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Crosswalk The official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina
this
issue
Seeking and serving Christ . . .
The Millennium Development Goals
inside 3
MDGs What, why, how
7
Learning and giving Get involved now!
8 -12
ERD & Partnership Cange Ahead of the curve
14
Blueprint for hope We can change the world.
on the cover See page 19.
Visit our diocese online
www.edusc.org
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Lent, 2007 “One Body, One Mission: Changing Lives.”
Crosswalk
Official Publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina 1115 Marion Street Columbia, South Carolina 29201 803.771.7800/800.889.6961 803.799.5119 fax dioceseusc@aol.com Crosswalk E-mail Address phill@edusc.org Bishop The Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr. Executive Assistant to Bishop Henderson Jane B. Goldsmith jgoldsmith@edusc.org Canon to the Ordinary The Rev. Mark Clevenger mclevenger@edusc.org Assistant to the Canon to the Ordinary The Rev’d d’Rue Hazel dhazel@edusc.org Assistant for Administration Roslyn Hook rhook@edusc.org Canon for Finance and Administration Julie Price jprice@edusc.org Director of Finance and Insurance Cynthia Hendrix chendrix@edusc.org Canon for Communications, Editor of Crosswalk Peggy Van Antwerp Hill phill@edusc.org
Beloved, that slogan still describes the corporate life and mission we share as the Body of Christ in Upper South Carolina. As a consequence, many across this diocese are engaged in numerous diverse ways to live more fully into that commitment to be Christ—a real Life-Changer—present in the world. “Changing Lives.” That pledge, and the vision action plan of our diocese which it describes, is our way of putting the Baptismal Covenant to work in our lives as a diocesan family. One of the most effective ways we can do that is by joining others to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals—a commitment assumed by the Episcopal Church and twice by our own diocese, in convention. The MDGs (as they have come to be called) constitute a concrete way that we can live more fully into our Covenant vow to “seek and serve Christ in all persons,” and to respond to the commandment of Jesus in Matthew 25:45. Thereby, you and I can bring real and substantive gospel change in the lives of millions around God’s globe: …by eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; …by providing universal primary education; …by promoting gender equality and empowering women; …by reducing child morality and improving maternal health; …by combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; …by ensuring environmental sustainability; and, …by developing global partnerships for development, with targets for aid, trade, and debt relief. This is not “pie in the sky.” This is realistic change that we, with others in the Church and beyond, can accomplish in the Name of Jesus Christ! God has given us the resources to make those changes. But how will we as stewards of those resources—all that we are, and all that we have—how will we respond to the challenge? Specifically, we have committed ourselves as a diocese to:
Increase this year’s Statement of Mission’s allocation of money to fund international development programs by 0.7 percent more than that allocated in 2006; and
Canon for Youth Ministry The Rev. L. Sue von Rautenkranz suevon@edusc.org
To challenge all communities of faith in the diocese to give at least 0.7 percent of their budgets to international development programs; and
Assistant for Communications and Youth Ministry Bethany Human bhuman@edusc.org
To challenge all Episcopalians in our diocese to give at least 0.7 percent of their income to international development programs.
Archdeacon and Senior Pastoral Assistant to the Bishop The Ven. Frederick C. Byrd fbyrd@edusc.org Assistant to Archdeacon Byrd Bonnie Blackberg bblackberg@edusc.org Visit us on the Web at: www.edusc.org
This issue of Crosswalk focuses on the Millennium Development Goals and the numerous ways that we can support them. I commend them to you not only because they are avenues of honoring convention resolutions, but because they are rooted in the person and mission of our Lord. Faithfully yours in his holy Name,
Around the Diocese Save the dates:
Diocesan Leadership Conference
Part I of Diocesan Convention May 18-19, 2007 @ Christ Church, Greenville
Upper South Carolinian Lila Albergotti receives Virginia Seminary’s Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award Albergotti honored for “leadership and unique witness” Lila Brownlee Fretwell Albergotti, an active member of Grace Episcopal Church, Anderson, has been named as a recipient of Virginia Theological Seminary’s seventh annual Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans (LPWE) Award. The award is given by the seminary to an Episcopal layperson (or persons) who, over a significant period of time, has given leadership and unique witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ within his or her congregation, community, and diocese and in the world. Albergotti was enthusiastically selected by the LPWE Committee because of her ability to “bring others in” to new and existing outreach ministries that she helped to create, and the clear impact that these ministries have had on her community. Albergotti was nominated by her rector, the Rev. John B. “Jack” Hardaway IV, who said that she “has shown outstanding initiative in creating and leading five new ministries over the past 30 years in Anderson County, South Carolina.” Among them are Meals on Wheels of Anderson; Anderson Emergency Soup Kitchen; Anderson Interfaith Ministry; Hospice of the Upstate; and the Cancer Association of Anderson. According to Hardaway, Albergotti has shown a “unique witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ by having a prophetic commitment to care for the poor combined with the knowhow and ability to gather the community of faith together to serve the poor in ways that are effective and sustainable.” Established in 1999, the award honors the legacy of Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans, an Episcopal laywoman, philanthropist, and friend of Virginia Theological Seminary. Candidates for the award are active laypersons in an Episcopal congregation and must live in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia. —continued on page 19
Please send all Crosswalk address corrections, deletions or additions to: Trevett’s Mailing Service 2217 Lake Murray Blvd. Columbia, SC 29212 phone: 803.781.3150 email: mail@trevetts.com
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THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGS) In 2000 all the member states of the United Nations pledged to achieve eight goals by 2015. These are the goals. 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Specifically, the aim is by 2015 to reduce by half the proportion of people whose income in 1990 amounted to less than one dollar a day and reduce by half the proportion of people who were hungry. Currently 1.1 billion people live on less than one dollar a day, and 852 million are hungry.
The target is for all children to be able to complete primary school. Currently 121 million schoolaged children do not go to school.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality. The aim is to reduce the number of children who die before their fifth birthday by two-thirds by 2015. Currently 11 million children die of preventable diseases every year.
5. Improve maternal health. The target is to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters. Currently about 500,000 mothers die each year of birth-related complications.
why and how By Angela M. Daniel “Aren’t you going to eat your spinach? Think of the starving children in India!” Those guilt-inducing words probably are familiar to “Baby Boomers” and their offspring, and they remind us that global poverty has been around for a long, long time. So, what’s different now? Why are we in the middle of the strongest, most powerful and well-organized effort ever to eradicate global extreme poverty?
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.
The goal is for equal numbers of girls and boys to go to primary and secondary school, preferably by 2005, and go on to higher education by 2015. Currently 60 percent of the children out of school are girls.
The MDGs
The goal is to reverse the spread of these diseases by 2015. Currently each year 3 million persons die of AIDS, nearly 2 million of tuberculosis, and 1 million of malaria.
The aims are to make drinking water safer and improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Currently 1.1 billion people lack access to a reliable source of water that is reasonably protected from contamination; 2.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
Living the gospel
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
This goal addresses a range of issues in which the developed countries play a particular role in inhibiting poverty or facilitating poverty reduction. Currently rich countries on average give 0.25 percent of their gross national income to development assistance. The goal is to increase this to 0.7 percent. This list of the MDGs is a shortened version of the one that appears in What Can One Person Do? Faith to Heal a Broken World, by Sabina Alkire and Edmund Newell. (See the review of this book on page 14.) The official UN site for the MDG indicators is http://millenniumindicators.un.org. The UN 2006 MDG progress report is available online at http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/ MDGReport2006.pdf.
0.7% In the year 2000 all the member states of the United Nations (191 of them) pledged to achieve 8 goals by 2015, goals recognized as a blueprint for building a better world in the 21st century. Jeffrey D. Sachs, author of The End of Poverty, is one of the economists most responsible for the development and promotion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (See the review of his book on page 14) He says that “the world has the means and the know-how to end hunger and poverty but has lacked the ability to move from words to action.” Sachs and other economists determined that it would take 0.7% of the richest nations’ national income to achieve the MDGs. In 2003 he addressed the Presiding Bishop’s Forum on Global Reconciliation at General Convention and
repeated his conviction that all that is standing between us and ending poverty is the will to do so. Two years before the UN articulated the MDGs, the Lambeth Conference asked all dioceses to fund international development at a minimum of 0.7 percent of their budgets. General Convention resolutions in 2000, 2003, and 2006 affirmed this, and many dioceses, congregations, and individuals have embraced such a commitment. While the Diocese of Upper South Carolina formally endorsed in 2005 a resolution committing 0.7 percent (and more) of our Statement of Mission to helping to achieve the MDGs, it is noteworthy that our long-term involvement with and devotion to the people of Cange in Haiti is a model for others as they seek ways to eradicate global poverty. —continued on page 17
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The axe or the helping hand?
Moral theology and the MDGs
A small litany about the Millennium Development Goals
By Philip H. Whitehead
God’s world is hurting
By Felicia W. Smith
Moral theology is the study of human conduct (behavior) in relation to theological belief. For the General Convention and our diocese to commit to the Millenium Develpment Goals is authentic Christian moral behavior at its most practical, effective and broad-reaching. (For a list of the MDGs see page 3 of this Crosswalk.)
This is the response we make when the world’s demands seem brutally overwhelming and massive enough to threaten our lives and our well-being: “Cut off their hands!” In vivid contrast, the MDGs offer not only the opportunity to respond with moral action, but they also witness also to the ways in which God’s world is hurting.
Holy Creator of all six billion of us, strengthen and guide us as we seek with determination the ways in which we can live together on this Earth. We give thanks for the worldwide leadership that has established the Millennium Development Goals.
Gifts & Godly attributes Christianity offers two theological convictions derived from the book of Genesis that should influence our moral behavior: (1) that Creation is a gift for which human beings have responsibilities; (2) that human beings are made in the image of God, implying that we have Godly attributes (three of which we speak of in Eucharistic Prayer C—memory, reason, and skill). Christian moral behavior is strongly influenced by the ideas that Creation is a gift and human beings have Godly attributes by which to care for the gift.
