[OccupySheffieldNews] Court Papers Served on Occupy Sheffield by Sheffield Cathedral

[Occupy Sheffield]

Hi

Occupy Sheffield yesterday saw court papers which appear
to show Sheffield Cathedral (a Christian organisation)
taking Occupy Sheffield (an organisation of peaceful
protestors of all faiths and none, campaigning for
economic and social justice) to the High Court in search
of an injunction on the matter of trespass.

Whilst we are raising queries with our legal advisors,
Occupy Sheffield strongly believe that the solution to
this situation is not legal action. Such an option would
not be in keeping with the shared values of the Church and
the Occupation. We continue to extend our invitation to
Peter Bradley and the Cathedral Chapter to work with the
Occupation to find a well reasoned and mutually acceptable
resolution. The words of Canon Giles Fraser (who resigned
over similar proceedings being brought by the City of
London Corporation against Occupy LSX) are relevant here:
“One has to be very, very careful that we distinguish
between the needs of a building and the Church as an
organisation that spreads the gospel…Now there are times
when the two things are in tension…you have to ask
yourself about extraordinary compromises and balances”.
Examples of such compromise and balance have already been
evidenced. We would urge Peter Bradley and the Chapter to
adopt the stance of other Anglican leaders such as Desmond
Tutu, Emeritus, Archbishop of Cape Town, Rowan Williams,
Archbishop of Canterbury, The Bishop of Wales, and The
Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral.

Peter Bradley and the Chapter of Sheffield Cathedral
should be in no doubt that by taking legal action to
forcibly evict the Occupation could result in them being
the first British church in recent times to condone
violence by enforcement bodies against members of their
own church. They would also be condoning the use of force
against vulnerable pensioners, disabled and homeless
people, such as users of the Cathedral Archer project. All
of these vulnerable groups are regularly represented at
the Occupy Camp.

Occupy Sheffield believe that compromise can only be
reached by keeping open our lines of reasoned
communication. All parties must dig deep and consider that
if Peter Bradley, The Chapter and Occupy Sheffield embark
on a long and costly legal battle it will ultimately
reveal a collective lack of wisdom that this was allowed
to happen at all. Occupy Sheffield are disappointed that
Peter Bradley has never visited the camp to talk to us. We
do not enjoy the vested ecumenical power of Peter Bradley
or the Chapter; we believe they are vulnerable to abuse
such power and make uninformed decisions about people who
do not enjoy this advantage, and with whom they have had
very little engagement.

Occupy Sheffield has taken a stand on Church St because we
believe our world has become dominated by a competitive,
“dog eat dog” mentality. We will become perilously close
to our darkest of days if this attitude is not tempered by
the duty to see each other as valuable human beings and
act with the respect that we all deserve.

Our appeal is for all parties to see the humanity in each
other, to seek compromise over conflict, and peace over
violence.

https://occupysheffield.org/2012/01/14/court-papers/

Occupy Sheffield