The Church can be sooo rediculous at times...
Autistic boy's mother pleads not guilty in dispute with church
By CURT BROWN, Star Tribune
June 2, 2008
Hoping some good will come from her widely publicized dispute with her small-town church, the mother of an autistic child has started a new website to help special-needs families feel more welcome where they worship.
"If I couldn't help families come to church as a result of what's happening in Bertha, Minnesota, I would never have gone to the media," Carol Race said Monday, after a brief court hearing in Long Prairie.
Race pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating a restraining order. A pretrial settlement hearing was set for July 14 in Todd County District Court.
Last month, the Rev. Daniel Walz at Bertha's Church of St. Joseph took the unusual step of obtaining a restraining order, barring Carol and her husband from bringing their severely autistic 13-year-old son, Adam, to the central Minnesota Roman Catholic church.
In what church officials called a last resort, Walz alleged that Adam -- at 6 feet, 225 pounds -- has become more of a danger than a distraction to parishioners. Walz alleged Adam has struck a child during mass, urinated and spit in church and nearly knocked over people.
Race initially ignored the order and was ticketed after attending church with Adam on Mother's Day. Lately, she's been attending a neighboring church, while friends with autistic children have taken her family's pew in St. Joseph's to show support.
The case sparked a national media blitz, including a spot on ABC's "Good Morning America," which was set in motion by Race and her support group of families with special-needs children.
Race hopes the new website, www.project-adams-pew.org, will prompt churches across the country to reserve a pew "for families that might need a special welcome."
"There are thousands of families not going to church who don't feel welcome because they're afraid they look or act different," Race said. "They came to church, someone turned around and gave them a dirty look and they walked out and haven't come back."
The website includes references to help families with special needs. If the project catches on, Race said, congregations would be instructed that anyone in the designated pew should be welcomed by parishioners, and the pastor would meet with them to see what kinds of accommodations they might need.
She said mediation with church leaders to settle her dispute is scheduled to start this week. Todd County Attorney Chuck Rasmussen said he hopes the case can be worked out before trial.
"It's a no-brainer to prove," Rasmussen said. "She was served on a Friday and went to church on Sunday in blatant violation. So are we really trying the facts here? Or are we trying the morality of the issue?"
Curt Brown 612-673-4767
posted by Bob Carder @ 11:31 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Would it be acceptable to you to have someone hitting, urinating and spitting in your house church? I think it is unfortunate and perhaps reasonable accomodation should be made but when that is attempted and it is not working out something needs to be done. I have personally encountered "able minded" people who were disruptive in a worship setting and have had to deal with that...it is never pleasant nor does it ever end well for either side. Here is hoping that cooler heads and the Spirit of God win out in this. Perhaps less criticism and more prayer for this group of brothers and sisters would be in order?
Anon, what did you say your name was?
Answer is No, but I wouldn't kick him out. I would find some men to help this poor mother out. I would personally sit with him and help him as well.
1. Where are the men to sit with Him, take him to the bathroom, to escort him in and out. Autism is a disease where allot of stuff is uncontrolled like speech and body movements. Here's an opportunity for a ministry to autism families and they clearly missed it.
2. Jesus would not kick him out.
3. If he urinated in church he likely pissed his pants. He would never do the other with mom sitting next to him. Hello? Where is the man to take him to the restroom? Spitting well, I can fix that one too and running into people, I can fix that one also. Just a couple of strong men who have the love of Jesus and for this human being and we have a dream team for effective handling.
Did you know that there are no mental deficiencies when the Holy Spirit is involved. He can teach through the deficiencies. Lots of prayer and male help along with the Holy Spirit is needed here. Not needed are the lawsuits and restraining orders and police. By the way, no community would accept this from a church leadership team not their locally and certainly not here in St. Louis.
I do pray but not for this uncaring and unChristian leadership team, I pray for this mother and a son who have been thrown away by the church. Do you know what it feels like to be thrown away by the church? I do and it is a pain that cuts deeper than the heart. I'm sticking up for them because someone needs to.
You are sticking up for the wrong people here. Jesus would never do what this church did and you know it.
By the way we are not a house church movement. But we do sometimes meet in houses. We meet all over the place as the Body of Christ. We are a church that is alive in community with the disabled, the homeless, the widows, the orphans and even the poor. We are sold out to leading people to Jesus who in turn lead others immediately to Jesus.
We pray for the spitting, urinating and disruptive people to come our way so that they can be made whole by the power of Jesus and His Holy Spirit. We witness daily the power of God's Holy Spirit to bring healing and transformation to these people - the very people Jesus died for.
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