Saturday, February 9, 2013
The president of the Kirkwood-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod asked for an apology from a pastor who participated in an interfaith vigil after the shootings.
A few days after the shooting in Newtown, CT, that killed 20 children and six adults, the community gathered with a variety of clergy leaders representing a number of faiths for a prayer service and vigil. That didn't sit well with the president of the conservative, Kirkwood-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. A pastor from Christ the King Lutheran Church, a Missouri Synod church in Newtown, was among those who participated. And the president of the synod, The Rev. Matthew Harrison, asked that pastor to apologize, as reported in an article by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday. The Post's coverage summarizes the issue thusly: The synod forbids "worship services that blend the beliefs and practices of Lutherans with those of other …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The move is in response to concerns raised by school administrators about school security following the deadly massacre in Newtown, Conn., last month.
The Chesterfield Police Department is rolling out a program to expand its presence at area schools in response to the shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The new program will re-assign an officer to be a full-time School Resource Officer (SRO) at all 12 of the area's public and private elementary schools and at a private high school. Individual officers were already present at Chesterfield's two middle and two high schools, so the new initiative means all educational institutions will be covered. "The purpose of this is to provide some additional safety and security," said Chesterfield Police Capt. Steven Lewis. "The officer will work with the schools and see what their needs are." Lewis said the new program is effectively…
Monday, December 17, 2012
In the wake of the Newtown, CT school massacre, St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch will visit schools this week to discuss increasing security, including putting guns in elementary schools.
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch and police officers will begin visiting St. Louis County schools Monday morning, according to KMOV. (For instant updates follow Patch on Facebook and Twitter.) Fitch said he's received numerous calls from area schools concerned about security since Friday's mass shooting in a Newtown, CT elementary school. Fitch acknowledges that most high schools and some middle schools, including those in West County, have armed school resource officers. However, elementary schools are not normally protected by officers. Fitch wants to see armed resource officers or armed school officials in those schools, according to KSDK. He points out that Sandy Hook Elementary School conducted threat drills and locked its …
Amy E.
3:37 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
I also watched it on television, and I agree that I saw nothing in that memorial gathering that indicated that any of the clergy present were endorsing the faiths of any of the others. They were all simply trying to offer comfort to the grieving. I felt the same way some 11 years earlier when the LCMS pastor David Benke participated in an interfaith memorial gathering at Yankee Stadium following … more ›