Texas Episcopalian

Volume 113, No. 2

Houston, Texas

February 2010

Photo credit: Children’s Medical Mission of Haiti

Diocese Suffers Heavy Damage In Recent Earthquake

The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti in Port-au-Prince also houses its seminary. Both collapsed along with the cathedral (pictured) during the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Caring for 23,000 Quake Survivors

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is caring for close to 23,000 Haitians in at least 21 encampments around the earthquake-devastated country.

The information came Jan. 23 in a letter from Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin to Episcopal Relief & Development President Robert Radtke. In the letter, Duracin said that the diocese and the organization are working

“hand-in-hand.”

“Please tell our partners, the people of the Episcopal Church, the people of the United States and indeed the people of the world that we in Haiti are immensely grateful for their prayers, their support and their generosity,” Duracin wrote. “This is a desperate time in Haiti; we have lost so much. But we still have the most important asset, the people of God, and we are working continuously to take care of them.”

See Haiti, page 13

INSIDE Bishops’ Calendars......................... 15 Bishop’s Column.............................. 2 Calendar of events............................ 7 Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

Diocesan News...................... 8-11 Parish News............................ 3-7 Sam Todd’s Column..................14 Texas Episcopalian • Comes February 2010 1 Extreme Home Makeover to Town Page 16

Does Disaster Follow Sin?

In Luke’s Gospel (13:121) Jesus refers to a recent disaster in which eighteen people were killed when part of an ancient tower wall fell near the pool of Siloam. Jesus asks the question, do you think they were more due for punishment than all the Galileans or all the people who live in Jerusalem?

While scholars say prophets in Jesus’ day used current disasters to encourage repentance before the end of time--or in this case, the coming of the reign of God--we know that what Jesus is saying is that natural disasters happen and people are killed.

In the wake of the events unfolding before our eyes in Haiti, some may be tempted to ask, why does one person survive while another does not? Were some spared because of righteous living? Did others perish because of some notorious sin? Jesus’ answer remains an unequivocal, “NO!” For those in the Lukan community who first heard this passage, and for us today, we know people are not killed through natural disasters because of their sin. We remember that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, which enables us to receive grace, eternal life and the ability to restore creation; all to the Glory of God. That is our task now.

A great disaster has occurred in one of the Episcopal Church’s largest and poorest dioceses.

Reports put the death toll at 200,000. Many

The Texas Episcopalian (since 1897) is an official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

Mission: In the name of Jesus Christ, the Texas Episcopalian seeks to inform the people in the diocese of events and philosophies which affect the mission and life of the Church.

more will succumb to their wounds, lacking proper medical care and nourishment despite heroic efforts from around the world.

Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin wrote to fellow bishops: “[The earthquake] was so strong that everything has been destroyed. All institutions of the Church have been destroyed. We have lost a lot of people including students of our schools and university.”

Bishop Duracin is unharmed but his wife suffered an injury to her leg. The Episcopal Church in Haiti has lost its beautifully painted cathedral, nearby convent and school for for handicapped children, Holy Trinity Complex, College St. Pierre and a Jubilee Center, among many other schools and churches. Bishop Duracin remains among his people offering comfort and encouragement.

We know that our four missionaries are all accounted for - Mallory Holding, Jude Harmon, and Oge Beauvoir, who is the dean of the Theological Seminary, along with his wife Serette.

Another, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, was in Virginia at the time of the earthquake and has been in touch with the bishop since, relaying information to others.

We give thanks to God for their well being, and the well being of so many Haitians and relief workers, and we ask for a full measure of God’s grace to protect them as they continue their ministry in Haiti.

For those who perished, we ask God to give rest with the saints in light, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.

What do we do in the face of this tragedy? Returning to the words of Luke’s Gospel, we first give thanks for the suffering of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that the knowledge that human suffering is known to God Himself.

We give thanks for the redemption and grace that is given to us and the bounty of God’s love that is poured down upon us and the people of Haiti.

Out of a sense of that abundance and grace, we accept through our baptismal covenant and confirmation, the invitation of God to act on behalf of those in Haiti.

The immediate need is donating funds for relief-to Episcopal Relief and Development (er-d.org), or other relief agencies--to provide clean water, food, medical supplies, and support for the relief and recovery ministries

Episcopal Relief & Development announced the publication of the 2010 Lenten Meditations booklet recently.

Written and designed by Sister Claire Joy of the Community of the Holy Spirit in New York, the devotional features daily readings with the theme “Healing ourselves and a hurting world.”

“We are very grateful to Sister Claire Joy and the Community of the Holy Spirit for the generous gift of her time and talent in producing the 2010 Lenten Meditations,” said Robert Radtke, Episcopal Relief & Development president. “During this season of self-examination, we trust that these inspired words will encourage Episcopalians to reflect on their lives and how they might act to help those in need around the world.”

The devotional and other Lenten materials can be ordered from Episcopal Books and Resources at 1.800.903.5544 or by visiting www.er-d.org/Lent. Orders should be placed by Monday, February 8, to ensure delivery by Ash Wednesday, February 17.

Downloadable Spanish and English versions of the devotional are available on the Lenten resources web page at www.er-d.org/Lent. In addition, readers can sign up to receive the daily meditations by email.

To support Episcopal Relief & Development’s work, please visit www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext.

5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.

Postmaster: Address changes: THE TEXAS EPISCOPALIAN, 1225 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002-3504 February

2010

The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle IX Bishop of Texas

Available Now

The Texas Episcopalian (ISSN# 1074-441X) is published monthly except July and August for $15 a year by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, 1225 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002-3504. Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas. Deadline is the 10th of the month preceding publication. Articles, editorials and photos should be submitted to the editor at the above e-mail address. Photos will not be returned. Address changes can be made at www.epicenter.org/infochange.

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Keep up with the news from Haiti at www.er-d.org and donate today.

Episcopal Relief & Development’s Lenten Devotional

Publisher: The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle Editor: Carol E. Barnwell, cbarnwell@epicenter.org Parish News Editor: Nancy Sallaberry, nsallaberry@epicenter.org Graphic Designer: LaShane K. Eaglin, leaglin@epicenter.org

Texas Episcopalian

in Haiti. We make real the reign of God by helping, through dollar donations, to build the kingdom of God in Haiti – to restore creation in Haiti.

When the time comes, and it will, we will be ready to respond and physically help rebuild Haiti, restoring the lives of our brothers and sisters.

Bishop Andy Doyle And, we pray. We pray for those who are not yet found, but whom God knows by name. We pray for those found and the healing hands of those who minister to them. We pray for those who are scared that they may have courage. We pray for the weak that they may have strength. And, we pray that we may witness to the Glory of God and the presence of God through the ministering angels who are now descending to aid the people of Haiti.

In the words of Psalm 126: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.

Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses of the Negev.

Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy.

Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

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PARISH NEWS

building a congregation in Austin called St. Julian of Norwich; Bartz is in Los Angeles with a church called Thad’s, an outreach church that Bartz said “isn’t your grandma’s Episcopal Church, that’s for sure.”

Two others graduated a couple decades before the rest. The Rev. Steve Kinney graduated from UT in 1979 with a reignited faith he gained through Bible study his senior year. He forwent law school for seminary.

“It brought back this mystical awareness of God that I had as a kid and I really came back to the Episcopal Church,” Kinney said.

Kinney is now leading a project called the Front Porch Project in Austin that brings about discussions on the environment, art and religion, which he actually started with Jimmy Bartz. (See December 2008 Texas Episcopalian, page 18).

Kinney said that the person who inspired him was the Rev. Larry Hall, the rector of St. John the Divine in Houston. “He modeled the ability for me to embrace the fraternity culture and embrace the life we grew up with,” Kinney said. “He made it OK, and was very influential.”

Hall graduated from UT in ’64, majoring like many of the others in finance, and didn’t really think about ministry seriously until his senior year. When he graduated, his acolyte director gave him a script with Matthew 6:33 written on it: The Revs. Miles Brandon, John Newton, Bert Baetz and Steve Kinney on the Fiji House front porch. The Rev. Larry Hall, inset, at UT in But strive first for the kingdom of God and 1963. Not pictured: The Rev. Jimmy Bartz. Photo: Bob Kinney his righteousness, and all these things will be

By Maggi Davis given to you as well.

“It had a tremendous effect on me,” Hall said. “It was During Baetz’s sophomore year, a fraternity brother eople lead complicated lives. Our experiences shape a light to my path as I considered what I was going to do committed suicide – an incident that “rocked” his world. and direct us onto certain paths. We see the leaders with my life.”

“I didn’t know how to deal with it,” Baetz said.

“In my of our churches, and don’t always wonder about their Hall has been rector of St. John the Divine, Houston, personal journey and calling to serve God; however, those mathematical mind it seemed unbalanced, it didn’t seem for 28 years, and recalls his time as a Fiji with fondness. “I’ve congruent to the good life.” can be some very interesting stories. cherished that relationship all this time; wherever I’ve gone as Afterward he couldn’t find peace from God until Bible Several clergy in the Diocese of Texas share an unlikely clergy, some Fijis were always in the area,” he said. study.

Baetz said, “I vividly remember reading from the Book commonality. The Rev. John Newton is the youngest of the All have stayed in touch with one another and their of James: group of six who were brothers in the Phi Gamma Delta Fiji brothers.

