COURT HOUSE – Will Keenan, the actor who last year bought the former Goshen United Methodist Church and cemetery, made an appearance before Middle Township Committee Jan. 17.
He addressed the spate of negative comments that swirled around his new church, St. Babs, since his plan for a fundraiser at Halloween sparked controversy.
Keenan began in measured tones to explain the mission of his ministry and the support that it has generated in the local community.
Earlier in the week, he spoke of three pillars for his efforts: spirituality, addiction recovery, and the arts.
His troubles began with a planned Halloween event that some thought showed disrespect for those buried in the cemetery.
In his talk to the committee, Keenan compared his event to ones at Historic Cold Spring Village, nothing more than a historical reenactment, a tour of the cemetery with individuals dressed to represent some of those interned there.
Keenan said other aspects of the event, like the buried-alive experience, were off the cemetery property and never occurred given the local opposition.
He denied that reported séances were performed.
During his remarks Keenan had moments when he would suddenly turn to the attending citizens and shout out names in a loud voice, wanting to meet the people who, he feels, inappropriately maligned his endeavor.
The change in his demeanor in these instances was abrupt and almost appeared a loss of impulse control, but the life-long actor may have staged the theatrics. Each time he was reminded by Mayor Michael Clark to address his remarks to the committee and not the public.
Keenan could not conceal his feeling that a very small number of individuals and a negative press caused him difficulties concerning his Halloween event.
He defended the event, denied that anyone should ever have difficulty reaching him, and argued that press accounts had focused on aspects of the October fundraiser that did not happen.
In a visit by this reporter to his church earlier in the week, a handful of individuals, who are members of his congregation, spoke of the church’s role in connecting addicts with recovery programs. It also provides a safe location for children to play music and interact free from drugs and alcohol.
They described a current effort to use part of the property to “grow food for those who need it.”
Keenan said he has an appropriate respect for the dead buried in his cemetery, but he also has an obligation to the living. He argued that he had extended himself financially buying the church and needed the fundraisers and events to generate funds for maintenance, repair of facilities and ongoing programming.
The thrust of Keenan’s remarks was that the Church of St. Babs has done, and continues to do, good works for the community. It has been maligned in press accounts due to remarks made by a few families who have never contacted him directly.
He denied having ever met Eileen and Donald Douglas, one of the families with loved ones in the cemetery; even though they said that they spoke with him at length.
Keenan said he has never met Middle Township Solicitor Frank Corrado, even though Corrado said they had a long meeting at the municipal zoning office.
Keenan strongly denied that séances had taken place at the church even though Robert Bitting, who is listed as a psychic, medium and spiritual counselor, had a post on his website that he would be conducting a historic cemetery walk at St. Babs and “will channel spirits after.”
In another post, he wrote of “highlighting the graves of Spirits that haunt St. Babs Church followed by a Spirit Channeling session.” Whether it occurred or not, to many, “channeling spirits” and hosting a séance sounded very similar.
The point is that the highly non-traditional nature of St. Babs and Keenan’s congregation ran smack up against a very traditional mind-set held by many families of those buried in the cemetery.
At the end of Keenan’s address, Committee member Timothy Donohue warned Keenan about appearing “flip” in the face of very real differences in perspective.
Donohue said that Keenan’s efforts at the new church have “thrown some people into a state of uncertainty.” He noted that families had had loved ones buried in the cemetery for generations.
He warned that Keenan could not just dismiss those feelings as unfounded.
Keenan surprised some by offering to give the cemetery to the township free of charge, or even to an organization established by township citizens or concerned families.
Donohue said that the township committee has little involvement in situations like the one concerning the St. Babs cemetery. He said that the best the committee could do is facilitate a dialogue.
There appeared to be agreement that facilitating that dialogue would be a positive next step.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
Villas – I guess Kamala Harris was just too honest, too intelligent and too sane of a person to win an election in a racist, sexist, backward country like America.
