Spirit
AN UNORDINARY ORDINATION • TO BE TURKISH AND CHRISTIAN • OUTREACH IN HAITI
Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri
Spring 2011 Volume 2, No. 3
Spirit PUBLISHER: The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field 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. PHONE: (816) 471-6161, Ext. 15 or (800) 471-6160 FAX: (816) 471-0379 E-MAIL: westmo_spirit@swbell.net WEB SITE: www.episcopalwestmo.org ON THE COVER: Photograph by Gary Zumwalt 2
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4 Editor’s Letter Transitions. We, as a diocese, understand this term well. In the past couple months, Bishop Barry Howe’s tenure as diocesan bishop came to an end, and Bishop Martin Field was consecrated as our new leader. Amid all of this hustle and bustle is my looming wedding date to a woman, it just so happens, I came to know at my first diocesan convention. By Hugh Welsh 5 Bishop Talk For the bishop, Christianity isn’t interchangeable with other religions. Whereas other religions ask humanity to reach toward God, “Christianity says God reaches down to humanity,” he writes. The difference between religious tolerance and religious truth. By the Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field 6 F.A.Q. In April, the diocese’s deputation to the 2012 General Convention hosted two sessions regarding the proposed Anglican Covenant. The covenant aims to clarify the connection between the churches of the Anglican Communion by requiring them to consult the wider Communion when making major decisions. The chair of the diocese’s 2009 General Convention deputation offers his observations of the sessions. By the Rev. Steven Wilson 7 E Pluribus Unum Missionpalooza 2011 — intended for youth grades 8 to 12, it is scheduled for Monday, July 18 to Sunday, July 24 at St. Paul’s in Kansas City — is a commitment to bettering a community through mission work, fellowship and worship. A rundown of the work sites at this year’s Missionpalooza. By Kim Snodgrass and Chad Senuta
Bishop Martin S. Field, after knocking three times on the door leading to the sanctuary, is greeted by the Rev. Canon Susan Sommer, priest-in-charge, as part of Field’s welcoming and seating Sunday, March 6 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. Photo by Hugh Welsh.
8 Consecrating the 1,055th Episcopal Bishop The ordination of Bishop Martin Field on March 5 was as rich in symbology as any in the history of the diocese. A photographer from Church of the Resurrection (Blue Springs), and the editor of this magazine documented the day’s events. By Gary Zumwalt and Hugh Welsh 14 From Turkey, a Call When this magazine last spoke with Ezgi Saribay (St. John’s in Springfield) a year and a half ago, she told of her Muslim-to-Christian conversion and her initial navigation of campus ministry at Drury University. Now, campus ministry at Drury is flourishing under her guidance, though it is in need of a successor. She is due to graduate and discerning a call to the priesthood. By Hugh Welsh 16 Disaster Response In two months, a country and a region of the United States were devastated by natural disasters. Through Episcopal Relief & Development, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion have delivered stalwart relief efforts. By Hugh Welsh
18 One Church Engaging the World In its eight years of existence, St. Mary Magdalene (south Kansas City) has developed a profound relationship with the people of Haiti. This is evident in parishioners such as Jim Grant, an unrelenting volunteer recently named director of Maison de Naissance, a Haitian birthing center with offices in Kansas City. Until February, the Rev. Jason Lewis, St. Mary Magdalene’s vicar, had been deprived of the fullness of the connection, never having visited Haiti. His purpose for traveling there stemmed from an outreach project at Le Pretre, a poor community of 1,000 people without access to clean water or adequate schooling. “It wound up changing my entire outlook on life,” he says. By Hugh Welsh 22 Arts The title of Claire Denis’ 2010 film White Material, set during a civil war in an unnamed African country, refers to all things white in an otherwise black culture. But what if a person’s lone “white material” is her skin tone? What if her identity is more in keeping with Africa and its rugged survivalism — its unpoachable faith — than her native France and its colonialist attitudes? Should she leave? Or stay, and risk her welfare and her family’s? By Hugh Welsh SPIRIT, SPRING, 2011 3
REBUILD OUR CHURCH IN HAITI Editor’s Letter by Hugh Welsh MY EYES WERE AWASH IN TEARS. The diocese as one, mouthing the Latin “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” ushering forth the Holy Spirit to bless the new bishop, himself in prayerful repose. Bishop Marty Field. I admit it slides from the tongue much easier than Bishop-elect Marty Field. I recall when I first met the bishop-elect in person. It was the editorial board meeting for the last magazine. I greeted him at the back stairs of the diocesan office. “Bishop-reject Marty,” I excitedly spat, outstretching my hand. A pause. “Hugh, so good to meet you,” he smiled, grasping my hand. It’s a wonder he didn’t excommunicate me then and there. I couldn’t be more grateful for Bishop Marty, whom I grew fond of during the walkabouts. Walker Adams, a gentleman not far from my own age whose parish is St. Paul’s (Kansas City), asked him point-blank: “What does the ministry of the church look like to me and my age group?” Bishop Marty didn’t espouse any rhetoric. He didn’t reel off an array of canned responses. He peered into Adams’ eyes and said, “our ministry to your age group looks underserved.” If only more politicians were as candid… I am also saddened by the departure of Mary and Bishop Barry Howe, who hired me on trust, on faith. Granted, I had completed the coursework at Mizzou that qualified me to operate a magazine — but I wasn’t practiced. Suddenly, I was bypassing practice for prime time. Thank you, Bishop Barry, for this opportunity. Mary never did meet my fiancée, Kirby, whom I’ll be marrying June 24. Perchance, when next she is in town, she’ll meet my wife. Kirby and I had not yet dated when I dialed her from the comforts of my room the Friday evening of my first diocesan convention in 2010. We spoke for four hours. The following morning, after a night in which an animated heartbeat couldn’t be slowed, I sought someone with whom I could confess my excitement. Mary was that person. Her support and love of Kirby has been unwavering ever since. Words from Mary: “Kirby is God smiling on you, as Barry is God smiling on me. Never forget that.” 4
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The Baptism of Our Lord mural at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Portau-Prince, Haiti. The murals, painted by some of the best known Haitian artists of the 20th century, present Biblical stories using only people of black heritage. Many of the murals survived the 2010 earthquake. Submitted photo.
HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL IN PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti was more than a building. Its complex also housed schools — ranging from music-based to primary to professional — and a convent of the Sisters of St. Margaret. According to a press release from the Episcopal Church Foundation, “the cathedral was a beacon in a land where strength of faith is inversely proportional to economic development.” The Diocese of West Missouri is partnering with other Episcopal Church dioceses to rebuild Holy Trinity Cathedral, demolished by the January 2010 earthquake. The initative — running through Sunday, June 26 and titled “Rebuild Our Church in Haiti” — will preserve the cathedral site as a memorial and build a new 1,000seat cathedral next to it. At a cost of $10 per brick, parishioners can help clear the remaining rubble, restore the murals that survived the earthquake and rebuild the cathedral. The plan also includes a school, a medical facility and a new convent for the Sisters of St. Margaret. Each parish has a designated person or persons to spearhead the effort within their congregation. “We want to be able to celebrate the loving response of our diocesan family to this issue in the larger Episcopal family, and to do so we need to know giving figures,” Bishop Martin Field wrote in an appeal. The Diocese of Haiti, one of the Episcopal Church’s 12 overseas dioceses, is the largest in the Church with nearly 100,000 members in 200 congregations. The earthquake destroyed 70 percent of the Church’s buildings in the country.
the world. Why? Well, for instance, virtually every other religion would have humanity try to reach up to God, but Christianity says God reaches down to humanity. In other words, God’s favor is obtained for humankind by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, and not by our own human merit (see Eph. 2:8-9). Our God is self-sacrificial, not one who demands sacrifice of us in order to gain his favor. The God I know in Christianity is not a God of reward By the Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field ith the death of Osama bin Laden much in the and punishment — go to heaven if you’re good; go to news these past days, so has his religion, Islam, hell if you’re bad. He is a God of grace over-riding just been much talked about. Granted, bin Laden’s punishment, a God whose mercy meets our sin and is the last word. What other religion has a God who solves the version of Islam is decried even by his fellow religionists, problem of mercy and justice? but the encounter with other religions keeps raising a Maybe you have never thought of mercy and justice as singular question. a problem? Well, it was for God. If you believe God is Question. In this “Information Age”, when we so readily perfect (as do the Abrahamic faiths), then God is perfectly encounter many other religions, as well as other religious just, on the one hand, and perfectly merciful, on the other thoughts and expressions, how can Christians persist in hand. Enter human sin, and God has a problem. claiming that their religion alone is the truth? Don’t all His perfect justice demands the perpetrator be punished. religions lead to God? Scripture tells us that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. Bishop Marty’s Answer. A number of people equate 6:23), which is the supreme punishment. So, God’s perfect religious tolerance with religious truth. Many assume that justice demands the death of those who disobey or offend all religions are basically the same and that all beliefs are equally valid. They picture each religion as having identical God; and since “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), there is no other conclusion faces hidden behind different masks. than this: all must be put to death for their sins. However, sound reasoning tells us that all religions And yet . . . since God (again) is perfect, God is also are not essentially the same merely because they contain perfectly merciful. Perfect mercy means God must not some similarities. A brief survey of a few religions quickly punish sinners reveals that each has but forgive them competing, mutually — meaning God What other religion has a God who solves the exclusive claims. An must extend grace example: technically problem of mercy and justice? (“unmerited favor”). speaking, Buddhism How can God has no God in a theistic sense, and the holding of any specific belief is seen do both? How can God be prefect while retaining these perfectly contradictory aspects of his perfection? as an obstacle to realization. The Abrahamic faiths say God solved his own problem by putting on the flesh of that God is a distinct being whose self-revealing leads us to humanity, dying in our place to fulfill justice, and showing know certain things about God in an absolute sense. perfect mercy to all his children. Religions, then, harbor irreconcilable differences, And to me, this God is the God I want to know and demonstrating that they cannot all possibly lead to the love and follow. Not only is this God clever, but this divine same understanding of God. Logically speaking, all being loves my mortal being so much that I am worth religions can be wrong, but they cannot all be right. They can have shades and slices of true religion, but they cannot a plentitude of pain and suffering. This divine, loving person — Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer — wants me to live all have all truth. eternally so badly that no ends are too extreme to rescue We, therefore, need to ask which religion points to the me. right God and consider how certain its claims really are. That is why I am a Christian, and shall remain in love Regarding these questions — in my opinion — Christianity with God all my life. is the most appealing and winsome of all the religions of
Bishop Talk
A CASE FOR CHRISTIANITY
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F.A.Q.
