In this SNLC last year, I wrote about the willful destruction of the only full-time classical radio station in St. L. last year, formerly owned by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The Synod caught some bad publicity for the sleaziness behind the sale, not that they cared. That aside, they still owned an AM radio station, also called KFUO. One of the former KFUO-FM employees, Dennis Stortz, moved over to the AM side after the FM classical side was snuffed out.
Well, as of this week, the LC-MO Synod managed to sink to another new low in cruelty, with the firing this week of Stortz and 4 other KFUO-AM employees. The new low is in the manner of the immediate context in which the Synod fired Stortz. More below the flip.....
You can read about the firing from Sarah Bryan Miller at the Post-Dispatch's "Culture Club" blog here. The truly evil part of the firing is explained here, per "sources within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod":
"According to the sources, Stortz was fired via telephone while in Washington State for his son's wedding."
To fire someone under such circumstances is so low, despicable, and mean-spirited as to render anything that I can write about it superfluous. The comments on the blog post from "Just the Truth" and "Jance" capture it quite well. But this kind of behavior is nothing new for the Lutheran Church-MO Synod. Right after the sale of KFUO-FM was announced, the appointed spokesman for the Synod, Kermit Brashear, put everyone at KFUO-FM under a gag order regarding the sale, where no employee of KFUO-FM was allowed to speak or respond to any sort of inquiry about the sale. The fact that Stortz is keeping mum on this is in keeping with that spirit, intuitively speaking.
Of course, people being fired is nothing new. I've been given my marching orders on several occasions (lame loser, that 3CM). But at least the boss did it to my face, in the office, with time to at least get ready for it. It would have been different if the Synod had gathered the to-be-dismissed employees in the office and said something to the effect of "Sorry, folks, times are tight and we have to let you go; here's the 3 weeks notice". It would still have sucked, but at least it would have been more honest.
But honesty, decency, and dignity are qualities utterly lacking in the leadership of the Lutheran Church-MO Synod, based on this treatment of Stortz and their sleazy sale of KFUO-FM prior. I would happily consign the leadership of the Synod to the most painful pit of Dante's Inferno as just punishment for their actions. Unfortunately, their behavior is a perfect example of the quote attributed to Jean-Paul Sartre, translated as "Hell is other people". It would be great if individual members of the Lutheran Church-MO Synod renounced the church and shriveled the Synod into non-existence, but no chance of that.
It's not much consolation, but I certainly wish Dennis Stortz a brighter future and that he somehow lands on his feet. Congratulations also to his son on his wedding, and to the father of the groom.
So, just the thing to start your Saturday night on DK, a rant (but that seems fitting for a series with this title). With that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories of the week.....