“When I got married in 2007, half of my ‘My brothers and sisters, whenever you fraternity at the University of Texas; otherwise known as the groomsmen were Fijis,” Baetz said. “They remind me who face trials of any kind, consider it nothing Fijis.

I am.

There’s a balance with being a leader and not being but joy, because you know that the testing Students at UT know how to party (and study), and it holier than thou.” of your faith produces endurance; and let is no surprise that the Fijis have some of the best parties on Why all these clergy from one fraternity? “There is endurance have its full effect, so that you campus. Founded in 1883, the fraternity is just about as old not one of us who entered the Fiji house intending to be may be mature and complete, lacking in as the university itself. an Episcopal priest,” Newton said. “It says something to me nothing.’

“It has a lot of history to it,” Newton said. “It’s a classic about how God moves and how people influence each other’s “The words came off the page and renewed my faith,” university fraternity, with typical college party values.” lives.” he said.

Newton, the Episcopal missioner to UT Canterbury, was “I don’t know if it’s really about the fraternity,” Brandon After Baetz graduated with a major of Finance and a a Fiji from 2000 through his graduation in 2004. “I enjoyed said, “But it connected us.” minor in Religious Studies, he took a ‘working holiday,’ as the whole thing. What was good were the relationships – These men are a close-knit group, they provide one he calls it, to the Dominican Republic where he did mission people are people, and going for four years, I got to meet a another a support system and family. Newton is the godfather work.

It was that experience that provided him clarity to go lot of the guys and their families and friends,” he said. of Baetz’s daughter Eloise, and Brandon’s daughter Amelia. to seminary.

Newton’s father was a Fiji at UT, and many of his Kinney talks to Bartz and Hall on a regular, if not daily basis.

The Rev. Miles Brandon, graduated from UT in 1996 friends joined him in pledging, much like many of his Even Newton has a picture of Hall on his cell phone that he with an English degree.

Growing up in Houston at St. John clergy brothers. During his years at UT, he met most of his got from one of the Fiji portraits. the Divine, Brandon felt the call to God from an early age. predecessors, including the Revs. Bert Baetz, Miles Brandon It may seem a stretch from party guy to man of God, “My grandma says that when I was little she asked me and Jimmy Bartz. but in the way of love, it’s really only a stepping-stone. By what I wanted to be and I said the president or a priest,” Baetz, three years ahead of Newton, was one of the considering two different types of love, philos as brotherhood Brandon said, “I think I chose wisely.”

Bible study leaders within the fraternity, a position Newton or friendship, and agape as unconditional, Godly love, the After graduation Brandon followed the path of fellow came to fill during his time at UT. Sequentially, Bartz and road from fraternity brother to priest seems to shorten. After Fiji, the Rev. Jimmy Bartz.

Bartz was leaving his youth Brandon were also missioners to the university while Newton all, to love others like brothers (and sisters) is holy. director position at St. Martin’s, Houston, to go to seminary, was finishing his undergraduate degree in Business Honors. so Brandon took over.

Then Bartz became the missioner at Baetz, the second youngest of the group, now serves Davis is a freelance writer and member of Grace, Georgetown. as assistant rector at St. Mark’s, Austin. Like Newton, Baetz UT, which Brandon assumed after his time in seminary.

Now both are planting new churches. Brandon is pledged Fiji his freshman year.

Band of B r o t h e r s

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PARISH NEWS

Trinity, The Woodlands Socks and more Socks

St. James’, Houston Chili Cookoff

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St. John’s, Silsbee

A&M Mascot Comes to Church

or the third year, members of St. James’ are challenging all comers to a chili cookoff. The event will be held February 6 from 11-3, judging will begin at noon. Proceeds will benefit local food pantries and homeless ministries. To sign up or more information call 713.526.9571.

St. Francis, Temple

Columbarium and Baptismal Font Dedication

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ight-year-old twins, Allison and Michael Burbach, volunteered their time at Lord of the Streets, Houston, last summer to distribute sack lunches they made at home each Tuesday. By the end of the summer, the twins had quite an assembly line perfected but didn’t stop there. They worked on a Back to School Drive for LOTS, gathering school supplies and clothing vouchers for those in need and volunteered in the LOTS kitchen and served hot lunches after worship services.

As the weather turned colder, Allison and Michael received a writing assignment from their second grade teacher at Barbara Bush Elementary School in The Woodlands. They were to write about their 2010 resolutions. Michael said he was going to feed the homeless, “so they don’t starve. I am also going to give clothes out so they don’t freeze to death.”

These two Trinity parishioners gathered more than 3,000 pairs of socks for the clients at LOTS and spent several days during their Christmas break delivering them to the men and women served by the midtown Houston ministry. The socks were provided by the Academy #23 in Spring after the twins visited with the manager.

“Allison and Michael have raised the bar for all of us.

Bravo!,” said Bishop Andy Doyle.

New Year’s Eve U2charist

elly Harris and her daughter Abigail got up close and personal with Reveille VIII when he attended St. John’s, Silsbee, with his handler, Cpl. Matt Johnson, a sophomore at Texas A&M University. Reveille even received a blessing from the rector, the Rev. John Bedingfield (a self-proclaimed Longhorn fan), at the communion rail. Harris is on the communication staff in the Diocese of West Texas.

2010 Aust i n Convocat ion Acoly te Fest iva l

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he Rev. Stan McGraw, interim rector at St. Francis, and lay leaders dedicated their newly constructed memorial columbaria cross, as well as the renovation of the parish baptismal font in December. The cross was designed by master craftsman John Schade, and is a replica of the original limestone cross in the front of the nave. The cross is 10 ft. high and is constructed in a mosaic pattern. Polished river stones were used on the base of the font. Parishioners and lay leaders pray that this addition will bring peace to those who have loved ones interred in the columbarium and to those baptized.

Christ Church, Nacogdoches Change for Change

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Palmer Memorial, Houston, drew a capacity crowd of predominately non-members for their New Year’s Eve U2charist. The service, which supports the Millennium Development Goals work of Episcopal Relief and Development, raised more than $5,000. Following the service, several in attendance shared with the Rev. Genevieve Razim, that this unique and joyful worship service held pastoral significance for them on this special night.

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Sunday School students at Christ Church, Nacogdoches, raised $467.53 for needy families in their community in a program called “Change for Change.” The children asked parishioners to empty their pockets of change after church on Sunday and donated their own pocket change as well. The money was donated to Love, Inc. to provide services in the community.

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he Austin Convocation Acolyte Festival will be held at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Austin, on Saturday, February 27, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The festival is open to all acolytes, acolyte directors/ sponsors and parents in the Diocese of Texas. The goals of the festival include learning more about acolyting, meeting acolytes from other parishes and having fun. Registration packets may be obtained by calling All Saints’ (512.476.3589) or by downloading them from the All Saints’ Web site (http://allsaintsaustin.org/acolytefestival.htm) This year the festival service features an instructed Eucharist where attendees will learn in detail why we what we do and what it means. As always the “Acolyte Olympics” and the awarding of the Lavabo Bowl trophy to the winner will conclude the festival.

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PARISH NEWS

Age-old Compline Resurfaces in Longview O ffers C omfort

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A ncient Form

By Lucy Germany

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here is evidence from six hundred years ago of a solemn service of Christian worship, known throughout the centuries but almost a stranger to the present age. “Compline” is a unique service, either a short service at the conclusion of the day or a solemn, monastic blend of mystery and human voices.

Compline derives from the word “completion” signifying the end of the day, allowing the day to depart in impressive garb. It is the last of the “offices”—prayers of the daily liturgical cycle-- which are to this day the central daily routine of monasteries throughout the world.

Though not often used, Compline nevertheless exerts religious power for those who experience it as an ending to their day.

Trinity, Longview, has delved into the ancient history of the church to bring forth a form of Compline that deeply touches all who participate. The power of it is the result of the chants themselves, say some. “No, it is the theater of it,” say others—a combination of elements— dark church, chants that seem to have been preserved over the centuries in some isolated monastery, or the preservation of absolute quiet in the church.

To fully understand Compline, you must first imagine the church—in this case majestic Trinity with its long nave, wrapped in stained glass, the people filing in, silently, finding a place in a pew, no sound, not even the faintest whisper of the usual pre-service chit-chat. The office candles suddenly burst into light but the glow is far distant, preserving the mystery. Then the filing in of seven figures garbed in black robes, seeming to have been formed by the dark.

“The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect rest, Amen.”

It is the opening line for Compline, followed by prayers of repentance, a selection of psalms and collects, “Be our light in the darkness O Lord…” and the antiphon that is so universally comforting—“Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.”

Trinity offers Compline at 8:30 p.m. the first Sunday of each month. The congregation includes groups of visitors, such as the college students from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches. There are frequently visitors from other area Episcopal churches. All denominations are invited. Some of the regular attendees are Baptist or Methodist.

“Compline transcends denominations and even faiths” says Bill Bane, director of the Compline service and Trinity’s director of music ministries. It was his idea to gather men from the community to sing. He was able to assemble three from Trinity’s choir, two music directors from other churches (Methodist and Baptist) and the sixth--a local radio personality and friend of the director. The group practices each Friday evening using music written by Bane as well as hymns and music from the Renaissance through the early twentieth century.

None of the participants were familiar with Compline prior to the invitation to participate, Bane said, but they have Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

found participation in it to be both powerful and peaceful, an extraordinary experience. Bane himself is a new convert, having first experienced Compline last summer when he and Trinity rector, the Rev. Kevin Wittmayer, attended a service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle. Their Compline

service draws between 500 and 700 people each week, many of whom are under the age of 25.