Participants, all The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that humankind most likely is a cause for global warming. Agree or not, the idea that human beings play a part in constructive and destructive behaviors is what moral theology is all about. To commit oneself, the Church, and the nation to the MDGs is a good moral decision, consistent with Judeo-Christian moral teaching. In any discussion of a human being’s responsibility for the problems of the world, there are dozens of justifications for not wanting to help in the relief of human misery and injustice. These justifications range from “It’s a dog-eat-dog world” to “I’m going to get mine first!” or “We have our own to take care of!” or “If you keep feeding them, they will just multiply.”
“Cut off their hands!” There is a classic metaphor describing “the mind-set of not caring, except for one’s self,” put forth by the novelist and critic André Gide: There is a lifeboat in a sea full of survivors from a shipwreck. The hands of some of the survivors cling to the sides of the boat. But the boat has already as many passengers as it can carry. No more survivors can be accommodated and an increase of those clinging to the side will sink the boat. The captain pulls two fire axes from the rack in the boat and orders, “Cut off their hands!”
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Holy Creator, we pray for the strength, guidance, and wisdom to persevere.
[T]he MDGs offer not only the opportunity to respond with moral action, but they also witness to the ways in which God’s world is hurting.
Holy Creator, let us deeply know that our common humanity transcends all diversity, be it real or perceived.
Sadly, the response of Christians to massive human need sometimes has been to offer larger and larger doses of hypocrisy, meaning more words, less action—a cultivated inattention combined with a minimum of alms.
Holy Creator, let us know deeply that our common concerns and ills transcend all national borders, all geographic, social, and political barriers.
Action, attention, generosity, love . . . The MDGs call for action, attention, generosity. Love without limits! But the love is to be imitative. We are to be imitators of Christ. The image of God in which we are made has through the centuries been distorted by our willful rejection of the Other; we “cut off their hands” so that we can survive. To imitate Christ is to open ourselves to the grace that restores us in the image of God, and allows us courageously to confront the kinds of problems that have emerged in the modern and postmodern world. One hundred and ninety-one nations have committed to the Millennium Development Goals, to a vision with eight clear targets that enlarge love’s opportunities. That these opportunities are beyond our national borders reminds us that the world is our parish (Wesley) and that there is no human being that is not in God’s image. Christian moral theology teaches that we must choose between the axe and the helping hand. Author’s note: I wish to thank those who have written and spoken so passionately in support of the MDGs, especially Deacon Tim Ervolina, Canon Joye Cantrell, Ms. Angela Daniel, and Ms. Scooty Burch. They have rightly enfolded the eight Millennium Goals within Christ’s love and call us to put that love in action by committing to those goals. The Rev. Dr. Philip H. Whitehead is a retired priest of the diocese who served for many years as rector of St. Michael & All Angels, Columbia.
Holy Creator, we pray for the strength, guidance, and wisdom to persevere.
Holy Creator, we pray for the strength, guidance, and wisdom to persevere. Holy Creator, let us know deeply that our common needs must transcend our tumultuous and violent collective history. Holy Creator, we pray for the strength, guidance, and wisdom to persevere. Holy Creator, let us know deeply that our reverence for our common home, Earth, must transcend all shortsighted, irreversible exploitation of resources and ecosystems. Holy Creator, we pray for the strength, guidance, and wisdom to persevere. Holy Creator, let us know that our common intelligence must transcend the denial of worldwide problems that touch us all. Holy Creator, we pray for the strength, guidance, and wisdom to persevere. Amen. Felicia W. Smith is a member of St. Simon & St. Jude, Irmo. The author of “A Collection of Small Litanies,” she offers a one-day program entitled “Writing Litanies as a Spiritual Tool.” She also works with anyone wishing to compose a litany for a special occasion or personal concern and writes commissioned litanies tailored to special occasions. Contact her at 803.798.6498.
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oving esus, J L Feeding Sheep
MDGS IN UPPER SC
By Timothy M. Ervolina
eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (that is, people subsisting on less than $1 a day); achievement of universal primary education;
The cold morning fog had shrouded the stranger from their sight. After their long night of struggling with nets that seemed only to snare seaweed and old wineskins, he had called out to them to throw their net to the other side of the boat. They were too weary to argue. The net was nearly yanked from their hands as it filled with a squirming school of fish: 153 of the biggest tilapia they’d ever seen. They suddenly knew who the stranger on the shore was. After a breakfast of warm bread and steaming fish, they huddled close, waiting for him to tell them where he’d been, why he wasn’t dead, when the Kingdom was coming—all that stuff they’d missed in the long three years before. Instead, Jesus watched as Peter swallowed the last of his breakfast, looked him square in the eye, and asked, “Peter, do you love me more than the rest?” Peter, remembering his cowering, his denials, his disbelief at the empty tomb, stammered: “Yes, Lord, you know how much I love you.” Jesus simply nodded, “Well, then, feed my sheep.”
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are not just another pie-in-the-sky, feel-good, left-wing hugfest; they are an achievable, practical set of steps, a plan for success. At the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in June 2006, the MDGs were set as a mission priority. And at our last two Diocesan Conventions, the MDGs have been embraced as our own mission priority in Upper South Carolina.
“Feed my sheep”
“Be it resolved . . .”
“Feed my sheep.” While theologians see this passage primarily as the establishment of Petrine primacy among the apostles responsible for the spiritual care of the flock of God, I’d like to suggest another possible reading of this passage. Jesus has given an abundant gift to the Eleven. There are far more fish they can possibly eat, perhaps more than they can even sell at the fish market. So, in the midst of their eating and rejoicing at his presence, he gives them an assignment: “If you really love me, you will go and feed others.” It’s not just a call for spiritual feeding that’s mirrored in the feast on the lakeshore. It’s an assignment to go forth into the world, doing the hard work of caring for his “little lambs,” his “sheep tossed about,” those bought with the precious blood of the One who wants to make sure they are fed. In case you missed it, that’s the entire human race. Jesus tells Peter (and us) to go baptizing, teaching, feeding, and clothing a lost, confused, poor, hungry, and naked world.
Not a “hugfest” Seven years ago, the nations of the world, including the United States, made a commitment to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015. It would be done through eight measurable outcomes:
promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction in child mortality; improvement in maternal health; reducing of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other treatable diseases; ensuring environmental stability; and developing a global partnership for development.
In 2005 our convention approved a resolution setting aside 0.7 percent of the annual diocesan Statement of Mission toward the MDGs, challenging each congregation to do the same in its outreach budget, and asking each household to make the same commitment. (See the 0.7 percent chart on page 18.) And last year’s convention formally affiliated our diocese with the One Episcopalian Campaign, our Church’s own denominational effort to achieve the goals. —continued on page 18
ONE—THE CAMPAIGN
83rd Diocesan Convention, October 21-22, 2005 Therefore, be it resolved that the Diocese of Upper South Carolina: affirm and embrace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); set a goal to begin in 2007 to give at least 0.7% of the annual diocesan budget to fund international development programs, above and beyond any amount budgeted for 2006; challenge all communities of faith in the diocese to give at least 0.7% of their budgets to international development programs; challenge all Episcopalians in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina to give at least 0.7% of their income to international development programs. . . .
84th Diocesan Convention, October 20-21, 2006 Therefore, be it resolved that the Diocese of Upper South Carolina affiliate with the ONE Episcopalian campaign and task the Diocesan Executive Council (DEC) to develop appropriate programs, in concert with parishes and persons, to support the Millennium Goals; and Be it further resolved that the DEC report annually at Diocesan Convention through the 87th Convention with regard to the implementation of this mission initiative.
TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY
ONE Episcopalian ™ is a grassroots partnership between the Episcopal Church and the ONE Campaign to rally Episcopalians—ONE by ONE—to the cause of ending extreme poverty and achieving the MDGs. Info and resources online at www.episcopalchurch.org/ONE/.
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WHAT
ONE
CAN DO
Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Bono, . . . and YOU! Reprinted from the Web site of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, www.e4gr.org/monk/ index20.html. Oprah, Warren, Bono, You—no, it’s not “Which one of these is not like the other?”—because all four of these names belong together. We all have power. And we can use it to achieve God’s mission of global reconciliation What makes Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet, and Bono extraordinary is not their wealth or fame or talent—it’s that they use what they have for the sake of those who have not—the “least” in whom we meet and serve Christ.
Gifts for the giving Bono uses his musical gifts to move hearts and his influence to shape policy. Oprah Winfrey takes her influence over millions of viewers and uses it to educate about things like AIDS in Africa and the plight of refugees. Warren Buffett takes his financial riches and uses them to help eradicate disease and poverty—and challenges others to do the same. They all recognize that we are given gifts so that we might give them away. And that’s where you come in—because the only difference between you and them is scale. You have power and access to systems of power. You have education. You have wealth. You have artistic talent. You have influence. And when you give them away, you get to meet and serve Christ in ways that transform lives, transform hearts, and transform the world.
You have power and access to systems of power. You have education. You have wealth. You have artistic talent. You have influence. And when you give them away, you get to meet and serve Christ in ways that transform lives, transform hearts, and transform the world. What ONE can do! Use your power! Write your senators and representatives and let them know that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a voting issue. Join the Episcopal Policy Network (www.episcopalchurch. org/eppn/) and become a ONE Episcopalian (www.episcopalchurch.org/3654_74932_ENG_ HTM. htm). Let your bishop and presiding bishop know that you support their naming of the MDGs and global
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What ONE C an D o
I’m writing a poem
Pray Live the gospel Advocate Learn (www.e4gr.org) Educate others Give (see the list of ministries working toward the
For the guy too poor to be able to have a woman For the woman without a husband without any other support For the orphan kids who don’t have bread or water And wait for a good neighbor to lend a hand I’m writing a poem that will never wither.
MDGs on page 7)
For the people who are homeless who sleep in doorways, Under trees, in town squares, alongside rivers, on the beach, In clumps of bushes, on straw, in dust, in the mud, In the rain, in the wind, without any cover, I’m writing a poem that can never end.
