Spirit Winter 2010

FEEDING THE PEOPLE • LAY LITURGIST • LENT IN TRANSLATION

Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri

HELPING HAITI Winter 2010 Volume 1, No. 2

Spirit PUBLISHER: The Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe EDITOR: Hugh Welsh Spirit is published quarterly by the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri 420 W. 14th St. P.O. Box 413227 Kansas City, MO 64141 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: The Ven. John McCann, Archdeacon Hugh Welsh, Spirit The Rev. John Spicer, St. Andrew’s, Kansas City Angela Crawford, Administrative Assistant to the Archdeacon, Diocese of West Missouri SUBMISSIONS/LETTERS: Spirit welcomes submissions of news articles, photographs and letters to the editor on topics of interest to the diocese. Submissions should include the writer’s name, e-mail, mailing address and phone number and are subject to editing.

5 Bishop Talk The destruction caused by the earthquake in Haiti is incomprehensible. Finding a way to help isn’t.

By the Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe 6 The Middle Ground Immigration remains a divisive topic in American politics.

The rector of Grace Church in Carthage, who is fluent in Spanish, frames the issue using a personal anecdote.

By the Rev. Steven Wilson 7 F.A.Q. Absalom Jones was the Episcopal Church’s first AfricanAmerican priest. In anticipation of the diocese’s celebration of Jones’ life Feb. 13, Drew Brown, a member of Christ Church in St. Joseph who grew up in the Philadephia church Jones founded, explains what Jones’ legacy means to him.

PHONE: (816) 471-6161, Ext. 15 or (800) 471-6160 FAX: (816) 471-0379

8 Profiling a Bishop The latest in the search for a new bishop.

E-MAIL: westmo_spirit@swbell.net

9 Get Connected At last year’s 7th Annual Gathering and 120th Diocesan Convention, a resolution was passed that allows for the election of up to four youth delegates. A teenager writes about what it means for the future of the Episcopal Church.

By Emilie Bridges

WEB SITE: www.episcopalwestmo.org Cover photo by REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz 2

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FEATURES WINTER, 2010

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Photo by REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

10 Profile As St. Mary’s liturgist, Chas Marks breaks down barriers between the roles of clergy and lay people.

By Hugh Welsh 12 Haiti & the Church When a massive earthquake rocked Haiti, the Episcopal Church was quick to respond. So was the diocese.

By Hugh Welsh 14 One Church Engaging the World Haiti is wracked by poverty: it is the poorest nation in the Western world. Many of its people can ill-afford a meal a day. Even before the earthquake, Haiti was a major target for overseas mission in the diocese.

By Hugh Welsh 16 The Drive One Boy Scout Troop. One Church. Thirteen and a half tons of food for 260 Independence families.

By Hugh Welsh

18 Hospice Matters Saint Luke’s Home Care and Hospice of Kansas City cares deeply about its community. That’s why it’s seeking to build a freestanding hospice facility.

By Hugh Welsh 20 Translating Lent It is well known that Lent derives from Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness. What isn’t so well known is how Lent applies to modern times. Three diocesan churches and the Rev. Frederick Mann shed light on Lenten observances past and present.

By Hugh Welsh 22 Arts At Grace Church in Carthage, Barbara Mountjoy writes plays infused with old-time song and dance as well as enough humor and intrigue to satisfy a nitpicky nobleman. But it’s up to Grace Church’s parishioners (and clergy) to adapt them to the stage.

By Hugh Welsh and the Rev. Steven Wilson SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

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Editor’s Letter by Hugh Welsh THE NEWS THAT HAITI HAD BEEN STRUCK by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake didn’t register for me immediately. After all, I was snagged in my own personal crisis: on Jan. 10 my parents’ 1991 Ford Taurus finally “bit the dust,” as my mom would say, its transmission devoid of life; a day later, as my mom and I were leaving Enterprise (where we had learned there wasn’t one available rental in the entire Kansas City area), my 2002 Saturn L-200 coughed, gagged and kablueyed. Its timing chain had ruptured, a $2,000-plus repair. Two days later, when I arrived at my parents’ house to take my mom car shopping (in the automobile Enterprise reserved for me: a pretty pink Kia), I might as well have been a cartoon character with plumes of smoke exiting my ears. Then, I saw my dad, who looked to be in mourning. “It’s terrible what’s happened to Haiti,” he said. “Just terrible.”

Both of my parents have traveled to Haiti. “You hate to hear something like that happen to a people who are so egoless,” my dad said. I asked him what he meant by egoless. Was he saying they were prideful of their country, which overcame impossible odds to win independence from France more than 200 years ago? “No, Hugh, that’s not it,” my dad said. “Haitians are a people with bright eyes who have little and yet are joyful.” My dad’s words grounded me; I was like a jetliner soaring aloft — quibbling over the miniscule — that had been sent crashing to earth by an awesome force.

As I laid out this issue of Spirit, I was occasionally overcome with emotion: to look into the eyes of the Haitian child pictured in the table of contents is to peer into the eyes of an angel.But perhaps I was most overcome by the love of the Episcopal Church toward Haiti — for it is love that is integral to the Christian faith.

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Letters to the Editor New Developments at All Saints’ A suggestion for the written publication: Pictures of the single-parent resource center in West Plains and more info regarding the $40,000 grant for the partnership of Missouri State University and All Saints’ (West Plains) might be of interest.

PAT RUDY EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN Thanks for the suggestion, Pat. The $40,000 grant was given through United Thank Offering, a foundation of the Episcopal Church. The grant will allow Missouri State UniversityWest Plains to build a single-parent educational resource center at All Saints’ former rectory. The center will be called Project REWARD (Reaching for Education with Absolute Resolve and Dedication) and will provide assistance for lowincome, single parents who demonstrate the desire to succeed in college but face obstacles beyond their control. H.W.

Religious Reception One of the things I feel sets the Episcopal Church apart is its cordiality toward other religions that don’t cite Jesus Christ as their savior.

While it was interesting to read about The House that Abraham Built, I couldn’t help but wonder if such subject matter wouldn’t be excellent material for a bigger story that discusses the diocese as a whole.

DAVID REYNOLDS CHRIST CHURCH SPRINGFIELD, MO Thank you for the story idea, David. I agree that a topic such as this one would pique the interest of many, myself included.

