BROOKINGS, Ore. — An Oregon church is suing the city of Brookings after an ordinance was passed barring churches in residential areas from serving more than two free meals a week to people experiencing homelessness.
St. Timothy's Episcopal Church says they are obeying the teaching of Jesus Christ by giving food and medical care to those in need. The lawsuit claims the city is interfering with religious expression by blocking the church from serving meals.
A number of church leaders teamed up to feed the homeless and hungry with a different church offering a meal each day of the week. Eventually, some churches started to struggle and couldn't keep up with demand. As some churches dropped out of the program, St. Timothy's picked up the slack and expanded their soup kitchen service to four days a week, sometimes adding two more days.
However, people living nearby said in the summer of 2021 there was an increase in crime. More than two dozen neighbors signed a letter to the City Council and testified in June, and the City Council passed the new ordinance in August.
The letter reportedly called the people getting services from the church "vagrants" and "undesirables."
"How do you tell a church they can't feed people? Isn't that what churches are supposed to do? Our diocese and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, our churches feed people, that's instrumental in the way that we serve God and serve God's people," Rev. Bernie Lindley said in an interview with KGW in October 2021.
The ordinance went into effect Wednesday, Jan. 26 and the lawsuit was filed by Friday.
"We violated the law by feeding people pizza on Friday," Lindley said.
The church intends to keep its meal services running.
St. Timothy's has the backing of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon.
"The argument over the zoning code is part of a fundamental piece of our lawsuit because the city is making a claim that does not stand up. We were grandfathered in, the church was there before the codes were actually created. The church predates any code that the city believes it is now requiring us to conform to," said Rt. Rev. Diana Akiyama, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon. "But the other piece that is very concerning is the city determining that the church is now a restaurant. There's some unbelievable parts of that claim, and we are also contesting that. We are not a restaurant, we are a church."
The Oregon Justice Resource is representing St. Timothy's. In a statement to Jefferson Public Radio, it said the ordinance seems to be targeting the church specifically.
The city of Brookings declined to comment.
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