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That's why "Recommended" is "recommended". IF you're poor any donation is fine, and if you can't afford anything they wouldn't turn you away to attend mass. St. John The Divine runs a soup kitchen as well if memory serves. It's not an operation to fleece tourists, the OP is just pissed at the idea of donating money, thinking in conspiracies to rationalize her lack of charity, and missing the bigger picture.
the church wrote back and 'said" it was recommended.
My angle for contributing to this forum is that I want to be a type of "anti-corruption" internet superhero :P :P :P (Actually I'm joking by saying that.)
So I'd like to call attention to anything I see that is wrong.
Recently I took an out-of-town friend to St. JtD and was shocked to see a security guard at the entrance to the church and a sign indicating that one needed to pay $10 to get in there.
Is anyone else bothered by the fact you have to pay $10 to get into a church?
Is this Christianity for Tourists?
I wrote to the church about this and was told the $10 is recommended...but I did not get that impression when I was there. I felt I had wasted a trip (since I did not want to pay $10 (on principle) to enter a church).
Am I wrong?
You have forever lost your chance at any internet anti corruption super hero status with this ridiculously frivolous post.
Your assumption that I went there as a 'tourist" is inaccurate, as is your argument.
It was no assumption, just fact. Your attitude reeked of "arrogant tourist" and not a person seeking to appreciate St. John the Divine in a spiritual or artistic sense. If you were there to seek spiritual fulfillment or to admire the art and architecture, why create an account just to trash a Cathedral because you were offended by the idea of being asked for a donation?
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
Which other church in the country demands money before people can even enter it?
St. John doesn't. The problem is that you don't know what "recommended donation" means. The problem lies with you. St. Pats also has a recommended donation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
That is not a donation, it is an admissions fee. This isn't a carnival, it's a church.
That's your opinion, the fact is otherwise. Seriously, "recommended donation" means just that. Perhaps a reading comprehension lesson is in order for you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
As for their "service programs" - they seem negligible.
Goes to show you know jack $hit about St. John the Divine. I doubt you even saw the place with an attitude like yours. Don't you have anything better to do with your life than create an account specifically to trash a Cathedral you didn't feel like donating to?
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
You seem to ahve a very conservative orientation to this issue.
Orientation has nothing to do with it. You seem offended by the principal of giving alms or being a patron of the arts and culture. That's your problem, not mine.
Your assumption that I went there as a 'tourist" is inaccurate, as is your argument.
Which other church in the country demands money before people can even enter it?
That is not a donation, it is an admissions fee. This isn't a carnival, it's a church.
As for their "service programs" - they seem negligible.
You seem to have a very conservative orientation to this issue.
If you weren't there as a tourist, you must have been there to worship.
When you couldn't get in (or didn't feel like paying the $10 that you thought was required), then which nearby church did you then go to instead so you could say your prayers?
Why did you choose St. John the Divine for worship in the first place?
Lots of people are dumb...lots of people are RICH!
Some are charitable patrons of the arts who don't mind paying the full amount, especially when doing so means the Met museum can continue to accept lower donations from those who don't have the means to contribute the recommended donation.
Basically, this church fleeces tourists to the tune of $10 a shot. The tour bus pulls up, they get out, they have to pay $10 and the church is happy.
So real New Yorkers (unlike the people defending the church's fleecing scheme) walk away,
Don't give yourself airs. Your status as a "real new yorker" is questionable at best. Basically, you just have a problem with the principal of being asked for donations, we get that much. It doesn't make you a better person, sorry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
but tourists have been driven there and pay through the nose for BAD ART and a gaudy architectural design.
So you admit you were there as a tourist, that's nice but we already knew that. Why else would you make a trip up there for "bad art" and "gaudy" architectural design...
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
Jesus, when did people become so conservative and happy to support money-grubbing "religious" institutions - unless we've got some folks from the church suddenly responding.
I'm an atheist, hunny. Your attempt to make it a "conservative" issue is just a red herring, do you seriously think no one else is suspicious of your story?
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
The church was empty.
And yet a bus full of tourists were there... Why are you flip-flopping?
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryanticorrupt
And, no, there is no soup kitchen here.
Incorrect, they do have a soup kitchen there. Open on sundays. Check the website next time so you don't make a fool of yourself.
Actually, St. John the Divine does have a soup kitchen, on Sundays, serving three meals: breakfast, lunch, and a take away meal for those in need. There are other soup kitchens in the city, including other Episcopal churches that operate during the week, but not on Sunday. St. John the Divine fills in that need with the Sunday soup kitchen. You can find out about it on their website, should you wish to volunteer to help serve meals to those in need.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
If you weren't there as a tourist, you must have been there to worship.
When you couldn't get in (or didn't feel like paying the $10 that you thought was required), then which nearby church did you then go to instead so you could say your prayers?
Why did you choose St. John the Divine for worship in the first place?
I was under the impression it was a real church. I was disabused of this impression.
I was under the impression it was a real church. I was disabused of this impression.
So where did you go to say your prayers, since you found out it wasn't a "real church"? I am assuming that you did pray that day? Or not?
Why did you only answer one of my questions? Do you have something to hide? I think you do.
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I was...
