St. Timothy Episcopal Church is grateful that our recent art installation remained intact until the weather intervened.
This art, designed to point out the number of unnecessary deaths that have occurred in or near ICE facilities, brought out big feelings. Judging by the number of negative comments posted on The Chronicle’s social media posts, it was not clear to me that the art would survive.
It survived.
We took the art down a bit early only because the wind and rain damaged some of the 73 tombstones, and those tombstones will be moved to other locations soon.
The closing of the art installation at St. Timothy seems a good time to address some oft-repeated questions.
Q: Where is the art installation for the thousands of American citizens killed by undocumented people?
A: Can’t find a list naming thousands of American citizens who have been killed by undocumented people. Perhaps such a list exists. If you build a memorial for those people, I will come and pray for them with you.
Q: The actual deaths caused by ICE are fewer than five. Where did you get these numbers?
A: I can’t find information to suggest that fewer than five people have been killed by ICE. Our source for this art was https://lataco.com/ice-death-tracker.
Q: What kind of a church are you anyway?
A: We are an Episcopal Church (https://www.episcopalchurch.org/). We are a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia (https://ecww.org/). We are the only Episcopal Church in Lewis County, but there are Episcopal Churches all over the world as well as across this country and state.
Q: What do you believe?
A: We believe in God, the Holy Trinity. We celebrate Holy Eucharist (also called Holy Communion) most Sundays. We baptize people and renew our own baptismal vows regularly. One of those vows reminds us that human beings are all made in God’s image and all are beloved of God. We promise to seek and serve Christ in all others, and to respect the dignity of every human being.
Thank you to the many people who commented favorably about this art installation. Thank you to Jess Hernandez, local changemaker and author, and to ROOTED in Lewis County for the opportunity to host this important statement.
You are invited to pray with us on Sundays at 10 a.m. We support individuals and local organizations by offering food and/or financial support to help in these tough times. We offer Dungeons and Dragons Club twice a month for middle and high school students. You’ll find us every year at our local Pride event. The church will be open on Halloween from 5-7 p.m. for our annual Book or Treat event. Families can stop by for free books, free treats, and a warm break.
We are here because we love God and because we love our neighbors.
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Rev. Kay Flores leads St. Timothy Episcopal Church in Chehalis.