Look for it in a future issue. H.W.

Call for Ideas How does your church serve Christ in your community?

Please send examples of your outreach ministry to the following email address: westmo_spirit@swbell.net.

Bishop Talk the crisis in haiti By the Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe

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e have all been overwhelmed with a sense of grief since we heard the news of the earthquake in Haiti. In our grief, we wonder how such disasters continue to visit our planet and affect the lives of so many people in such devastating ways. This wonder by the Church, some church buildings elsewhere and will continue. There are no rational answers to our ancillary church programs – the Church will not abandon bewilderment — just the scientific data about the changes a people who are in so much need. Through our work as that take place in the structure of the earth. an integral part of the Church in Haiti, the Church will Several of our congregations have partnerships with continue to do the work we are called to do there. Bishop congregations and schools and clinics in Haiti. The Duracin, now living in a tent city, is a symbol of this impetus for the establishment of a birthing center and for ongoing commitment to presence and compassion and many other services for the people has originated in our new life for the people. congregations. Many deep relationships have therefore been I know we are being diligent in our prayers for the established with our sisters and brothers in Haiti — heartfelt people of Haiti, for the people who are doing the initial relationships that share in the gifts of the Spirit that build rescue work, for the medical people who have arrived the Body of Christ. When Mary and I visited Haiti a from many countries, for those who must make triage decade ago, we experienced what so many people had told choices, and for those both there and from afar who are us we would find: impoverished people with a tremendous making strategic strength of spirit plans for tomorrow Prayer must always be followed by action — that is embodied and the days to with an innate joy. human action that is empowered by the Spirit come. Prayer must What we witnessed always be followed of God poured into our hearts. transformed our by action — human hearts and souls. action that is empowered by the Spirit of God poured into This strength of spirit is surely very bruised right now. our hearts. So I urge all of us to use the gifts given to us to But, for the survivors of the earthquake, it is a strength respond to the Haitian people — most especially to share that will transcend what the immediate circumstances are our resources for immediate needs of medical treatment now. As our sisters and brothers, the people of Haiti are and supplies, for food and water and for the building of counting on us to assist them, not just in the immediate basic structures for shelter. In the long recovery period phases of rescue and restoration but in the long-term work that will follow, we shall have opportunities to use our of recovery. The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is the largest gifts in many other ways in building the Body of Christ. diocese in the Episcopal Church in terms of members.

I am grateful to all of you in your response. May that Without its life and witness among the people of Haiti, the strength of spirit in the people of Haiti truly transcend medical, educational and social service programs would the tragedies they are experiencing each day. And may our be few. Despite the destruction – including the Episcopal ministry to them and with them help the Spirit of God Cathedral, the Cathedral School, the home of the resident breathe new life into this indomitable people. nuns, the bishop’s residence, the university established SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

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As Christians, we should be compassionate toward those seeking refuge in the United States.

PRO

T

The

Middle Ground

By the Rev. Steven Wilson

ISSUE: IMMIGRATION

hey’d been coming to church services faithfully for a couple of years, a lovely young couple. We baptized the new baby, and they proudly placed folding money in the offering basin and invited the congregation to join them after the service to share in cake and tamales. But once again, as always, they stayed in the pew during communion. The godmother brought the infant up, and she was communicated with a tiny drop of wine, but mom and dad stayed in the pews.

I assumed that this was some kind of statement, probably “we’re Roman Catholic, but we come here because the mass is in Spanish.” But over coffee, I finally found out what the problem was. They weren’t married. They wanted to be married, they intended to be married, they loved one another, but they weren’t married and here they were with a baby. And that is a sin, padre. I told them to come in next week with a license and we’d fix that. And that’s when it all became clear — he said, simply, “Sin papeles.” I’m not documented. And in Missouri, that keeps you from being married.

In the mid 2000s, the average annual number of undocumented workers deported for breaking immigration laws was around 150,000. The average number of companies fined for making money by employing them was six. (Granted, those numbers have changed of late — deportations have nearly doubled, and the number of employer fines is more than 100.)

Where is the justice in that? The poor get imprisoned and expelled, the rich pay a fine. That hardly sounds like Mary’s glorious Magnificat, praising the God who casts down the mighty and raises up the humble and meek. Nor does it sound like the kind of measures that will end illegal employment. The photos I’ve seen of billboards in the Guatemalan jungle read “Come to Carthage Missouri, Estados Unidos. We have jobs for you.” I don’t think that the companies that put them up are trembling, afraid to be cast down from their thrones.

Repeatedly throughout Scripture, we are told that we should remember the plight of the sojourner — the “ger”— and treat them well, for we ourselves were once “gerim” in the land of Egypt. “Ger” translates as immigrant. The way we treat the immigrants in our midst says something about how seriously we take the Bible, how seriously we take the God who was,

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President Ronald Reagan once said, “A nation without borders is not a nation.”

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in His Son, a refugee and immigrant in Egypt. Do you think Joseph, in the middle of the night, with Herod’s troops on his heels, stopped to fill out the visa application to Egypt, or is it more likely that Jesus Himself was “sin papeles?”

This is not a plea for any particular political course of action.

There are lots of ways to fix an obviously broken system. Wiser minds than mine advocate differing courses of action, but no one I know considers the current system worth preserving. I suspect most ICE (formerly INS) workers pray heartily for the day when the current system is changed. But in the give and take of political debate, we forget that these are human souls we’re talking about, people who live every day in fear that they’ll be stopped by the police, who are told by their employers not to use insurance lest they be reported and deported, who cannot get married.

What I am asking is that we stop thinking of immigration solely as a political debate, and start considering the human cost of keeping things the way they are. Just because someone is undocumented doesn’t mean they have stopped being our neighbor: we don’t get to pick our neighbors. Surely the victim on the road to Jericho wouldn’t have chosen a Samaritan as a neighbor. As long as I frame the debate, in my head, in terms of my own fear, my own security, rather than how I can honor the dignity of the person who seeks, then I miss the point.

With the measure I use on others, as Jesus so darkly says, I will myself be measured. Do I ever break any law just because it’s convenient — like that stop sign down the road? Then I’d best be somewhat charitable in judging those who break laws to make a better life for a hungry, oppressed family.

They’re still not married. They still don’t take communion.

