Vol. 5, No. 1, April 2010

The Bishop's Video Reflection

This month we introduce "The Bishop by Video." The link below will take you to our Media Hub. Once there, find the "on demand" button just below the DWTX logo and click on it. Then find "The Bishop's Monthly Message" in the big black box and click on it. Next, click on the icon for the video. To watch, click here.

Easter and Evangelism

A recent research study from the Barna Group indicates that two out of every three Americans (67 percent) mention some type of theistic religious element when asked about the meaning of Easter. Common responses included describing it as a Christian holiday, a celebration of God or Jesus, a celebration of Passover, a holy day, or a special time for church or worship attendance.   

However, only 42 percent of Americans said that the meaning of Easter was the resurrection of Jesus or that it signifies Christ’s death and return to life. One out of every 50 adults (2 percent) said that they would describe Easter as the most important holiday of their faith.
 
But is Easter a good time to invite unchurched persons to worship? While most active churchgoers agreed Easter is a good time to do this, only 31 percent of active churchgoers said they definitely would invite someone they know who does not usually attend a church to accompany them to a church service on Easter weekend this year.

Interestingly, those who articulate a resurrection-related concept of Easter are no more likely than other religiously oriented Americans to indicate that they will invite friends to worship with them on Easter.

The Barna researcher who directed the project, David Kinnaman, pointed out that "most Americans continue to view the Easter holiday as a religious celebration, but many of them are not clear as to the underlying reason for the occasion. Perhaps most concerning, from the standpoint of church leaders, is that those who celebrate Easter because of the resurrection of Christ are not particularly likely to invite non-churched friends to worship, suggesting that their personal beliefs about Jesus have not yet translated into a sense of urgency for having spiritual conversations with their acquaintances."

Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, also pointed out that there may be a substantial gap between people's openness to inviting a non-churched person to attend a church service on Easter and the likelihood of them actually doing so. "Realistically, if all of the people who said they would bring unchurched people with them on Easter were to follow through, America’s churches couldn't handle the overflow. The statistics project to something like 40 million church regulars who claim they are likely to bring someone as their guest. If each of those people brought just one adult as their guest, that'd be the equivalent of adding 115 new people per Christian congregation. That would more than double the size of the average church! That is clearly an over-estimate.”

One of the challenges to pastors and other church leaders, said Kinnaman, is to find out what’s actually preventing them from following through on that willingness.

From The Barna Update, March 15, 2010. To read more from the Barna Group, log on to www.barna.org

Many Hands, Much Work

Under the category of “Bear one another’s burdens,” (the diocesan theme for the year), some 50 church folk from Wimberley, Gonzales, and all but one of the eight congregations in the Eastern Convocation Partnership in Ministry converged on Church of the Holy Communion in Yoakum on March 6 to pitch in for some much-needed fix-up and clean-up. One team scraped, caulked, and primed the entire outside of the church in preparation for the painting later in the month, while another team cleaned and oiled the nave and sanctuary.  Lunch was provided by St. James, Hallettsville.

Three weeks later, on March 27, another team showed up to do the painting. The result, says the Rev. Eric Fenton, who served as the supply priest in Yoakum on Palm Sunday, “took my breath away as I drove up for services that day.” Even the bell now works.  “As I was standing in the street taking a picture,” reports Fenton, “a neighbor drove by and remarked how nice the church now looks and how he noticed all the people who were helping the day before.  I asked him what his church was and he replied that he was on his way to the Baptist church.  He said he just had to stop and let us know that he appreciated all the work that was done by so many people.”

The church in Yoakum has suffered in recent years from a declining membership with an accompanying loss of resources. The fix-up effort is an attempt to bring some life back to the 118-year-old church as it moves forward.

The Foundation – a Safe Place for $$

 
“If your church had money at the Foundation last year, I think you can feel good about the results,” Executive Director of the Episcopal Church Foundation in West Texas Dan Butt told the Annual Diocesan Council in February. The Foundation is an entity of the diocese that manages investments of congregations and other diocesan entities.

Butt said that 2009 was an outstanding year for the Foundation.  The Foundation achieved investment gains of $6.4 million, which translates into 20.7 percent.  Assets increased $9.4 million to a total of $39.8 million at year end.   And both stocks and bonds produced strong results 

At year-end, the Foundation had a total of 142 accounts -- 88 of these from churches, schools, and other diocesan institutions.  Those 88 accounts represent 48 relationships since some churches have multiple accounts.  During 2009, seven new church accounts -- with beginning balances of $4 million -- were opened.  

 “Looking forward to 2010,” said Butt, “if I had to select one word to summarize our attitude about the markets that word would be ‘cautious.’  While we believe the financial system has stabilized, we are not convinced the economy is entering a period of sustained growth -- we hope that's the case, but we're not willing to bet on it."

