An Oregon church has sued the town where it's located over a new local ordinance that restricts the number of times the church can dole out free meals each week to those in need.
St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon say in a federal lawsuit against the city of Brookings that the ordinance limiting them to two free meal giveaways per week violates their constitutional right to free religious expression.
"We've been serving our community here for decades and picking up the slack where the need exists and no one else is stepping in," the Rev. Bernie Lindley said in a statement.
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St. Timothy's had been working with other churches to ensure locals could get free meals every day of the week, but some churches suspended their meal programs when the pandemic began, according to the lawsuit. St. Timothy's, in turn, began offering meals six days a week, serving up to 70 people each lunchtime.
The church also offered coronavirus testing and COVID-19 vaccination. At one point, the city asked St. Timothy's to allow people who needed to sleep in their cars to use its parking lot, and the church agreed, the filing says.
But the services for homeless people began to rankle residents living near St. Timothy's, who complained of trespassing, littering and noise in their neighborhood, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The residents sent the city a petition in April asking for the church's homeless services to end.
In October, the City Council approved an ordinance creating a permit for "benevolent meal service" and restricting it to twice per week.
This tweet by another NPR journalist speaks volumes:
Postscript: The New York Times subsequently picked up this story, too.
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