“I saw young people from every religious background, many of them in pajamas carrying pillows and sleeping bags, making themselves comfortable in this safe religious atmosphere,” Bane said.

This is not typical Episcopal worship, Bane emphasizes, “It is a combination of words and music designed to confer peace in a silent setting. It requires no active participation on the part of the congregation—each absorbs in his or her own way, taking from it various measures of peace and comfort, hope and unity with God.” “The whole scene—music, darkness and the ghostly figures of the men in their black robes chanting as if they were still in the middle ages, gives me goosebumps,” one participant said.

Another from the congregation called it a “thrilling experience.” Though Compline can be offered in a number of different settings, the one provided by Trinity has caused many to applaud this rebirth of an old prayer form. It fits perfectly, one member said, “as the experience of comfort so needed in this anguished world.”

You may use Compline (Book of Common Prayer, p.

127) for family devotion at home.

Germany is the former editor of the Texas Episcopalian and a member of Trinity, Longview.

THE ADULT FORMATION COUNCIL OF CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL INVITES YOU TO

A LENTEN PROGRAM

Liberté Freedom February 24 Freeing Ourselves From Our Past Watch the documentary, “Traces of the Trade,” about family wealth built on the slave trade. Members of the family profiled will be present.

Cosponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America Houston Society.

Égalité Equality March 3 Freeing Ourselves in the Present A panel will help us understand the need for diversity and how we are never truly free unless we are all equal. Cosponsored by the Division of Multicultural Ministries of the Diocese of Texas.

Fraternité community March 10

Freeing Ourselves and Others for the Future Understand the impact of the products we buy and the use we make of natural resources. Cosponsored by the Justice and Peace Council (in formation). Features a panel including Julie Clawson, author of Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices.

Each program is in the evening.

Visit www.christchurchcathedral.org for more information or call: The Rev. Rhoda Montgomery at 713.590.3309.

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PARISH NEWS

SW Houston Church Offers Alternative to Gang Membership Prayer Walk to Provide Invitation for Change

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he Rev. Alejandro Montes is poised to save the youth in his community. With one of his parishioners sentenced to 50 years for murder, two sons of another member’s family dead and another young adult out on bail, accused of murder, he is determined to fight local gangs with the power of prayer.

“I want to be very positive and offer an alternative,” Montes said. “I’m putting my life on the spot but we need to do something! You can’t hide. We need to say, ‘We don’t know what you have in your heart but God loves you and can change your life.’” He plans to lead a prayer walk on January 30 through San Mateo’s Bellaire neighborhood in Southwest Houston to give gang members that message. The area has one of the highest gang-related crime rates in Houston.

“I baptized him and gave him his first communion,” he lamented about the young man serving 50 years. “It’s terrible for the families,” Montes said.

While gang members acquire area by creating fear, Montes said he wants to invite them to change their lives.

“Some of the kids in our congregation are in gangs. We want to support them, encourage them to have a more spiritual life, call on their parents to be home for them after school.

It’s more important than making more money,” he said.

Montes is a member of PACT (Police and Clergy Team), a group of Houston police and local pastors who work with youth in the apartment complexes in the area.

They have started programs for the youth and provide ways to redirect their energy away from gangs. According to Sr. Police Officer Barry Curtis, Montes is a valuable member of the team. “He’s putting his faith into action,” Curtis said. “I admire and applaud him. This is a work in progress,” he admits. “The effort reflects Nehemiah, one hand with the tool, another with a weapon, trying to rebuild the neighborhood.”

Montes said they talk a lot about the gang violence in church and notes that it’s getting worse. “It’s a very volatile area,” he said. He is working also with local news media and law enforcement to combat the rise in gang presence.

“The police are meeting with students in schools and in the community,” Montes said. They will attend the prayer walk in a mobile unit which was donated for the use of local clergy and police.

See a video of PACT’s work featuring the Rev. Alejandro Montes and Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo at www. policeandclergy.com.

Trinity Celebrates Centennial in Midtown Houston

By Gayle Davies

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his month, Trinity Church, Houston, observes a centennial celebration: 100 years at Main and Holman, in Houston’s Midtown, between downtown and the Texas Medical Center. Not many organizations—especially in Houston—have had the same

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home for a century. Over the last 100 years, Trinity’s neighborhood has transformed from suburban to inner city, yet it’s the same place that the parish has called home for ten decades. Making the observation even more significant is Trinity’s recent purchase of the Bering House, the last remaining one-fourth of the block on which the parish resides.

Trinity was founded in 1893 and dedicated its first building, a small chapel, on Louisiana, closer to downtown, in 1897. In early 1910, at the insistence of its new rector (actually a requirement before he would accept the position), the parish purchased more land and moved from its original location.

Accepting this stipulation was not for the faint of heart, as the small parish was struggling, financially and otherwise. At the time, the streets in Trinity’s original neighborhood were dead ends and paved with oyster shells (difficult to imagine amid todays major thoroughfares). The one street in the area that was continuous, and better paved, was Main Street, already a busy thoroughfare. Large and commodious homes graced the properties along Main.

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The Rev. Robert E. Lee Craig wanted the church to be located more prominently. With Main Street selected as the location for the new Rice Institute (now Rice University) a couple of miles south, the move ensured that Trinity was at an important location. The vacant land was purchased, and the first service was held on the site, in the open air, on February 6, 1910. Platforms were built for choir and congregation, with the altar, rail and pews placed thereon.

Trinity’s small chapel soon was moved to Main and Holman and enlarged. (Legend is that the chapel was loaded on a long wagon and pulled by mules with Craig leading and neighborhood children following in procession.) The remodeled church was used until the permanent building was constructed, from 1917 to 1921.

The parish is observing this milestone with several events, using the theme, “Your Neighbor for 100 Years.” The major celebration will be held on February 21, 2010, at 10:30, at the church. This service will employ the liturgy from the 1892 Book of Common Prayer. There will be a reception, in the style of that era, after the service. To add to the fun, parishioners and visitors are encouraged (but not required) to dress in the style of 100 years ago. For more information, please call the Trinity Church office at 713.528.4100.

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Calendar

Calendar February

March

4 Four Questions, Four Paths, One Great Journey: A New Paradigm for the Gospels Good Shepherd, Austin. Workshop featuring Alexander J. Shaia, PhD, author of The Hidden Power of the Gospels. Explore how the gospels help address the complexities of contemporary life with useful ideas for preaching, teaching, spiritual direction, Bible study and community spiritual formation, including essential practices to revitalize individual lives and community worship. The class will examine a new basis for understanding early Christianity’s selection of the four gospels and their placement in a three-year Sunday reading cycle. Shaia’s book will be for sale along with the study guide. Clergy will receive 4 CEUs (theological/academic) for this event. Cost is $30 (includes lunch). Please contact the Rev. Kelly Koonce for more information or to register: 512.476.3523 or kkoonce@gsaustin.org. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

5-7 Education for Ministry mentor training at Camp Allen. Register at www.regonline. com/efm_mentor_training_diocese_of_texas or www.texas-efm.org. Early bird price is $225 before February 5, $250 thereafter. Contact Lucy Wagner for further information at lmwagner1219@sbcglobal.net or 713.253.4903.

4-6 Celebrating a Call to Lay Ministry designed for laity and clergy at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 5501 Main Street, Houston. Features award-winning author Kathleen Norris, (The Cloiser Walk, Dakota, and Amazing Grace) and Ben Witherington, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary, and author of more than 30 books, including volumes recognized by Christianity Today. Registration is $145.00, including meals. For more information, contact Gloria Palmberg, 713.441.2381, or the conference website: www. methodistspiritualcare.com/laity/conference.

9 Live Bodaciously and Plan to Finish Well featuring Margie Jenkins, SW, LPC, LMFT, author of You Only Die Once; Preparing for the End of Life with Grace and Gusto and the New Expanded My Personal Planner. A psychotherapist, lecturer and newspaper columnist, Jenkins is nationally recognized for her work with end-of-life planning issues and is noted for her sensitivity, humor and clinical practicality. St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd., Houston, Texas 77019. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Charge is $8 per person paid at the door. Please call for reservations: 832.355.4299.

5 Celebrate the Arts at St. Andrew’s, Bryan, A flute ensemble representing the Brazos Valley Symphony will perform at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. An art display and tours of the church’s stained glass windows will offered beginning at 5:30 p.m. See www.standrewsbcs.org for more information.

6 Chili Cook off at St. James’, Houston, benefits local food pantry and homeless ministry. All are invited to participate. For more information, call 713.526.9571.

6 Bridges Out of Poverty featuring Ruby Payne, PhD, Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – Noon at St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd., Houston. Payne is a leading expert on poverty and the mindsets of different economic classes. There is no cost for the workshop, but advance registration is encouraged to ensure a seat. Contact Ann Cochran at acochran@sjd.org. Approved for 3 CEUs for clergy in the Diocese of Texas.

Houston Chamber Choir Showcases School Choirs in “Hear the Future”

12 Integrity Houston will host a reception at the Shilo Hotel, Killeen, Friday evening from 8:30-10 p.m. See www.integrityhouston.org for further details.

12-13 161st Diocesan Council, Killeen, TX. See www.epicenter.org for details.

