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I want to use my column this week to tell you about some extra security that the vestry will be providing very soon. Some parishioners will remember that a couple of years ago we undertook a detailed study into the security of our campus. Personnel from the Montgomery Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security visited St John’s, inspected our facilities, and made some recommendations. We enacted some of these recommendations (e.g. we increased camera surveillance in the worship area.)


However, we are always conscious of the safety of our staff and parishioners, and following an incident at a Sunday breakfast last month, the vestry has returned to the topic of how we can make everyone safer.


First I want to state clearly that we have a Christian duty to give food to hungry people. See Jesus’ parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 25. There he says that when we serve people in need we are actually serving him – Jesus himself. So, when the parish is sitting down to eat breakfast together, as we do on Sundays between the morning services, and a hungry person comes in and asks us for some food, it seems like a no-brainier: ‘Take a plate and sit with us,’ is our reply. This, however, is on the condition that the visitor is respectful towards our staff, volunteers, and property. If they are disrespectful to anyone, they are removed from the campus.


The incident at the Sunday breakfast was potentially dangerous, and the consequences could have been severe, but for the grace of God. Essentially, a visitor threw a cup of coffee at a member of staff. Mercifully, the coffee was not boiling and the staff member sustained no physical injuries. However, the fact that this happened at all must alert us to the potential for other assaults that might not end so well.


Consequently, at last month’s Vestry meeting, we made a unanimous decision to employ an off-duty, uniformed MPD officer to be present in the Parish Hall between the hours of 7:30 and 11:30am on Sundays. We believe that the presence of this officer will have several good outcomes – it will function as a deterrent to any visitor who is tempted to cause trouble, it brings peace of mind to staff members, and it allows an aggressive or disrespectful visitor to be quickly and efficiently removed from the campus without parishioners and church staff having to get involved.


Please expect to see this police officer in place in the very near future. Please also be re-assured that we have not ended the conversation. The vestry is actively considering other measures to increase the safety of all users of our campus.