[Magdalen] Prayers for tomorrow, update

[Scott Knitter]

San Francisco's city councilors are called supervisors as well. Chicago's
are aldermen (regardless of gender).

On Nov 5, 2016 10:41 PM, "Grace Cangialosi" <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:

> The Board of Supervisors is the equivalent of a City or Town
> Council--nothing nefarious!
> Virginia is primarily made up of counties with relatively few incorporated
> towns or cities.  So we generally identify our location by county, even if
> there's another name for the area. I live in Ruckersville, but that isn't
> incorporated, so technically I live in Greene County.
>
> > On Nov 5, 2016, at 11:30 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Wow... what an experience Grace. I am glad you were able to speak your
> reality to this event.
> > Meanwhile what the heck is the Board of Supervisors? Sounds like
> something from the book 1984...
> > Lynn
> >
> >
> >
> > www.ichthysdesigns.com
> >
> > When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would
> not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you
> gave me'. attributed to Erma Bombeck
> >
> >
> > On Nov 5, 2016, at 6:09 PM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Update:  (warning, I got carried away, and this is very long!)
> >
> > I couldn't go by the event this morning, but when I drove by later I saw
> a circle of people in the parking lot and hoped maybe it was a group
> praying and decided to join them. I was very disappointed not to see any of
> our local clergy or, indeed, anyone I recognized as being from our county,
> but there were quite a few folks from the Unitarian Church in
> Charlottesville (including one of my spiritual directees!) as well as a
> number of Muslim women, some of whom were handing out red roses. The group
> had a very well-prepared handout and a few signs with messages of love.
> > Some of the Muslim girls decided they were going to go in and sit in the
> back to listen, and we discussed the fact that people were told to register
> ahead of time. One of the girls said she had called yesterday and was told
> that registration was closed, but she should just bring her ID.
> > We went in and were stopped at the door to the auditorium and let in one
> at a time, to sign in and show ID. I had left mine in the car, and when I
> was asked for mine, I said, "That's ridiculous! Isn't this a public
> meeting?" "Yes, Ma'am, but we need your ID."  He waved the Sheriff over and
> indicated that I was to step outside. I stayed in the doorway, and the
> Sheriff came up to within about 6" of me. I said, "This is ridiculous. You
> know me. I'm Grace Cangialosi, and I'm the associate at the church up the
> street!" He waved me in.
> > What I heard and saw was awful. Every passage from the Qu'ran and other
> Muslim writings that called for violence was being highlighted on a screen,
> and the speaker explained that the violent passages superseded others that
> were more peaceful, according to some later teaching or other. I got lost
> in all the details, but there was no mistaking the tone or the intent.
> After awhile the group of students I had come in with, most of them Muslim,
> left, but I decided to try to stay till the end.  But then they started
> showing a video of beatings and beheadings and burying people, and I had to
> leave.
> > Outside the door I had a fairly surreal conversation with the Sheriff. I
> asked how he thought this was helpful to our community, and he said it was
> important to know this stuff, because it's the goal of Islam to conquer the
> world and put all of it under Sharia law. I said that is a small part of
> Islam, but why was he sponsoring such a one-sided presentation by
> non-Muslims. He said it wasn't one-sided, that everything the man said was
> true. I said I wasn't disputing that; my point was that it wasn't the whole
> picture of Islam, and why weren't there any Muslims involved in the
> presentation who could give a balanced view.
> > Well, that wasn't going anywhere, so I commented that we Christians have
> violent passages in our scriptures, too, but they don't define a whole
> religion. He said that wasn't true, there aren't any passages like that in
> the Bible. I gave up at that point, but I'm going to send him a list.
> >
> > I talked with my colleague at the church later today, and she told me
> that she and two other clergy met with the Sheriff on Thursday and asked
> him to cancel the program. Jane said he admitted that he didn't know if we
> had any Muslims in the county! We do, and I talked with some of them this
> afternoon. One woman said they are mostly left alone, except for occasional
> comments, but after this program today, she's afraid.
> > I think our entire Sheriff's Dept. was there today, in the lobby or
> walking around the parking lot. As I was leaving, I stopped two of the
> deputies and said, "I'm not Muslim, but if I were, after this, I'd be
> afraid to call on you for help."  They clearly didn't know what to say. I
> said, "I'm a Christian pastor, but I just thought I'd tell you that." And I
> left.
> >
> > So my next step is to write a letter to the paper. And then to see if I
> can help some of the folks who would like to present a whole program on
> Islam and hold it at the same community college venue.  I'm thinking maybe
> we could make it a real celebratory event, like a fair with food and music
> and crafts and Muslim speakers.
> >
> > But I ramble on...sorry. When I had my little churches across the
> mountain, I got in trouble for being involved in racial reconciliation
> work. Now it may happen over this. But here I have to be more careful,
> because my daughter is on the Board of Supervisors. I assured her that I
> was very polite to the Sheriff today and also in my email exchange with him
> a few days ago...
> > <sigh>
> >
> > Grace
> >
> >
> >>
> >> "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with
> great love."
> >> St. Teresa of Calcutta
>