What is the Anglican Covenant, and what was the result of the April discussions regarding it? By the Rev. Steven Wilson
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n April 2 and 9, members of the diocese convened in Christ Church, Springfield, and St. Mary Magdalene, south Kansas City, to learn about and discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant, which is being studied by the provinces of the Anglican Communion. The 60 or so participants came from all corners of the diocese and were almost equally divided between lay and clergy participants. The purpose of this discussion is to allow the deputies to next summer’s General Convention to hear the concerns and hopes of the diocese, since they will be voting on the proposed Covenant’s adoption. The proposed Covenant comes as a result of the Windsor Process, which was a discussion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2003 after the election of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire and the Canadian diocese of New Westminster’s decision to allow same-gender blessings in its parishes. The Windsor Process scholars suggested three moratoria, which were adopted by the General Convention in 2006 — a moratorium on the election of openly gay bishops, on approving rites for same-gender blessings, and on boundary violations in which bishops from one diocese or province “adopt” congregations or dioceses in other jurisdictions. The Windsor Report also suggested that a covenant for conflict resolution might be helpful for the Communion, leading to various proposals over the past few years. The current draft has been sent to all provinces of the Anglican Communion, with some adopting it (Burma, West Indies & Mexico), some refusing to do so (Brazil & North India), and some referring it for study to the dioceses (England, U.S. and Southern Africa). New Zealand has adopted only three portions, and at least one African bishop has said in British newspapers that his province will not even discuss it, let alone vote on it. The Covenant breaks into five parts — an introduction that is largely biblical quotations about Covenants and 6
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must always be published with the actual Covenant but which has only interpretative authority, three sections that are broadly descriptive of current Anglicanism and consist of “we affirm” and “we commit” paragraphs, and a final section that deals with conflict resolution methods. Each section was outlined in detail by one of the members of the 2009 General Convention deputation, which had commended the Windsor Report’s suggestion that a Covenant be studied. The first four sections elicited little negative comment from listeners. The fifth section, which describes a methodology by which the Covenant is adopted, was the source of more discussion. In a nutshell, it describes a situation in which the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, a body chosen by the Anglican Catholic Church and the Primates’ Meeting and chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, would monitor the functioning of the Covenant in the various provinces. A province that adopts the Covenant would bind itself to a process of conflict resolution, including possible unnamed “relational consequences,” if it decided to undertake actions which another province deemed controversial. Provinces which elect not to adopt the Covenant would be deprived of participation in decision-making processes of the Communion. A clause for withdrawing from the Covenant is included, as is one inviting non-Anglican Churches to sign onto it. The process described in the proposed Covenant was critiqued by many observers as not being capable of ending the controversies in the Communion, but rather serving to raise every innovation to the level of potential schism. Several observers questioned whether the juridical nature of the proposals was a fundamental change in how Anglicans have always defined ourselves, as bound primarily by the love expressed in common worship. Others stated that they felt the proposal, while not perfect, might serve as a vehicle to reinforce the bonds of our interdependence on one another. The proposed Covenant will be discussed and voted on at the 2012 General Covention in Indianapolis. It is not intended to be voted on diocese by diocese, although some other dioceses have taken that step. Between now and the 2012 Convention, we ask that you hold the 2012 deputies, both clergy and lay, and our bishop in your prayers as they continue to seek the Spirit’s will in this important matter. “They will know we are Christians by our love,” as the old hymn proclaims. Wilson was chair of the diocese’s deputation to the 2009 General Convention. He is rector of Grace Church in Carthage.
E Pluribus Unum West Missouri Youth
Missionpalooza 2011 Youth from the dioceses of West Missouri and Kansas will come together July 18 to 24 in community, mission, fellowship and worship inside and outside the walls of the church. Participants will spend their days in the urban mission field heeding Christ’s call to feed the hungry, visiting the sick and comforting those in need. Work sites, which will be assigned on a first come, first served basis, are listed below. For registration forms, please visit www.wemoyouth.org.
BISHOP SPENCER PLACE Description: Bishop Spencer Place is a retirement community offering all levels of care, from total independence and assisted living to those requiring a higher degree of skilled nursing care. Worksite tasks: Interacting with residents in a skilled nursing unit. Several great interactive activities have been planned including: cooking, singing, games, crafts…and maybe bumper bowl! DON BOSCO Description: Don Bosco was founded in 1940 when the citizens in the northeast neighborhoods of Kansas City decided to establish a recreational facility for their children. Don Bosco empowers individuals and families to achieve self-sufficiency and independence through a comprehensive network of services and programs designed to enhance the quality of life in the culturally diverse community. Youth must be at least 14 years old to participate at this work site. Worksite tasks: One day at the senior center, one day with family support and one day at the youth summer camp. EPISCOPAL COMMUNITY SERVICES/ KANSAS CITY COMMUNITY KITCHEN Description: The Community Kitchen, a program of Episcopal Community Services, prepares meals to more than 450 people five days a week, including the homeless, the working poor, the elderly and families with children. Worksite tasks: Preparing and serving lunch; working with Meals-onwheels. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY - MISSOURI Description: Habitat is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry seeking to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Youth must be at least 16 years old to participate at this work site. Worksite tasks: Assisting on housing-construction projects.
HARVESTERS Description: As the community’s response to hunger, Harvesters provides food to families when they need a helping hand. Worksite tasks: Sort, repackage and box food donations. METRO AREA CHURCHES Description: Local area churches need our help with projects that become delayed until volunteers can offer assistance. Worksite tasks: A variety of small, hands-on projects. OPERATION BREAKTHROUGH Description: Operation Breakthrough provides service for the children and families of the urban core of Kansas City, Missouri. It includes day care, meals, a Children’s Mercy clinic, a dental clinic, speech therapy, play therapy, housing assistance, food and clothing and social services. Youth must be at least 14 years old to participate at this work site. Worksite tasks: Work in classrooms with children ages two to five and help with special projects. WAYSIDE WAIFS Description: Wayside Waifs is an animal shelter whose purpose is to improve the quality of animal welfare in the community by providing humane treatment and advocating for companion animals. Youth must be at least 16 years old to participate at this work site. Worksite tasks: Socializing cats, bark park clean-up, yard work, possible painting and window cleaning, toy preparation, laundry and dog walking.