Be creative (for example:
pick ONE thing, such as mosquito netting, and start a drive to provide malaria protection for 10 children)
Think (about our own use of resources) reconciliation as our mission priority. Use your creativity! Draw, paint, sculpt, sing, dance, write. Everyone is an artist, because the Spirit moves through all. Don’t listen to inner or outer critics. Let your heart be moved by the creative potential of the MDGs and let that creativity pour out of you. Others will be moved as well. Use your wealth! None of us has $42 billion to give away, but if you’re reading this, you’re incredibly wealthy by global standards. Discover the joy of giving it away. Start with 0.7 percent of your income . . . but don’t stop there. Give in ways that build relationships. Give because hoarding our wealth imprisons us and giving it away liberates not just us, but billions in poverty as well. Use your influence! When you suggest a book for your book club or adult ed class, it might not immediately shoot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, but it gets read. We all have influence over friends and family. Educate yourself, get good talking points, and then speak passionately to them. Find ways (like reading a book or seeing a movie together) in which you can explore the MDGs together. Use your faith! The greatest power we all have is the power of the gospel, the power of Christ. Pray (prayers, lessons, and liturgies are online at www.e4gr.org/ pray/prayers.html). Read Scripture with an open mind and an open heart, looking for God’s call to you. Then pray some more. The motto of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation is “What One Can Do.” It’s not a question asked in despair, but a statement of faith and power. Because through One—One person, One congregation, One diocese, One Church, One Body of Christ—God is transforming us . . . and healing the world.
E piscopalians for G lobal R econciliation
w w w. e 4 g r. o r g
For all the people they accuse and arrest without proof, Condemn without trial, lock up in cells, Innocents forced onto chain gangs, Honest people that big torturers are forever abusing, I’m writing a poem that can never end. For the disabled and for those who are lame, For the mutes the blind the deaf and the diseased, For the armless, the legless, those without ears and noses, For all the infirm people helpless on earth, I’m writing a poem that can never end. I’m writing a poem for all those people, It’ll be ugly for the exploiter, ugly for the criminal, But so very beautiful for all people who are good . . . It’ll be long, so very long, even if I wrapped it A thousand times, ten million times around the earth, It won’t be finished, won’t even be ready to pretend to be done! . . . —Emile Célestin-Mégie From Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry, edited by Paul Laraque and Jack Hirschman, translated by Jack Hirschman and Boadiba (Curbstone Press, 2001). Reprinted with permission of Curbstone Press (www.curbstone.org). Distributed by Consortium.
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“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons . . .?”
Getting on board with the MDGs By Angela M. Daniel The Episcopal Church, at the 75th General Convention in June 2006, gave formal support to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), urging congregations and dioceses across the Church to work for their implementation by giving 0.7 percent of their budgets, above and beyond what they currently give, to mission in Third World countries. Upper South Carolina, at its 83rd and 84th Diocesan Conventions in 2005 and 2006, also resolved to “affirm and embrace” the MDGs, pledging 0.7 percent of the diocesan Statement of Mission toward achieving the goals and challenging all congregations, groups, and individuals in the diocese to do the same.
W AYS T O G IVE
LEARN MORE Learn more about the MDGs These organizations do not accept donations but support the MDG challenge by encouraging advocacy and providing inspiration, connections, and resources to assist dioceses, congregations, and individuals in striving toward the Millennium Development Goals.
ONE Episcopalian (www.episcopalchurch.org/ONE/ ) is a grassroots partnership between the Episcopal Church and the ONE Campaign to rally Episcopalians—ONE by ONE— to the cause of ending extreme poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. ONE Episcopalian is not a fundraising organization but encourages advocacy, asking Episcopalians to sign its declaration, spread the word about the campaign, and contact elected officials to ask them to do even more to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. To learn more, and to sign on, please visit www.episcopalchurch.org/ONE.
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR, www.e4gr.org) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization resourcing the movement of spiritual transformation emerging around the MDGs in the Episcopal Church. From individuals and congregations to dioceses, church-related organizations, and national Church structures, EGR works with every level of the Church, connecting, educating, encouraging, providing resources, and empowering ministry for the MDGs. EGR encourages MDG-related ministries and promotes the work of ERD (see page 8), ONE (see above), and other efforts aimed at effectively engaging this mission. A primary way EGR invites the Church to engage the MDGs at every level is through 0.7 percent giving. Visit the EGR Web site at www.e4gr.org/ for more information.
The following ministries are working diligently toward one or more of the Millennium Development Goals. Please consider supporting one or more of them with 0.7percent of your income. Before you donate you may wish to consult the Web site of Charity Navigator, www.charitynavigator.org. Charity Navigator provides profiles of more than 2,900 charities and does not accept contributions from any of the charities that they evaluate.
Episcopal Relief and Development (www.er-d.org) responds to human suffering around the world, providing disaster relief and promoting sustainable development. (See the article on page 8.) All of ERD’s programs are designed and assessed in part by how well they address the MDGs. Ninety percent of ERD contributions go directly to those in need. Donate online or send a check designated for the Millennium Development Goals to ERD, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
Partnership Cange,
a long-term Upper South Carolina diocesan mission (25 years and counting— see the article on page 10), works to transform Haiti’s Central Plateau by feeding school children, maintaining a safe water supply, building churches, health care facilities, and schools, and developing agricultural projects that local farmers can oversee. Send donations to Canon Julie Price, 1115 Marion Street, Columbia, SC, 29201; please earmark them for “Partnership Cange.”
the world to donors who want to make an impact at the grassroots level. Donate via the Web site or by post to 1816 12th Street NW, 3rd Floor,Washington, DC 20009.
Global Fund for Children (www.globalfundforchildren.org) advances the education and dignity of children. Donate online or by mail to the Global Fund for Children 1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 420, Washington, DC 20005.
Global Fund for Children’s Vaccines (www.unicefusa.org/gavi) works to direct donations to immunizing children. It costs $17 to vaccinate a child for life. Donate online, by phone (1.800.4UNICEF ), or by post to unicefusa.org, 333 East 38th Street, New York, NY 10016.
Heifer International (www.heifer.org) has as its mission to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. The organization works toward these goals by offering donors the opportunity to purchase animals that can provide a source of food rather than short-term relief. Their strategy is to “pass on the gift”— people sharing their animals’ offspring with others, along with their knowledge, resources, and skills, to create an expanding network of hope, dignity, and self-reliance that reaches around the globe. The organization serves millions of families in 115 countries. Donate online or by mail: Heifer Project International, 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202.
Five Talents (www.fivetalents.org) is an Anglican initiative to combat poverty in developing countries using micro-enterprise development. Donate online or by snail mail to Five Talents International, P.O. Box 331, Vienna, VA 22183.
Global Giving (www.globalgiving.org),
Oxfam America (www.oxfamamerica.org) works to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering. Oxfam addresses a number of issues, including trade, education, debt, and aid, health, HIV/AIDS, and gender. Donate online, by phone (1.800.77.OXFAM.), FAX (617.728.2562), or mail: Oxfam America, 26 Causeway Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02114.
through their Web site, allows one to find and fund unique projects. Whether it’s education for Afghan women The or side aisle at clean water for Nigerian villages, Global Giving opens up
Canterbury Cathedral (Photo: Robin Smith)
—continued on page 18
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E P I S C O PA L Relief and Development
A history of MDG values Many ways to contribute By Scooty Burch Established in 1940 by the Episcopal Church as the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) brings together the generosity of Episcopalians and the needs of poor and oppressed of the world, providing relief in times of disaster and promoting sustainable development by identifying and addressing the root causes of suffering.
MDG spirit The spirit of the Millennium Development Goals, which have been embraced as a priority by the Episcopal Church at its last two General Conventions, and by our diocese in convention in both 2005 and 2006, has long informed the work of ERD, even though the goals have been in place only since the year 2000. In November 2006 ERD issued a joint statement, together with Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR) and the Episcopal Church’s ONE Episcopalian Campaign (see page 7), endorsing the goals and describing the ways in which the three organizations complement each other in working together to achieving them. ONE Episcopalian is a grassroots partnership between the Episcopal Church and the ONE Campaign to rally Episcopalians—ONE by ONE —to the cause of ending extreme poverty by achieving the MDGs. EGR is an independent nonprofit organization resourcing the movement of spiritual transformation emerging around the MDGs, connecting, educating, encouraging, providing resources, and empowering ministry in support of the goals. Neither of these organizations accepts donations.
areas of food security and health care, including HIV/AIDS and malaria. All of ERD’s programs are designed and assessed in part by how well they address the MDGs. Donating to ERD (www.er-d.org) is one effective way to support the goals. Ninety percent of ERD contributions go directly to those in need. ERD’s Gifts for Life Catalog, online at www.er-d.org or available by calling 1.800.903.5544, is also a way to support the MDGs and honor someone special. Gifts of animals, mosquito netting, drought-resistant seeds, school books, supplies for AIDS caregivers, and much more can be purchased through the catalog. Some examples of the many ways ERD is working to achieve the MDGs:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
One sixth of the world’s population lives on less than $1.00 every day. One person dies from hunger every 3.5 seconds. Each one of them is a child of God.
Photo: Reggie Brooker
All of ERD’s programs are designed and assessed in part by how well they address the MDGs. Donating to ERD is one effective way to Goal 2: Achieve universal support the goals. Ninety percent of primary education for children. Educated children have better access to economic ERD contributions go directly to opportunities, are less vulnerable to disease, and those in need. contribute more to their communities. And yet, more
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Demonstration Pre-School. The school is located in a community with very high AIDS rates, and, as a result, many of the students have lost one or both parents. The program addresses the education and health of orphans by providing medical treatment, free immunizations, and nutritionally balanced meals. ERD also works with the children’s caregivers, providing extra food and the skills training they need to increase their income.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.
In partnership with the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, ERD supports programs aimed at alleviating poverty in five villages in the northern area of the country. These projects focus on three of the most critical needs: food, clean water, and jobs.