Their daughter, and now son, are citizens by constitutional fiat as they were born here. One wonders — will the kids come home from school some day to find that they’re alone, waiting to be entered into DFS custody, because their parents were deported? It happens every semester in Carthage to some kid.

At least they’d be able to get married, in Nicaragua. Of course, their kids wouldn’t be there to see them kneel at the rail and take the bread and drink the wine.

The Rev. Steven Wilson is rector at Grace Church in Carthage.

F.A.Q. Who was Absalom Jones, and why does the diocese celebrate his heritage?

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By Drew H. Brown (Christ Church, St. Joseph)

hen I think about what the Absalom Jones service means to me, four words come to mind – legacy, commitment, accomplishment and choice.

LEGACY: I am from Philadelphia and was raised in St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the parish founded by Absalom Jones. He was a person of great veneration and the subject of an annual celebration.

The mere mention of his name reminds me of my roots in the church, the religious education leading to Confirmation, my service as an acolyte and my membership in the boys’ choir. I recall the pivotal role the church held in the community and the city.

COMMITMENT: Absalom Jones lived at a time when slavery was legal and common wisdom held that those of African descent were not human. And if they were human, they were certainly not equal to whites. Jones himself had been a slave, but he was able to earn and save enough to buy his and his wife’s freedom. In recognition of the humanity of blacks, the Episcopal Church acknowledged

and welcomed Absalom Jones and his congregation into our denomination on an equal basis.

The service, therefore, is evidence of the Church’s longstanding commitment to human rights.

ACCOMPLISHMENT: When I think of the achievements of Absalom Jones, rising from slavery to become the first person of African descent to be ordained a priest in this country, I feel an intense pride that a fellow African-American overcame such formidable obstacles.

VALIDATING CHOICE: There are a wide variety of religious pathways available to us.

One would like to think that his or her chosen path is worthy of the investment of time, treasure and devotion.

The fact that the Episcopal Church has made a conscious choice to commemorate Absalom Jones by including a feast day in the calendar of the church year is further evidence of our denomination’s commitment to social justice.

The service affords us an opportunity to celebrate progress and to recommit to respecting the dignity of every person.

InMemoriam WHO?

Absalom Jones (1746-1818)

WHAT?

A special service honoring the Episcopal Church’s first AfricanAmerican priest. The service will include a performance by St.James United Methodist Church’s Praise Propulsion and St. Augustine’s Liturgical Dancers. The Rev. Ken Chumbley, rector at Christ Church in Springfield, will be the preacher. A reception and black history exhibit will be held afterward.

WHEN?

11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13.

WHERE?

Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, 13th and Broadway in Kansas City.

WHY?

Sydney Backstrom (St. Andrew’s, Kansas City): “For just a couple of hours on Saturday in church and at the beautiful buffet prepared by Culinary Cornerstones in Founders’ Hall, blacks, whites and in-betweens celebrate together our lives and our common faith. I am always proud to be a part of this service.”

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Profiling a Bishop A TIMELINE MID-FEBRUARY

Bishop profile complete; nominations open

MID-MARCH

Nominations closed APRIL/MAY

Screening and background checks of potential candidates JUNE/JULY

Candidate visits

Deadline for petition nominees; background checks Clergy/lay leaders’ retreat before walkabouts; walkabouts (opportunities for members of the diocese to get to know the candidates) held two weeks prior to election

SURVEYSAYS

In late January, the Search and Nomination Committee provided an online survey to gather information for the bishop profile, which should be completed by mid-February.

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SEPTEMBER OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

Election of new bishop at 8th Annual Gathering and 121st Diocesan Convention Nov. 5 and 6; consent process Consecration of new bishop

MARCH, 2011

Get Connec ed

West Missouri Youth

Relating to God

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By Emilie Bridges • Christ Church, Springfield (Senior at Springfield Central High School)

or much of my life, I have been involved at church in one way or another. First it was with Sunday School, then it was choir.

Now it’s youth group,Youth Action Council, ProvincialYouth Network and many other activities. My church family has shaped me into the person that I am. But beyond church just being a slew of activities, it is something that pulls me closer to

God and myself.

Every day the obvious presence of the youth in our diocese grows.This past October, we had an amazing attendance at Diocesan Youth Event.We have Bishop’s Ball coming up at the end of January that many youth members look forward to all year. But I think one of the biggest accomplishments our diocese has made in the recent months is the resolution that was passed at the last convention.

This resolution stated that up to four youth delegates will be allowed a vote at convention.While it will have to be passed at this year’s convention, it is a great stride for the youth and for the diocese as a whole.The young people of the Episcopal Church are ready and willing to be involved with how our church is run.

The church has taught me how to be responsible for my own relationship with God.We all have busy lives.We have sports and school and friends and family. But one thing that I have learned is that it is our job as Christians, as children of God and as brothers and sisters to Jesus, to find time for Him. Sometimes that means missing out on that really big tournament coming up or having to skip the dance at school. But to me, He is worth it. His presence in my heart makes any activity seem not quite as important.

I hope that through this you see why youth group, the Church and God are so important in my life. I hope that by seeing how God has made an impression in my life, you will be motivated to support the growth of a youth presence in your own parish. God touches each of our lives in a unique way. Not knowing that there is a huge youth presence in our diocese means that some people are missing out on the connection to God.That’s our theme this year: “Get Connected.” So encourage your young people to “Get Connected” to God, to other Episcopal youth members and leaders and, sometimes most importantly, to themselves.

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Not Your Average Layperson Chas Marks was brought up Roman Catholic. In fact, his heart was bent on attending seminary — until he was told that because he’s gay, he would need reparative therapy if he wanted to follow his calling. Today, Marks volunteers as the liturgist for St. Mary’s in Kansas City. It’s a vital role in a Church he now claims as his own.

BY HUGH WELSH

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has Marks, a parishioner at St. Mary’s in Kansas City, has always had the goal of bringing people closer to Jesus Christ.

“I’m someone who’s always been an active Christian,” Marks says. “I want to do everything I can.”

For the past four years, Marks has volunteered as St. Mary’s liturgist, which means he’s responsible for designing worship.

“Chas’ gifts include a remarkable intuitive, spiritual and technical understanding of what liturgy is supposed to be and how to make it happen with the resources that St. Mary’s offers,” says the Rev. Lauren Lyon, St. Mary’s rector.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Marks attended Catholic schools his whole life. He possesses a lay master’s degree in theology from St. Meinrad School in Indiana.