— BY KIM SNODGRASS (DIOCESE OF WEST MISSOURI’S YOUTH COORDINATOR) AND CHAD SENUTA (DIOCESE OF KANSAS’ YOUTH MISSIONER)
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Through My Eyes: Consecrating the 1,055th Episcopal Bishop WRITTEN ACCOUNT BY HUGH WELSH PHOTOGRAPHS BY GARY ZUMWALT
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(Opposite) Following the consecration, it’s official: Bishop-elect is now Bishop Martin S. Field. (Top) The choir sings the “First Song of Isaiah” prior to the filling of the baptismal font by four diocesan youth.
9:33 A.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2011 I am late. This marks the second time I’ve left Gary Zumwalt, my prized photographer, out in the cold at a diocesan event. My phone is ringing; I answer. “Hey Gary, I’m looking at a ‘park here’ sign as we speak (in truth, I’m on Interstate 70 and tailgating an 18-wheeler with mud flaps that say ‘Back off, Bozo’). Where are you? Need a hand with your equipment?” A pause. “Meet me at the Muehlebach.” 9:44 A.M. All seems well. Gary is smiling. “You know, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, died an Anglican priest.” It’s the umpteenth time Gary’s mentioned it. He insists it’s a good selling point for my fiancée who, like myself, grew up in the Methodist Church. Gary is eyeballing the front of the ballroom. “What are you thinking?” I ask. “If I’m going to get the money shot, I’m going to need a lift or a tall ladder.” The money shot: the laying on of hands. “It’s like a rugby match in there.”
9:48 A.M. There’s a lot of purple in the room: purple ties, purple sportcoats, purple skirts, purple strands of hair. What is it about purple that’s so attractive to Episcopalians? I query Gary. He asks me what shade of purple. Apparently, there are two shades of Episcopal purple: one bluish, the other magenta-like. What’s the difference? “It’s a matter of personal preference,” Gary says. I learn that black is the color of priests and deacons, and that purple is exclusive to bishops. I suppose it’s fitting, then, there being so much purple among attendees, it being a bishop’s ordination, after all. I ask the purple-haired youth to be sure. She explains: “I dyed it cause I thought it looked cool.” 9:54 A.M. I have misplaced Gary. Upon learning there is no apparatus to support his “money shot,” Gary was sent into what I call “trance of the photog.” Meanwhile, Bishop-elect Marty Field, clothed in a luminous white, is reviewing his steps with the Rev. Sue Sommer onstage. It reminds me of a choreographer and her dancer: Sommer’s hands, feet and face an amalgam of expression, Field a careful-to-follow pupil nodding as regularly as a bobblehead. SPIRIT, SPRING, 2011
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(Opposite, Top) The Second Grade Singers from St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School in Kansas City. (Opposite, Bottom) The clergy of the diocese gather at the back of the ballroom before the procession. (Top) The procession begins. (Bottom) The Rev. Jerry Grabher, left, bearing the gospel, and the Rev. Bryan England, deacon of the table. Trailing them is the Rev. Dr. George Clifford, preacher.
10:09 A.M. I spy Field, his back to a column on the perimeter of the room. He is alone; his head is tilted downward, eyes closed. His hands are wrapped like a boy clutching a butterfly. The white noise of conversations, the muted tuning of the choir, the whiplash of movement: people coming, people going, people greeting one another. And Field, humbled, his head hanging in prayer. 10:21 A.M. Gary informs me that even he, aged 65-plus with a pet name for his typewriter, prefers his news online vs. in print. Then, an old-soul newspaperman hears his saving grace: a far-off chorus on the outskirts of the room. A song like the pre-dawn hum of mourning doves. “We’re going to sing to the Lord and make music, make music,” the lyrics tell me. I cannot locate the source of such sweet harmony. I peer towards the front. Nope. I scan the back. Nothing. Then, a woman directs my patrolling eyes to the side and downward. There, they are: eight children, their faces aglow like the breasts of robins, their clothing as colorful as a sun-lit pasture after a spring rain. Second graders from the St. Paul’s Day School (Kansas City). When the performance is complete, the children are greeted by their guardians, with whom they link hands and — a cascade of smiles — skip away. 10:40 A.M. The St. Augustine Liturgical Dancers (from St. Augustine’s, Kansas City) trot onstage. They’re clothed in white, red sashes ribboning their waists. The music begins. It’s “The Prayer,” a duet between Celine Dion and Josh Grobin. The dancers’ arms rise from their sides slowly, tenderly, like butterflies testing their long-cocooned wings. “I pray you’ll be our eyes, and watch us where we go,” the song begins, words befitting the day that will bring a new bishop to the diocese. The dance unfolds like a ballet, the arms and fingertips undulating heavenward. Liturgical dance is an embodiment of God’s love; it is a prayer of movement. Watching these women perform — their motions synched, their engagement of melody ever-sonuanced — brings to mind a stanza I’ll forever remember from William Butler Yeats’ “The Stolen Child”: “Come away, O human child!/To the waters and the wild/With a faery hand in hand,/For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”
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10:52 A.M. The banners of the diocese’s parishes are aloft. The tapestries are original to each congregation. Some, such as St. Paul’s (Maryville), are simple: a church is outlined in black and white, a red door beckoning entrance. The year of the church’s founding, 1872, is embossed. Christ Church (Lexington) also features a banner exclaiming its history (1844), only its church is hugged by earthy greens and browns. Then there is the banner belonging to St. Alban’s (Bolivar). A brown cross is at its center, a rainbow of color streaming from it. Altogether, the procession of banners symbolizes both individuality and unanimity: 50 parishes and one religious community — from urban centers to frontier towns with memberships large and small; upper class, middle class, working class — united in the Christian spirit. 11:02 A.M. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, her voice carrying the command of a gavel, asks if there is any objection to continuing with the consecration. “If any of you know any reason why we should not proceed, let it now be made known.” Not a noise. Even an infant, crying a moment earlier, is silent. “Is it your will that we ordain Martin a bishop?” Half the assembly speaks before Jefferts Schori can finish, reinforcing the result of the third ballot back in October: “That is our will.” 12
