Tag: St. John’s Episcopal Church Aptos CA

Is COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors a good bang for the buck? Alinsky’s progressive socialism seeks power over immigration, health care, open borders & housing

 

No Borders  espoused by various COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors  churches

Is COPA  aka Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc. — which is   Saul Alinsky in action -   a good bang for the buck?

Alinksy’s progressive socialism seeks power via churches over immigration, health care, open borders and housing.

For church members & the public,  COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc.  is not a good bang for the buck  based on   info from Charity Navigator.

Look at the numbers:

COPA  expenses: Seventy-nine percent  or roughly  4 out of 5 dollars pays for Personnel ($288 K) and General/ Administrative ($18.8 K).  Only 21% [$80,400 / $387,233] goes for Program Costs. Wow!

$288 K pays  for three full-time COPA organizers in the 2018-19 Budget.   Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc. is another name for COPA in the Santa Cruz and Monterey CA area.

COPA/ Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc.  is housed at a Lutheran church in Watsonville, CA and pays about $19 K for General and Administrative costs.

 How to evaluate the numbers: 

  • Program Expenses: The majority of charities listed by Charity Navigator   – seven out of ten non profits – spend at least 75% of their expenses directly on their Programs. That means the organization should spend no more than 25% of their total expenses on administrative overhead and fundraising costs.

  • COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc. reverses the percentages recommended by Charity Navigator  with expenses for Program accounting for  only 21% and  Personnel/ Administrative expenses accounting for  79%. Wow.  That’s a reversal!

     Check for evidence of commitment to accountability and transparency:

    • Website: The best charities are transparent and accountable to the public. You should be able to see evidence of this in the information they provide on their web site. Can you readily find information about the charity’s staff and Board of Directors? Did the charity publish its financial information such as its most recently filed Form 990 or audit?
    •  Accountability:  The IRS 990 form is available from the Central Coast Sponsors Inc. website.    https://www.guidestar.org/profile/77-0557460
  • Industrial Area Foundation (IAF) akin to an octopus with legs
    • Transparency: Low.  One must search to find connections to COPA’s   founding organization — the Industrial Area Foundation (IAF)  of Chicago, Illinois  COPA is a long standing  affiliate of IAF.    And there’s no mention of  community activist  Saul Alinsky  who wrote  the guiding principles for progressive socialists i.e., Rules for Radicals. One might think  it interesting to churches  that Alinsky  dedicated  his book to  Lucifer.

  • Open Borders is one goal of COPA / IAF / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc.

Churches connected with COPA in Santa Cruz and Monterey CA  fund open  border   immigration policies. Exactly how much dues  each church affiliate  pays COPA is not readily available.

COPA recently   held a conference on immigration “reform” in Monterey, CA  (4/9/2018). No specifics as to number of attendees is provided on their website.

The Catholic church in CA is a long time supporter of open borders.  Five of the seven churches in Santa Cruz County & neighboring two counties  which act as as the governing board of COPA   are Catholic.

Other  supporters of COPA  include  several Episcopal  churches, i.e., St. John’s in Aptos, Calvary in Santa Cruz and St. Mary’s by the Sea in Pacific Grove.

Sunday, 9/16/18 at 9 am,   COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc.  lead organizer Tim McManus speaks at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Aptos, CA.  You might ask  Mr. McManus  why roughly 4 of 5 dollars  of Expenses  goes to pay staff Personnel & Administrative  and only  21% pays  for Program.

Pope Francis is on record that a nation has the right to control it’s borders.  A nation is an extension of a family.

Aptos Psychologist:    COPA goes to church leaders and gets their “buy in” and them uses that buy in to contact parishioners and teach Alinsky progressive socialist goals.

What is COPA?    On  November 2, 2009 Freedom Advocates wrote,  “COPA targets congregations and unsuspecting parishioners…”

What COPA currently says:   It’s Mission is   “to develop the leadership skills of ordinary people …. to engage effectively in public life  …with power to negotiate with public and private sector leaders … to change the economic, social, political and cultural pressures on their families … 

COPA has 22  member institutions in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties — including “many religious groups”  they say.

As mentioned above, COPA is an affiliate  of Industrial Area Foundation.  See all the affiliates. 

Per  COPA’s website  (4/2018) Pete Scudder of Scudder Roofing  said about obtaining workers,  “there is no system. There is no line. No way anyone come here  legally unless they have   a lot of money….Scudder Roofing  construction company hires 90% Hispanics.  Scudder  Roofing seeks  to sponsor ‘citizen applications for workers’.

Back to general  discussion of COPA /  Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc. 

It’s vital to  look at how charities are rated for financial health and transparency.  Neither COPA  aka Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc is rated by Charity Navigator. That’s because their financials are too small for Charity Navigator.

What if all the legs of the founding organization — IAF — were examined by Charity Navigator?  What if COPA was transparent about its  socialist progressive agenda?  Would parishioners and the public support COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc?

It’s best to view COPA and Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc. for what they are — community organizing entities which seek progressive socialist goals.

 

Per D Souza both Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton — both students of Alinsky — implemented  Saul Alinsky’s political tactics.

Remember Obama’s promises that “you can keep your doctors…” and that “insurance premiums costs  were going down …”  Then Obama took over health care and 1/6th of private economy.  Check out D. Souza on YouTube.

Both Obama and the Clintons entered politics with little money and left as mult- millionaires.

 

What do you want for your children and grandchildren?   That your children learn progressive socialism in church via COPA / Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors Inc? 

