Another 'Gay Bishop' Hate Crime? [National Humanitarian of the Year Beaten]

Weblog: Another 'Gay Bishop' Hate Crime? [National Humanitarian of the year Beaten]
Plus: Richard Land criticizes Roy Moore, sexy teen virtue, reflecting on Baylor's woes, and other stories from around the world.
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 08/19/2003

But normally the media are pretty quick to jump on certain trend stories, especially where hate crimes are concerned. Witness, for example, the media blitz on anti-Muslim hate crimes after 9/11—something that wasn't as epidemic as Muslim advocacy groups would like you to think.

But Weblog still isn't seeing mainstream coverage of the attacks against orthodox clergy who opposed the confirmation of gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson.

This week saw story number three, which gives the green light to a possible trend story. Richard Bilski, the part-time janitor of the nondenominational Church on the Rise in Westlake, Ohio, was taking out the trash when three men came up and demanded to know when Pastor Paul Endrei was arriving.

At that, reports The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, "One man berated him with obscenities and another struck him in the face with a tennis racket. Bilski said the trio also punched him and tore off his shirt as a fourth man looked on. He suffered cuts and bruises to his face, arms, hands and ribs." Another report said the men used lead gloves.

Both Bilski and Endrei are convinced that the attack was retaliation for Endrei's August 10 sermon in which he opposed Robinson's confirmation. "I told the congregation, 'The Gospel according to Gene Robinson is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ,'" he told The Plain Dealer. "We love the homosexual, but we hate the sin."

Then it should be no surprise that he was beaten, gay-themed radio talk show host Buck Harris told the paper. "If they don't preach tolerance, they are preaching violence," he said.

That's right. According to Harris, it's all Endrei's fault that Bilski was beaten up. Gotta love these culture wars.

Here's the link where Rich wins the National Humanitarian of the Year Award:

http://www.nalc.org/news/precord/1001-heroes.html#bilski

The article:

Left: Postmaster General Jack Potter stoops to greet Rich Bilski’s son Ricky as the Humanitarian of the Year and President Sombrotto (c.) enjoy the reaction.

If this is October, it must be time for Rich Bilski to get busy collecting “Coats for Kids” and making plans for the holiday “Angel Trees.” After all, he doesn’t really need to worry about lining up Thanksgiving Dinner for a couple thousand of his hungriest friends and neighbors for another few weeks.

But just to be on the safe side, he’s going to send out the fliers for “Rich’s Turkeys” in the next few days and get in touch with his friends at the St. Augustine’s soup kitchen.

Sound like a lot of projects? For 16-year letter carrier Bilski, that is only a seasonal sampling of the year-round ways he invests a seemingly endless supply of enthusiasm into easing the plight of others.

“Some of my friends tell me I’m crazy, that I do too much,” the 47-year-old carrier and union activist said of the hundreds of hours of personal time—and personal resources—that he gives freely each year. “But there are a lot of people out there who need help.”

In addition, he is a leader in his local union’s community projects, coordinating the NALC Food Drive and MDA fund-raising for the 3,700-member Cleveland, OH Branch 40. He describes himself as “the guy who gets up at the meetings and is always pushing for volunteers or money for something,” but he understands the limits others feel.

“I don’t expect everyone to have the fire and passion that I have,” he said simply, “but I expect them to at least care.”

For his leadership by example and singular commitment to the welfare of others, Richard F. Bilski of Cleveland Br. 40 was named NALC’s National Humanitarian of the Year for 2001.

A simple recitation of Rich Bilski’s volunteer activities begins to sound like a laundry list. In addition to being shop steward for his Westlake Station and branch food drive and MDA coordinator, he is a tireless promoter of the Combined Federal Campaign, not only touring stations but also checking off more than $1,000 a year for the United Way. He helps set up the annual Angel Tree program throughout the Branch 40 area, matching children’s Christmas wishes with carriers who can fulfill their dreams.

“I collect blankets for the homeless and I support Toys for Tots every year. I go around collecting toys from people I know and at work, and deliver them to the Marines,” he said. His annual fall “Coats for Kids” campaign, which has yielded thousands of donations, was highlighted in the December 2000 Postal Record.

When it comes to his projects, Bilski has one guiding principle: “If it’s for a child, I can’t say no.”
Rich Bilski is a husband, the father of three boys, a cancer survivor, a Vietnam veteran (he lied about his age to join up), and a one-time carpenter and police officer who finally settled on the letter carrier craft as a career. But what sets him apart is a single-minded moral sense he learned from his mother, who died in 1998.

“My mother had very little of her own, but she was always willing to give it away,” he recalled. While raising her family of five, she began volunteering as a cook at the St. Augustine’s Church soup kitchen in the early 1960s. To this day, her son travels from his suburban home to give his time at the same church.

“Last Thanksgiving we served 1,500 meals—we had both breakfast and lunch, the first time we ever did that,” Bilski said. “I drove the bus, going to the shelters and picking guys up.”

With his mother, he began “Rich’s Turkey’s” almost 20 years ago, collecting funds from family and friends to buy turkeys for holiday meals. A year ago he raised enough to buy more than 400 big birds for hot meal sites and for donation to needy families through food pantries.

This year he is casting a wider net with a mass-mailing to about 700 friends and contacts in the Cleveland business community. In past years, his young sons decorated the fliers individually, coloring turkeys on each solicitation. This year there will be too many, “but I’ll sign every one myself,” the letter carrier said. “That’s important to me, and if that makes a difference to the people you ask to help, I’ll do it. That’s my motto: Whatever works.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.