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(Opposite, Top Left) Acolytes lead the way for the visiting bishops. The Rt. Rev. John Buchanan, the Sixth Bishop of West Missouri, is clothed in red. (Opposite, Bottom Left) The co-consecrating bishops, from left to right: The Rt. Rev. Michael Milliken, Bishop of Western Kansas; the Rt. Rev. G. Wayne Smith, Bishop of Missouri; and the Rt. Rev. Dean Wolfe, Bishop of Kansas. (Opposite, Top Right) The Ven. John McCann and the Rt. Rev. Barry Howe, Seventh Bishop of West Missouri. (Opposite, Bottom Right) The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church. Jefferts Schori served as chief consecrator. (Top) Bishop-elect Martin Field kneels before Jefferts Schori and the other bishops, who pray for him. (Middle) The bishop-elect prepares to receive the laying on of hands from the consecrating bishops. (Bottom) Field is vested according to the order of bishops.
11:35 A.M. The Rev. Dr. George Clifford, who befriended Field as a fellow Navy chaplain 20 years ago, says this about Field’s character, upon stating that the decommissioning of Destroyer Squadron 25 corresponded with Field’s departure: “The superstitious among you may want to keep him as your bishop for as long as possible.” 11:51 A.M. Before the consecration, I am struck by two observations. Coinciding with the reading from John 21:15-19 of “Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep,’” a toddler frees himself from his mother’s care and scampers away, tripping over a hump of wire. He is saved by the awaiting arms of a stranger. The singing of the hymn “Veni Sancte Spiritus” stirs an onslaught of tears. Perhaps it’s the melodic arrangement of the syllables or the resurrection of a language regarded as “dead,” or its literal message: Come, Holy Spirit. 12:07 P.M. Jefferts Schori and the other bishops lay their hands upon the kneeling Field. I don’t know if the “rugby” analogy is accurate: the scene reminds me of the 1987 film Wings of Desire, in which angels — in a walled Berlin — place their hands upon those whose spirit is broken, whose lives are without human compassion. The angels’ touch is one of healing and everlasting love; I can say the same of the laying on of hands. Afterwards, Field, now bishop, is gifted his mitre and crosier. Applause erupts like the boom of a cannon. Field, until this moment an archetype of modesty, smiles. He is bishop of the Diocese of West Missouri.
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This past summer, Ezgi Saribay from St. John’s (Springfield) experienced her greatest worry. It wasn’t that she doubted the priesthood was her calling. Or that she would bumble through a meeting with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. It was whether her parents, who are Muslims, would accept not only her Christian conversion but her desire to become a priest in the Episcopal Church. Saribay remained at Trinity for six weeks, Saribay’s parents live in Izmir, Turkey, a modernyet-conservative coastal city that is nearly 100 percent experiencing everything a priest would: liturgical work, preaching a sermon, visiting people who are Muslim; she speaks to her parents periodically ailing and offering spiritual counseling. It was a by phone. In four years, she hadn’t mustered the full-time commitment, Monday through Friday plus courage to bring up her newfound faith. “I felt bad about not telling them,” Saribay says. “I Sunday. One of Saribay’s profoundest moments during her thought they would cut my financial help and figure internship was when a 21-year-old Jewish woman I’ve turned my back on them — that I no longer approached her about converting to the Christian respected the tradition of my upbringing and I had faith. Her father was Jewish while her mother was chosen to be less Turkish.” an Episcopalian. Her father was Finally, emboldened by her pondering baptism but was stalling. discernment at Trinity Episcopal He had his doubts, and so did she. Church in Fishkill, New York, “I told her of my own story,” where parishioners offered their Saribay says — a story in which a prayers to support her, Saribay far-flung Turk with broken English, professed her faith to her parents. and an upbringing firmly implanted Following a pause on the phone in Muslim custom, set out for an — Saribay thought for a moment the education in America and found her connection was lost or, worse yet, her parents had hung up — her father Four years ago, Ezgi Saribay, St. life’s calling instead. Never was there responded: “You have our blessing.” It John’s (Springfield), converted any discomfort between this Jew and was a capstone to a life-altering summer. from Islam to Christianity. Now, former Muslim, rival religions for a she is discerning a call to the millennium. Saribay applied and was accepted priesthood. By Hugh Welsh “I have a gift for interfaith to the Lilly Summer Discernment relations,” Saribay says. “I didn’t want her to feel as Institute in Sewanee, Tenn., an undergraduate program to attract students to the ordained ministry if I was selling Christianity to her; I only wanted her to hear my story.” and to careers that embrace service as a way of life. It succeeded. After a two-week orientation, Saribay was assigned As her internship drew to a close, Saribay agonized to Trinity in Fishkill, a 250-year-old church in the over the wording of her sermon: She didn’t want to most upscale community in southeastern New York. seem a foreigner, and yet she didn’t want to ignore Trinity’s rector, the Rev. Jean Campbell, is also a how she got there. She tethered her experience to the nun, a unique pathway to the priesthood. Gospel, namely the disciples, many of whom didn’t Before having even met Campbell, Saribay was need to witness a miracle or undergo an epiphany intrigued. Nuns are synonymous with compassion, to accept the words of Jesus as truth. When she was and Campbell would prove a case in point. Saribay done delivering the sermon, Saribay administered learned that a priest’s value isn’t exclusive to the the chalice, offering the blood of Christ. Following pulpit — it extends into the community, a force of the service, Saribay was engulfed by gratitude from faith for those confined to hospital beds or those so parishioners. distressed by the woes of the world, they dare not “It was then that I was assured of my calling,” show their faces during Sunday worship. Saribay says. Trinity members were so taken by “I learned the importance of being the person Saribay, they rallied to buy her a gift: a viola. She was who can make a difference when no one else can,” Saribay says.