As the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church, ERD enables people to climb out of poverty by offering long-term solutions in the
ERD Photo
than 100 million children, the majority of them girls, are not in school today. In Kitwe, Zambia, for example, ERD is expanding education for preschool children at the Mary Sikaneta
Empowered and educated women raise healthier children, become leaders in their communities, and are less likely to die during childbirth. Women have an enormous impact on the well-being of their families and societies, yet many are never able to reach their potential. ERD supports a vocational training school in Jangalak, an impoverished suburb of Kabul, Afghanistan. One hundred twenty six young women between the ages of 12 and 16 are currently enrolled; they have never been to school. —continued on next page
ERD Photo
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millions of lives by ensuring that everyone has access to health education, proper sanitation, clean water, mosquito nets, and affordable medication. For example, ERD reaches out to HIV-positive women through a partnership with HOPE Africa in the Province of South Africa. A quilting cooperative has grown into a full-fledged business. Another group of women in Cape Town works to make beaded AIDS pins. The women earn money to care for their families and the business’s profits go into a fund to support their children after they die.
Lent 2007
Goal 8: Create a global partnership for development.
A fair trading system, increased international aid, and debt relief for developing countries will help us realize the MDGs. Some of the targets of goal eight are to uphold a fair
©Photographer: Pixelman | Agency: Dreamstime
ERD Photo
For example, through a partnership with El Porvenir in Honduras, ERD is building latrines and wells, improving sanitary conditions, and providing hygiene instruction to people in rural areas, teaching them to chlorinate their water, wash their hands, and cover their water barrels, where malaria-spreading mosquitoes can breed.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health. Every year more than 500,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. In some parts of the world, expectant mothers are almost as likely to die in childbirth as they are to live.
ERD Photo
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability. The targets of goal seven are to cut in half the number of people without safe drinking water and to reverse environmental damage by practicing sustainable development. All of ERD’s programs take a sustainabledevelopment approach. ERD’s food security programs, for instance, focus on organic gardening and crop rotation to create sustainable futures for both
international trading and financial system, to develop decent and productive work for young people, and to make new technologies and affordable drugs available in all countries. For example, ERD and Pura Vida Coffee’s Fair Trade program, called “Bishops Blend,” is helping coffee farmers in Central America and Indonesia. The Bishops Blend program combines social justice with ERD’s mission of responding to needs. Fair Trade coffee helps farmers in the developing world receive a living wage for their coffee, while organic agricultural practices protect the environment. All proceeds raised through Bishops Blend go toward the areas of greatest need worldwide. You can purchase Bishops Blend for yourself and your church or business at www.er-d.org. Scooty Burch, our diocesan ERD coordinator, is a member of Holy Trinity, Clemson. Thanks to Ayana Davis for supplying the ERD photos.
DONATE PURCHASE GIFTS FOR LIFE
Photo: WHO | Pallava Bagla
ERD’s program in Haiti, for example, sends health workers to communities to educate women about nutrition, breastfeeding, and hygiene. ERD is organizing small groups of mothers who learn to prepare healthy meals, practice proper sanitation, and prevent life-threatening illnesses for themselves and their children.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. Diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis claim lives and destroy families every day. Yet, each of these diseases is preventable and treatable. We can save
ERD Photo
communities and their local environments. ERD and the Diocese of Venezuela replanted a coffee farm as a source of income for the local community. Farm workers are cultivating the land to produce, process, and eventually sell coffee to fair trade organizations. ERD is also renovating an agricultural school on the premises, where students will learn organic and sustainable farming techniques.
Episcopcal Relief and Development
BUY BISHOPS BLEND FAIR-TRADE COFFEE
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25 P A R T N E R S H I P years and counting...
Upper SC in Haiti 1979 The Rev. William A. Beckham, later the sixth bishop of Upper SC, and Haitian priest the Rev. Fritz Lafontant meet and form a mission partnership. This same year Fr. Lafontant builds the Église Bon Sauveur in Cange. 1981 Medical work trips begin. 1985 Engineering project brings running water to the village of Cange and the church complex. Medical clinic built. 1986 Sewing / artisan center is established that provides employment for local women. 1980s–90s Many medical work trips made to Cange; school expansions. 1996 Children’s Medical Pavilion opens. 1997 Dedication of the hospital at Cange. 1999 TB sanitarium is established. 2002 The Eye Clinic at Cange is established. 2003 A pilot garden is planted at Cange. 2004 A 35-acre farm is started to provide food for the hospital and schools. In 2006 the farm begins supplying malnutrition programs. 2006 A water filtration unit is built at the Cange church compound; a new secondary school is established; a new dental clinic is erected. 2007 and beyond Coming to Haiti’s Central Plateau: a vocational school, a sewer system, permanent schools and churches at villages near Cange, and more. . .
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Story and photos by Reggie Brooker In 1979 a chance meeting took place between two Episcopal priests, Fritz Lafontant and William A. Beckham, later sixth bishop of Upper South Carolina, in PortEpiscopal priest the Rev. Fritz LaFontant au-Prince, Haiti. This meeting was the spark that led to the Cange mission development and the friendship between the people of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina and those of Cange, on Haiti’s central plateau. Together with Fr. Lafontant and Harvard physician Dr. Paul Farmer, a founder of Partners in Health, our diocese has been involved in rural Haiti for more than 25 years. The heart of this connection has been cooperation, solidarity, and long-term commitment in partnership with Fr. Lafontant and the Episcopal Church at Cange, Église Bon Sauveur.
wells had proven futile, and cisterns dug at the church to collect rainwater were ineffective. There was, however, thanks be to God, a large, permanent spring flowing out of the base of the mountain on which Cange was situated. What Providence! In 1983 an engineering team led by Pierce Williams surveyed and measured the flow of the spring’s water and concluded that water could be pumped up to the Cange village. The call went out through our diocese—“Water Cange!” Donations rolled in—the necessary $130,000 quickly—for water is life, and we knew it. In 1985 the water system was completed—a mechanical marvel. The turbine cranked up as the water flowed from the spring down to the turbine and pump, and then rose hundreds of feet above to three village fountains and then on to the mission. People were ecstatic—all with smiles. And Cange was changed forever —from a dry, dusty, dirty squatters’ settlement to an oasis with running water. Running water was a catalyst to change lives. People were empowered to achieve better sanitation, health, and nutrition. Fr. Lafontant and his family moved to Cange, and Cange began to expand, to change, and to develop toward what it is today.
Church on the hillside Cange is a small village 45 miles northeast of Port-auPrince. In 1979 Fr. Lafontant built the church on a dry, barren hillside. This church was the first building constructed at Cange, and the religious orientation of the community has remained central to all subsequent activities. Cange had been situated in a fertile valley alongside a river in a mountainous region of Haiti near the Dominican border. In 1956 a hydroelectric dam was built and flooded the valley, forcing the families to relocate to rocky land well above the lake. The soil was hard-packed and barely arable. The only water available was far below the dwellings, reachable only by a steep and dangerous trail. Poverty and disease accompanied the people, and life was hard and short. In 1981 our diocese began its active involvement at Cange. Medical people, doctors, nurses, and helpers carried medicines in suitcases. Hundreds of people came on foot or by horseback from miles around and over mountains seeking help. Clinics were held outdoors under the trees or in the church using benches for tables and the altar for the pharmacy. And this went on during the reign, and under the watchful eyes, of “Papa Doc” Duvalier, then Haiti’s president.
Water Cange! At Cange water for drinking, cooking, and bathing was obtained from a river 1,000 feet below. Attempts to drill
2006: Celebrating the new water filtration unit
Hospital Cange! In the 1980s and 90s diocesan medical health teams with Tom Tiller, Upper SC Suffragan Bishop Rogers Harris, Mark Meyer, and other health workers and clergy traveled to Cange. People gave freely of their time and talent. The diocese came together to construct a refectory, school, teachers’ dormitory, and, in 1985, a medical clinic, Clinique Bon Sauveur. Our friend and collaborator Dr. Paul Farmer is a professor at Harvard Medical School. While a college student in 1983 he travelled to Cange and made a lifelong commitment to serving the poor. In 1986 he wrote to Bishop Beckham and proposed planning for a hospital. In Upper South Carolina we had known that this was needed, and that it would be we that would do it. —continued on next page
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CANGE, HAITI The cry went out in the diocese, “Hospital Cange!” A fund-raising campaign culminated in the building of the Children’s Medical Pavilion 1996. This small 20-bed, modern hospital with an operating room and X-ray facilities was built, equipped, and supplied. It provided a place for the seriously ill and those recovering from surgery to be treated—the only such facility for a population of 900,000 on the central plateau. At the dedication during carnival week in February 1997 were Bishop Dorsey Henderson, Bishop Duracin of Haiti, and retired Bishop Beckham. With Paul Farmer’s help the hospital was later enlarged to 104 beds complemented by a network of clinics in seven surrounding villages. Now at Cange there are Haitian physicians and health-care workers caring for several hundred patients per day, performing operations, and delivering 2,800 babies in a year. Our diocese continues active involvement in health care. Surgical teams led by Don Roberts and Doug Devore are working a week at a time, operating all day on cases from the countryside— thyroids, prostates, tumors. Tom Tiller raised funds for the dental clinic. Darrell Jervey, long involved in eye care in Haiti, developed the Eye Clinic, and he and colleagues teach and train other doctors at Cange and at the medical school in Port-au-Prince.
Upper SC World Mission in Haiti The Agriculture Project Contact: Guillane Warne, 864.232.8274, gainegw@charter.net The project has planted thousands of banana trees and fields of peanuts, corn, tomoatoes, peppers, okra, papayas, and peas; purchased a tractor, built a greenhouse, and begun a training program for villagers. NEEDS: Funds to buy more land, equipment, and to pay salaries of farm workers. The Eye Clinic Contact: Dr. Darrell Jervey, 864.269.3333 Ophthalmologists from Upper SC operate in this clinic and also teach medical students in Port-Au-Prince. NEEDS: Constant supply of eyeglasses, medicines, and funding for Haitian eye doctor’s salary.
Schools In 1979 a small, two-room school stood at Cange with a banana leaf roof and no walls. By 1985 a mortar and brick structure was built, and now, with many additions, school enrollment has risen to more than 1,000 at Cange; and 4,000 more students are at surrounding mission schools. In the past year our diocese funded a six-classroom addition, so that students at Cange can finish their secondary education there without having to journey to Mirabalais.
