In sharp contrast to Saint Andrew, we have my employer.
About four months ago, I had two days of meetings in another building on campus. No one I asked could remember seeing an accessible restroom, so I wound up searching just about every floor before finding something barely usable.
Afterwards, I sent an email to our facilities department, asking if there was a list of accessible restrooms.
There wasn’t, but today there is. Today I was presented with a report showing every building, every floor, every restroom on campus rated from 1-4:
1 – Meets ADA standards
2 – Meets basic accessibility checklist
3 – Has accessible stall with grab bars
4 – Does not meet one or more critical requirements
The sad news, of course, is that 80-90% of the restrooms on the list are rated 4. But the fact that this survey was done at all, and that the Director of Facilities tells me this gives him the information he needs to begin budgeting for restroom upgrades starting next year – what a tremendous way to do the Right Thing!
… he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10
Maybe churches forget that being seen to accept injustice in one area justly and reasonably invites wider scrutiny (or at least suspicion). (I write this as a Roman Catholic and some of our recent experiences bear on this point.) Quite a few corporations have eventually learned that lesson. But in this specific case, perhaps the facilities director lacks the properly theological outlook to realize that poorly configured spaces have been divinely predestined beyond redemption ;-)
Theology can be a real hindrance to doing the Right Thing! (Shoot. Writing that down probably blew my chance to be the next pope…)
And we know that everyone is concerned about the divine predestination (and/or redemption) of poorly configured spaces!
Ummm, Patricia …
There’s a somewhat more permanent aspect of your person that is going to blow your chance to be the next pope.