Or that your children learn to think for themselves and seek freedom? 

written by Aptos Psychologist  Cameron Jackson PSY 14762

Monerey Bay Forum

127 Jewell Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States (US)
Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: jaj48@aol.com
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Evening Prayer: St. Teresa of Avila & St. John of the Cross

Christ of st john of the cross DaliDuring evening prayers on Friday  3/17/17  at St. John’s in Aptos, CA —  hear about another dynamic duo:  St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

John of the Cross was asked by Teresa of Avila to follow her — which he did.  Both  Teresa and  John  were 16th century Catholic  mystics living in Spain.

St. Teresa of Avila was a writer, reformer and mystic who started the Carmelite order.

St. John of the Cross, famous for Spiritual Canticle, wrote Dark Night of the Soul while he was locked in a 6′ by 10′ cell. Both of these  were written in Spanish.  At that time,  the Bible was only available in Latin.

crucificion sketch by st john of the crossSt. John of the Cross made a drawing of Christ from above was  later was the basis of Dali’s famous painting.

At age 43, Teresa of Avila started her first convent  and later  several other convents for women. She created a rule for how the women  were to live, committed to a simple life of poverty based on love.

“The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.” (1)

John of the Cross created a similar way of life in  living together  for men.   John of the Cross  served as Teresa’s spiritual director and confessor.

Hear more about this  dynamic duo during evening prayer  5:30 – 6:00 pm,  Friday, March 17, 2017 .  Come to St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Aptos, CA. Come for healing prayer and pray for others.

St. John’s is located near the entrance to Seacliff Beach in Aptos, CA. All are welcome.

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Dynamic Duos: Christian Saints Charles & John Wesley

hymns of faithChristian saints John and Charles Wesley are remembered and discussed today,  Friday, March 3,  5:30 pm at St. John’s in Aptos during evening prayers.

During March 2017  different dynamic duos  — Christian saints linked in ministry — will be remembered and discussed at St. John’s in Aptos, CA during the Friday 5:30- 6:00  evening prayer service.

Methodist preachers John and Charles Wesley are linked together in ministry.

Charles Wesley  wrote over 6,000 hymns including Hark the Harold Angel Sing.

Charles Wesley  is remembered March 2 in the Calendar of Saints for Evangelical Lutherans,  March 3 in the Episcopal Calendar of Saints and March 29 in the Order of Saint Luke calendar.

 

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Pay to pray? Yes as ‘member’ St. John’s Episcopal church

         club-might-purplePay to pray?  Yes.

Want to be a ‘member’?  

Just as night clubs charge a cover  charge to get in …..  to be a  ‘member of  the corporation’  of  St. John’s Episcopal church Aptos,  CA you must   pay identifiable money   ( e.g., checks, automatic deposit) used to  keep  the doors open, lights on and the staff  paid.  

That’s  what will  happen in two days  — if the Bylaws are changed as planned by St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Aptos, CA.  

What will you have to do to be  a ‘member’ after the Bylaws change?   Besides paying identifiable money into  the general fund that keeps the lights on and staff paid, you have to show up and take  communion (i.e.,the wine and bread)   3 times a year.

‘Contributions’ such as fixing the broken pipe or holding Evening Prayer don’t count toward  ‘church membership’.  Just money — only identifiable money — not cash counts to show you are a ‘member’.   

 Are you poor?  What if you have no money.  Ah, you are out of luck. Come in — but you can’t be ‘one of us’.  

Oh dear.  What if Joseph came by and offered services as a carpenter and wondered if there was a place to sleep for his pregnant wife?  That Joseph, wife and baby  cannot be  ‘members’  of this episcopal church  based on  his carpentry contributions.  That’s because only identifiable money for the upkeep and management of the building counts towards ‘membership’.

You can read below the exact wording of the proposed Bylaw changes.  

How did this happen?    Per review of the January – November  2016 Vestry Minutes,   the proposed Bylaw changes were initiated by interim priest Merritt G.    Merritt  told the Vestry (church board of directors)  that the Bylaws must be updated,  he then got a committee together and … 

in a couple days  (11/22/16) — the Vestry will vote to make the Bylaw changes recommended by interim priest  Merritt and two committee members.  

After the Bylaws have been changed, at St. John’s you are one or the other — either a ‘member’ or ‘not a member’.

Right now — before changing the Bylaws — how does the church currently figure out who is ‘a member’?

One Vestry member said that the church directory is the best list of families that are members of the parish.

Below is the exact  wording for the proposed changes to the Bylaws for St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church.

“Members of the Parish are those persons who, in addition to maintaining regular attendance at worship services and participation in Parish life, are at least 16 years old and who are registered on the Parish Register as a baptized Commnuicant of the Parish (i.e., have received Holy Communion in this Parish at least three times during the preceding year);  and are regular contributors to the undesignated general fund of Parish for the preceding six months.”

Monterey Bay Forum:   Today, one Vestry person (who has served  on the Vestry  several  times) said that they had never read the Bylaws. This person promised to read the Bylaws   –for the first time  — before the Tuesday meeting.    Per examination today, there was no information in the weekly bulletin today saying that the Bylaws would be updated at the next meeting to be held in two days.  So — no notice has been given to the congregation?

So — how much ‘transparency’ is going on here?

Why not wait until there is a new Rector and  at that time make changes to the Bylaws?

written by C. Jackson   DrCameronJackson@gmail.com

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