14 Valentine’s Day with the Lads at St. John the Divine, Houston, for kids and adults alike. From New Zealand, this trio has made a name for themselves in Christian education.

Learn more about the Lads at www.theladsband.com. Tickets are $5.00 (includes dinner) and may be purchased at www.sjd.org. SJD is located at 2450 River Oaks Blvd, Houston, TX 77019. For more information, call 713.622.3600.

20 Quiet Day with Illuminations, sponsored by Daughters of the King at Good Shepherd, Tomball, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Participants will create and pray with images. Stephanie Visokay, an art therapist and spiritual director will guide the day. All are invited. Please, phone your reservation to 281.351.1609. Good Shepherd is located at 715 E. Carrell Street, Tomball.

A light lunch, Eucharist and all art materials will be provided. Suggested donation: $10.

27 2010 Austin Convocation Acolyte Festival at All Saints’, Austin, on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Open to all acolytes, acolyte directors/sponsors and parents in the Diocese of Texas. Registration packets may be obtained by calling All Saints’ 512.476.3589 or by downloading them from the Web site (allsaints-austin.org/acolytefestival.htm).

Integrity Houston Eucharist

(followed by dinner) Third Friday of the month at 7:00 p.m.

Golding Chapel at Christ Church Cathedral

The Houston Chamber Choir offered the Houston community an opportunity to enjoy an afternoon of music while showing support for arts education in our schools.

The 11th Annual Invitational School Choral Festival co-sponsored by AMC Music entitled, “Hear the Future” paid tribute to the essential work done by outstanding choral music educators in the region, and their excellent choirs. The Houston Chamber Choir under the direction of Robert L. Simpson was joined by the Parker Elementary Advanced Chorus directed by Marianna Parnas Simpson (pictured center), the St. John’s School Les Chanteuses directed by Stephen Bedford, and the Cinco Ranch High School Chorale directed by Dorothy Wilson. The concert was held at South Main Baptist Church, Houston, on January 31.

1117 Texas Avenue, Houston Free Parking in the Cathedral Garage at Texas and San Jacinto Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

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Texas Episcopalian

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2010

DIOCESAN NEWS

Budget

Churches have provided the following responses to the mutual outreach and mission of the Diocese of Texas through the Missionary Asking Budget. Thirty-eight churches responded with $0.

Parish/Mission

Annual

Alvin, Grace Anahuac, Trinity

Atascocita, Christ the King 20,267 Austin, Good Shepherd

Houston, St. Mary’s

100,000

Austin, St. Alban’s

20,000

Houston, St. Stephen’s

21,000

6,000

Houston, St. Thomas’

20,000

Houston, Trinity

35,000

Huntsville, St. Stephen’s

20,815

10,000 8,000

Austin, St. James’

50,079

Austin, St. John’s

18,743

Jasper, Trinity

Austin, St. Mark’s

40,451

Katy, St. Paul’s

Austin, St. Matthew’s

50,000

Lake Jackson, St. Timothy’s

Austin, St. Michael’s

64,312

La Grange, St. James’

Bay City, St. Mark’s

26,511

La Marque, St. Michael’s

6,000

82,000

La Porte, St. John’s

6,000

12,000

Lampasas, St. Mary’s

8,000

22,049

League City, St. Christopher’s 44,000

Belton, St. Luke’s Brenham, St. Peter’s

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4,141

Kingwood, Good Shepherd 40,000

Bellaire, San Mateo

Texas Episcopalian

46,052

Austin, San Francisco de Asis 5,246

Beaumont, St. Stephen’s

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6,428 245,153

Houston, St. Paul’s

Beaumont, St. Mark’s

have only folding chairs for seating, the child care area is fully stocked with toys and the church’s historic nave boasts newly uncovered hardwood floors and refinished pews.

Michael Jackson, executive director of St. Vincent’s House, mentioned the increased need for the social services his ministry provides since Hurricane Ike. The diocesan social service agency is seeing more clients and a more diverse population than before the storm. Their preschool has been relocated to a nearby church while repairs continue on St. Vincent’s main campus.

Interim rector of Trinity, the Rev. Bill Fowler, and Sr. Warden Susan Duif, showed Bishop Doyle extensive damage that remains in the parish hall and church nave. Questions still surround how repairs should proceed, leaving the parish facilities largely without electrical or climate control.

However, everyone was excited about the newly erected scaffolding installed in anticipation of repairs beginning on the massive stained glass window that dominates the back wall of Trinity’s sanctuary.

Finally, the Rev. Chester Makowski, vicar of St. Augustine of Hippo, and bishop’s warden Bill Taylor showed Bishop Doyle the empty slab that used to support the parish hall, rectory and class room buildings. Flood waters and roof damage revealed extensive termite damage that made the peripheral buildings unsalvageable. Through a grant from Partners for Sacred Spaces, St. Augustine’s was able to hire an architect to re-design their parish facilities, and construction should commence this spring. In the meantime, the church and office are intact, ready to host Makowski’s January ordination.

2,389

327,645

Houston, St. Martin’s

Austin, St. George’s

n the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, Galvestion Island churches, ministries and congregations were left reeling, wondering how they would ever recover. Nearly 18 months later, recovery is still underway, but, as Bishop Andy Doyle saw when he visited the island in January, huge strides have been made.

Bishop Doyle visited two of the work sites run by Texas Episcopal Relief and Development, had the chance to meet one of the homeowners and visited with volunteers working to repair her home. To date, the diocese has done repair work on 32 homes in the Galveston and La Porte areas with more than 1,500 volunteers.

Carolyn Gibbs, the Preparedness and Planning Coordinator for Texas Episcopal Relief, briefed Bishop Doyle and area clergy on the newly developed “Parish Emergency Planning Guide” and the goal to have 75 percent of all diocesan parishes have a written disaster plan by the end of 2010.

Episcopal Church facilities on the island sustained damage from minimal to extensive, including flooding in historical spaces, damage to historic stained glass windows, and exposure of major preexisting structural problems.

Rebuilding after any disaster is difficult, but restoring 100+ year old naves and church facilities brings unique challenges.

The Rev. Paul Wehner, rector of Grace, Galveston, and his Junior Warden showed Bishop Doyle and Archdeacon Russ Oechsel around the newly renovated parish offices, parish hall and sanctuary. Even after taking approximately five feet of water throughout the facilities, the only outstanding projects include repairs to the “Silk Purse” resale shop, and some remaining roof issues. Though most offices

17,000

Houston, St. John Houston, St. Mark’s

Austin, St. David’s

BishopTours Galveston Reconstruction

Houston, St. James’

Angleton, Holy Comforter 2,400

Austin, St. Christopher’s

Marsha Rappaport talks to Archdeacon Russ Oechsel and Bishop Andy Doyle about the repairs to her home.

8,100

Burnet, Epiphany

500 2,400 100 21,772

7,200

Liberty, St. Stephen’s

12,000

12,800

Livingston, St. Luke’s

16,348

16,633

Longview, St. Michael

Cameron, All Saints’

6,493

Longview, Trinity

Carthage, St. John’s

3,000

Lufkin, St. Cyprian’s

2,400 30,000 20,000

Cedar Park, Christ Church 14,531

Madisonville, Holy Innocents 1,500

Center, St. John’s

Marble Falls, Trinity

5,000

College Station, St. Francis’ 14,972

Marlin, St. John’s

2,000

College Station, St. Thomas’ 2,281

Matagorda, Christ

1,200

Conroe, St. James the Apostle 33,351

Mexia, Christ

3,953

Copperas Cove, St. Martin’s 4,107

Orange, St. Paul’s

6,000

Crockett, All Saints’

3,241

Palacios, St. John’s

3,300

4,000

Palestine, St. Philip’s

5,000

1,800

Pasadena, St. Peter’s

3,000

1,200

Pearland, St. Andrew’s

8,000

Friendswood, Good Shepherd 10,000

Port Neches, Holy Trinity

8,436

Galveston, Grace

3,250

Prairie View, St. Francis

6,738

3,711

Rockdale, St. Thomas’

5,053

485

Rosenberg, St. Mark’s

11,417

1,835

Cypress, St. Aidan’s Dickinson, Holy Trinity Freeport, St. Paul’s

Galveston, St. Augustine Hearne, St. Philip’s

Hempstead, St. Bartholomew’s 3,000

Round Rock, St. Richard’s 46,589

Henderson, St. Matthew’s 11,373

Silsbee, St. John’s

5,600

Houston, Ascension

Spring, Holy Comforter

8,000

24,000

Houston, CCC

100,000

Houston, Christ the King Houston, Emmanuel Houston, Epiphany Houston, Holy Spirit

8,239

Taylor, St. James’

5,198

Temple, Christ

11,332

27,000

Temple, St. Francis’

5,000

31,115

Texas City, St. George’s

8,000

30,000

Tomball, Good Shepherd

Houston, Lord of the Streets 250

Tyler, Christ Church

Houston, Palmer

Tyler, St. Francis’

100,000

5,000 20,000 5,000

Houston, Santa Maria Virgen 21,110

Waco, Holy Spirit

7,100

Houston, St. Alban’s

Waco, St. Alban’s

18,000

Waco, St. Paul’s

40,000

Houston, St. Andrew’s Houston, St. Barnabas’

9,000 500 1,000

West Columbia, St. Mary’s

1,000

Houston, St. Christopher’s 4,000

Wharton, St. Thomas’

23,365

Houston, St. Dunstan’s

The Woodlands, Trinity

26,000

Houston, St. Francis’

27,500 1,000

Houston, St. Geo’s & St. Pat’s 10,000

Woodville, St. Paul’s Total

7,118 2,418,177

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

DIOCESAN NEWS

Thousands of Needy Find “Hope” at East Texas Clinic

“jittery and anxious.” Gillis didn’t hear any air in her lungs and she was sent to the hospital with another Good Samaritan. The patient had a massive pulmonary embolism and remained in the hospital for a week for treatment. “We saved her life,” Gillis said, adding, “That’s the kind of patients we get in our door on a daily basis.”