In a way, Marks can relate with St. Meinrad, a hermit saint murdered for his hospitality. It was the Roman Catholic Church’s inhospitality toward gay persons that provided the biggest springboard to Marks’ becoming an Episcopalian.

“I was told by a vocation director that for me to go to seminary, I would have to go through reparative therapy,” says Marks, who worked professionally in Catholic parish ministry in southern Indiana and Louisville, Ky., where he met his partner, Barry Nipp. When Nipp, a chef, 10

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was transferred to Memphis, Tenn., Marks moved with him. It was in Memphis that Marks found the Episcopal Church.

“A friend of mine was a member at Calvary Episcopal Church,” Marks says. “It was a welcome place for me.”

While Marks felt comfortable, it was not easy for him to abandon his Roman Catholic heritage.

“It was all I had known,” Marks says.

But after a year and a half at Calvary, it was official: Marks was an Episcopalian. Soon thereafter, in 2003, Marks and Nipp moved again – this time to Kansas City where Marks could be closer to family. Before he left, Marks figured he’d research a few Episcopal churches online. It wasn’t long before Marks came across one that was Anglo-Catholic in its worship yet progressive in its ministry.

“The first Sunday I went to St. Mary’s, I knew that was where I wanted to be,” Marks says.

Almost immediately, he forged a bond with the parish’s rector.

“It takes a wise pastor to recognize the skills people have and give them the freedom to exercise them,” says Marks, referring to Lyon.

According to Lyon, Marks’ approach to liturgy is profound.

“We experience on a weekly basis liturgy that moves people from ordinary space and time

into the realm of the sacred, where narrative elements of the natural world – including human sensory experience, memory and imagination – allow worshipers to open themselves to God’s constant presence,” Lyon says.

Marks says his objective in designing liturgy may be summed up in two words: seasonal observance.

“I want each season to be a different sensory experience for parishioners in the vein of the early Church,” Marks says. “A subtle change can make a world of difference in terms of insight into the feel of a season.”

An example would be during Lent, when Marks veils all statues, places paintings on the altar and uses pinon, an incense reminiscent of the desert.

“I try to do whatever I can to create memories, to make faith more real for everybody,” Marks says. “Liturgy is my passion and love; it’s something I can do for others.”

It’s not the only thing Marks does for the welfare of other people. He is the street outreach coordinator for Synergy Services, a local

As the liturgist at St. Mary’s in Kansas City, Chas Marks is responsible for much of the look and feel of worship services. Photo by Hugh Welsh.

“I try to do whatever I can to create memories, to make faith more real for everybody,” Marks says. “Liturgy is my passion and love; it’s something I can do for others.” organization that helps homeless and runaway youth.

Marks is also a part of the diocesan Sexuality Listening Process Committee,

which allowed him to voice his opinions and experiences as a Christian who is gay.

“Sexuality in the church is hugely contentious,” Marks

says. “My hope is that issues such as sexuality and woman’s ordination will be an afterthought in 10 to 20 years. There is still a lot of work to be done.”

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AFP/Getty Images

Haiti & the Church

IN MID-JANUARY HAITI, THE POOREST COUNTRY IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, WAS HIT BY A MAGNITUDE 7.0 EARTHQUAKE. TENS OF THOUSANDS WERE KILLED AND MILLIONS MORE LEFT HOMELESS. FOR THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, IT WAS A CALL TO DUTY.

BY HUGH WELSH

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IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN FORESEEN. In Haiti, it’s usually the hurricanes that are the sowers of destruction. At least they come with advance warning.

On the afternoon of Jan. 12, it was an earthquake: a magnitude 7 quake that ripped through the country – the poorest in the Western Hemisphere – like a toddler vs. a village made of toothpicks. Many of Haiti’s inhabitants live in flimsily built homes that had no hope of withstanding a quake of such ferocity.

In less than a minute it was over, though about 30 aftershocks were yet to come. Innumerable buildings were destroyed – including the presidential palace and the Episcopal diocesan headquarters – and tens of thousands dead in what is believed to be the strongest earthquake in Haiti since 1751.

In the days following the earthquake, President Barack Obama promised the United States would do all it could in terms of emergency response.

The Episcopal Church has also heard the call.

Episcopal Relief & Development, an international agency of the Episcopal Church, has deployed massive resources to Haiti. More than 90 percent of all donations to ERD are put to direct use in emergency situations.

“The agency has already disbursed emergency funding to the Diocese of Haiti to help them meet immediate needs such as providing shelter, food and water and stands ready to support their ongoing recovery as they rebuild their ministries,” said Rob Radtke, president of Episcopal Relief & Development. Radtke says ERD will continue to modify its recovery plan as information becomes available.

The day following the earthquake, ERD diocesan coordinators Dave and Alice Williams requested contributions to ERD’s efforts in Haiti.

“Preliminary reports show that Port-au-Prince has suffered severely,” Dave and Alice Williams wrote in their bulletin to the diocese.

From small rural missions to sprawling urban churches, the diocese responded either through their local congregations or by sending money directly to ERD. For example, parishioners at St.

Thomas á Becket in Cassville donated $200 to ERD and parishioners at St. Andrew’s in Kansas City gave more than $14,000.

In Kansas City, prayer services were held in midJanuary at Church of the Redeemer, Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral and St. Andrew’s, whose “bistro” dinner Jan. 17 was a Haitian meal with all proceeds benefiting ERD. At each prayer service, candles were lit for the dead, the missing, the waiting and those who are struggling to help.

Channing Horner, a parishioner at St. Paul’s in Maryville, emailed a document containing original prayers for Haiti (Earthquake Prayer by David Gambrell and A Prayer for the People of Haiti by Taylor Burton-Edwards) to everyone in the Sacred Hills Regional Ministry and to a former student who is from Haiti. Horner is an assistant professor at Northwest Missouri State University.

During Sunday worship Jan. 17 at St. John’s in Springfield, intercessory prayer for the earthquake’s victims coincided with a plate offering designated for ERD. At St. Philip’s in Joplin, not only is a bake sale planned with all profits to benefit Haiti, but the church’s youth group will have a 30-hour fast in February in memoriam. At St. Peter’s in Kansas City, Deacon Linda Yeager drafted a special prayer.