From Turkey,
A Call
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(Top) Trinity Church in Fishkill, New York, where Ezgi Saribay served for six weeks as part of an internship. (Middle) The Rev. Jean Campbell, Trinity’s rector, and Saribay. (Bottom) Saribay wore revolutionary-era clothing as part of a Fourth of July event at Trinity. Submitted photos.
unanimously approved to attend vestry meetings. While at Trinity, Saribay traveled to New York City, where she met with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori. The arrangement was made possible by a Trinity warden who had a friend working at the presiding bishop’s office. For 30 minutes, Jefferts Schori spoke of how much she enjoys traveling to different parts of the Anglican Communion worldwide and touched on interfaith relations, cultural justice, immigration and church-wide unity. “She’s a very holy person and a strong female role model,” Saribay says. After the six-week internship, Saribay spent one week reflecting at her home parish, St. John’s. “Now, I am in the middle of parish discernment to the priesthood,” Saribay says. Saribay continues to spearhead her parish’s campus ministry program at Drury University in Springfield, though she’ll soon be graduating. The ministry averages between five and 10 people per meeting; this past November, four Drury students were confirmed in the Episcopal Church via St. John’s. According to Saribay, a large part of the ministry’s success is the discussions that arise from it. “It’s a non-church environment,” Saribay says. “I encourage intellectual and theological debate.” Such quality discussion is a testament to Saribay as a model for all campus ministry.
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Following the March tsunami, Kamaishi, Japan lay in ruins. Associated Press photo.
Compassionate Response
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Generations will pass before Japan recovers from the three-fold tragedy in March. NSKK (the Anglican Communion in Japan) and Episcopal Relief & Development are working together to assure basic needs are met. By Hugh Welsh
W
hile Japan continues to recover from a month-long onslaught of disasters both natural and manmade, the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK, the Anglican Communion in Japan) — with assistance from Episcopal Relief & Development — is providing essential goods to those in need, such as shelter, food, cooking fuel, clean towels and clothing. On March 11, Japan faced the first of three catastrophes when it was rocked by the strongest earthquake in modern history. A tsunami immediately followed, which compromised the cooling system of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. A month later, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck and the situation at the plant was upgraded from level five (similar to the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania) to level seven (similar to the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine). In all, 25,500 people have been confirmed dead, 10,800 people remain missing and 52,800 homes have been destroyed. The NSKK has launched the first phase of relief, estimated to last at least two years. As powerful as the March 11 earthquake may have been, the resulting tsunami was far more devastating. Many areas are without adequate food and passable roads. Communication — as ample as it may have seemed with the abundance of first-person accounts via such outlets as Twitter and YouTube — remains at a standstill in many rural parts of Japan. In Kamaishi, where the tsunami caused widespread devastation, Grace NSKK Church has emerged as the center for community service, distributing food, offering refuge to orphaned children and displaced persons along with mental counseling. Three NSKK dioceses united to deliver food to elderly people through an ecumenical group based at St. Timothy NSKK Church in Onahama, another area pulverized by the tsunami. Many other NSKK churches, those not badly damaged by the disasters, are also doubling as shelters. Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been criticized for having fewer than 400 temporary housing units built for the 130,000 who have signed up for them. To make a donation to Episcopal Relief & Development, visit its Web site: www.er-d.org/donateselect.php
A neighborhood in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, destroyed by an EF5 tornado April 27. Associated Press photo. In mid-April, a section of southeastern United States was stung by a tornado outbreak. Then, two weeks later, a record number of tornados gashed the south. Neither area was prepared for the consequences. Together, dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church and Episcopal Relief & Development are doing their best to restore these communities. The work ahead is great. By Hugh Welsh
A
rash of tornados the evening of April 27 to 28, the second worst outbreak in the nation’s history, left 342 dead and a huge swath of the South in ruins. Episcopal Relief & Development has been coordinating relief efforts with several dioceses, including Alabama, Atlanta and East Tennessee. In Atlanta’s diocese, where no churches were damaged, two churches are involved in immediate relief efforts, providing temporary shelter and distributing food and other necessities. In the Diocese of East Tennessee, ERD has contacted the Metropolitan Ministries program in Chattanooga. Search-and-rescue teams are moving forward with the initial phases of the response and local agencies are grappling to fill in the gaps in service after the departure of first responders such as Red Cross. In hard-hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, volunteers were using St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church as a staging area for Compassion Coalition, a clean-up crew representing 45 congregations from 13 denominations. In addition, ERD is supporting the dioceses of North Carolina (covering the central region of the state) and East Carolina (which covers the eastern region of the state)
