In Case of Emergency, Break Glass …

Administrators at the College of William & Mary, responding to months of harsh criticism from alumni, ordered the immediate return of a cross to the Williamsburg school’s historic Wren Chapel yesterday.

What was it that made the chapel “historic?” (Just because it’s old doesn’t make it holy.)

Alumni angered by the removal of the cross in October threatened to withhold millions of dollars of donations — including a $12 million gift.

At first reading I thought: “What’s wrong with October?”
Read on and you’ll discover a small glass box that’s worth (at least) twelve million dollars.

“This has been a challenging task for the committee, but it has produced a compromise that allows for permanent display of the cross in the chapel, while remaining welcoming to all,” Mr. Nichol [school president — see footnote* ] said. “I fully embrace it.”

Sorry. I’ve stared at that sentence way too long. Rather than embrace it (I do not speak Parcel Tongue), I must move on …

The 18-inch brass cross will be returned for permanent display in a glass case at the chapel “in a prominent, readily visible place,” the recommendation states.

Bwahhhaahhaaaahhhahaaaaaaaa! Ahhaa!

Aha.

Ah …

Sigh.

Mr. Nichol removed the cross from permanent display in October in an attempt to make the chapel “equally open and welcoming to all.” The decision prompted criticism and support from students, faculty and alumni and drew national headlines.

Obviously that big ol’ 18″ Cross was blocking the historic chapel doors.

Look. Here’s the deal. From now on — if you find yourself in a chapel ashamed of the Cross — Flee!

Some alumni have said the cross issue is emblematic of a larger problem with Mr. Nichol as a president, citing a recent sex workers’ art show at the college as an example of leadership gone awry.

How come I find myself staring at this sentence like I did the one before? Hmmm. This time, think not Parcel Tongue … Think P.D. Eastman:

Hello!
— Hello!

Do you like my art show?
— I do not.

Good-by!
— Good-by!

Paraphrased from Go, Dog, Go!

Which brings me, long-suffering surfer, to this coming Sunday’s Mid-Lenten Gospel:

And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels …”

More on the William & Mary Story at the Washington Times.

HT NewsForum
Pic Source

* From Wikipedia: On July 1, 2005, Gene R. Nichol (formerly Dean and Burton Craige Professor of the Law School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) was sworn in as the College’s 26th President … Nichol’s tenure has encountered controversy over his decision to remove a cross from the College’s Wren Chapel, as well as the “Sex Workers Art Show,” a combination of a burlesque/strip show and monologues about the sex workers industry. The show is funded by student and departmental fees and has come to campus for two consecutive years. Nichol defended both decisions based on the need to create an inclusive environment for students of various faith traditions and First Amendment principles, respectively.