For the noon Eucharist on Jan. 15, Christ Church in St. Joseph gave the Service of the Word to honor and pray for the people of Haiti. “At (Christ Church), we prayed to remember that we are Easter people who have been transformed by the good news that God chose to be born in a world that found it difficult to make room for him,” says the Rev. Mimi Savidge, Christ Church’s rector.

On Jan. 13, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori issued a statement regarding how Episcopalians may best help Haiti: “I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed.”

To donate to the Haiti Fund, 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. Please put “Haiti Fund” in the memo of all checks.

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ONE CHURCH

T

ENGAGING

CHRIST church (SPRINGFIELD)

THE WORLD

St. mary magdalene (kansas city)

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he Rev. Kenneth Chumbley, rector at Christ he Rev. Jason Lewis, rector at St. Mary Church in Springfield, had never been to Haiti Magdalene in Kansas City, is happy to count Jim prior to visiting there in early January, his Grant among his congregation. departure a mere four days before an earthquake “Jim is one of our beloved parishioners here at rocked the country. “While in Haiti, we worked St. Mary Magdalene,” Lewis says. in the Port-au-Prince area,” says Grant has volunteered as the chief Chumbley, whose wife, Penny, was logistics officer for the Maison de also a part of the mission team. “We Naissance Foundation since July 2008. assisted in medical and nutrition The Kansas City-based foundation clinics as well as a construction provides birthing services and health project.” care for needy mothers and their Dr. Charles Dunn, a parishioner children in a defined area of southwest at Christ Church and regular Haiti.

Haitian missionary, led the team that Grant has traveled to Haiti 13 times included several college students. in the past year and a half. He has The trip was coordinated with overseen three separate work THECOUNTRY a Haitian Episcopal priest and Since gaining its independence from France in 1804, Haiti groups consisting of six to seven – which shares the island of Hispanola in the Caribbean Sea volunteers. Their objective is his wife, a nurse practitioner. with the Dominican Republic – has been a country embroiled upgrading Maison de Naissance’s Christ Church has been sending mission teams to Haiti in political unrest and poverty. It is estimated that as much as building in Haiti. So far, Grant 75 percent of its population lived in absolute poverty before nearly every year since 1997. the earthquake, with food availability among its greatest and his teams have successfully In addition to assisting with concerns. According to the United Nations World Food rewired the building, installed Programme, in urban settings about 32 percent of Haitians new plumbing for the rooftop general health care, Christ say they do not get enough food daily. Rural households water cisterns and installed a Church partners with six paint a more grim picture: 60 percent are without food on churches in Haiti, helping state-of-the-art solar power system a regular basis, and 20 percent are classified as “extremely them in any way it can, vulnerable,” meaning they have little if any access to food. designed by the Kansas City whether it’s building repairs or While government programs have been implemented chapter of Engineers Without in the last decade to improve the welfare of women and Borders. ensuring that people are well fed. The church is also involved children, many remain uneducated and malnourished.

Grant’s present duties include Haiti is the focus of overseas mission work for several in digging wells and creating updating the control systems for diocesan churches. A few examples are mentioned here. water purification systems. the solar arrays, replacing the “It’s about empowering the Haitian people to help backup batteries for nighttime power and completing themselves,” Chumbley says. general IT facilities maintenance.

HAITI

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Ann Renne teaches art appreciation under a tree at St. Augustine’s School in Maniche, Haiti. The students’ artwork later hung in the church. Art is not a standard part of the curriculum at a rural Haitian school. Photo by the Rev. John Spicer.

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t. Andrew’s partner church and school is classrooms. Last year, St. Andrew’s raised funds to St. Augustine’s in Maniche, Haiti. Five replace the school’s damaged tin roof with a concrete missionaries from St. Andrew’s traveled there roof. in mid-November to paint, teach, visit students’ Blessings on a trip like this can come in homes and worship. The Rev. John Spicer, associate unexpected ways; seemingly normal experiences, for mission at St. Andrew’s, chronicled the visit in a like going to church, can become windows into a blog (www.frjohnspicer.blogspot.com). Spicer’s words heavenly reality usually just past our sight. Spicer speak to the spiritual purpose of mission work in puts it this way in the blog: “Listening to [the singing Haiti or anywhere. during an early-morning Eucharist] brought to mind “It’s tempting, for us and for the people who the descriptions of the throngs standing before the support this mission back home, to ask the question, throne of God in Revelation, so full of the presence ‘Is it better now?’ Work here and money from back of God that they can’t help but burst into songs of home don’t make much of a dent praise at every turn. Worship in St. andrew’s Haiti is like that. Perhaps it’s an in a setting largely driven by forces beyond our control – government (kansas city) example of the fullness of less…. ineffectiveness, hurricanes, endemic When you have as little as the poverty, etc.,” Spicer writes. “Of course, on the people of Haiti have – especially in a fairly remote micro level, the work has a huge impact. But I also mountain location like Maniche – then what you think, in a sense, the outcome isn’t the point. We’re have means everything. These folks have the presence doing this work to enflesh the reign of God where of God, intertwined in their ‘secular’ lives like the we’re given to do it, as well as to serve as a witness woven branches that create walls of houses here. In of that kingdom to whatever part of the world might Haiti, there appears to be little separation of ‘sacred’ care to look and be transformed. That’s no small and ‘secular’; instead, it’s all of a piece. And even accomplishment on its own.” though that piece may seem ragged and tattered to The St. Andrew’s group – along with about us, it’s theirs, permeated with the presence of God.” 40 children, teenagers and adults – painted six — STORIES BY HUGH WELSH SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

15

Eric Haddock unloads a box of canned goods during Boy Scout Troop 282’s food drive, which benefited the Fairmount Outreach pantry in Independence. Photos by Dan Washburn.

The Drive W

BOY SCOUT TROOP 282, SPONSORED BY TRINITY CHURCH IN INDEPENDENCE, COMPLETED A FIVE-WEEK DRIVE THAT GATHERED 13 AND A HALF TONS OF FOOD. THE BENEFACTORS: 260 INDEPENDENCE FAMILIES.

BY HUGH WELSH 16

SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

hat a difference five years makes.

In the first year of its food drive Boy Scout Troop 282, who’s sponsored by Trinity Church in Independence, collected 1,000 items for its annual effort benefiting Independence’s Fairmount Outreach pantry.

