veterans and other homeless men and women of our region. We were founded
in 1993 and are grateful for this agreement and for the service of all of our
partners," said the Rev. Michael Wurschmidt, Rector of Shepherd’s Heart
and a priest of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.
“Our Lord commands all of us to love and serve the poor, so
we are grateful to the Shepherd’s Heart clergy and lay leaders who built up
this ministry, and we are happy to become a permanent part of their mission,”
said Bishop Kenneth L. Price, Jr., of the Episcopal Diocese.
This agreement is subject to the approval of the Court of
Common Pleas of Allegheny County and the requirements of the Pennsylvania
Nonprofit Corporation Code. The Episcopal Diocese and Shepherd’s Heart
Fellowship will jointly seek all necessary clearances from the civil
authorities.
In working together to bring the good news of Jesus Christ
to the poor, the Episcopal Diocese and Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship humbly seek
to be the “repairers of the breach” as described by the prophet Isaiah when he
said, “If you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the
afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become
like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you.” (Isaiah 58:10-11)
click here
http://www.episcopalpgh.org/agreement-affirms-commitment-to-shepherds-heart-homeless-ministry/
UPDATED BY THE PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE:
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12285/1268470-53.stm#ixzz295MnnG7z
click here
http://www.episcopalpgh.org/agreement-affirms-commitment-to-shepherds-heart-homeless-ministry/
UPDATED BY THE PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE:
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12285/1268470-53.stm#ixzz295MnnG7z
Give no credit to TEC for this settlement. They gave Shepher's Heart the property because not to do so would have brought a firestorm down on TEC. There is no charity in TEC. When they stole the property from other parishes they also insisted on taking the candles, purificators, Sweet and Low from coffee hour, plastic knives and forks and styrafoam cups.
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