A heated meeting

Many neighbors speak out against plans for homeless services at the Second Congregational Church

The pews at Second Congregational Church were nearly full on Monday. But it was hardly a night for quiet contemplation.

About 100 people showed up at the historic church on Conant Street to talk — or often shout— about a plan to use the church as a site to help homeless people.

The church announced recently that it will close due to declining membership and has signed an agreement to sell the building to Lifebridge North Shore. Lifebridge runs homeless shelters in Salem and Beverly and provides a variety of services to people in need. It says it plans to use the church as another place to offer those services, such as case management and maybe mental health counseling. Jason Etheridge, Lifebridge’s president, said he has talked to seven nonprofits based in Beverly who might also want to use the church space.

Lifebridge says the church will not be used as a homeless shelter.

Lots of people showed up for the meeting.

Neighbors rightfully had plenty of questions, mostly concerning safety. They’re worried if their kids will be safe playing at the playground and ballpark across the street. And they wanted some type of guarantee that the church wouldn’t eventually be turned into a homeless shelter. No one can fault them for those concerns.

But the tone of the meeting did not feel good. Not long into it, people began shouting over the Rev. Adam Isbitsky, the Second Congregational Church pastor who was leading the meeting, demanding to be heard. There was lots of talk about drug addicts and needles and pedophiles and sex offenders.

Again, they’re all legitimate questions. It’s not unusual for public meetings to get heated, but usually the targets of people’s wrath are public officials who know that’s part of the job. In this case, the ire was directed at a church minister and a nonprofit trying to help society’s most desperate people. One guy walked out in the middle of talking to Isbitsky, saying he didn’t believe the pastor was telling the truth. Isbitsky did his best to keep things civil. He even started and ended the meeting with a prayer.

At one point a woman addressed Mayor Mike Cahill, asking him if he was going to “stonewall this neighborhood the way you stonewalled the teachers (during the teachers strike).”

Cahill accused the woman of “attacking” him and referred to “the dehumanizing that goes on far too much.”

“I’m not going to take that,” he said.

Cahill did not take a stand for or against the plan. The sale agreement between the church and Lifebridge is now before the state Attorney General’s public charity division, which must sign off on the transaction. It will also be reviewed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Cahill said he will hold a meeting on the topic and invite neighbors. Isbitsky gave everybody his cell phone number and said the church will start a website with information on the whole process. The pastor said it will take at least six months before the AG’s office makes its decision.

Many people who had concerns did express them in a respectful way. And there were plenty of people who spoke in favor of Lifebridge. Many pointed out that the problem of homelessness is already all around us, and that Lifebridge is trying to help alleviate the situation, not make it worse.

The fair question for all of us is whether or not we’d be open to having services like this next to our house. But it can be asked without shouting and without demeaning people. Etheridge said most of the people who knock on the door of the church looking for help from Family Promise North Shore Boston, a nonprofit that is already located at the church, are women with children.

Rachel Hand, the executive director of Family Promise, said homeless people are often invisible to people because they’re afraid to ask for help.

“There could be someone sitting in this church right now who is homeless and is excited (to see this plan),” Hand said.

In fact, a couple of people stood up and said they were homeless at one time and needed the type of services provided by Lifebridge and Family Promise.

“I’m going to be open here,” said Joe Poniatowski, who lives in Beverly. “If I hadn’t had help from a system like Lifebridge, I’d probably be homeless. I’d be the guy in the woods who you’re afraid of.”

“Just open up and give people help,” he said.

He said it quietly. But sometimes that’s the best way to get your message across.