The Neighborhood Services Committee agenda has an item about Pastor Nathan Monk
“Recently, the Saint Faustina Old Catholic Church of Pensacola, under the leadership of Pastor Nathan Monk, began meeting at Plaza Ferdinand for weekly religious services along with feeding members of the congregation and any members of the public who wanted to participate.
The Church was advised by the Pensacola Police Department that the activity was not permissible under existing City Council Policy in Plaza Ferdinand. The Church found this restriction to be unacceptable and engaged the services of the Alliance Defense Fund (a non-profit legal and educational organization) to defend what they considered to be their public right to access a “public park” for their weekly event.”
The church has filed a complaint in federal court challenging the City’ s 20-year old policy restricting public usage of Plaza Ferdinand.
According to the complaint, Saint Faustina Old Catholic Church holds a weekly Thursday night Bible study at its building in downtown Pensacola. The study is held for fellowship, study of the Bible, and prayer.
Over time, the Bible study members, led by Fr. Monk, decided that they would like to begin meeting at the Park as a part of their meetings for a weekly picnic (20 to 30 people), returning to their nearby church building afterwards for the formal Bible study.
“The choice to meet there was based on the Church members’ religiously-motivated desire to live out the things they are learning in their Bible studies, particularly by reaching out to their local community. Accordingly, when the Church meets at the Park for a picnic, the Church members offer to share their food with any people who happen to be at the Park.”
In 2007, Monk had a different name for his church, St. Mark Reformed Catholic Church. He was evicted from 422 N. Palafox St (next to YMCA) where he was running a coffee house and music venue called The Factory—-along with church services.
Monk, age 24, is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. He is ordained in the Orthodox Anglo-Catholic Church.