Prior to Hope Clinic, there was no indigent care program in Shelby County.

“If you earned more than $175 a month, and had no insurance, you weren’t eligible for care,” Gillis explained. “It’s still that way.

You could be sick, dying, but Jean Diebolt visits with a young patient. if you happen to have a job

By Carol E. Barnwell at all, you can’t get care.”

Small town politics stood in their way at times but the he poor and uninsured in Shelby County in East two ploughed through, going to three Episcopal Churches Texas got lucky the day Jean Diebolt got mad. A in the area (St. John’s, Carthage; St. John’s, Center and nurse practitioner, Diebolt was told not to care Christ Church, San Augustine) to qualify as a cooperative for a 16-year-old and her nephritic infant who came to program in the diocese’s Mission Funding Opportunities the doctor’s office where she worked “because they were Catalog.

These ministries receive support from the voluntary uninsured.” giving of the diocese’s 150 congregations and are therefore “It made me angry!” she remembers, “Just so callous to supported by all the congregations in the diocese.

They turn away a sick child … I was angry ‘til I got to church.” received $10,000 from the program when Council delegates Passing notes to fellow choir member Melba Gillis, the two approved the Missionary Budget the first year they were in conspired to found a clinic to take care of the poor and the catalog. uninsured in their area. After the service, they asked Dr. “It was manna from heaven,” Gillis said. “We burst Jane Todd, a local surgeon and fellow church member, to into tears.

We needed that check! We were able to replace become medical director, a position Todd retains pro bono the old army gurney we used and more!” six years later.

Six years after their inception, the Hope Clinic Project Within weeks, the Hope Clinic was up and running, lives at a city-owned building in Tenaha, Texas, where they albeit on a shoestring. Diebolt ran into a former patient at pay the city $500 monthly rent.

Wal-Mart who volunteered to They provide primary health finish out a waiting and exam care, mental health services and room in a warehouse and the dental referrals, basic lab tests at clinic was double booked cost and x-rays at low prices. from the first day. “We were “We have an ultrasound 200 feet from the biggest for monitoring the fetus and crack and drug dealing area do stress tests for expectant in Center, Texas,” Gillis said. mothers.

We offer prenatal care “We were right in the heart up to 36 weeks after which we of it.” put them with an OB,” Diebolt One of their first clients explained.

The clinic also offers came in with chest pains. the only colposcopy exam in the The nitroglycerin tablets he area.

Their technician trained borrowed from his neighbor at MD Anderson and is able were no longer working and, to follow up on abnormal pap after a brief exam, Diebolt smears with the equipment. asked a young woman in the waiting room to drive the man “No one does this for people who have no money,” to the ER at a nearby hospital. She even had to give the Diebolt said.

“Our emphasis is on giving poor people the driver gas money. “That man had four-way bypass surgery care you and I would expect and that we take for granted.” that afternoon and the doctors didn’t know what had kept “The Hope Project was born out of desperation, a him alive long enough to get to the hospital,” she said. need for health care services where there were none for the The second day the clinic was open, a woman arrived poor and indigent. We now have more than 5000 patients

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Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

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receiving the care,” Gillis said.

Their funding search knows no bounds. Gillis and Diebolt ask everyone from the United Way to private foundations and corporations, state and federal government and the Episcopal Church. “We started because we had this idea and went to three small mission churches here in east Texas and poof!, we were born,” Gillis said.

Diebolt agrees. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this on our own. Melba and I went for five years without a salary, 24/7, writing grants, seeing patients. The budget for our first year was $6000 because that’s what we had,” she said.

Regardless of where the money comes from, the two feel the clinic is faith-based.

“The Episcopal Church is our family, where we went for help and they came through in spades, whether it was the diocese or our small churches,” they agreed.

“I retired from 30 years of teaching and never looked back,” Gillis said. “I’ve learned how to write grants, be a bookkeeper, do HR and lots of other things I’d never done.

Talk about reinventing yourself. That’s what God calls us to do … everyday, aren’t we called to transform ourselves for him?” she added.

The clinic won the Texas Rural Health Association Communities that Care Award last year and to grantors, the award stood as recognition from beyond the East Texas community that Gillis and Diebolt were doing a great job. The verification helped with other grants. They have since been awarded the Federal Qualified Health Center designation, which provides reimbursement for many of their services. Only programs in health care shortage areas are eligible for the FQHC designation and it takes a lot of hoops and forms to manage.

The clinic can offer support to newly graduated medical professionals, both doctors and nurses with competitive salary and repayment of $50,000 in school loans the first year and $35,000 the second year.

“Nursing students like to come here because they can see everything,” Diebolt said.

A graduate of Carnegie Melon University, Diebolt said she often wondered why she ended up in East Texas. The combat nurse saw duty in Vietnam and married a fighter pilot she met there, worked in rural health care and settled in Center. Gillis is a graduate of the University of Houston and holds several masters’ degrees from Stephen F. Austin University. She is married to a former helicopter pilot who was injured on his last mission in Vietnam and they came to Center because of the slower pace of life.

The Diebolt/Gillis dynamic duo has answered a critical need. “The Lord said I’ve got work for you to do,” Diebolt said. And they answered, “Ok, let’s start a clinic!”

It’s an answer for which more than 5,000 people are grateful.

See more at: www.youtube.com/carolbarnwell Texas Episcopalian

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February

2010

DIOCESAN NEWS

Bishop Joins Faith Leaders Calling for Humane Immigration Reform

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ishop Andy Doyle joined more than a dozen denominational leaders to encourage clergy and faith leaders to bring the immigration issue before their congregations and lawmakers this year.

Humane immigration reform is a “moral imperative” the Houston-area religious leaders told the press and more than 350 clergy and denominational leaders gathered at St. Paul’s Methodist Church on January 11. The religious leaders joined forces to call on Congress to write “compassionate immigration reform” and presented principles to guide that work.

“Those who are in our midst are human beings and the more we can integrate them into our society, the better,” said Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston.

“Each of us is created by God and deserves the dignity that comes with that. It is important to expect a virtuous citizenship … that our church members become informed of the facts (not the myths) and that they get involved,” Bishop Doyle said.

“As Episcopalians it is natural to approach this issue out of a sense of our Baptismal promises. Jesus Christ broke bread with those who were voiceless and powerless. We ask that there is a process for the people who come here based on faith values,” Bishop Doyle said.

The principles on humane immigration reform include:

1. Family Unity: The reunions of families separated by immigration.

2. Map to citizenship: Not amnesty but a reasonable path to citizenship

3. Protecting the rights of migrant workers 4. Easing immigration integration: This means

giving immigrants access to social services that help them integrate into American society.

Participating leaders included: Cardinal DiNardo, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie (Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church), Bishop Doyle (Episcopal Diocese of Texas), Bishop Michael Rinehart (Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA), Rabbi David Rosen (Senior Rabbi

Seminary of the Southwest Announces Drawing for Tuition-Free Semester

By Nancy Springer-Baldwin

Bishops Huie, Doyle and DiNardo, January 11.

Congregation Beth Yeshurun), Rev. Mike Cole (Presbytery of New Covenant), and Rev. Harvey Clemons, Jr. (pastor, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church).

“The perception from the media is often that immigrants do not pay taxes when in fact undocumented workers pay taxes and to a much greater degree than what they consume in our state, with an estimated $400 million surplus1. The truth is undocumented immigrants contributed more than $17 billion to our state’s economy and an enforcement-only policy would cost the U.S. economy $651 billion in annual output,2” said Rev. Harvey Clemons, Jr., pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.

Rabbi Rosen said, “It is not the elimination of our immigration laws that we seek, but rather a careful, fair and compassionate re-assessment of them that is consistent with our deeply-felt values which affirm the dignity of every human being.”

(Endnotes) 1Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn Report “Undocumented Immigrants in Texas: A Financial Analysis of the Impact to the State Budget and Economy”. (December 2006).

2 Americans for Immigration Reform (AIR). The Perryman Report p. 6.

Faith Leaders Asked to Support Census

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his past fall, Houston mayor, Bill White, invited faith leaders to participate in the 2010 Census Sabbath, which will take place on the weekend of March 5-7, 2010, encouraging people in congregations to be counted in the 2010 Census.

“This is vitally important to our communities throughout the diocese,” said Bishop Andy Doyle.

“More than $400 billion in federal and state funding, representation at all levels and an accurate picture of our communities are just a few reasons to be counted.”

Historically, the Census undercounts the population so

Texas Episcopalian

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February

2010

in Houston, the mayor initiated an effort to reach hard-tocount populations. The 2010 Census Sabbath is part of this effort.

During the 2010 Census Sabbath leadership in all our congregations is asked to encourage their parishioners to complete their forms and mail them back before April 1, 2010. This is the best way to get an accurate response.