This past year, spread across five weekends from mid-October through early December, the troop gathered 37,000 items weighing 13 and a half tons. The food was given to 260 needy families in Independence. “The boys descended on the town like an army,” says Gary Leabo, a charter organization representative with the troop and member of Trinity, Independence.

About 100 people participated in the drive. “It

was a lot of hard work but the boys and their families did it. And you know what? People got fed.”

When the idea of a food drive was mentioned in 2004 it drew immediate interest, according to the troop’s scoutmaster, Scott Howell. “I knew we could collect a lot of food,” Howell says. “What I didn’t know was what to do with it.”

Howell was approached by Mac McLeod, a Scout leader and volunteer at the Fairmount Outreach pantry. McLeod told Howell that no amount of food would be too great considering the pantry’s needs. A year later, due to the food drive, the pantry no longer needed to buy canned goods during the year: that portion of the budget could serve other purposes, such as buying hams, chickens and turkeys for the families.

“If it wasn’t for the Boy Scouts, we would really be hurting for food this year because we couldn’t afford to provide nonperishable items along with the meat,” says Liz McLeod, the pantry’s director. “We’re very deeply thankful for the boys and the community.”

Troop 282 visited 12 neighborhoods in Independence, canvassing its south, east, northeast and center. Participants went door-to-door delivering a plastic bag with a letter instructing what foods would be appropriate and when the troop would return for collection.

Scott Howell’s wife, Stacey Howell, created the list of appropriate foods, which included boxed stuffing, canned green beans, cranberry sauce, yams and fresh fruit and vegetables. The list also allowed for box dinners and toiletry items. “We wanted people to feel like they had some freedom in what they were donating,” Stacey Howell says.

Once collected, the food was loaded into boxes for individual families as prescribed by the Fairmount Outreach pantry. In all, the drive occupied more than 1,500 hours. “It’s good to see the drive expanding every year,” Scott Howell says. “My hope is that next year’s can be even bigger.”

While it isn’t unusual for a church to partner with a Scout troop, Trinity and Troop 282 – which has been housed at the church for 60 years – possess a unique bond. In October Leabo, a parishioner at Trinity, received the St. George Award of the Episcopal Church, which acknowledges exemplary contributions by an adult in the spiritual, physical, mental and moral development of youth through service to the Church and a national youth agency such as Boy Scouts.

What’s more, the Rev. Sam Mason, Trinity’s rector, is an Eagle Scout who belonged to Troop 282.

“Trinity and Troop 282 are basically bound at the hip,” Leabo says. “We function as one.”

SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

17

Hospice Matters

Saint Luke’s Home Care and Hospice is seeking to build a freestanding hospice facility, the second one in Kansas City.

Illustration and story by Hugh Welsh 18

SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

P

eggy Starke lost her 73-year-old mother, Elizabeth make the end of life a time of comfort, resolution and Starke, to pancreatic cancer in May 1999. Weeks love.” separated her diagnosis and death. “At least she Badura indicates there has been an upswing in hospice didn’t suffer for long,” says Peggy Starke, a parishioner services the last three decades. This has a lot to do at St. Paul’s in Kansas City. “My father’s death was with funding from Medicare, the increase in the aging different.” population and a growing awareness of hospice’s purpose A month after the death of his wife, Peggy Starke’s in the life of someone who can no longer benefit from father, William Starke, was diagnosed with liver cancer. medical intervention. At present, there are more than He combated the disease for nearly a year before it 4,700 hospices nationwide. ultimately metastasized to his bones, claiming his life Carol Quiring, CEO of Saint Luke’s Home Care and at age 78 in April 2000. For a large part of that year, Hospice, doesn’t anticipate hospice’s growing trend to William Starke was in the care of Saint Luke’s Home wane anytime soon.

Care and Hospice in Kansas City.

“As the population ages, we’re being caught in that “They made it so easy for him, me and the whole situation where we’re caring for our children and family,” Peggy Starke says. “They were truly a blessing.” our elderly parents, and we’re still very active in the Lynn Badura is the senior development officer for workforce ourselves,” Quiring says. “So making plans for Saint Luke’s Home Care and Hospice, which is in the caring for those parents are more imperative than ever preliminary phase of building a freestanding hospice before.” facility that would be only the second one of its kind According to Mary Howe, Saint Luke’s hospice service in Kansas City. The other is the Kansas City Hospice is unrivaled.

House, which has 32 beds available. Matrix Architects “Having been closely associated with hospice programs in Ohio, a in various “At the heart of hospice care is the belief that parts of the specialist in hospice design, each of us has the right to a self-directed, country since conducted a 1976, I can pain-free, dignified end-of-life experience...” say with recent study — Lynn Badura confidence of the viability of another that Saint facility. The new hospice would have 12 to 18 beds.

Luke’s Hospice is one of the most outstanding ones Saint Luke’s Home Care and Hospice is currently in existence,” Mary Howe says. “Being part of a faithcooperating with Saint Luke’s Health System and its based system, it is especially attentive to the wholeness foundation to acquire land for the project. of the individuals and families it serves, as well as to the Bishop Barry Howe and his wife Mary, a longtime wholeness of its staff.” hospice nurse, will be honorary co-chairs of the Saint Luke’s Health System is affiliated with the campaign project along with Jeannette Nichols. Larry Diocese of West Missouri. The bishop chairs the Saint McMullen and Tom Beal have agreed to serve as the Luke’s Hospital board and serves on the Health System’s working co-chairs. “We’re hopeful that in the next several board. months we can formally announce the site and roll out “At the heart of hospice care is the belief that each of the red carpet,” Badura says. us has the right to a self-directed, pain-free, dignified endThe Saint Luke’s hospice team is a group of medical of-life experience, and that our loved ones will receive the experts, social workers, chaplains, physicians bereavement necessary support during this time,” Badura says. counselors, dieticians, pharmacists, therapists and Peggy Starke’s is a case in point. volunteers devoted to end-of-life enrichment.

“My dad reminded me of a prize fighter the way he “When medical science can no longer add more days hung in there,” Peggy Starke says. “And Saint Luke’s to life, hospice care can add more life to each remaining hospice was the trainer bandaging him between rounds.” day,” Badura says. “Hospice care neither hastens death To make a donation or to receive more information on nor prolongs life, but rather works in partnership with Saint Luke’s Home Care and Hospice, please call 816each patient, his or her family, and the care team to help 756-1160.

SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

19

L

Translating Lent

rite,” Mann says. “With the material we have from the ent is a time “to fast (or) to simplify one’s life,” writings of Egeria and from early Christian texts, we according to the Rev. Frederick Mann, rector at St. Andrew’s in Kansas City. It recalls the 40-day have a very good idea what Lent should represent.”

The notion of Lent as an occasion in which fast that preceded Jesus’ public ministry. In the fourth Christians sacrifice their indulgences only to reacquire chapter of Matthew, it is written: “Then Jesus was led them after Easter has its basis in the Middle Ages, up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Mann says. In the early church, Fat Tuesday was formed the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and to get rid of cooking fats that would otherwise spoil. afterwards he was famished.” Jesus then defies the “During Lent, early Christians had one meal per day devil’s plea that he change stone into bread to satisfy and ate very simple fare such as fruits, vegetables and a bodily need. Jesus says, “One does not live by bread fish,” Mann says. “By alone, but by every word reducing their normal that comes from the lifestyle, they used the mouth of God.” Jesus time for prayer, reflection must overcome temptation and, as the church grew, twice more before the worship.” devil leaves him.

Originally, the 40-day Lent’s beginnings Lenten fast started on a likely stem from the Monday and was meant pre-Easter rituals of solely for those readying baptismal preparation for to enter the Christian catechumens (someone Church at Easter. It receiving training in the is still customary in principles of Christian many Eastern Catholic religion). The number Churches for Lent to of days reserved for begin on a Monday. In fasting depended on the time, Ash Wednesday region. Tertullian, the Ivan Kramskoi’s painting, Christ in the Desert, depicts Jesus’ 40-day came to represent so-called “father of Latin fast in the wilderness. the beginning of the Christianity” as he was Lenten fast outside the Eastern Catholic Church. In the first to write Christian Latin literature in the third century, observed that Christians fasted during the two the Western Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are mandated as strict fast days with an days before Easter, but the Montanists (an unorthodox abstinence from meat on Fridays. Sundays are exempted faction with which Tertullian later affiliated himself) fasted considerably longer. The First Council of Nicaea, from the Lenten fast because Sundays are the feast of an assemblage of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea Jesus’ resurrection.

In the past 30 years, Mann says, the Episcopal by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in A.D. 325, Church’s outlook on Lent has grown apart from the was the first to suggest 40 days of fasting, a number Catholic practice, emphasizing privation toward the made sacred by the fasts of Moses, Elijah and Jesus. material world vs. simply the act of fasting. “It’s about Mann pins Lent’s adoption to Egeria, a Gallic nun looking at Lent in a more realistic fashion,” Mann who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the fourth century and kept a written record of her travels. “Egeria says. “It’s about looking at the whole gamut of life and finding out what is inhibiting your spirituality.” went into Jerusalem and restepped the Holy Week 20

SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

Observing Lent Many diocesan churches observe Lent in a way that emphasizes the whole of life rather than giving up certain foods.

St. Augustine’s (Kansas City) On Ash Wednesday, the church holds a soup and bread supper beginning at 6:30 p.m. Afterward, parishioners watch a series of Bible studies by video then break into groups in which they discuss and participate in a written assignment. The evening closes with a summary of what was discussed in each group and a prayer.

St. John’s (Springfield) At St. John’s, busyness is the best business during Lent.“We keep busy,” says St. John’s rector, the Rev. Jerry Miller.

In addition to maintaining its regular weekly worship schedule, St. John’s hosts adult inquiry classes every Thursday night and special Lenten classes following Evensong and a potluck supper every Sunday evening.

St. Philip’s (Joplin) For parishioners at St. Philip’s, Lenten observance is day to day.

“We try to have devotionals, Bible readings and guides for individuals and households to use every day of Lent,” says St. Philip’s rector, the Rev. Frank Sierra.

Every Friday, the church offers The Way of the Cross, with all present participating in the reading of the stations. The stations at St. Philip’s are original oil paintings by an unknown German artist from the 1860s.

LENT FOR THE ELECTRONIC AGE Below are a few Web sites that may be of use during the Lenten season.

• Episcopal Relief & Development’s Daily Lenten Meditations, http://www.er-d.org/Lent.

• Daily meditations from Forward Day by Day along with the readings appointed in the Daily Office Lectionary, http://forwardmovement.org/forward-day-by-day.

• Online versions of Daily Office liturgies, http://www. missionstclare.com/english/ and http://dailyoffice.org.

The Black Hills of South Dakota: a sacred place to the Lakota Sioux.

A Vision Quest

T

he Rev. Frederick Mann likes to relate Lent to an experience he shared with the Lakota Sioux in the Black Hills of South Dakota. About half of the 12,000 baptized Episcopalians in the state are either Dakota or Lakota Sioux.

“It’s important to understand that when a medicine man talks about Wakan Tanka, or God, existing in the eagle or tree, he is not being a nature religionist,” says Mann, rector at St. Andrew’s in Kansas City. Mann has worked closely with the Lakota Sioux for years. “He’s saying God created these things and, if God created these things, then God’s love is reflected through them. The Episcopal Church mirrors the Lakota Sioux’s own sense of God and Earth as sacred.”

In October of 2007, Mann participated in a Lakota Sioux ritual called Hanblecheyapi, which translates as “crying for a vision”: a vision quest. Prior to performing the rite, Mann fasted for a full day on nothing but soup and juice. He was then led into the heart of the Black Hills to a spot a half-mile climb from the base of a hill, a rectangular location that had been a sanctuary for contemplation and prayer for 500 years.

A buffalo hide was spread beneath Mann’s feet and prayer ties were laid along the area’s perimeter. Mann was left barefoot wearing nothing but shorts and a blanket for warmth as the evening would present the season’s first frost.

He was left there from dusk until sunrise with the howls of coyotes his sole companion. Nearby, Lakota leaders prayed for him. The following morning, Mann was greeted by tribal elders. He had completed Hanblecheyapi.

“That was Lent,” Mann says.

— STORIES BY HUGH WELSH SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

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ARTS DEBRIEFED WHAT IS IT?

Loose Lips Sink Ships

WHO WROTE IT?

