The Watcher Cat

The Watcher Cat

Monday, July 27, 2015

Anglocat at the Forum Part II

So this past Sunday I was the guest at St. Barts Forum. I never know how these things go--and the recording starts about 3 minutes before the actual forum does, so you get a little informal off-the-record chat between myself and my good friend,the Rev. Edward Sunderland.

It was a genuine pleasure to share a stage with Edward, who has given me much support over the years as I've pursued my call to ordained ministry, and has given me the benefit of his experience as head of Community Ministry at St. Barts and as a social worker to provide some very valuable pointers on how to direct my ministry and to recruit skilled volunteers.

If you follow the link, you can listen to us in conversation. Hope you enjoy!

Edited to Add: A couple of verbal slips, most seriously my early remark on the pre-Smith case law measured the sincerity of the religious conviction being asserted to justify a requested accommodation. Not really, and I later correct it.

Also, the acoustics of the room mean you don't hear the laughs at my jokes. Which is a pity. I really wasn't suffering from flop sweat, I promise. . .

Finally, when I say St. Barts has not historically not restricted its hiring to Episcopalians, I mean in the broad definition used by the Court in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v EEOC, which includes educators (such as Rabbi Leonard Schoolman, who headed up the Center for Religious Inquiry, or even church musicians.

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