Posted on 10/05/2010 9:13:50 PM PDT by Pyro7480
City Council has spoken: The bell at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Manayunk most likely won't be silenced....
On Thursday, the full Council will consider the legislation, which would exempt churches and schools from Philadelphia's noise ordinance....
The church clamor began early last month when...the Rev. James A. Lyons, received a warning letter from the city Health Department. The letter....threatened the 179-year-old church with fines of up to $700 per day if the pealing bell was determined to be in violation of the city's 2006 noise law.
At issue is the volume of the 7 a.m. bell ringing, which includes the 18 chimes of the Roman Catholic call to prayer, called the Angelus....
"This bell symbolizes to the faith community that God is still alive," the Rev. Robert Collier of nearby Galilee Baptist Church told the Council committee.
No one at the hearing testified against the legislation, including the city Health Department, which supports the exemption....
"I live across the street from the church and the church's practices of ringing their clock bells in the morning are very disruptive to my life and well-being. I find it very concerning that the councilman does not view the well-being of his constituents over the outdated traditions of a religious group," Manayunk resident Bill Leeper wrote in an e-mail to Kenney.
In an interview, Leeper, 26, said while he did not file a complaint with the city, he has been frustrated by the ringing bell since moving to his home in 2006.....
Another opponent of the exemption, Christopher Eggleston...an atheist, continued: "It is one thing to live next to a firehouse and hear the occasional siren needed to save lives, it is quite another to be forced to listen to the ringing bell of someone else's religion."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Philadelphia was founded on the principle of religious liberty.
Catholic ping!
Betcha there will be no outcry for the call to prayer from the muzzein...
Although dwindling, Philadelphia still has a significant Catholic identity...a lot of people I know identify where they live in the city by the parish they attend.
I haven’t gone to church in a long time, and I have no intentions of joining one. Yet, I love the sound of church bells down the street. It’s such a beautiful sound.
It might be too loud if you live next door to it. But, you would think the person would’ve thought about that before moving in.
The Muzzies will use this to argue for their call to prayer, I’m afraid.
William Carlos Williams, “The Catholic Bells”
Tho’ I’m no Catholic
I listen hard when the bells
in the yellow-brick tower
of their new church
ring down the leaves
ring in the frost upon them
and the death of the flowers
ring out the grackle
toward the south, the sky
darkened by them, ring in
the new baby of Mr. and Mrs.
Krantz which cannot
for the fat of its cheeks
open well its eyes, ring out
the parrot under its hood
jealous of the child
ring in Sunday morning
and old age which adds as it
takes away. Let them ring
only ring! over the oil
painting of a young priest
on the church wall advertisng
last week’s Novena to St.
Anthony, ring for the lame
young man in black with
gaunt cheeks and wearing a
Derby hat, who is hurrying
to 11 o’clock Mass (the
grapes still hanging to
the vines along the nearby
Concordia Halle like broken
teeth in the head of an
old man) Let them ring
for the eyes and ring for
the hands and ring for
the children of my friend
who no longer hears
them ring but with a smile
and in a low voice speaks
of the decisions of her
daughter and the proposals
and betrayals of her
husband’s friends. O bells
ring for the ringing!
the beginnng and the end
of th ringing! Ring ring
ring ring ring ring ring!
Catholic bells-!
A victory has been won today for religious liberty. The tyranny of religious bigotry has failed today.
“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead nor does He sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on Earth, good will to men.”
Let freedom ring.
Good for Philadelphia City Council. May they stand firm against these nuisance complaints.
Ironic name choice alert.
“I live across the street from the church and the church’s practices of ringing their clock bells in the morning are very disruptive to my life and well-being. I find it very concerning that the councilman does not view the well-being of his constituents over the outdated traditions of a religious group,” Manayunk resident Bill Leeper
Hey, Bill, GO STUFF YOURSELF.
The sound of church bells in the morning—or evening is the most wonderful sound in the world for me—has been since long before I ever heard of that wannabe from Kenya who was born a Muslim and not far from that today.I remember church bells on the clear mountain air on a ridge outside Leadville,CO Now that is one fine memory a boy ,his horse, and his dog, and
American pie.
Believe me they have/are trying to. IMO when they put it inside that building-the intent seems to obscure the Scripture
cast in the cap Leviticus XXV.X Proclaim Liberty....
Bill Leeper sounds like a leper who ought leap to someplace he would find the sound of Liberty less disruptive to his
lifestyle. I believe it could be well documented that the church and the bells and the tradition were all probably there
long before he moved into the neighborhood to disrupt the
community.
Betcha there will be no outcry for the call to prayer from the muzzein...
^^
So true.
ping
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