The Hospital Contact: Dr. Harry Morse, 864.224.9996, harold.morse@anmedhealth.org Serves 700–800 patients daily. NEEDS: Constant supply of meds, sterile supplies for OR, and replacements for worn-out equipment. The Artisan Center Contact: Jackie Williams, 864.675.0952, pierce96@innova.net Makes clothes for school children, hospital and altar linens, vestments, and art for sale. NEEDS: Bolts of cloth, sewing supplies, woodcarving tools, painting supplies, canvas.
Artisan Center
In 1986 Jackie Williams started a sewing center and received a gift of three treadle sewing machines and a roll of unbleached cotton cloth. Now expanded in scope, renamed the Artisan Center, and assisted by Beth Kunkel, this center provides employment through which clothes, handicrafts, and paintings are made and brought to South Carolina for sale. Jackie Williams now lives in Cange and is a valuable liaison for our diocese.
The Dental Clinic Contact: Dr. Tom Tiller, 864.288.4348, tilleri@charter.net Serves hundreds of patients. NEEDS: Constant provision of clinic supplies, medicines, toothbrushes, toothpaste.
Fr. Lafontant realizes that finishing school is just a beginning. He understands the need for employment. He knows that people need employment locally, so they will not migrate to Portau-Prince and fall prey to the temptations and problems of the city. A vocational school is now a priority of his to train agricultural workers, mechanics, carpenters. Education for employment is needed, and skilled workers need to be retained in the Cange area. Our diocese is asked to help. Let us unite behind this goal, Vocational Education Cange! as we did behind Water Cange! And Hospital Cange! —continued on page 12
The School and Library Contact: Allen Thames, 803.929.3222, allenthames@yahoo.com There are now three sessions a day in Cange for 4,000+ students. NEEDS: Funding for a constant supply of schooling tools, books, paper, pencils. Music, art, and athletic equipment would be a bonus! The Vocational School Contact: Dr. Reginald Brooker, 864.271.0520,pbroo@aol.com A current priority is to build a center where Haitians can learn to be mechanics, agronomists, plumbers, electricians, and so on. NEEDS: Funds to buy land, build the school, obtain equipment, and hire teachers. Partnership Cange Endowment Fund Contact: Jeanne C. Kean, 803.787.8208, jcktally@aol.com The goal is to build a fund that can give yearly gifts to meet needs in all areas.
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“Adopt a Village” The Cange parish comprises 13 village missions with the center and main church Église Bon Sauveur. Fr. Lafontant is the spiritual and social leader. His foremost priority now is to have a well-built Episcopal church and school in each of the villages with the school also being able to serve as a community center. Our diocesan program “Adopt a Village” is striving to accomplish this chief priority, and the help of everyone is needed. Thanks to Charlie Weesner, Jane Chalker, and many others, five missions have been adopted and churches and schools have been built, but several villages are waiting. Opportunity awaits us as members of a congregation or congregations, as churches in a convocation, and as an entire diocese to “adopt a village” and be involved in the lives of our Haitian friends.
Partners in Agriculture In 2003 Gillaine Warne started a one-acre garden plot at Cange. This garden produced so abundantly that it led to the development of a 35-acre diocesan farm along the banks of the Artibonite River. Produce includes cabbages, corn, onions, peanuts, and bananas, from some 12,000 banana trees. This has greatly augmented the food supply, thanks to Gilliane Warne’s inspiration and leadership and the generous support of the people of our diocese. Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health is purchasing the farm produce for nutritional programs, and a school lunch is being provided for all students under the Cange umbrella. The Rotary is providing additional funding for the farm, and Clemson University is providing seeds and expertise.
the projects have enriched us all, both here and in Haiti, even though there have been moments of difficulty and discouragement. But if we look at the productivity, students going to school and succeeding, people restored to health, burdens of life being lessened, hope replacing apathy and despair, we have no choice but to continue onward.
Onward
2006 In 2006 the Cange water system was expanded to meet the needs of a growing community. In early March Tim Wilson led a team to install a water filtration unit at the mission compound. Running water, supplied in 1985, is now filtered to remove bacteria and viruses to improve general health. And the work goes on.
Diocese of Upper South Carolina, thank you very much. Dr. Reggie Brooker is a member of Christ Church, Greenville.
What happened to be a chance meeting between two priests in 1979 was the spark that ignited the Cange mission development, now an internationally recognized model. God has given us the strength and vision to continue to maintain our focus and long-term commitment to work together. The shared vision and
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Where do we go from here? Let us “adopt a village” and build a church and primary school. Let us build a vocational school. Let us grow more food and eradicate malnutrition. Let us heal and comfort the sick. Let us teach the children. There is no limit to what our people can do. As martyred Salvadoran bishop Oscar Romero said: “This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”
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Lent 2007
Invitation to conversion . . .
Reflections on a trip to Haiti By John S. Nieman
positive difference in the lives of the most vulnerable. Imagine testing our beliefs against the actions to which they lead. Imagine genuinely trusting that we have been called to participate in the redemption of the world through God in Christ. Imagine the steps we might take toward realizing our daily prayer for God’s Kingdom if we redirected our energy toward a set of concerns qualitatively different from those currently preoccupying us: the provision of nutritious food, clean water, decent health care, and sound education —basic human needs—for our brothers and sisters. Imagine a coherence between our belief and our action.
Ever since my arrival back home in mid-November 2006 from my first trip to Haiti, many people have asked me, how was the trip? For some it was the casual question one might ask of a returning vacationer. How was the cruise? How was Europe? But others knew. They knew that no trip to Haiti is ever casual, restful, or comfortable for one cloaked in the protection of western affluence. Haiti is a jolt, a crisis, a judgment event. Haiti is an invitation to conversion.
A “good trip” My response to the question has been multifaceted. It was a good trip, even wonderful and joyful. Our group of seven from Upper South Carolina went to the village of Cange for five main reasons: to (1) check on the aging and increasingly stressed water system that literally is the life source for the villagers and that sustains the medical facilities, school, church, and community center that have made Cange an oasis in the Central Plateau; (2) introduce the concept of using solar composting latrines that could significantly enhance sanitary conditions and thereby reduce much disease at its source; (3) visit the people of Bois Joli, another village at the top of a neighboring mountain; (4) visit a developing agricultural project that is quickly becoming a key link in efforts toward the elimination of malnutrition in the area; and (5) simply reconnect and strengthen our relationships with the people who have become our friends and who have taught us so much about what it means to live the gospel. We accomplished what we set out to do. We were successful in our immediate mission. It was a good trip.
Confession, conversion, and action But I’ve had to use other words and phrases as well. “Exhausting,” “deeply disturbing,” “heart-wrenching,” “convicting,” all have come to mind. Haiti is affecting me as it has affected so many after their first visit. It is causing me to sift through elements of my own worldview, my theology, my sense of place and purpose in God’s world. Things that I have heard about for many years I now have seen with my own eyes: the desperation, the effects of centuries of abuse and abandonment by much of the rest of the world, the killing poverty. I came home with a more complete picture of the truth of our world, and the part all of us play in it. Two sentences from different parts of our liturgy continue to echo in my mind. From a confession in Enriching Our Worship—“We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.” From the second post
Questions of justice As we neared the end of the three-hour hike up the mountain to Bois Joli, we began to see women on the Photo: Reggie Brooker outskirts of the village bringing fresh laundry back rCommunion Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer — from the community’s only spring, naked children in “Send us out to do the work you have given us to do.” tow, mindlessly stepping barefooted through a Together, they frame the Christian response to the combination of razor sharp rocks, mud, and excrement. —continued on page 18 Good News of Jesus Christ: confession, conversion, and action.
A call to orthopraxis Twenty years ago, I sat in a comfortable library in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sipping coffee while I studied some of the key texts of liberation theology in order to fulfill the requirements of a contemporary theology class in divinity school. “Interesting,” I thought. “Not particularly sophisticated in their use of Scripture. A little simplistic on some levels.” Those were some of the easy critiques that allowed me and many others, freshly (and smugly) armed with the tools of modern historical criticism, to dismiss an entire group of faithful Christian theologians whose lives were rooted in lands, foreign to me, of violence, degradation, and abuse. I unknowingly also dismissed a vision of God’s truth and justice. The recollection of those theological writings challenges my perspective on the present conflicts within the Episcopal Church. We are presently mired in an obsession with orthodoxy, that is, getting our belief correct, especially regarding human sexuality. Liberation theology begs the following question: on what grounds do we have the audacity to assume the luxury of erecting barriers in front of our brothers and sisters in Christ, given that people are dying unnecessarily every day? The reality of Haiti invites us to shift from an obsession with orthodoxy toward a genuine passion for orthopraxis, that is, getting our actions correct. That is not to say that what we believe does not matter. But it does mean that the value of our beliefs must be weighed in the balance of actions that make a
A 16 year-old girl who’s standing A 16 year-old girl who’s standing on the corner of Grand and Miracle Streets at 11 in the evening in a tired little dress A 16 year-old girl who’s standing like an i under an arcade She’s not waiting for a bus she’s not waiting for anyone it’s just that at her house her hungry mother is about to die she’d rather be standing there at 11 in the evening in the cold under the Grand Street arcade. —Rudolph Muller From Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry, edited by Paul Laraque and Jack Hirschman, translated by Jack Hirschman and Boadiba (Curbstone Press, 2001). Reprinted with permission of Curbstone Press (www.curbstone.org). Distributed by Consortium.
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by Susan B. Heath
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BLUEPRINT The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, by Jeffrey D. Sachs, foreword by Bono (New York: Penguin Press, 2005), 397 pages.