in the aftermath of the April 16 storms. In the Diocese of East Carolina, ERD is focused on two communities significantly affected: Windsor and Newton Grove. In Windsor, tornadoes destroyed 67 homes and damaged 30 others. Fourteen residents of the town were killed. Windsor, located in rural Bertie County, is one of the poorest areas in the region. Many of those killed lived in mobile homes. With support from ERD, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Windsor is responding to needs for basic household items, temporary shelter and pastoral care. For families whose homes were damaged or destroyed, the church is offering vouchers to its thrift store to buy clothing, school supplies and other essential items. St. Thomas’ is also providing spiritual counseling and funeral costs for those who otherwise could not afford it. Fourteen Diocese of North Carolina parishes are involved in a response effort coordinated through the diocesan offices. A group of clergy and lay leaders met April 26 to discuss the diocese’s expanded role in relief efforts. According to the report, the Rev. Canon Michael Buerkel Hunn said, “We have hundreds of displaced people in temporary housing who have nowhere to go. There are people who have insurance, but have high deductibles that they can’t possibly afford to pay, or maybe your insurance covers the materials and you can’t afford to pay for the labor…I think the Episcopal Church can play a vital role.” ERD is sending emergency funds to the diocese to assist congregations involved in local disaster response. SPIRIT, SPRING, 2011
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ONE CHURCH
ENGAGING
The Rev. Jason Lewis, vicar at St. Mary Magdalene (south Kansas City), had never ventured into the third world until February, when he was a part of a mission team to Haiti. The purpose of the trip was to make a difference in a country still ravaged by the earthquake one year ago. Instead, it was the people of Haiti who made the difference in him. By Hugh Welsh
THE WORLD
Tent cities abounded. Lewis admits the sight was overwhelming. How could a small band, without a deep-pocketed person among them, make any tangible difference in such a despairing scenario? Thankfully, the objectives lay not in Port-auPrince but Le Pretre (The Priest), a community of 1,000 people 18 miles northwest of Les Cayes, the largest city nner-city Washington D.C. during the crack epidemic: Until February, this scene illustrated the in the southern region of the country. “I looked upon Port-au-Prince, and my jaw was term “poverty” for the Rev. Jason Lewis, vicar at St. agape,” Lewis says. “I looked upon Le Pretre, and I Mary Magdalene (south Kansas City). He had never witnessed anything worse — until Haiti. knew we could make a noticeable impact.” Before arriving at Le He had never seen packs of Pretre, the group briefly bare-ribbed dogs roaming visited an Episcopalthe streets. Nor had he seen sponsored technology children, adults and old institute (the Bishop Tharp people so ill-fed, their skin Business and Technology draped over their skeletons Institute),Church of the like loose-fitting clothing. Holy Savior in Les Cayes, “It was unlike anything I a girls’ orphanage (the had ever seen,” Lewis says. Consolation Center) and In January 2010, a 7.0Maison de Naissance, a magnitude earthquake Kansas City-based facility struck 16 miles from Portproviding birthing services au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. and health care for needy The Haitian government mothers and their children reported 316,000 people Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Submitted photo. in a defined area of killed, 1.8 million left southwest Haiti. homeless. The group also went to Torbeck, where they observed More than a year later, from February 16 to 25, a firsthand the miraculous story of Pwoje Espwa. In mission team including Lewis, Jim Grant (a parishioner 1998, it was a one-house shelter for 20 boys living on at St. Mary Magdalene who was mission leader and the street; today Pwoje Espwa is a sprawling campus, logistics consultant) and four others — from St. including an orphanage and vocational school Thomas the Apostle in Overland Park, Kansas, as well serving 600 children. Lewis met with its founder, as churches in Pensacola and Panama City, Florida — Marc Boisvert, who, among other things, corrected a visited the country. At that point, much was still in common misconception. ruins: buildings reduced to rubble, bricks pried apart “He told me that voodoo is a natural religion, serving and scattered like pieces from an errant game of Jenga.
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A starving dog roams the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Submitted photo.
an important function in the lives of Haitians, and I shouldn’t fear it,” Lewis says. Boisvert informed him that it can be complementary to Christianity, not a “pagan” adversary. One of the reasons for voodoo’s negative connotation is the Roman Catholic Church’s wish to abolish it from the country before the revolution. Voodoo was created in Haiti by African slaves in the 16th century as a means for the beliefs and practices of West Africa to co-exist with the religion of their slavers. “(Boisvert) said he knows of a lot of baptized people who practice voodoo,” Lewis says. The group spent two days in Le Pretre assessing needs and delivering much-needed school supplies to L’Eglise Incarnation (Church of the Incarnation), a one-room building serving 80 students in grades 1 to 5. Seating is in church pews; there are no student desks, teacher desks, blackboards or bathrooms. Early on, Lewis observed children carrying buckets from the river, the community’s water supply a quartermile below the school,. It was determined coliform
and E. coli bacteria tainted the water, indicating the presence of human feces — a catalyst for cholera outbreaks. An unmaintained outhouse served the entire school and church, more than 250 people. The outhouse’s filth and contamination was “beyond description,” Lewis says. The mission team was also equipped with a medical unit, who treated as many ailing residents of Le Pretre as they could. The town hadn’t seen a doctor in several years. Lewis offered prayer for those who requested it, anointing them with oil. The line was great: Treatment had to be prioritized according to need. In June, when the mission team returns, they will again have a medical outfit in tow, offering the people of Le Pretre health care twice in one year. The mission’s primary goals in Le Petre include drilling a well, building a multi-stall composting toilet facility and constructing a school building to accommodate 250 students in grades 1 to 6 that, in the event of another earthquake, won’t pancake like SPIRIT, SPRING, 2011
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The mission team visited Pwoje Espwa in Torbeck, Haiti. In 1998, it was a one-house shelter for 20 boys living on the street; today Pwoje Espwa includes an orphanage and vocational school serving 600 children. Submitted photos.