In the months from January through April, there will be many opportunities for individuals to see the Census message. Newspaper ads, radio and television programming, community events, and the like, will blanket the community with the message “It’s Easy, It’s Important, It’s Safe”. Several documents to help spread the message can be found at www.houstoncounts.org, or by calling the Houston Counts manager, Margaret Wallace at 713.837.7826. Documents are available in other languages as well.

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Seminary of the Southwest in Austin has announced a tuition-free semester for one new applicant to their Master of Arts in Religion (MAR) degree and one new applicant to the Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation (MSF).

Applicants not currently registered as students who complete the admissions process, including all paperwork and are accepted into the MAR or MSF program before the drawing occurs on August 4, 2010, are eligible.

Southwest’s Master of Arts in Religion is a twoyear course for persons who desire a purely academic theological education with concentrations in general theology, Christian education and youth ministry and Hispanic church studies. The Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation offers a curriculum integrating the study and practice of Christian spirituality and formation. Both degrees can be accomplished on a part-time basis. The MSF classes are scheduled on nights and weekends.

“We are creating this opportunity for two people to take a full course load during the Fall 2010 semester, and their tuition will be on the house,” said Jennielle Strother, director of Recruiting and Admissions at Southwest. “This Seminary has so much to offer, and we want more people to know about our programs.

During this time of economic stress, we want to help a student get started with their studies, and of course, we hope they will continue past the fall semester,” said Strother.

Two names will be picked at random from among all applicants fulfilling the criteria above.

The seminary recommends a financial aid interview included in the admissions process, but it is not necessary to be eligible to win.

The scholarship is valid for tuition only for the Fall 2010 semester, and it qualifies the recipients for 12 hours in the MAR program and nine hours in the MSF program. Winners will be notified immediately following the August 4 drawing.

Details can be found at www.ssw.edu or by contacting the Admissions Office at 512.439.0357.

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

DIOCESAN NEWS

Clean Water Delivers Effective Blow Against Poverty Austinite Brings Water to African Village

in Malawi is in sanitation systems. Bathroom facilities and sewers are virtually unknown in the villages. People conduct their personal business in the open bush, where they are prey to animals and the elements. Women are forced to confine their visits between sunset and sunrise, due to lack of privacy and to avoid harassment.

Gebhard’s group is currently in the planning stages to install basic family privies in Mindanti. The challenge goes beyond basic construction, including cultural considerations that will allow use by both men and women.

It’s more difficult to get people as excited about sanitation as they are about building wells, but the two go hand in hand, according to Gebhard.

Through baptismal waters, we are released from the bondage of sin. In the simple gift of water to villages in Malawi, the poorest among God’s people are released from the suffering of poverty.

“There’s so much that begins with water, that helps education, by keeping girls in school, by health and with agriculture,” Gebhard said.

For more information on Diocese of Texas work in Malawi, visit warmheartinternational.org.

Cook is a member of St. Cyprian’s, Lufkin, and a freelance writer for the Texas Episcoplian.

2010 PILGRIMAGE

Women and children using Warm Heart International Fresh Water Well completed in 2007 in Mindanti Village, Southern Malawi. The well allows young girls time to go to school instead of walking miles each day to fetch the families’ water.

By Ashley Cook

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magine you’re a young girl from a small town. You should be spending the day at school with your friends.

But instead, you’re standing in line, waiting for your turn to get the family’s daily water supply. Your mother has kept you home so she can care for the family while you take her place in line. But before you can haul the water home, there are 15 people ahead of you in line.

That was the scene Tom Gebhard experienced when he visited the village of Mindanti in 2005. Mindanti is in Malawi, a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, among the poorest in the world and ravaged by disease. The average life expectancy for adults is in the mid-40s, according to data from the U.S. Government.

Gebhard is a professional engineer in the water resources field, and a member of St. David’s, Austin. He is chair of the Water and Sanitation Committee of Warm Heart International, Inc. WHI is a non-profit organization of his parish where members seek to live out their faith by partnering with people in communities worldwide to help them achieve better health, education and youth programs.

Through WHI, the Diocese of Texas is working to effect change in Malawi to meet a number of Millennium Development Goals, including clean water and basic sanitation.

Gebhard finds his personal inspiration to serve in the Baptismal Covenant and the prayers surrounding it. God has blessed him with an “inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and perceive” the call for all baptized Christians to reach all persons in Christ’s name.

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

“It’s a continual challenge to live into those words in daily life,” Gebhard said. “...I had just never expected to be able to use my professional work (for ministry) until I got to Africa and found that I could use that working through the church.”

He has served on the diocesan World Missions Board since 2005, and has traveled to Malawi multiple times, in 2009 accompanying a group that included the Rt. Rev. Dena Harrison, bishop suffragan of Texas.

“Bishop Harrison was able to see things that I hadn’t, and it changed my view of outreach to Malawi,” he said.

When in Malawi, Gebhard met with the Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Malawi.

Gebhard offered his services, and assumed the bishop would send him out to oversee an irrigation project. But instead he was sent to Mindanti, where there was no running water.

Gebhard saw the women and girls lined up for water.

He also visited another local water source, a hole dug into a dry river bed. The people were using water taken from an open pit fouled by animals.

“The water was just terrible looking, and yet kids were going down there to get drinking water, so that they could get through the day,” he said. “It was so contaminated, I just can’t describe it.”

The net result of the visiting group’s first effort was to install in a windmill-powered well, pumping water to an elevated storage tank supplying two or three communitywide spigots. The simple technology allows for easy repair as needed. The system was built by an Anglican lay minister and native Malawian.

The other, but less glamorous part of Gebhard’s work

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PILGRIMAGE TO MALAWI Experience what God is doing in and through His people in a land far away.

Join us on our third Pilgrimage offering to Malawi, Africa for up to sixteen delegates at the invitation of Bishop James Tengatenga of the Diocese of Southern Malawi.

Reservations limited.

APPLY NOW!

2010 Pilgrimage to Malawi Thursday July 22 - Sunday Aug. 8

Download brochure & applications at

www.warmheartinternational.org 304 East 8th St., Austin, Texas 78701 • 512-472-1196

Texas Episcopalian

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February

2010

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS

People

The Rev. Elizabeth Ann Brotherton has become a staff chaplain at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston. She was formerly assistant rector at St. Alban’s, Austin.

The Rev. Roberta G. Knowles will serve as a pastoral fellow at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston. Knowles is the former vicar of St. Philips, Austin.

John M. McCardell, Jr., president emeritus of Middlebury College, has been elected as president and vice chancellor of the University of the South, Sewanee, TN. The Rev. Servio R. Moscoso, formerly vicar of Iglesia San Jose, Elizabeth, NJ has become the new vicar of Iglesia Episcopal St. Francisco de Asis, Austin.

The Rev. Roderick J. Pierce is retiring from active ministry.

He was associate director of pastoral care at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston.

The Rev. Frankie Rodriguez has resigned as rector of Calvary, Richmond.

All Saints , Brockhampton Goes East and Up

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ll Saints’, Brockhampton, England, or at least a replica of it, has been recreated on the 21st and 22nd floors of a hotel in Osaka, Japan. The Rev. Will Pridie, vicar of All Saints’, explained that to be married in a western style church is all the rage in Japan. “Many couples travel to Europe in order to be married in a church building. Now, Japanese couples can be married in a church-type building without travelling abroad.”

The extraordinary story began with a chance visit to the Herefordshire church by four members of a Japanese

property company. Last year, the project manager, architect and site manager visited Brockhampton to meet Pridie with plans for the project. Final laser measurements were taken and some modifications made before All Saints’ took shape in the tower block.

The floors below the replica have a shopping mall and offices while on the same level as the “church” there are photographic studios and restaurants. Above the church are rooms and honeymoon suites to provide the full wedding package without leaving the building.

The Rev. Frankie Rodriquez, president of the Standing Committee, has submitted his resignation to Bishop Andy Doyle, effective January 14, 2010. As an officer of the Standing Committee, the Rev. David A. Boyd, secretary of the Standing Committee, will convene the Standing Committee to name an acting president.

Deaths: Jeannie Millspaugh, church administrator and membership secretary at Trinity Church, The Woodlands, passed away January 4, after fighting cancer for several years. Please keep Jeannie’s husband, Paul, and their family in your prayers.

seafarers Ministry

Former Hostage to Recount Ordeal Feb. 28 - March 3 at Kanuga

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nternational peacemakers Jerry and Lucille “Sis” Levin will share the story of how a hostage ordeal taught them the value of nonviolence during Kanuga’s Bowen Conference Feb. 28-March 3.

A former CNN bureau chief, Jerry Levin was kidnapped in 1984 by extremists while on assignment in Lebanon and held hostage for nearly a year. Sis Levin played a crucial role in forging the nonviolent effort that led to her husband’s escape and told the story in her best-selling book Beirut Diary, which was made into the television movie “Held Hostage.”

The couple says the experience forged their belief in “the futility of violence” and launched them into careers as international teachers and advocates for nonviolent reconciliation. From 2001 to early 2009, they served on Christian Peacemaker Teams working on projects promoting nonviolence in the Middle East. Sis Levin, a certified professional mediator with a doctorate in peace

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education, dedicates much of her work to helping schools and universities develop comprehensive programs for teaching alternatives to violence.