Regardless of how you view the Millennium Development Goals, be it with curiosity, passion, or skepticism, Jeffrey D. Sachs’s book The End of Poverty is the place to start digesting your perspective. The eight goals agreed to by all 191 United Nations member states in 2000 articulate the challenge of removing poverty from the globe. Sachs’s work provides the vision and momentum. Jeffery Sachs is a world-respected economist whose expertise has been sought by Poland, Bolivia, China, India, and many African nations. His gift is assisting economies in crisis. Harvard-trained, he worked from there for many years. Currently he is the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special advisor to the UN secretary general on Millennium Development Goals. His book offers a wide-open window into his incredible experiences as a consultant, advisor, and history-maker. Sachs goes on to give direction as to how nonexperts in his field can and should join the cause of attacking economic crisis. Sachs contends that ours is the first generation in history with the potential to remove extreme poverty from the globe. He defines extreme poverty as households unable to meet basic survival needs. These include the inability to access health care or acquire adequate food, the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, the absence of education for children and most likely also include folks
for hope
living without basic shelter and clothing. Sachs believes our generation has the ability to remove extreme poverty because we are the beneficiaries of 250 years of economic progress. He outlines the components of this shift in helpful detail. The technological advances of our time will allow us to meet basic human needs at an unprecedented level. These changes open prospects unknown in earlier times when a great percentage of the world’s people would have been considered poor. Sachs’s analysis is crucial to understanding how we got where we are in the world economy and what we could choose to do next. His grasp of the topic allows him to name his book with the expansive title The End of Poverty. His subtitle, Economic Possibilities for Our Time, offers the rest of us the courage to read it. Though Sachs’s topic is daunting, his diagnosis is full of hope. By using the word possibilities Sachs invites all of us to move from the accusatory questions of guilt and despair that push us to ask “Why?” to a place that prompts more creative questions. Sachs leads us into a place where we can consider asking “How do we move forward?” “What do I need to do?” “Where do I long to channel my energy and concern?” His ability both to define and to challenge is noteworthy. Readers of this book will be compelled to act. This is a worthy text for individual study and for group discussion. Anyone seeking ways to structure a spiritual discipline or give shape to prayers will do well to take up this book. Consider convening a group of folks to reflect on Sachs’s work as Lent draws to a close. Your Easter feast will take on new dimensions, I am certain. The Rev. Susan B. Heath is a priest of the diocese who served most recently at Trinity Cathedral, Columbia.
What Can One Person Do? Faith to Heal a Broken World, by Sabina Alkire and Edmund Newell (New York: Church Publishing, 2005), 200 pages. Jeffrey D. Sachs’s book The End of Poverty (see the review at left) exposes the issue of extreme poverty and prods folks to get involved in its eradication. This slim volume gives direction to those who long to bother. Framed by a thoughtprovoking introduction and epilogue, the book contains eight chapters, each full of information that can be put into practice. Each chapter begins with the story of someone challenged by poverty and injustice. These accounts serve to wake up those of us who live in ease. Building on life accounts, the book offers the following jumping off points: Theological reflections on many concerns related to poverty Scripture references for reflection Discussion questions related to the chapter topics Spiritual inventories and assessments Guidance on actions to take and projects to consider Statistical data supporting the concerns raised Suggested books for discussion groups Suggested Web sites of organization who assist those in poverty What Can One Person Do? will work as a manual for planning group work around the issue of poverty, a resource for information relevant to the topic, a reference for discussion questions, and a guide to setting up groups. There is also sound instruction on ways to pray. What Can One Person Do? is a logical and practical companion to Sachs’s text. —sbh
“God is with us if we are with them.”
U2CHARIST AND THE SACRAMENT OF GIVING By David Sibley There’s been a lot of buzz about global mission within the Church lately . . . talk of 0.7percent. Of Millennium Development Goals. Of the ONE Campaign. (Read about ONE on pages 5 and 7.) And of U2charists, a service of Holy Eucharist that rallies around the MDGs and the ONE Campaign, features the music of the Irish rock band U2 and its lead singer, Bono. Wait a second, what’s with that? The Holy Eucharist and U2? Rock music and church? That doesn’t seem right. Richard Hooker must be spinning in his grave: there can’t be any tradition or reason in that, and Bono certainly isn’t part of the canon of Holy Scripture.
of last year, more than 180 people, students and retirees, laypeople and clergy—came to the Daniel Chapel at Furman University in Greenville to sing along and dance with the songs of the Irish rock band U2, hear the words of Holy Scripture, and partake of the Holy Eucharist. Some traveled all the way from Rock Hill to Greenville to experience this unique event. There must be more to the U2charist than meets the eye.
“One”
More than meets the eye
In U2’s hit song “One” are the lyrics: “One love, one blood, / one life, you got to do what you should. / One life with each other: sisters, brothers. / One life, but we’re not the same. / We get to carry each other, carry each other. One.” If you can see the parallels of this
Odd as the U2charist may seem, this unique combination of rock music and liturgy is proving to be an innovation that works, both practically and theologically, both here in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, and around the country. When Canterbury of Furman hosted the diocese’s first U2charist in October
“One love, one blood, / one life, you got to do what you should. . . .” —U2
14
song to the Scripture, it isn’t by mistake. In Romans 12 Paul tells us that “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another.” Worshipers at General Convention 2006 gathered at In Matthew 25, the U2charist in recognition and support of the Jesus calls on his Millennium Development Goals hold up cell phones during the U2 song “One” (ENS photo). followers to carry one other when he says: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. . . Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” —continued on page 17
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...
CONNECTING YOUNG PEOPLE WITH By Sue von Rautenkranz Most young people have a deep desire to make a difference in the world and the MDGs can provide one way for them to get involved and be a part of a truly global effort. However, many of our young people are not even aware that there are Millennium Development Goals or that the Episcopal Church has joined this worldwide campaign.
The question is “How?” First and foremost, efforts need to be made to provide opportunities for young people to learn about the world in which they live. The average Episcopal youth lives a life very different from that of other adolescents around the world. While most of our youth spend their days attending school, playing sports, being involved in other extracurricular activities, and maybe holding down a job to finance their social calendar, most young people around the world are already working to help support the family household. While many of our young people have seen through television and on the Internet the various problems that have made the MDG imperative urgent, they do not yet know how to begin to make lasting changes in their own lives, the lives of their communities, or their government’s policies.
Catalysts for change The primary opportunity for young people to engage their world and learn how they can make a difference usually comes about when youth groups participate in
Lent 2007
outreach and mission events both locally and in places far away. These events can be as simple as collecting money in soup pots on the Sunday of the Super Bowl, for the Souper Bowl of Caring (which originated in Columbia, SC), or taking a week out of their summer vacation to repair or build houses, teach vacation Bible school, or serve in community centers that feed and clothe the homeless. All of these activities provide catalysts for assisting young people to experience the life of another person whose situation is very different from theirs. Such an experience can begin a process by which they reassess their lives—asking questions about how they spend their money, what they need versus what they want, why is one person’s life is considered more valuable than another’s.
Conversation & dialogue a must What happens before a youth group goes on a mission experience, the dialogue and conversation that take place when they encounter the lives of others, and the evaluative process that they have following these events is essential to how they will answer the core justice questions that arise. It is in these moments that we can help them connect their story with the Good News of God in Christ and assist them in living out the Baptismal Covenant. I would suggest that the best way for congregations to equip young people to engage the MDGs is to lay a solid foundation of ongoing opportunities for intentional community service and theological reflection. As their awareness of human need and
MDG
VALUES
economic disparity grows so will their interest in the capacity for global engagement. Following are a few resources for connecting youth to the world around them. (For more see the article by Chris Lynn, below.)
Youth
Action Guide: www.millennium campaign.org/youth Guide to Action: www.takingitglobal.org/ guidetoaction Handbook for Ministries with Older Adolescents: www.episcopalbookstore.org Resource Book for Ministry with Youth and Young Adults: www.episcopalbookstore.org The Rev. Sue von Rautenkranz is a deacon and the diocesan canon for youth ministry.
MDGS AND YOUTH
SOME RESOURCES FOR CHRISTIAN FORMATION By Chris Lynn “We are the first generation that can end poverty.” So states the Youth Action Guide to the Millennium Development Goals. Young people under 25 make up half of the world’s population; without them, how can the world end poverty by 2015? It is a daunting task, but the energy and enthusiasm exhibited by today’s young people make it entirely possible. Our task as parents and educators is to help children and youth understand the goals and learn how they can indeed help.
Youth Action Guide The Youth Action Guide gives congregations some concrete steps to use in a youth program. It explains the eight Millennium Development Goals and makes suggestions for youth involvement. As such, it is a
good outline to motivate youth to write letters, donate, and change their own lifestyles to help ensure the stability of the Earth’s resources. The guide is available to download at www.millennium campaign.org/youth. The guide does not, however, have a spiritual component. For that, you will need to find other resources and curricula.
Heifer International A good place to begin is with Heifer International. This organization has been involved with Millennium issues for a long time and has the most complete elementary curriculum. Their materials will not address the issue of gender equality, but the other goals can easily be worked into the lessons. “Animal crackers” is their church education curriculum, but children will enjoy exploring the entire site. There are suggestions of books and videos, a reading incentive program you can ask your schools to investigate, and even a fundraising
program your congregation can use. At the Church of the Advent we recently challenged children to send a pig to Zimbabwe. The carrot was the interim rector’s willingness to kiss a pig at the final luncheon if the children brought in enough money. Access Heifer at www.heifer.org.
Simple Living Another excellent source is Alternative for Simple Living. Their Web site boasts a myriad of books, videos, and posters. Go to the site, www.SimpleLiving.org, click on children’s books and wander through the titles and descriptions. My favorite is Rabble Rousers: Twenty Women Who Made a Difference. The focus of Simple Living is on organizing families and small groups to take action and fight rampant consumerism. —continued on page 17
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Parish Profile St. John’s, Columbia
BODY
P • A• R• T• S
By Kimberley Higgins Who: St. John’s (“St. John’s,
Shandon”), parish, Midlands Convocation, 2827 Wheat Street, Columbia, SC 29205 803.799.4767; Web site www.stjohnscolumbia.org. Rector: The Rev. Fletcher Montgomery; Associate: The Rev. Mary Moore Roberson. Average Sunday attendance for three services ranges from 375 to 450.