so many buildings in Port-au-Prince, which had flat concrete roofs. The cost of the project is estimated to be between $10,000 and $15,000. The ultimate goal of the project is to allow Le Pretre to be a self-sustaining community through improved health, education and vocational training. Lewis says the mission’s purpose wasn’t about “having all the answers with chins held high.” “Haitians have as much, maybe even more, to offer us as we can offer them,” Lewis says. “Nothing irritates me more than the ‘Taking Jesus to Haiti’ T-shirt groups.” Lewis says Haitians have a spiritual connectedness that hasn’t been broken by self-importance and material desire. He cites the children of Le Pretre as an example, their faces light with joy as they sing hymns harmoniously without musical accompaniment, never having had any formal musical instruction and many deprived of basic reading and writing skills. 20
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“In spite of it being a third-world country devastated by a natural disaster, I never once felt threatened; in fact, I feel more unsafe in parts of Kansas City,” Lewis says. “I think that’s a testament to the character of the Haitian people.” In its eighth year, St. Mary Magdalene has forged a strong bond with Haiti, financially supporting Maison de Naissance and supporting educational development. This marked the third mission trip for the parish; members of St. Mary Magdalene, including Lewis and Grant, will return to Haiti in June and September.
TRIATHLON FOR LE PRETRE ON MAY 22, THE REV. JASON LEWIS, VICAR at St. Mary Magdalene (south Kansas City), will compete in the Kansas City Triathlon. All money to sponsor him will be sent to the project in Le Pretre, Haiti.
(Top) The main road leading to Le Pretre, Haiti. A poor community, Le Pretre is without access to clean running water and sanitary latrines. (Bottom) The mission team poses with a group of children attending school at L’Eglise Incarnation (Church of the Incarnation), a one-room building serving 80 students in grades 1 to 5 in Le Pretre, Haiti. Submitted photos.
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ARTS
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DEBRIEFED WHAT IS IT?
White Material
WHO DIRECTED IT? Claire Denis
IN A NUTSHELL
Isabelle Huppert plays Maria, a white French expatriate living in an African nation that has fallen into political chaos. Maria owns a coffee plantation and regards her property as her personal domain; she’s not about to give up easily.
CLAIRE DENIS, THE DIRECTOR OF THE 2010 film White Material, is a connoisseur of imagery — imagery that mesmerizes, imagery that perturbs and, above all, imagery that belies truth. Any review of a film by Denis — once an understudy to such cinematic originals as Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch — would be null if it ignored this element. In Beau Travail, the soft pant of surf is juxtaposed with a group of French Foreign Legion soldiers in synchronized calisthenics, then a shot of two shirtless men circling one another, eyeball to eyeball, engagement inevitable. The scene establishes the plotline to follow, as disconcerting as it may be. The same occurs early in White Material, when Maria, a white French woman (Isabelle Huppert), yields a seat aboard a sardine-tight bus, so she can grasp onto the railing at the bus’ back, her hair like wind-whipped wheat as the bus motors away, rousing a fog of dust. The film, set on the cusp of civil war, unfolds from Maria’s vantage point, a coffee plantation operator. She is partial neither to the government’s army — a puppet for French interests and the superwealthy — nor the rebels, made up mostly of children orphaned by the military’s indiscriminate crackdown. Maria simply wants to maintain her coffee business, bestowed as the deathbed wish of her father. She will stop at nothing to protect it, despite threats against her and her family, particularly her son, whose alienation and humiliation at the mercy of child soldiers leads to insanity. The film opens with a prowling beam of light cast on a dark room. The beam illuminates a face: it is an African tribal mask, the eyes wrathfully downturned. It’s a reflection of the home’s occupant. Nicknamed “The Boxer,” his skills in the ring earned him esteem among his countryman,
the underdog answer to the mechanics of tyranny. For too long, the people of this African nation have dealt with leaders campaigning as a voice of the people, only to revert to the same strongarming tactics again and again. Tactics more favorable to the holdover French who colonized the country than those who’ve called it home since the dawn of humankind. The beam of light jerks through several rooms until it settles. Soon, it pools with other light: “The Boxer” is dead. Who is “The Boxer,” the commander of the rebels known by no other name? The viewer never really learns his backstory. In flashback, we discover that an unhealing stomach wound didn’t deter his mission until the blood loss became too great, and that he is a just man, never one to harm anybody undeserving. The same cannot be said, however, of his opponents, representative of the regime. They wield anxious trigger fingers and a cutthroat sensibility, even towards mere children. Meanwhile, the threats against Maria are mounting. Business is in the red. Priests at a nearby hospital have been shot to death, wounds mockingly inflicted in either wrist by a rebel band without “The Boxer’s” principles. A radio jockey implores attacks on all emblems of colonialism, resulting in all her workers leaving during the height of harvest. Then, a freshly severed goat’s head turns up in a batch of coffee beans: a sign that she is a target for execution. Will Maria heed the advice from a fled worker whose final words were, “Coffee’s coffee; it’s not worth dying for”? Or will she abide by the slogan of “The Boxer’s” army: “God doesn’t give up”? — BY HUGH WELSH SPIRIT, SPRING, 2011
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