Barbara Mountjoy (Grace Church in Carthage)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

In 1943, small-town Cityburg has a thriving theater directed by flamboyant, artistic Carlos Faberge and funded by mysterious millionairess Gwendoyn von Grossenkneutin, whose one dream is to perform on the stage. Mr. Faberge’s large staff is charged with keeping her off the stage! The town, conveniently, has a major munitions plant and, rumor has it, a German spy. The theater, apparently, is the location of a secret radio transmitter. Meanwhile, stage manager Harry has a drinking problem, but he comes from a long string of spies and is recruited by the Office of Strategic Services to find the spy. Visiting film star Nicky Crandall is a bit daft but is charged by Army intelligence with hunting down the spy under the cover of a war-bonds rally. Meanwhile, a madcap cast of characters gather to help put on the war-bonds rally – a buxom German secretary, a narcoleptic stage hand, a reporter pining for true love, the costume director who secretly longs for adventure, the town’s mayor (hungry for another term in office), a box-office manager with too much work and not enough time, and a large group of unruly children.

And through it all, a mysterious character in outlandish costumes keeps popping up at the wrong time and place.

— THE REV. STEVEN WILSON

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SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

B

arbara Mountjoy has always had a knack for writing.

“But it was always nothing more than journaling and essays,” says Mountjoy, a parishioner at Grace Church in Carthage. “Stagecraft is something altogether new.”

The past two years, Mountjoy has penned original plays, each of which has been staged by members of Grace Church. All proceeds from the productions — the most recent one, Loose Lips Sink Ships, was performed to sell-out crowds Dec. 3, 4 and 5 — benefit Grace Church’s youth travel fund. In March, its youth group will travel to Jordan, and Loose Lips Sink Ships raised approximately $6,500 toward the trip. It was performed at Grace Church and included a multi-course meal.

Mountjoy didn’t pioneer the concept of original theater at Grace Church; that honor belongs to the Rev. Ted Estes, who stepped aside after writing six productions before being ordained. (Estes now serves as rector of All Saints’, Nevada.) Mountjoy was involved heavily in each production, usually as a cast member. According to the Rev. Steven Wilson, the rector at Grace Church, Mountjoy was a natural candidate as Estes’ replacement.

“She said she wanted to give it a try,” Wilson says, “and, before I knew it, she submitted to me a fully developed script.”

Both of Mountjoy’s plays (the 2008 play, Sing You Sinners, dealt with Sister Righteous and Her Traveling Miracle Salvation Show) have been set in the 1940s.

For Mountjoy, it was the period of her girlhood near Independence: an era when she was engulfed by music.

“My mother had a very good voice,” Mountjoy says, “and the music of the ‘40s is still a love of mine.”

Mountjoy says her husband is an aficionado of movies from the 1930s and 1940s. In preparation for Loose Lips

Sink Ships, the cast watched The Thin Man. experience.”

“They don’t make movies like they used to,” Mountjoy That would be Grace Church’s Music Director Richard says. “My goal with my plays is to recreate the magic of Foshay, who enjoyed a career in professional theater in old Hollywood.”

New York City. Foshay was responsible for finding music Mountjoy’s plays are true novelty items. The title Loose suitable to the time period, including “Dream a Little Lips Sink Ships was borrowed from a World War II term Dream of Me” and “Forty-Second Street.” For Loose meaning that unguarded talk can benefit enemy strategy. Lips Sink Ships, Foshay wrote a boogie-woogie ditty called The play unfolds like a variety show. In the church’s “Loose Lips Boogie” and coordinated a live trio including November newsletter, Wilson advertised the play as a bass, trumpet and percussion. war-bond rally with a spiteful quote from the fictional “Our music director is an inspiration,” Mountjoy says, mayoress Garnet Hartsease, a list of rationed products at “as are my children.”

Williams’ Grocers and a word from Mickey Mouse: “Fill Not only did Mountjoy’s daughter Jennifer Cartwright up on healthy, delicious Brussels sprouts! This is Brussels direct both productions (she was also its pianist), her son sprout month – if you eat them, we can liberate Brussels!” Flynn Mountjoy did the makeup.

“Barbara is great because, though she writes 98 percent Before she was its playwright, Barbara Mountjoy was of the script, she leaves room for character development the parish nurse at Grace Church, a position created for and local color,” her in 2006.

Wilson says.

“What started “And she’s all as a part-time about having job is now a fun.”

40-hour-a-week Each of commitment,” Mountjoy’s says Mountjoy, productions who is also alludes to a regular Carthage columnist for folklore, Grace Church’s including newsletter. She characters worked as a In Loose Lips Sink Ships, the news that Gwendoyn von Grossenkneutin may be singing at the modeled after nurse for 50 upcoming bond rally isn’t exactly celebrated. From left, Gwendoyn von Grossenkneutin an eccentric years. “Helping (Barbara Mountjoy), Nicky Crandall (Fr. Steven Wilson), Helga Hassenpfeffer (Liz Salchow) organist at others is exactly and Harry Wilfinkel (Andy Lynch). Photo submitted by Liz Salchow.

Grace Church what I want to during the 1950s and an overzealous community theater do.” director.

As effective as Mountjoy may be as a parish nurse, it’s Wilson is Mountjoy’s starring vehicle, and it has difficult to deny the potency of the humor she injects nothing to do with his position in the church. into her plays.

“Father Steve possesses a beautiful singing voice,” “While I do throw in a message for good merit, I want Mountjoy says. “And when it comes to tap dancing with a them to be funny,” Mountjoy says. “I want my plays to be top hat and cane, he’s a regular Fred Astaire.” humorously therapeutic.”

For the part of Nicky Crandall in Loose Lips Sink Ships, In Loose Lips Sink Ships, Mountjoy made a cameo as Wilson took tap lessons two to three times per week the benefactress of the community theater, Gwendoyn for four months. In one scene, Wilson tap dances out von Grossenkneutin; a woman with no talent who will of a hospital gown, revealing a tuxedo beneath. Wilson fling money at any production so long as she lands a part earned minors in vocal music and theater while in with some song and dance. If her wishes aren’t met, then college. anticipate some “hanky-panky” — which just so happens “I did nothing with (my minors) until I moved here 11 to be the Office of Strategic Services’ code word. years ago,” Wilson says. “It’s not like I have professional — HUGH WELSH SPIRIT, WINTER, 2010

23

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