Story Archive

The Meek Won’t Inherit the Earth

Police in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., responded in force to an illegal act: the group Love Thy Neighbor showed up next to Stranahan Park — as it has been every week for 23 years — to feed the homeless. The city recently enacted an ordinance to restrict “public food sharing” and other acts considered “life sustaining” to the homeless, but the group’s founder, Arnold Abbot, 90, vowed not to be deterred. As he handed a plate of food to one of the “well over 100” homeless and hungry people standing in line, a police officer ordered, “Drop that plate right now!” Abbot, as well as the Rev. Canon Mark Sims of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs, the Rev. Dwayne Black of the Sanctuary Church in Fort Lauderdale, and Irene Smith, a Love Thy Neighbor volunteer, were issued summonses to appear in court to answer to their lawlessness. They each face fines of up to $500, and 60 days in jail. (RC/Palm Beach Post) ...“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.” —Jesus (Matthew 25:41-42)