Holy Spirit Episcopal Church

Please join us for Active Incident Training for Houses of Worship on Monday evening at Holy Spirit

 

In the 1960's there was an old gospel spiritual entitled "Church Twice on Sunday and Once in the Middle of the Week." Church was not only for spiritual growth, for fellowship, and community building, but it also was a haven for safety. 

 

But recently places of worship have become targets of violence. Before 1963 there had never been a mass murder in a church setting, but since, there have been 18 fatal shootings with three in 2017.

 

Of course we hope that nothing tragic ever happens here at Holy Spirit, and truthfully the odds are that we will never experience a serious threat here at Holy Spirit, but neither did the worshipers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston or the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, or the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

 

As has often been said, hope is not a strategy, not a plan of action. Your Vestry has made a determination that it is our moral obligation to provide the safest environment possible for our worshipers, our youth and the infants entrusted to our care. We have contracted with an expert in "active incident training" for houses of worship. He will present to us on MONDAY, MARCH 18TH from 6:30-8:30 pm in the Parish Hall. He will provide us with guidelines and specifics that we need here at HSP to better protect ourselves in case of any emergency. This is not a training for just the Vestry, the choir, the ushers, but for all members of the Parish. We are asking that all of you put the 18th on your calendar so that each of us can learn how to truly be "our brother's and sister's keeper."

                                        - Glenn Hladek

                                          Vestry Member