Where: St. John’s is a beautiful gray stone church nestled in a quiet Columbia residential neighborhood called Shandon, immediately to the east of the University of South Carolina campus, the State Capitol, and downtown Columbia. When: “We began as a neighborhood Sunday School, meeting in Shandon in 1911,” says St. John’s rector the Rev. Fletcher Montgomery. By 1912 a congregation had been formed and soon there followed a building that provided for worship and fellowship. The original building was “in what is now our parking lot, facing Holly Street,” Montgomery says. “Some members of the congregation still remember this structure.” A few of the original pews and photographs remain in the church. In 1926, during the construction of the current building, work came to a standstill owing to a lack of finances, so that the church was not completed as originally planned. “We have just formed a committee to explore completing the church according to its original size and design,” explains Montgomery, “hopefully to be finished by our centennial celebration in 2012.” The church complex encompasses the Heyward Hall Parish House and the Barr Center for Christian Life. Heyward Hall, which houses meeting rooms, classrooms, and offices, originally built in the 1950s, has recently undergone a major transformation and was reopened in 2005. It was “remolded, rebuilt, and completely renovated for close to $4.5 million dollars,” says Montgomery. The Barr Center includes a large gym, meeting, and dining space, a kitchen, and a reception area. Shortly after Montgomery arrived at St. John’s in 1999, he noticed a treasure tucked in the back of the sacristy cabinets—a small collection of silver Communion ware. All the pieces had the inscription “Christ Church, Columbia,” indicating a church that had been destroyed by fire during William T. Sherman’s march, when his army burned Columbia in 1865. Several stories exist on how St. John’s came into possession of this precious silver; the most likely is that it was given or loaned to the newly established Shandon congregation by one of the local downtown churches.
How: “The vestry is currently putting together a long-range plan to carry and guide us toward our centennial celebration in 2012,” says Montgomery. “St. John’s is blessed with many active and devoted members who contribute regularly to the life, ministry, and worship of the parish.” St. John’s truly supports the body, mind, and spirit of its parishioners. Along with Sunday worship there are many offerings in Christian education and pastoral care and outreach ministries. The parishioners also participate in suppers, sports, special events, festivals, outings, and many other activities. One timely program that St. John’s has been offering during this Lenten season is “a series devoted to the Millennium Development Goals called ‘The Least of These: A
16
Response to Global Extreme Poverty,’ explains Angela Daniel, a parishioner, leader of the program, and also our diocesan liaison to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR). (See page 7 for more on EGR.) “The program includes table groups for discussions regarding the theology of the Millennium Development Goals and seeks to develop concrete ways for our parish to respond.” Currently St. John’s is heightening the congregation’s awareness of the MDGs with bulletin inserts (available at www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_79411_ENG_HTM.htm) and by using the goals in the Prayers of the People.
Why: “St. John’s ‘works’ because of its people and location, its spirit, and its love for Christ,” Montgomery states. “The church is blessed by a large number of young families and new members who in recent years have been settling in the Shandon neighborhood.” Some members drive from distances as far away as Lexington and Northeast Columbia, while others need only step out their door and walk a few blocks to and from the church. Montgomery explains how the church reaches out to the Christian community and Shandon community through “our stewardship, our Christian formation, our outreach and service, and our fellowship and pastoral care ministries, along with all the necessary facilities, staff, and program support” that help sustain a large church.
Quote:
The Rev. Fletcher Montgomery: “We are working together to grow ourselves fully into who we really already are—that is, we are a ‘corporate’ or ‘resource’ size congregation that too often still thinks and acts like a smaller ‘program’ size church.” Kimberley Higgins is a member of St. Paul’s, Batesburg.
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Crosswalk MDGS–Why and how
—continued from page 3
Resolution D022 This past summer, with little or no attention from the national press, the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, including our own diocesan deputation, established “the work toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as a mission priority for the coming triennium.” In passing resolution D022, bishops and deputies affirmed that implementation of the goals fulfills our Baptismal Covenant and is “an expression of the hunger of this Church for far deeper communion with all of God’s beloved.” So, we should embrace the MDGs because nations and religious leaders have made resolutions? And, if we just give 0.7 percent of our budgets, everything will be fine? Well, maybe not. Look at the front page of today’s newspaper—any newspaper in any town or city. Do we see headlines screaming that 2.6 billion people created, as we are, in God’s image do not have access to adequate sanitation? That 1.1 billion people have no access to clean, drinkable water? That 1,200 children under the age of five will die every hour from preventable or treatable diseases? That 1,700 children contract HIV every day through no fault of their own? That 121 million children of primary age (63 million girls) are not enrolled in school? It is unlikely that we will find any of this information on front pages or on the nightly
MDGs and youth
—continued from page 15
Peace and Justice The Appalachian Peace and Justice Network has resources for educators. The most helpful is their annotated bibliography, including items that can be borrowed. Visit that site at www.frognet.net to learn what might work in your congregation. There is also the Institute for Peace and Justice which has resources for educators and families. They have a wealth of resources for churches. Go to www.ipj-ppj.org and look under the diocesan and religious leaders’ directory on the left of the page. Best of all, there are lessons for preschool through youth and adult. As an alterative to regular Sunday worship bulletins for children, you might consider their Peace Papers Packet, 161 bulletins to teach children the values of caring, respect, and peaceful living. At the Church of the Advent we have used them for Lent and as journal pages for our
U2charist
—continued from page 14 Their mission is to respond to the call of Christ to minister to those who are suffering and in need throughout the world, sharing with them God’s gifts of food, shelter, economic self-sufficiency, and hope. They have several lessons available for printing at their Web site, www.iocc.org. One of them, entitled “What Can One Person Do?” is especially appropriate for older elementary students.
“The least of these” In today’s world, “the least of these” are those living in extreme poverty, earning less than $1 per day. It is on
news—popular celebrities get more press—but it is there, nonetheless, between the lines of stories of civil unrest in faraway places, or stories of undeveloped countries being overrun by terrorists.
Some statistics If statistics touch you, consider these. Last year, Americans spent: $12.4 billion on cosmetic procedures $22.8 billion renting and buying DVDs $20 billion on ice cream $9 billion on gourmet coffee $30 billion on pizza $100 billion on lottery tickets $6.4 billion in nail salons $1.4 billion on Viagra It has been estimated that universal primary education, Millennium Development Goal # 2, would cost $10 billion a year. Therefore, if we give up pizzas for one year, we can educate everybody for three years, right? Well, not exactly, but the statistics do say something about our lifestyles and our bountifulness, and the statistics do say something about how and with whom we do business. If you saw the movie “Blood Diamond” (and this is not an endorsement), you learned that desperately poor people can be forced into life-threatening work so that someone can make a great profit meeting a demand for something Adventure Kingdom’s learning centers. The bulletins come with a lectionary index and each one has follow-up activities and discussion for home use.
Council of Churches The National Council of Churches has published Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide. Helpful for adult audiences, it provides a theological basis for our actions. If you look closely at the NCC Web site, www.nccusa.org, you will find resources for family week—with archives. This section contains lesson plans, with Bible references, games, activities, and discussion questions. The Council’s publishing arm, Friendship Press, offers more than 150 resources, many with study guides, to help plan curricula. These include books on crosscultural understanding, global living, spirituality and faith.
Around the Episcopal Church It never hurts to look at the Web sites of individual behalf of the “least of these” that Bono and U2 have campaigned for years in their concerts and in the public arena, and now, through the U2charist, that campaign is being extended to the Church. The U2charist is a call to action: the church cannot remain silent in the face of extreme poverty. In the Baptismal Covenant, we vow “to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” The poverty that exists in too many parts world today is an example of injustice and does not respect the dignity of every human being. Nourished by the words of Scripture and in the bread of the Eucharist, we can make a difference. This is the message of the U2charist.
Lent 2007
nonessential, in this case diamonds. As a result of the level of awareness raised by the movie, reputable diamond merchants now are paying attention to where diamonds come from and the work conditions under which they are obtained. This, too, is one of the objectives of the MDGs, to have us look at how we live and how our lifestyles impact others. The movement in our Church that is encouraging us to commit to the MDGs is not guilt-driven or politically based; nor is it an accusation directed at the wealthy; nor is it an attempt to divert attention or funds from other desperately worthy causes—the homeless in our midst, for example. It is, however, an invitation to “preach the gospel” and, perhaps more importantly, to “live the gospel.” James, in his letter, tells us: “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs what is the good of that?” We are being called to action! Why now, when Jesus called us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked 2,000 years ago? Because we know that we can. In his foreword to The End of Poverty, rock star Bono says: “We can’t say our generation didn’t know how to do it. We can’t say our generation couldn’t afford to do it. And we can’t say our generation didn’t have reason to do it. It’s up to us.” Angela M. Daniel, a member of St. John’s, Columbia, is our diocesan coordinator for Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR). Got questions about the MDGs and what one person can do? E-mail daniela@heathwood.org. dioceses. For example, Sharon Ely Pearson in the Diocese of Connecticut has published “Resources for Learning about the MDG’s,” a complete list of materials useful in developing a congregationwide awareness campaign in support of the MDGs. Pearson also has a quarterly newsletter just for formation activities in the Diocese of Connecticut. Log on to www.ctdiocese.org and learn what’s going on in the Church beyond our diocesan boundaries. There are lessons out there and there is certainly a lot of information on individual Web sites, if you have the time to browse. These are just a few that I have found helpful. You might invite each person on your formation committee to browse the Internet at random and bring two ideas or lessons to the table. Undoubtedly, you’ll get at least one great idea for teaching the MDGs to all ages in your church. Chris Lynn is director of Christian formation at the Church of the Advent in Spartanburg.
“God is with us if we are with them.” Perhaps Bono’s words to the National Prayer Breakfast in 2006 best summarize the message of the U2charist: “God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. . . . God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. . . . God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. . . . God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.” David Sibley, a student at Furman University and a member of St. James, Greenville, participated in Furman’s U2charist in October 2006.
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A phrase from that comfortable spot 20 years ago in the library came to mind: “preferential option for the poor.” The history of the relationship between God and God’s people is one in which God’s heart consistently aches for the poor, and calls us to make good on our claim to be members of the covenant community by addressing the structural injustices that exist. An exclusive focus on charity and good works makes for an easy diversion. Charity is the necessary and perennial companion of the relentless pursuit of answers to some hard questions. Why do I wake up each morning wondering whether it will be raisin bran, or toast and jam, or eggs and bacon, while a few hundred miles across the sea millions
How to give
—continued from page 7
Young Adult Service Corps of the Episcopal Church (www.episcopalchurch.org/ 1649_1700_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=menu1651) places 18–30-year-olds in one-year volunteer assignments teaching, setting up computers, working alongside refugees and a variety of other jobs.
