With about six weeks left in her term, Lackawanna County Commissioner Laureen Cummings is making a renewed push to have Jesus Christ’s name added to a monument on Courthouse Square.
In June 2018, commissioners voted 2-0, with Cummings abstaining, to award a roughly $58,000 contract to Honesdale-based Martin Caufield Memorial Works to correct dozens of verifiable errors and make other changes to the monuments surrounding the courthouse. Cummings took issue with a change involving a Bible verse engraved on the Veterans Memorial wall located near the courthouse’s front entrance.
A 2014 review by the Lackawanna Historical Society, which identified numerous misspellings, incorrect dates and other issues with the monuments, prompted the county’s request for proposals for the monument work. The RFP calls for the attribution of the Bible verse to be changed from “Anonymous” to “John 15:13 KJV” — a reference to the book, chapter and verse of the King James Bible where the excerpt appears.
Cummings, however, wants the quote attributed directly to Jesus Christ. She argued in June 2018 that the attribution in the RFP is not the appropriate way to reference scripture and argued this week the verse should be attributed to Christ, who is speaking in the Biblical passage.
County Arts and Culture Director Maureen McGuigan said an internal committee of officials working in partnership with the historical society researched Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association citation guides and consulted with various faith leaders and others before determining the attribution should read “John 15:13 KJV.” McGuigan said she also researched examples of Bible verse attributions on other public monuments.
Maria Johnson, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Scranton’s Department of Theology/Religious Studies, said the attribution in the RFP is proper.
“John 15:13 is an entirely appropriate way to do it,” she said.
Cummings contends the Bible verse attribution was still an open question when commissioners voted on the monument resolution in June 2018. Meeting minutes confirm the issue was unresolved and that arts and culture department program manager Chris Calvey planned to meet with faith leaders to further discuss the matter.
Calvey said Wednesday that he polled both protestant pastors and Catholic monsignors who agreed the attribution should include the chapter, book and verse of the Bible. Calvey said he did not hold a formal meeting with the faith leaders and did not communicate their opinion directly to Cummings, though he did apprise other officials.
A frustrated Cummings said she’s been “getting the runaround” with regard to the attribution and suggested officials may be trying to run out the clock on her term.
If the county is to add Christ’s name to the monument, county general counsel Donald Frederickson said commissioners will have to approve a resolution.
Commissioner Jerry Notarianni said he will stick with the opinion of the experts and faith leaders officials consulted. Attempts to reach commissioner Patrick O’Malley were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Aside from the Bible verse attribution, McGuigan said the monument corrections are largely complete. Attempts to reach Martin Caufield were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Cummings said she will continue to fight for the addition of Christ’s name.
“I’ve been pushing for it since I found out about it,” she said.
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