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Hesitating to take one small step to fairness
© St. Petersburg Times It makes no sense that Tampa's Metropolitan Ministries found it so painful to open its board of directors to non-Christians. All the agency had to do was check with other big religiously based charities in the Tampa Bay area, such as Catholic Charities, Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services and Lutheran Ministries. None has a written policy, like Metropolitan Ministries did until last week, barring people of other faiths from its board. And two of those charities have put their beliefs into action, at least to a degree. While Lutheran Ministries' board is comprised of all Lutherans, three members of the board of Catholic Charities are non-Catholic. One member of the board of Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services is not Jewish. Arnold Andrews, the executive director of Catholic Charities in St. Petersburg, said that as soon as he took over the agency 61/2 years ago, he made it a point to open up the board to non-Catholics. "You can't say you're Christian without being inclusive, because everything Christ taught us about is being inclusive. He loved everybody. He loved everybody and he directed us to do the same," Andrews said. But faith isn't the only reason for more open policies. Cold cash is a big factor. These agencies get a lot of government money to do their work, and government asks questions. "Public funders want to know the diversity of your board . . . when you file grant applications," said Harvey Landress, the vice president for planning of Jewish Gulf Coast Family Services. Almost all of the agency's money comes from public sources, he said. Metropolitan Ministries also gets government money, but much less -- about 7 percent of its total budget. Still, a principle was at stake. The board of Metropolitan Ministries hasn't grasped it. When it was criticized for the prohibition on non-Christians, the agency's collective back went up. The prohibition was dropped. But as if the agency were in danger of being take over by outsiders, the board specifically capped the number of non-Christians that could become part of the leadership. The other charities don't do that. They openly acknowledge the logic of their boards being made up primarily of people of their own faith, but at the same time they speak of wanting to strike a balance. They wish they had more people of other beliefs and backgrounds serving on their boards. This isn't political correctness. "I'm just telling you from the heart," said Harvey Landress, the Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services vice president. "We live in a multicultural society, and it's important that we be aware of those implications." Jewish Family Services is so sensitive to this issue that it often uses a different name to represent itself: Gulf Coast Community Care. This other name is meant to overcome the inaccurate perception that you have to be Jewish to get help from the agency. These are all multimillion-dollar organizations. Catholic Charities serves five bay area counties. Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services covers even more. Lutheran Ministries works statewide. If it weren't for these organizations, thousands of people who need assistance wouldn't get it. Metropolitan Ministries is in the same class. But its board is not. Last week, when board members voted to drop the ban against non-Christians, they also voted to enlarge the board. They could have followed the lead of the other agencies and added members of other faiths, but they refused. All it would have taken was the addition of one person of another faith. All it would have taken was one small step toward fairness, decency and away from small-mindedness. -- You can reach Mary Jo Melone at mjmelone@sptimes.com or (813)-226-3402.
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Times columns today Mary Jo Melone Tampa Uncuffed Ernest Hooper From the Times Metro desk |