Karen Emergency Relief Fund, Inc. (www.karenemergency.org) provides aid
to oppressed ethnic minority refugees in Burma and Thailand. The organization provides food, shelter, medical care, and trauma therapy for orphans, refugees and internally displaced minority people. It was founded in 1997 by six members of the Episcopal Church.Send donations to Karen Emergency Relief Fund Inc., P.O. Box 111, East Lyme, CT 06333.
Loving Jesus
—continued from page 5
Now, while the MDGs are achievable, they are not achievable without sacrifice. When General Convention and our Diocesan Convention call for 0.7 percent of the budget of each diocese, congregation, and household to be devoted to the MDGs, it is not merely a matter of rearranging your current mission budget or personal charitable giving. It means giving more. How much more? If your household makes $100,000 a year, it means giving an additional $700 per year specifically towards the Millennium Development Goals. That’s $13.46 a week, less than $2 a day. It’s a Venti coffee at Starbucks, a Quarter Pounder (without cheese!), a small Bruster’s ice cream cone, a can of Red Bull. It’s something that we eat or drink everyday, without thinking or questioning whether or not we even
18
. . . God’s heart consistently aches for the poor, and calls us to make good on our claim to be members of the covenant community by addressing the structural injustices that exist. are wondering whether there will be a scrap to eat by tomorrow? Why do I thoughtlessly walk a few steps to my sink for a glass of clean water, while others risk their lives after walking miles by taking a drink out of a contaminated spring? Why is my country diverting such
Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation
a huge disproportion of resources to fight one kind of terrorism, while neglecting the age-old terrorism of hunger and disease in our own backyard, a terrorism we know how to stop and that we have—right now!— the resources to end? Those are not the questions of a bleeding heart liberal. They are the questions of a Christian challenged by the incongruence of what he saw in Haiti and what he professes each time he renews his Baptismal Covenant. Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will with God’s help. The Rev. John S. Nieman is rector of Holy Trinity, Clemson.
HOW MUCH IS 0.7%?
(BMCF, www.bmcf.org) is assisting more than 400 HIV/AIDS orphaned children in midwestern Uganda with funds for school fees so that, in spite of the loss of parents, the children can have education. It costs $100150 to maintain a child in a primary school for one year, and $150- 250 for a secondary school student’s tuition fees. BMCF also works to provide treatment and counseling for those who are HIV positive and administers programs for HIV/AIDS prevention. BMCF is registered in the US as a not-for-profit charitable organization. At the present time, BMCF is not able to receive funds through United Thank Offering or Episcopal Relief and Development, because this requires the signature of the Archbishop of Uganda.
Income 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000
need it. Taking that very small amount of money (over and above whatever we are already giving) and investing it in ministries focused on the MDGs, we really can feed Jesus’ sheep. We can also educate, empower, heal, and sustain them.
A matter of heart Besides your money, achieving the MDGs requires your heart. Because, as Jesus observed, “Where your heart is, there your treasure will also be.” Jesus’ little lambs need you to learn about the Millennium Goals, tell others about them, and participate in the global campaign to challenge the world’s political leaders to fulfill their pledge faithfully. Perhaps the world leaders who signed the Millennium Development Goals were sincere, perhaps not. It really doesn’t matter: they promised. It is now up to us, especially those of us in the richest nation in history, to hold them accountable for
0.7% $140 $210 $280 $350 $420
Income 70,000 80,000 90,000 100,000 110,000
0.7% $490 $560 $630 $700 $770
To support this ministry, you may donate through the Web site, www.bmcf.org. With questions about BMCF, please contact the Rev. Alice Haynes, vicar of St. Matthias, Rock Hill, and member of the US Board of Directors for BMCF (803.981.5534, alicehaynes@comporium.net).
their promises. We have to make sure that they are giving their additional 0.7 percent. So far, while progress has been made, none of the eight richest nations in the world has kept its Millennium promises. It is the task of the Church to call them to accountability. It is the responsibility of the Church to hold ourselves accountable. For the first time in the history of humanity, we have the power to transform the world, and we have the power to end it. We have been given a great abundance and our nets are overflowing. Jesus has looked us in the eye, over breakfast on the beach, watched us savor the gift he has given us, and asked, “Do you love me?” How we answer will change the world. The Rev. Deacon Timothy M. Ervolina serves on the staff of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Columbia. He is president of the United Way Association of South Carolina and chair of the Matthew 25 Committee in our diocese.
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Around the Diocese —continued from page 2
Two Upper SC youth to serve on national committee Lisa Bailey and Ryan Benitez have been chosen to serve on the leadership committee for EYE 2008. EYE (Episcopal Youth Event), to take place in late July or early August 2008, is a national event held every three years for Episcopal youth around the country. Lisa Bailey is a member of Trinity Cathedral, Columbia, and an active member of the Diocesan Youth Leadership Committee. She has attended and served on the staffs of many diocesan events. Bailey attends Heathwood Hall and is in the 11th grade. Ryan Benitez is member of St. Bar tholome w’s, North Augusta, and an active diocesan youth. He participated in the Gulf Coast summer mission trip and recently attended Happening #56. He attends North Augusta High School and is also in the 11th grade. The EYE design team is composed of adults and youth who make all the plans for this national event. Bailey and Benitez will attend design team meetings over the course of the next year. This is a huge responsibility and a great honor for them. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they plan this phenomenal event.
Bishop Henderson ordains four to the priesthood
SC State Day at National Cathedral coming in July SC State Day at the National Cathedral will be July 15, 2007. Every Sunday at the National Cathedral one of our 50 states is honored, but every four years there is a great celebration for the state remembered on that day, and 2007 is our year to celebrate. In November 2003 our diocese took more than 300 people for that awesome occasion. Every person who attended said it was a highlight and a real spiritual experience. The cathedral entertained us at a special reception following the Sunday service. Those at the cathedral said it was one of the best State Days they had ever had. This year each congregation will be responsible for organizing and getting their people to Washington for State Day. July is the perfect time to take your family to our national capital and participate in our State Day. It is suggested that each clergy appoint a person to plan this trip for their congregation. Perhaps one or two churches might charter a bus together. The Rev. Bob Chiles (St. David’s, Columbia) is in charge of acolytes and can be reached at frchiles@aol.com, 803.736.0866. Attendees are also invited to gather for a special morning contemplative pilgrimage program in the cathedral’s Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage on Saturday, July 14, from 9:30 a.m. till noon, with Holy Eucharist at the high altar. Led by cathedral staff and Center volunteers, this three-hour contemplative journey through the cathedral and its grounds invites pilgrims of all ages to slow down and rest in silence. The goal of the program is to awaken and strengthen the faith journeys of participants through centering prayer
M O N E Y
and personal reflection. Pilgrimage costs are $25 for adults, $20 for youth and seniors, $15 for National Cathedral Association members. You will receive more information in the coming months, but the time is NOW to plan for this once-ina-lifetime spiritual experience for your church and family. For more information contact Peggy Hill at the Diocesan House (phill@edusc.org, 803.771.7800, ext. 18) or Nell Barr, regional chair for Upper SC for the National Cathedral Association (803.796.0981).
ON THE FRONT COVER The cover mosaic is composed of hundreds of photos by Adam Rogers for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), available at the UNCDF Web site, www.uncdf.org. The photos together display the painting “The Passion” by the Very Rev. Dr. Philip C. Linder, dean of Trinity Cathedral, Columbia. The artist describes the painting as “a watercolor done with brushes and pencils that I painted in one sitting following all of the Palm Sunday services at Trinity Cathedral in 2001. It is loosely based on Georges Rouault’s painting ‘Ecce Homo.’”
Contact Dean Linder at 803.771.7300, linder@trinitysc.org.
T A L K
Bishop Henderson with newly odrained priests, Furman Buchanan (at his right)and Mary Catherine Enockson and Karen Flynt Humbert (at his left)
On January 20 at Trinity Cathedral, Columbia, Bishop Henderson ordained three of Upper South Carolina’s newest priests: The Revs. Furman Lee Buchanan, Karen Flynt Humbert, and Mary Catherine Enockson. The following week, on January 24, our bishop ordained Ann Patterson (“Patty”) Willett at Christ Church, Greenville, where she is serving. Buchanan is assistant at St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Columbia; Humbert at St. Alban’s, Lexington; and Enockson at Our Saviour, Rock The ordination of Hill. Patty Willett
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Lent 2007
Crosswalk The official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
t
I will, with God’s help.
S C
Diocesan calendar
[BCP, page 305]
May
April 1
Palm Sunday
2
Renewal of Ordination Vows, Trinity Cathedral, 11 AM
6
Diocesan House closed, Good Friday
8
Easter Sunday
9
Diocesan House closed, Easter Monday
14
DYLC Meeting, St. Luke’s, Newberry
15 18-20 21
T M D G
June
6
Bishop’s visitation to St. Mary’s, Columbia
9
Bishop’s visitation to St. Francis, Greenville
3
Trinity Sunday Bishop’s visitation to Trinity Cathedral, Columbia
18-19 Leadership Conference (Convention, Part 1)
10
Christ Church, Greenville
13-17
20
Bishop’s visitation to St. James, Greenville
Bishop’s visitation to St. John’s, Columbia
26
Transitional deacons’ ordination, Trinity Cathedral, 11 AM
Gravatt Convocation residency
27
Pentecost
17
Bishop Duvall’s visitation to St. Francis of Assisi, Chapin
20-22 24
Bishop’s visitation to Church of the Redeemer, Greenville Cursillo #108, Camp Gravatt Bishop’s visitation to All Souls’, Columbia Piedmont Convocation residency Bishop’s visitation to St. Matthias, Rock Hill
Bishop’s visitation to Christ Church, Greenville
Diocesan Continuing Ed Training Day Scool for Ministry Spring Session begins
28
Diocesan House closed, Memorial Day
22
Bishop’s visitation to St. Michael and All Angels’, Columbia
31
Clergy Business Day, All Saints’, Clinton
27-29
New Beginnings, Junior High, Camp Gravatt
8 DEADLINE for next issue of Crosswalk: May 15. Send submissions to phill@edusc.org. Send photos to photos@edusc.org. Send items for the calendar to bhuman@edusc.org.
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