Word: mosses
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According to Trinity members familiar with the situation, after the May 27 meeting, Moss was ordered to tell the first person he hired - his head of communications - that she could no longer serve in the paid pastoral staff position. At least one other Trinity staffer has also been relieved of her duties in recent days. One source familiar with the situation said of Wright and the dismissals, "He doesn't have to run it by the board...
Wright was officially to have stepped down last Sunday, June 1. And from the pulpit at 7:30 a.m. that day, Wright's hand-picked successor, the Rev. Otis Moss III, preached what should have been his first sermon as senior pastor of Trinity, one of the Chicago's largest congregations and among the most influential religious institutions in America. Instead, on church bulletins on June 1, Moss was identified simply as "pastor" rather than "senior pastor," even as Wright assumed the title "pastor emeritus." Indeed, Trinity members familiar with the developments say that on May 27, Moss was summoned...
...news of the situation traveled through the congregation, many Trinity members were baffled. "Two years ago, you felt God gave you the vision to bring Rev. Moss here," one Trinity member said this week, referring to Wright's explanation for hiring Moss. "Now," the same member added, "why are you second-guessing God's vision, and saying Rev. Moss isn't qualified, that somehow he needs to go through more hoops...
...Wright's retirement, which became official today, had been planned for years. It's highly possible the Obamas may have found a more kindred spirit in Moss. He is 37, educated at Morehouse and Yale. His delivery is silky smooth, not nearly as bluntly political as the 66-year-old Wright's. But it is no less of a performance: He often pops the microphone between his hands during a sermon, so as to free the other hand to chop the air to emphasize words...
...Moss' sermon on early Sunday seemed to suggest the church was trying hard to focus hard on its business and away from the controversy of the past several months. Several members seemed to agree. "The congregation isn't caught up in that larger debate - it's a distraction," says Hopkins, the University of Chicago professor. "We've still got to teach Bible class. None of this is going to impact the work of our ministries, or the scholarships we give to black colleges...