Newtown Vigil: Is the Missouri Synod Wrong on Its Stance?

The president of the Kirkwood-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod asked for an apology from a pastor who participated in an interfaith vigil after the shootings.

A few days after the shooting in Newtown, CT, that killed 20 children and six adults, the community gathered with a variety of clergy leaders representing a number of faiths for a prayer service and vigil. That didn't sit well with the president of the conservative, Kirkwood-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. A pastor from Christ the King Lutheran Church, a Missouri Synod church in Newtown, was among those who participated. And the president of the synod, The Rev. Matthew Harrison, asked that pastor to apologize, as reported in an article by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday. The Post's coverage summarizes the issue thusly: The synod forbids "worship services that blend the beliefs and practices of Lutherans with those of other …

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Amy E.

3:37 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013

I also watched it on television, and I agree that I saw nothing in that memorial gathering that indicated that any of the clergy present were endorsing the faiths of any of the others. They were all simply trying to offer comfort to the grieving. I felt the same way some 11 years earlier when the LCMS pastor David Benke participated in an interfaith memorial gathering at Yankee Stadium following …   more ›

Governor Nixon: Don't Arm Missouri School Teachers

Legislation that would allow teachers with concealed weapons permits to carry guns in school has the support of Missouri House Republican leaders.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced Monday he sent letters to all 520 public school superintendents in the state, opposing legislation that would allow teachers with concealed weapons permits to carry their weapon at school. The bill for the 2013 legislative session was filed following the Newtown, CT shooting, which left 26 people, including 20 children, dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It is co-sponsored by House Republican leaders, including House Speaker Tim Jones and Majority Leader John Diehl. Mehlville School District employs seven St. Louis County Police officers as school resource officers—one at each high school and middle school—to help protect teachers, students and school staff. Officers from the middle schools also …

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St. Louis County Police Chief Wants to Arm School Officials With Guns

In the wake of the Newtown, CT school massacre, St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch will visit schools this week to discuss increasing security, including putting guns in elementary schools.

St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch and police officers will begin visiting St. Louis County schools Monday morning, according to KMOV. (For instant updates follow Patch on Facebook and Twitter.) Fitch said he's received numerous calls from area schools concerned about security since Friday's mass shooting in a Newtown, CT elementary school.  Fitch acknowledges that most high schools and some middle schools, including those in West County, have armed school resource officers.  However, elementary schools are not normally protected by officers. Fitch wants to see armed resource officers or armed school officials in those schools, according to KSDK. He points out that Sandy Hook Elementary School conducted threat drills and locked its …

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Karl Frank Jr.

11:33 am on Friday, March 8, 2013

LOL. I don't know who you think you saw...but it wasn't me.   more ›

Follow Newtown, CT Patch for Updates on Shooting

Follow news, updates and blog posts from residents of the town that suffered a horrific tragedy this week.