Christians have an obligation to help those in need

In the Christian Bible, two books are written by St. Luke the Evangelist. Of course, there is the Gospel that bears his name — the story of Jesus’ birth and life, his death, resurrection, and ascension. The other is the Acts of the Apostles, chronicling the belief and practice of the early Christian Church, as well as the spread of Christianity in Jerusalem, around Judea, and eventually throughout the Mediterranean world.

Here, St. Luke describes early Christians praying and preaching; baptizing, sharing their faith, and gathering to worship God. Yet he also describes them as feeding the hungry, supporting widows and orphans, offering hospitality and care to the sick, friendless, and needy. It turns out, in fact, since our earliest days Christians have understood our obligation to the poor as intrinsic to our faith and its practice.

I mention all this because it was reported in The Mercury on Thursday, Dec. 8, that the Borough of Pottstown has cited St. Paul’s United Church of Christ for a zoning violation for offering hospitality to some of our poorest neighbors in conjunction with their partner, Beacon of Hope. Assistant Borough Solicitor Matthew Hovey was quoted in the article as saying that there had not been an application submitted to the Borough “for a determination as to whether the proposed homeless shelter, as a use accessory to a church, is permitted.”

As a Christian, a parish priest, and a resident of Pottstown, I am deeply troubled by this shocking interference in the religious practice of a church within our community. It is also part of a pattern that has emerged over the last several months, whereby the borough has sought to define for religious communities those aspects of their faith and practice that are properly religious. The Borough’s Zoning Office has done this repeatedly by insisting on and attempting to enforce a truncated, overly narrow definition of religious use of church property — a definition no Christian would recognize and to which no Church could agree — to dissuade Churches from caring for the poor, hungry, and unsheltered.

I write with some knowledge on the matter. Since 2018, I’ve served as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church here in Pottstown. Earlier this year, Christ Church was also cited by the borough for ministries that, in their judgment, exceed “those accessory activities customarily associated therewith.” These activities include feeding the hungry, providing essential pantry items to the poor for the sake of their dignity and well-being, and offering space within the church to a partner organization offering free counseling and peer support groups.

For Christians, our individual and corporate engagement with the world around us is integral to the practice of our faith. Offering hospitality to friends and strangers alike, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and befriending the poor: have remained indispensable aspects of Christian communities since the time of St. Luke the Evangelist.

The ministry activities for which Christ Church was cited earlier this year are, in other words, definitionally what a Church does and is. That’s why it troubles me so deeply that the borough, through its Zoning Office, is trying yet again to frustrate a religious community’s efforts to practice faithfulness by supplying an artificial and unduly restrictive definition of what a Church does and then trying to enforce it.

I wouldn’t presume to know the reasons behind this shocking overreach, though Mr. Hovey’s remarks may give some clue. In his statement as reported by The Mercury, he notes that, “Wealthier municipalities in central and eastern Montgomery County … failing to take on their fair share of the obligation to address (homelessness) results in a transfer to Pottstown of challenges which negatively impact our quality of life, crime, and the costs of government services paid for by our taxpayers.”

If this is the case, it strikes me as a profound failure of Borough leadership to work effectively within Montgomery County for the benefit and interests of Pottstown residents and businesses. Scapegoating churches for offering hospitality or feeding the hungry won’t solve that problem. Instead, it will only restrict those Churches from freely and fully practicing their faith.