dagny Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Gee, I wonder why they don't just go to the local > food kitchen, provide the food, and help there? > (Eye roll.)
I've said before how I saw Mormon mishies at a local food kitchen a few times, serving up breakfast. Their faces displayed complete misery and they never looked at, or spoke, to the people to whom they were handing (porridge or ???) from a huge pot.
Even so, that was a practical way they could do actual service, much more so than banging on doors and exchanging the time of day, if that, with random strangers who weren't interested in their message.
You'd think they'd be happy to be anywhere, doing anything, that would be better than knocking on doors as random strangers who nobody wanted to speak to.
...I wonder if the potential converts (Oops! I mean spaghetti eaters) will be allowed to speak with those who created the spaghetti. You know, to find out how much they are being paid by the church for their services, etc...
First, the bottom portion of the church's official sign has had the bottom portion scrubbed, fixed or repaired. The part where "Visitors Welcome" is no longer there. Maybe the marble (or whatever material it is) was vandalized, but maybe they really don't want people to visit.
At the top of the shared easement/driveway there's a gate. Not unusual because the gate has been installed since day one the church was constructed in the 1990s.
What's new since my last year's visit?
Two big signs (right and left) Private Property No Trespassing All Violators Will Be Prosecuted Under Penalty of Law
dagny Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Gee, I wonder why they don't just go to the local > food kitchen, provide the food, and help there? > (Eye roll.) > > Mormons think people can but bought with food, > usually cookies. Sadly, it sometimes works. There > are strings attached to their goodies.
I know several churches and secular groups in my city that put free meals on, general public welcome, no gimmick. My city's senior services has free meals 7 days a week in various parts of the city. Politicians, public officials (police, health, water/sewer, etc.) come on occasion to make presentations or feel the pulse of this constituency. I don't think it's at all objectionable, let alone offensive, that LDS offers a spaghetti dinner, even if they made a religious presentation.
Forgive me for being blunt: They have a perfect right to advance their cause, just as you have a perfect right to avoid it.
I did a few days of service at the food kitchen that used to be across the street from Pioneer Park on the west side of downtown SLC. I think it is primarily run by Catholic Service Charities or something like that, but I asked where the supplies come from and the supervisor mentioned that the LDS Church makes ongoing donations there.
I was impressed with the size and complexity of the operation. They did many hundreds of lunches a day (seems like somewhere around 800, but I'm not sure - that's a lot of soup and sandwiches and fruit every day). They had commercial racks of sandwich bread back in the food prep area. I think the soup was done offsite, and brought in each day in large insulated containers. It had the feel of an industrial operation.
I have an MD friend (retired) who volunteers at a free health clinic by Fashion Place Mall that primarily serves the undocumented immigrant community. I know they receive donations from various churches, including LDS Inc. My church has donated money there, and my friend donates his time one day a week.
BTW, my friend is an orthopedic surgeon. He said the actual cost in supplies for a carpal tunnel surgery is around $20.
But I digress. LDS Inc may not do much compared to the amount of wealth they have, but they do more than I think a lot of people realize.
As for LDS Inc having a perfect right to advance their cause, I didn't see anyone claim they didn't have that right.
...BoJ is pretty much on target with his analysis. An evangelical group, the Pacific Garden Michigan of Chicago, has been doing this for years (though the dinners are more than spaghetti, if memory serves.) The poor souls who go to their dinners know there is a price; they will have to sit and listen to talks on the Bible from an evangelical perspective if they wish to have dinner there. Many go ahead, have the dinner, listen to the speeches, and then ignore the religious advice once all is said and done.
The only thing that would make this entire operation illegal (outside of massive food poisoning) would be if the U.S. government gave them money to perform their Christian mission work, though I know that a certain sector of the U.S. public is even opposed to that.
True, blind guy, but the evangels also are somewhat better at tweaking local governments to back- door or under the table fund their projects; I’m extremely concerned what effect on this the next POTUS & his minions will do on this…
The supposed Wall between church & state isn’t healthy lately here in the U.S.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2025 12:08AM by GNPE.
blindguy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ...BoJ is pretty much on target with his analysis. > An evangelical group, the Pacific Garden Michigan > of Chicago, has been doing this for years (though > the dinners are more than spaghetti, if memory > serves.) The poor souls who go to their dinners > know there is a price; they will have to sit and > listen to talks on the Bible from an evangelical > perspective if they wish to have dinner there. > Many go ahead, have the dinner, listen to the > speeches, and then ignore the religious advice > once all is said and done.
Years ago, a guy in saffron robes handed me a card which read, "FREE Vegetarian dinner," with the time and location. He was a Hare Krishna, and I figured, "A free meal is a free meal, why not?"
It was, of course, a recruiting event. Scientologists and Moonies had theirs, too. It so happened the dinner came after about an hour's lecture, then ear-drum-rattling drumming and chanting (cymbals, too!). It was interesting, and the monks were happy to chat and share their beliefs.
I remember one monk said to me, "Some people come for the food and find Krishna. Other people come to seek Krishna-consciousness, and get to enjoy the food."
Make of that what you will. The food was good, but I was hungry an hour later--and not for Krishna-consciousness. > > The only thing that would make this entire > operation illegal (outside of massive food > poisoning) would be if the U.S. government gave > them money to perform their Christian mission > work, though I know that a certain sector of the > U.S. public is even opposed to that.
Opinions are often formed by just whose oxes are being fattened on the public pasture (which brings Clive Bundy to mind). "Catholic 'Charities'" make a lot of money providing services to illegal immigrants.
>> "Catholic 'Charities'" make a lot of money providing services to illegal immigrants.
Makes money how, caffiend? Catholic Charities is the charitable arm of the Catholic church. I can assure you that they are the "go to" organization helping migrants and immigrants, both legal and illegal (my job involves working with migrants/immigrants, and no other charitable organization comes close to CC.) Plus they sponsor nursing homes and other endeavors. It's actually one of the few things that I respect about the Catholic church.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2025 05:13PM by summer.
Hopefully, Dagny was being satirical. If the preparers were bringing dishes from home, the LDS church could be held liable for food poisoning if anybody got sick.
I remember some of those RS pot luck dishes at church events, and I had been in the homes where they were made.
I know what it is like to lick spoons, cough, and have toddlers "help." I have three long haired pets in my house. I'm extra careful, but you never know.
Thankfully those casseroles get baked. I do remember a mayo based salad made a few people sick once.
I was only aware that kitchens could only be used to reheat already cooked food. That's a pretty common health department restriction for kitchens not commercially qualified. I haven't heard of any LDS policy that is more restrictive than that.
My church bit the bullet and did a full commercial kitchen. They used to do a couple dinners a year, but that tapered off. Now it is used for cakes, pizza (brought in) and coffee, that sort of thing.
Until about a year ago I don't remember the last time actual cooking was done in the kitchen. A year ago we started supporting a program that does tai-chi for the homeless down at the SLC main library. A local couple has been doing that 3 times a week for 5 or 6 years now. They give the participants a goody bag that contains among other things a breakfast burrito. They were making a couple hundred burritos every other week and freezing them, and a group of about a dozen people volunteered to take on that task, and they go into the church kitchen every other Thursday afternoon and whip up 240 breakfast burritos. So, the stove actually gets put to use every other week.
Yes, it's a pretty big kitchen. There are 4 steel work tables together in the center, though the aisle space around them is pretty limited. I haven't done the burrito Thursday yet. It's mostly the same people every week, and they have the routine well honed. Takes a couple hours.