The Levins’ keynote addresses will focus on the theme “Nonviolence: A Faithful Reponse.” Workshops will offer new ways of addressing and overcoming violence as well as provide tools and techniques for changing today’s thinking, policies and teaching about violence and conflict resolution.

Other speakers include the Rev. Kevin Higgs, United Methodist Church of the Reconciler, a multicultural, multiracial congregation in Birmingham, Ala., which incorporates the principles of scriptural-based nonviolent living in all aspects of church. The Rev. Titus Presler will serve as conference chaplain.

Affiliated with the Episcopal Church since 1928, Kanuga is a 1,400-acre camp and conference center in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Hendersonville, N.C. For more information, visit www.kanuga.org or call 828-692-9136.

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Hoisting up one of six packages of shoebox gifts for the 30 crewmembers onboard an oil tanker. More than 7,665 gifts boxes were delivered by Port of Houston chaplains to seafarers during December. Crewmembers have been unable to disembark when they dock since 9/11 so the long tradition of gift boxes is more welcome now than ever before says the Rev. Lacy Largent, chaplain.

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

Haiti Struck by Devastating Earthquake, continued from page 1 The Haitian diocese suffered greatly with the quake.

A number of the diocese’s 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince.

A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed, killing between six and 10 students and staff. Many of the students are living at the camp while arrangements are being made for them to be housed elsewhere.

More than 100 of the diocese’s churches have been damaged or destroyed, Duracin has said.

As many as 3,000 quake survivors, including many members of the diocese, have congregated on a rocky field next to College Ste. Pierre, a diocesan secondary school that the quake destroyed. Duracin, who was left homeless by the quake, has led the effort to organize and maintain the camp, where conditions are described as grim.

Two Episcopal Relief & Development officials -- Katie Mears, program manager for USA disaster preparedness and response, and Kirsten Muth, senior program director -- have been in Port-au-Prince twice in the last week to assist the diocese. They have been operating out of the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Mears and Muth are also assisting the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic’s efforts to aid its neighbors to the west.

The agency’s efforts include coordinating shipments of medical supplies and food to affected rural Haitian communities and parishes, organizing air drops to isolated rural areas and the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers. The latter will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase the organization’s ability to communicate with Duracin and his colleagues as they serve thousands of survivors both in Port-au-Prince and in other areas served by the Episcopal Church of Haiti.

The agency said Jan. 21 that its work is also helping to establish a response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.

The bishop said in his letter to Radtke that the members of the diocese “have a vision and a plan for this relief and recovery effort.”

“We know the situation on the ground, we are directing emergency relief to those who need it most, and we already are making plans and moving forward to help our people,” he said, adding that he was aware that many people in the rest of the Episcopal Church want to come to Haiti immediately to offer their help.

“Please tell them that unless they are certified professionals in relief and recovery, they must wait,” he asked of Radtke. “We will need them in the months and years to come, but at this point, it is too dangerous and too much of a burden for our people to have mission teams here.”

Duracin also said in the letter that he had appointed the Rev. Lauren Stanley, one of the Episcopal Church’s four missionaries assigned to Haiti, to work on his behalf with

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Episcopal Relief & Development.

Stanley was home in Virginia when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck outside of Port-au-Prince just before 5 p.m. local time. Another Episcopal Church missionary, the Rev. Canon Oge Beauvoir, the dean of the diocese’s seminary, is still in Haiti and working with Duracin.

Mallory Holding, 23, and Jude Harmon, 28, two Young Adult Service Corps missionaries, left the country the weekend after the quake.

Duracin also said that he had asked the diocese’s partners in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to work directly with Episcopal Relief & Development.

The Episcopal Church’s Hôpital Sainte Croix in Léogâne has been a “major focus” of the Presbyterian Church’s work in Haiti for a decade. The hospital provides outpatient treatment, a nutritional program and a de-worming research and treatment effort aimed at the parasitical filarial nematode and funded by the University of Notre Dame and the Gates Foundation.

Hunter Farrell, director of world mission for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said Jan. 24 that the church had given $200,000 to the hospital and the diocese’s nursing school, formally known as the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Episcopale d’Haïti in Léogâne (FSIL) (Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti). The grant meant to help pay for electrical power and distribution needs, water and sanitation facilities, fuel for generators and vehicles, and salaries for local staff to clean up the hospital, Farrell said.

The quake and one of its major aftershocks damaged the nursing school’s buildings, but it began operating as a makeshift hospital within a half hour after the quake which destroyed 80-90 percent of the buildings in the main part of Léogâne, the school’s foundation said on its website.

Nursing school dean Hilda Alcindor reported that she, the nursing students and the incoming medical personnel have treated at least 5,000 people since the quake. A tent city has sprung up in the open fields around the school. The school’s foundation also reported that the nursing students have set up 10 first-aid stations around Léogâne.

To donate to Episcopal Relief & Development go to www.er-d.org; or call the agency at 1.800.334.7626 ext.5129; or mail a gift to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Please write “Haiti fund” in the memo of all checks.

Schjonberg is ENS national correspondent and editor of Episcopal News Monthly.

Updates on Haiti: ecusa.anglican. org/ens Donate at: www.er-d.org org 13

83,000 Episcopalians in 169 congregations served by just 37 clergy (more than 100 congregations damaged or destroyed) 254 schools ranging from pre-school to university (four destroyed)

Ainsley Herbert feeds coins into the flower on “Hugs for Haiti” Day, at Grace Preschool.

Students at Grace Preschool in Georgetown celebrated National Hugging Day TM with “Hugs for Haiti” on January 21 with a coin drive. The preschool has been collecting “Pennies for the Playground” in a plastic flower for the past four years to enhance and maintain the playground at Grace Episcopal Church, but when the devastating earthquake hit Haiti January 12, students wanted to do something to help. Children were all encouraged to search under couch cushions, in the car and in their piggy banks to bring loose change to “fill the flower.” Head of School Ginny Herbert estimated raising $250 or so, but was surprised when the fund topped $784.92! The money was sent to Episcopal Relief and Development earmarked for aid to schools in Haiti.

Four of the Diocese of Haiti schools were completely destroyed in the quake. One “anonymous” student left a salad spinner full of change on Herbert’s desk. Another brought in a container that her father had been filling with coins for 20 years. Church members got in on the action, and soon the plastic flower was completely full!

Sand pails held the flower’s overflow.

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GUEST COLUMNIST

THE OUGHTS of putting the question is, “What doth the Lord require of

do.” But the converse is also true: what I ought to do, I can

us?”

The prophet Micah answered, “He has told you, O

do. One is never obliged to do the impossible. It is true that

mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you

some things appear to be impossible, which turn out not to

but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly

be:

with your God?” (Micah 6:8 NRSV)

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,

That is not as simple as it may sound. What constitutes justice has been the object of countless arguments, numerous

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

tomes and centuries of jurisprudence. Humility is a less

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

vexed subject. The English jurist John Selden (1584-1654)

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

said, “Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice but

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

everyone is content to hear. The master thinks it is good

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy and the clergy

That couldn’t be done, and he did it. (E. A. Guest)

for the laity” (Table Talk). Kindness is a near equivalent to what the New Testament means by love (agape).

By means of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. The Rev. Sam Todd

10:25-37), Jesus elicited from a lawyer the insight that loving one’s neighbor means having mercy on the person

Having too many oughts may send you to a psychologist; having naught will send you to hell.

before you.

Elsewhere Jesus condenses what the Lord

requires of us to the golden rule: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Mt. 7:12 NRSV).

A philosophical answer to the ethical question (What ought I to do?) is “So act that your existence is an actualization of your essence.”

The answer, and the

W

question itself, imply a gap between our essential humanity

his class. Leading the procession was an old gentleman

of its setting” (Ps. 104:20). All creatures but we obey God’s

of the class of ought-ought i.e. 1900. When I attended

laws. They do not need ethics. Cubs naturally grow into

my younger daughter’s graduation in 2000, I wondered

full lions and dogs become all that they were meant to be.

if some day she would represent the class of ought-ought

Only humans can fall short of their essential nature.

hen I graduated from college, some members

and the way we are inclined to act. This gap is what the

of previous classes walked in the procession.

Church means by original sin. It seems peculiar to man.

One from each class held up a sign identifying

The stars keep to their spheres and “the sun knows the time

in a procession. Some commentators have belatedly been

“Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the Lord has

trying to figure out what to call the decade just past. Some

spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they

have suggested, “The Oughts” because it has been a cipher

have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the

financially.

donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people

“The decade of the zeros was the first decade ever that

do not understand” (Isa. 1:1f NRSV).

the S&P 500 had a negative total return” (New York Times

Jeremiah prophesied a day when we also would not

1/2/10 p. B4). Others have suggested “the Naughties.” In

need ethics because “says the Lord: I will put my law within

the Episcopal Church it has been the Gay Naughties.

them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their

“Ought” can mean zero. It can mean proper. It most

God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. 31:33).

commonly means moral obligation. All ethics is answer to

A second implication of “ought” is ability. Part of the

the question, “What ought I (we) to do?” The Biblical way

Daughters of the King’s motto is “What I can do, I ought to

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But he with a chuckle replied

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It is also true that some things we cannot accomplish from our own resolve alone. The answer to the behavioral questions in the Baptismal Covenant is “I will with God’s help” (BCP pp. 304f). The Holy Spirit is God’s help.

