This letter has been delivered to Wilmington, DE Mayor Mike Purzycki, Mayor-elect John Carney, Chief of Police W. Campos, and each member of the Wilmington City Council. The letter has been signed by over 250 individuals and multiple organizations across the city and state.
The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (SsAM), located at 719 N Shipley Street, is a faith community that welcomes all and is rooted in values of justice and equity. We are a congregation that has served the community of Wilmington since 1829, and in our current building at the corner of 8th and Shipley Street since 1840.
Our mission statement and guiding principles articulate that our faith in Jesus Christ calls us all to welcome all regardless of age, economic circumstances, race, gender, or anything else, and we are called to be agents of justice and peace in our community. Support for our neighbors living in poverty has taken many forms over the years, through Andrew’s Place, a shelter run out of the 719 N Shipley location, being part of the collective that established Sojourner’s Place on Northeast Boulevard, and we currently host Friendship House’s Wilmington Empowerment Center. As a dedicated faith community, we live out our faith through caring for and welcoming all, with a commitment to serving the most vulnerable. We have done so for generations. Today we continue that tradition by supplying a bathroom for use during staff office hours by anyone who is in need. Our building is indeed a sanctuary for all in need of rest or warmth. In cooperation with Friendship House and other faith communities, we provide shelter and food during times of extreme heat and cold. We supply laundry facilities for anyone in need to have their clothes washed for free. Caring for the most vulnerable in our community is at the heart of our identity as followers of Christ.
As we stated in a joint statement with Friendship House the city around us is shrinking for
those who are unhoused or are living in poverty. SsAM and the Wilmington Empowerment
Center are one of the few safe and welcoming spaces where the most vulnerable members of
our community can access desperately needed services.
It is through that lens that we raise our voices in frustration and protest over the increasingly
aggressive tactics and actions by the Wilmington Police Department that dehumanize our
neighbors and infringe upon our congregational rights, as well as the rights of those we faithfully
serve. We raise our voices and concern over these escalating police tactics that have been
used around and within our spaces against the beloved community members that we serve. We
find these tactics of harassment and intimidation, including threats to both the Friendship House
Empowerment Center and SsAM to be unjust. These actions have gone so far as to illegally
remove the benches outside of the entrance at 720 N Orange Street; benches which served
members of our community for nearly forty (40) years. These actions are antithetical to our
values as a Christian faith community.
We call on the WPD to respect the sacred dignity of every person that attends services at
SsAM, utilizes our property for activities, or is simply passing through our site.
We call on the WPD to respect our deeply held religious beliefs and practices, and to cease and
desist from engaging in further aggressive tactics, including any additional removal of our
private property, any further threats to SsAM, the Wilmington Empowerment Center, or any of
our other ministry partners. We insist that we maintain the ability to exercise our constitutionally
protected right to practice our Christian faith by caring for those among us who are in need. We
invite the WPD to fully live into their mission statement to work in partnership with residents, and
other community stakeholders, thereby making our community both safe and truly welcoming.
In solidarity with all of the undersigned, we ask the following of the City of Wilmington and the
Wilmington Police Department:
● For the city to convene a monthly meeting attended by the Mayor (and the Mayor elect),
the Mayor’s Chief of Staff (and the Mayor elect’s transition team), WPD Chief Campos,
Kim Eppehimer (or a suitable representative from Friendship House), and The Rev.
Patrick Burke of SsAM to collaborate on addressing community and police concerns,
and to lay the groundwork for a community centered approach to addressing the housing
crisis. Our goal is to ensure that all feel welcome in our city and we address the root
causes of the housing crisis.
● For the WPD to immediately cease and desist the use of all tactics of harassment and
intimidation at SsAM, the WIlmington Empowerment Center, and at Friendship House.
This should include full compliance with the legal direction from the Delaware Attorney
General that any law enforcement activity that relies on anti-loitering statutes is unlawful.
Therefore any further removal of benches in public spaces, or any other tactics that
dehumanize our neighbors should cease immediately.
● For the WPD to immediately restore or replace the benches that were removed outside
of the entrance to The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew at 720 N
Orange Street.
The Reverend Patrick Burke is the Rector at the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew in Wilmington, DE