[Craic] Fwd: A happy unintended consequence

[Allan Baker]

> Craicers;

Here’s a story - in two parts - about what happened recently in one of our United Church of Canada congregations - Port Hope.
As they say, the joys of unintended consequences.
For your reading pleasure.
Allan

> 
> 
>  <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=4979b710b2&e=a469a56538>
> 
> Rev. Kevin Moore of Port Hope United. (Photograph courtesy of Kevin Moore)
> A happy unintended consequence
> By Julie Carl
> 
> Hello, Focus readers,
> 
> Ah, the joys of unintended consequences. 
> 
> And I do mean joy. Entirely too often unintended consequences mean something negative. I am thinking of a daycare centre dealing with parents who came late for pick up, forcing the staff to work late. The parents were so apologetic when they arrived five, 10, 15 minutes late. Day after day after day. But apologies didn't solve the problem.
> 
> So, the centre instituted a policy that charged the parents for every five minutes they were late. Did that clear it up? Not at all. Parents started coming 20, 30, 40 minutes late. And they stopped apologizing. This was a sad unintended consequence: once parents were paying to be late, they didn't feel guilty. They felt like they were getting their money's worth.
> 
> A not-so-sad unintended consequence we heard about this week is a lovely story <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=cee5ff9352&e=a469a56538>about Port Hope (Ont.) United. They have a beautiful building, an old Methodist cathedral, Rev. Kevin Moore told writer Ashleigh-Rae Thomas. The church has wonderful acoustics so it's not surprising choirs often ask to rent the space.
> 
> Enter the Libertas Male Choir, of Caledonia, Ont., on a tour through southern Ontario, performing at four churches, only one of them a United Church. (Remember that bit.) A board member walked the choir leaders through the church space when they arrived and was hit with an odd request. He phoned the good reverend. "No, absolutely not," Moore said. No, the choir could not removed the church's Pride flags.
> 
> Port Hope United has been an affirming church for years. That's a church that has pledged to be open and affirming to all people which includes all genders, all orientations. The board member explained to the choir leaders what an affirming church is and why they were not allowed to remove the flags.
> 
> You can imagine Moore's, and later the church boards', anger when they saw the church after the concert. The Pride flags had not just been removed, two had been rolled up and tossed in a corner by his office. Little hand-carved, rainbow-painted mementos with the word "Love" on them had been removed, hidden away, as Moore put it. He says he just saw red.
> 
> A choir leader's explanation when Moore phoned and asked why they did this was that some people felt strongly about the Pride paraphernalia. Moore demanded an apology, a formal apology in front of the congregation on a Sunday morning. The choir leader said it was a long way to come just for an apology, and that was the last Moore heard from the choir.
> 
> Maddening. But Moore and his board put their heads together once they were over their anger. Moore told Thomas that some board members had strong things to say about the matter and "didn't sound overly Christian But Jesus turned over the tables, so I think we're in pretty good company."
> 
> Moore and the board decided to donate the $800 fee the choir paid to rent the church to the Port Hope Rainbow Network to help them put on this year's Pride festival.
> 
> This was Moore's phone message he left for the Libertas Male Choir: "We'd really appreciate it if you told the people that took it upon themselves to remove all of our Pride symbols that this is the end result of their actions. They're actually helping promote Pride awareness in Port Hope by their actions. They've had the reverse effect of what I think they were hoping for." 
> 
> That's what I call a happy unintended consequence.
> 
> I hope you are as inspired by Rev. Moore as we are. Tell me what you think. Don't be shy; drop me a line at j.carl at broadview.org <mailto:j.carl at broadview.org>. 
> 
> And take care out there. You are special.
> 
> Cheers,
> Jc
> IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
>  <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=d08bc93c1b&e=a469a56538>
> The federal government is considering backing away from its plan to extend, in March, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) to people whose only ailment is mental illness. (Illustration by Neil Webb)
> Writer Pieta Woolley wrote a story <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=398693b5bb&e=a469a56538> in August 2023 for Broadview about the federal government's plan to extend MAID to patients whose only ailment is mental illness. She looked into how the clergy could cope and wrote that ministers needed more resources to guide congregations as MAID became more common.
> 
> Copyright ©2023 Broadview, All rights reserved.
> 
> Our mailing address is:
> Broadview
> 310 Danforth Avenue, Suite CI
> Toronto, ON M4K 1N6
> Canada
> Add us to your address book <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=1878cd6529&e=a469a56538>
> T: 416-960-8500, F: 416-960-8477
> 
> Want to change how you receive these emails?
> You can update your preferences <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=74890c9333&e=a469a56538> or unsubscribe from this list <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=ba0063ce71&e=a469a56538>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This email was sent to allan.baker7878 at gmail.com <mailto:allan.baker7878 at gmail.com>
> why did I get this? <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/about?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=392a696a06&e=a469a56538&c=73e20ec508>    unsubscribe from this list <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=392a696a06&t=b&e=a469a56538&c=73e20ec508>    update subscription preferences <https://broadview.us11.list-manage.com/profile?u=e7bb561f7f940952a3aaf474c&id=392a696a06&e=a469a56538&c=73e20ec508>
> Broadview · Suite C1, 310 Danforth Ave. · Toronto, ON M4K 1N6 · Canada
> 
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/craic-integralshift.ca/attachments/20240201/74552efc/attachment-0001.htm>