But many things are truly impossible. We are after all finite creatures. I have only a limited amount of time, strength, knowledge and energy. No amount of training will enable a sprinter to outrun a cheetah. The brightest polymath will know only a fraction of what is to be known.

Human suffering soon overwhelms our capacity for compassion; one person’s death saddens me; the murder of millions is unimaginable. As a confessor I have sometimes had to tell a penitent, “I cannot absolve you of that because it is not a sin; it is just part of your finitude.”

A number of my conscientious friends have a case of the oughts. Guilt is their default emotion. But there is something worse than having too many oughts and that is having none at all. Worse for us, that is.

Since May 2005, the bodies of eight young women have been found in Jefferson Davis parish, Louisiana.

Police assume all have been murdered by the same man.

Sarah Benoit, the mother of one victim, said, “Whoever is doing this, I don’t know how they sleep at night. I just don’t understand” (N.Y.T. 1/2/10 p. A11). He may have no trouble at all sleeping at night. There are people who have no conscience, no mercy, no remorse. Psychologists call them psychopaths; the Church calls them evil. Having too many oughts may send you to a psychologist; having naught will send you to hell.

Email Todd at: stodd2423@att.net

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

Harrison

High

Doyle

Bishops’ February Calendars 3 3 p.m.

7 11 a.m.

9 6:30 p.m.

12-13 16 3 p.m.

17 12 p.m.

18 19 6:30 p.m.

20 5 p.m.

21 10:30 a.m.

24 2:30 p.m.

6 p.m.

25 2:30 p.m.

27 28 10:30 a.m.

4 p.m.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities Board Orientation, Houston Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo, Houston, CF Nathan Jennings Ordination to the Priesthood, Seminary of the Southwest 161st Diocesan Council, Killeen St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities Governance Committee, Houston Ash Wednesday Service, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Austin Episcopal High School Gala and Auction, Houston Iona School, Camp Allen St. Andrew’s, Pearland, CF St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities Leadership Meeting, Houston Lenten Series, St. John the Divine, Houston Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, St. David’s, Austin Wardens & Vestry Conference, St. John the Divine, Houston St. Richard’s, Round Rock, CF Reginald Payne-Wiens Celebration of New Ministry, St. James’, Austin

1 12 p.m.

5 5 p.m.

6 9 a.m.

7 6:30 p.m.

8-10

12-13 16 11 a.m.

18 9:30 a.m.

2 p.m.

21 9:30 a.m.

23 4 p.m.

25 11 a.m.

26-27 28 10:30 a.m.

Christ Church, Tyler, ECW St. Thomas’, Wharton, Blessing Service St. Thomas’, Wharton, Altar Guild and Eucharistic Ministers Workshops Sewanee, Regents’ Dinner Sewanee, Regents’ Meetings St. Christopher’s, Killeen, Diocesan Council St. Paul’s, Waco, “Connections” St. James’ House Board Orientation, Baytown St. James’ House Board Meeting, Baytown Good Shepherd, Friendswood, CF All Saints’ Episcopal School, Tyler, Board Meeting Diocesan Office, Houston, William Temple Center Group Meeting St. Timothy’s, Lake Jackson, DOK Spring Assembly Trinity, Galveston, CF

3 7 p.m.

4 9 a.m.

5-18 21 11 a.m.

23 2 p.m.

25 12 p.m.

28 10:30 a.m.

Camp Allen received a $22,000 gift from the Lower Colorado River Authority to assist with a solar hot water heating system. Pictured (l-r) Gloria Clepper, Camp Director; Carol Courville, San Bernard Electric; Robbie Lowrey, Camp Allen Development, Lori LeBlue, Grants Coordinator and Amy Brandt, LCRA Public Affairs.

In the Anglican Communion A global community of 77 million Anglicans in 500 dioceses in 164 countries Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Rev. Rowan Williams Lambeth Palace, London, England, SE1 7JU Anglican Communion Office 16 Tavistock Crescent Westbourne Park London W 11 1AP United Kingdom In the United States A community of 2.5 million members in 120 dioceses in the Americas and abroad

Denton A. Cooley Award Presentation, Houston St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System Compensation Committee, Houston Episcopal Relief & Development Board Meeting, South Africa & Zambia Calvary Church, Bastrop, CF St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System Executive Committee, Houston St. Luke’s Health System Finance and Audit Meeting, Houston Holy Spirit, Houston, CF

Presiding Bishop The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori Episcopal Church Center 815 Second Ave., NY, NY 10017 1.800.321.2231 In the Diocese of Texas One Church of more than 85,000 members in 158 congregations in the eastern quadrant of Texas, established in 1849 Bishop The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle dotbp@epicenter.org 1225 Texas Ave. Houston, TX 77002-3504 1.800.318.4452 1.713.520.6444 FAX 1.713.520.5723 Austin: 1.512.478.0580, 1.800.947.0580 Tyler: 1.903.579.6012 homepage: www.epicenter.org editor: cbarnwell@epicenter.org

Children from the Cromack, Natoli, Mussey, and Chasey families in Austin have attended family weekends at Camp Allen for nine years. Several flew in from college out-of-state to attend the annual holiday tradition this year.

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org

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PARISH NEWS

Extreme Home Makeover Comes to Town

Still Cleaning Up After Ike Volunteers prepare to demolish the Beach house, home to the family of 15.

By Carol E. Barnwell

H

ollis Baugh, a member of St. Christopher’s, League City, designed and helped to build the largest home yet for ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover. The 5400 square foot structure in Kemah will be home for the Beach family whose house has been unlivable since Hurricane Ike. The family of 15 has been living in a trailer on their property until this January when they were chosen to receive a new home from the popular reality television show. The 18-foot travel trailer had one toilet and the hot water tank held six gallons, which necessitated frequent trips to the laundromat.

The Beaches cooked on a gas grill.

The home, which Baugh helped to design to the program’s specifications, was completed in 106 hours, led

by Blu Shields Construction, and was designed to fit the needs of the Beach family. It was built to standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Each of the 25 homes that the show builds per year typically attracts 3,000 to 4,000 volunteers. Members from many Episcopal churches volunteered to work on the home through the unusual subzero temperatures that plagued the first part of the build.

According to reports in the Houston Chronicle, the family will not be responsible for a mortgage or property taxes because the house is considered a complete donation.

During their 23 years of marriage, Larry, 40 and Melissa, 40; have fostered more than 85 children that adoption agencies were not able to place. They have four biological children and nine adopted children, ages 23 years to 22 months. Their son Cody, 19, is currently serving in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. Several children, have special needs and the new home is complete with a therapy room.

Baugh, who was born in Nacogdoches and raised in Houston, started building houses with his father when he was in junior high school. He and his workers are excited about helping the Beaches regain their quality of life after so many months of hardship. “I have been blessed by helping people,” he said.

Baugh joined the Episcopal Church in 1993 after

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moving to Baycliff, near League City, when his wife Anne visited and began attending St. Christopher’s. He opened his inspection business and now covers the 12 coastal counties, certifying construction to meet the state’s windstorm requirements. “Just knowing how to build a house isn’t enough,” Baugh explains. “We check the framing, the nailing of the sheeting of the walls and the roof that provides the wind force resistance.”

A graduate of the University of Houston, Baugh is a registered professional engineer and was appointed by the Texas Department of Insurance to do the windstorm certification. While the state holds him to a high level of performance, Baugh said his values, informed by his religion, make daily choices easy. “The spiritual part makes it easy to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Every three days someone calls and wants you to do them a ‘little favor.’ We can’t fudge.”

Trained as a Stephen’s minister, Baugh spent several years serving as junior warden and is currently a lay reader at St. Christopher’s. He helped put in the church’s community garden.

He has worked with Blu Shields Contruction for a number of years. The family company is committed to design and construction of quality, high-energy efficient homes built within a short timeframe.

“Building houses in 128 hours doesn’t scare them,” Baugh said. “It scares me!”

This was the show’s biggest challenge to date, said Baugh, who prebuilt floors and walls, which were then set into place with large cranes during the 24/7 week-long build.

The home has an elevator so all children will have access to all the rooms in the house. “It’s a real Hollywood production,” he said, listing numerous camera crews, a hospitality and VIP tent, crowd control and street closings needed to complete the build.

The Beaches were one of several families interviewed for this episode, which will air in March. “Yes, some families will

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Hollis Baugh with walls and flooring for Beach home.

be disappointed, but this is a very deserving family and we are doing a good thing,” Baugh said.

“We couldn’t have done it without him,” said Blu Shields, who walked by during our interview. “You are sitting in front of a good man! Hollis came up with this idea to pre-build, pre-panelize,” he added. Ninety percent of the house was then sitting on trailers in the parking lot, waiting to be unloaded as it was needed.

Before I left, Baugh showed me his slide rule collection.

“I’m missing a round slide rule, then my collection will be complete,” he said.

Thanks to Baugh, Shields and the thousands of volunteers who made this home makeover happen, the Beach family moved into their new home less than a week after leaving their trailer. That’s gotta feel good for everyone involved.

Work Continues in Galveston

To help rebuild other homes damaged in Hurricane Ike, go to http://www.ikerelief.blogspot.com/ and volunteer with Texas Episcopal Relief and Development. Hundreds of families are still not in their homes following the devastation of Hurricane Ike and you and your friends can do something about it. Join us in this effort to get people back home.

Find us on the web at www.epicenter.org