Flashback:  Episcopal church Divided in Occupy Loyalties

I know this is old news - like a whole six months - but Brad Drell (we’ve missed you, Brad) called our attention to this in the Occupy thread.  The irony to me demanded required that we help expose the capitalist Episcopal church. It seems their support for Occupy becomes conditional when it infringes on THEIR property. 

[Episcopal News Service] A retired Episcopal bishop and a priest from the Episcopal Diocese of New York were among seven people convicted June 18 on charges of trespassing on property owned by Trinity Episcopal Church, Wall Street, during a Dec. 17 Occupy Wall Street demonstration and sentenced to four days of community service.

George Packard, former Episcopal bishop suffragan for armed services and federal ministries, and the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, had faced up to 90 days in prison on the most serious charge, Packard’s lawyer, Gideon Oliver, had previously told ENS.

An eighth defendant, Mark Adams, was convicted of trespassing and additional charges of attempted criminal mischief and attempted possession of burglar’s tools, reportedly for trying to use bolt-cutters to slice through the fence surrounding the property. He was sentenced to 45 days in prison on Rikers Island and taken from court in handcuffs, Oliver said in a telephone interview after the trial.

“We’re considering whether or not to appeal,” he said. “We have 30 days to make that decision. I think for now everyone’s focus is on supporting Mark.”

In a statement on Trinity’s website, the Rev. James Cooper, rector, said the church supported many of the Occupy movement’s underlying principles and would continue to welcome protestors to its facilities in the Wall Street neighborhood but said it did “not support the seizure of private property.”

The screaming question to me is WHY Mark is getting 45 days in jail and the bishop and priest get a slap on the wrist.