Therefore, said Butt, at least through mid-year, the Foundation is not planning to change its allocations to stocks or bonds and it expects to adhere pretty closely to the target allocations of its four model portfolios.

Churches who would like to know more about the Foundation are encouraged to visit www.foundation-dwtx.org or to email Dan Butt at DEButt@aol.com

Everything Old is . . . Gone

Epiphany, Raymondville, was organized in 1926 and, after 20 years, a building was brought in from Mercedes, Texas, that had served as a barracks for the military in that town.  That became the parish hall; over the years, other small rooms were tacked onto the back until it was a “mish-mash of little spaces,” according to vicar Robert McAllen.  “About a year-and-a-half or two years ago we began to think about replacing the building; miracle of miracles the money came in. We got approval from the Building Commission at the diocese and from the bishop, and now here we are.”

Where they are is with a brand new parish hall, classrooms, and offices building, which, by the way, is paid for.

The church was fortunate enough to have a house available for rent across the street, and a parishioner, Bill Peacock, who is a contractor.  “He basically built the building for us,” continued McAllen.  “We used the house across the street as a parish hall as we tore down the old add-on buildings; then we built a new parish hall with two classrooms and a nursery, a real sacristy and a vesting room.  We even refurbished the inside of the church. We spent just a little bit extra on some siding, and now the old parish hall is our sanctuary and it all looks like brand new buildings.” 

McAllen went on to say that Epiphany has been a mission since it began, but so many have faithfully served over the years.  It was, in fact, the first church that a young Gerry McAllister [later to be the Rt. Rev. Gerald McAllister of Oklahoma] served as a lay vicar during the time of his discernment process. There were a series of vicars that came and went, and during the 1960’s or 70’s, the church was unable to support anyone coming to do services, so a series of layreaders from surrounding Episcopal churches came every Sunday to ensure some kind of service would be available.  “This church is a symbol of faith in the diocese for surviving troubled times,” said McAllen.  “You may remember that Ramiro Delgado was here before Bishop Folts sent him off to Sewanee. He grew the attendance to a fairly good-sized bi-lingual congregation of 25 or so before he left; I joined him while he was there since I was bi-lingual as well, and when he left to serve as Bishop of Cuernevaca, Bishop Folts asked me to continue on there and to enter into the discernment process myself.  That led up to recent times when three years ago, on March 25, I was ordained to the priesthood.”

On April 17, Bishop Gary Lillibridge will join the members of Epiphany to bless and dedicate their newly built and refurbished church plant.

LA Bishop-elect Receives Needed Consents

The Episcopal Church will have its second openly gay bishop when the Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool is consecrated as a suffragan bishop for the Diocese of Los Angeles on May 15. Glasspool, whose election caused serious concern in some parts of The Episcopal Church and in The Anglican Communion, is a partnered lesbian who has been in a committed same-sex relationship for 19 years.

Glasspool was elected on December 5, 2009. Under the canons of the Episcopal Church, a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan Standing Committees were required to consent to Glasspool's ordination within 120 days of the election. Those consents were confirmed by the Office of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church on March 17.

In the days following, objections have been heard from a number of quarters, among them 12 active and retired "Communion Partners" bishops, along with six rectors and deans, who have said that they "disassociate" themselves from the wider church's consent to the ordination and consecration of Glasspool. The signers say that the church has "ignored" a request from the Anglican Communion's Standing Committee, made about two weeks after Glasspool's election, for "gracious restraint in respect of actions that endanger the unity of the Anglican Communion."

Bishop Gary Lillibridge withheld his consent from Glasspool's ordination, as did the Diocese of West Texas Standing Committee. "This election disregards the recommendations of the Windsor Report, the Windsor Continuation Group, the proposed Anglican Covenant, and the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury all of which call for restraint with respect to actions which will further strain the bonds of our Communion," said the statement from the West Texas Standing Committee.

"While this summer's General Convention of the Episcopal Church acknowledged that faithful Christians are not of one mind on this issue, and while Ms. Glasspool's election may be in accordance with the canons, we believe consent to this election will cause greater strain and division within The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Communion," the statement continued.

Glasspool was one of two openly gay candidates on the Los Angeles slate. She is the second openly gay partnered priest to be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church. The first was Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was elected in 2003.

Based on a story by The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg, Episcopal News Service.

News wrap

The Diocese of West Texas was well-represented at the recent consecration of Francisco Moreno as the new Bishop of Northern Mexico. Bishop Gary Lillibridge, as well as a number of clergy from the Diocese of West Texas, participated in the ceremony. Several Episcopal churches along the Texas-Mexico border have a strong and growing ministry with the churches of Northern Mexico.

DWTX brings home four Polly Bond awards for outstanding communications
The Diocese of West Texas captured four Polly Bond awards at the annual Episcopal Communicators conference, held in Salem, Massachusetts from March 16-20. The diocesan Department of Communications won an Award of Excellence for efforts in social media.  The Communications Department also won an Award of Merit for the Uvalde Food Pantry Ministry Moment video that was shown the last two years at Diocesan Council. Laura Shaver, Director of Communications from Christ Episcopal Church in San Antonio, brought home an Award of Excellence for The Message, church newsletter. Paula Allen, Communications Writer/Editor of TMI – The Episcopal School of Texas, was awarded an Honorable Mention for TMI Today, the school’s online  magazine.

TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas now has an on-site print shop that happily accepts print jobs from outside the school. The print shop handles both black and white and color copying for such things as newsletters, invitations, certificates, booklets, and business cards. For a quotation on a print job, contact the TMI print shop at (210) 564-6207 or by email at printshop@tmi-sa.org. The shop is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Print shop manager is Steven Gombas.

Do you have questions about youth ministry? Are you seeking a youth minister? Has your youth ministry leadership changed in the last year? Stacy Dowdy, diocesan Youth and Young Adult Ministry Officer, is here to serve as a resource for all of our churches in the diocese.  She would love to hear from you with any questions you may have and is actively seeking updated contact information for new youth ministers in the diocese.  She has resumes and names of qualified people looking for positions but needs to know where the openings are.  Contact Stacy at stacy.dowdy@dwtx.org or 888/210-824-5387. 

The plate offering from the recent Annual Diocesan Council of nearly $6,000 has been designated for two outreach efforts – Haiti, and the work of the Rev. Dori and Pedro Zubizarreta through the diocesan World Mission Department. The Zubizarretas were commissioned at Council as long-term missionaries in the Diocese of Southeast Mexico at the invitation of Bishop Benito Juarez. They will be working at El Hogar Infantil orphanage in the state of Chiapas as well as doing evangelism and church planting. For more news from the World Mission Department, read their most recent newsletter at
http://www.dwtx.org/var/files/File/World%20Mission/Newsletters/March%202010%20newsletter.pdf

Author and speaker Reggie McNeal will be the keynoter for the second annual Abide in Me conference on June 5, 2010 on the campus of TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas. Bishop Lillibridge describes McNeal as “engaging, challenging, and entertaining,” and adds that the clergy of the diocese were inspired by McNeal when the latter spoke to the Clergy Conference last October.
  

Congregations who respond to a stewardship needs-assessment survey will have a part in the planning of a late-summer stewardship conference in two locations. The online surveys will be distributed in April, and responses will form the foundation of the stewardship conference content. Those conferences are August 21 at Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, and August 28 at St. Mark’s, San Antonio.

From our churches

Time Travel at St. Francis

In 16th-century England, the day of the village fair was eagerly anticipated. There were artisans and fortunetellers, jesters and acrobats, musicians and all kinds of savory foods. For that one day, the classes mingled, gentry rubbed shoulders with peasants, and aristocrats spoke to gypsies.

St. Francis, San Antonio, re-enacted the village fair on March 6 with their first Renaissance Faire held on the church grounds. Dozens of artisans displayed their wares, the fortune teller was on hand, poetry readings were held, and entertainment included madrigal singers from Incarnate Word University and John Jay High School, Bedouin dancers, St. Francis Players, and more. On Sunday, March 7, the congregation hosted an authentic Elizabethan Mass from the 1559 Book of Common Prayer.

Hero of Hotel Rwanda
Speaks at Church of Reconciliation

Paul Rusesabagina, whose story was made famous by the movie Hotel Rwanda, was a guest speaker at the Church of Reconciliation, San Antonio, during the worship service and education hour on Sunday, March 14.   Rusesabagina shared his story of sheltering more than 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a hotel he managed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Rusesabagina was general manager of a Belgian-owned hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, when the Rwandan genocide erupted. The Hutu government unleashed a rampage of killing against the minority Tutsi that lasted 100 days and left 800,000 people dead. Rusesabagina’s defiance during this horror is truly remarkable.

Rusesabagina recounted some of the most difficult moments of his stand-off. One time he was awakened and ordered by a Rwandan military officer to get everyone out of the hotel immediately. He negotiated and was given 30 minutes, in which time he managed to contact a superior officer who called off the army. He had done favors and supplied many officials with European liquors and luxuries to keep them at bay. But even while they in return helped keep him and his hotel guests alive, Rusesabagina made it known he didn’t like what they were doing.

Another time, some of the hotel guests were to be exchanged for Hutu prisoners. Rusesabagina put his wife and children in the vans but he could not bring himself to leave until everyone in the hotel was safe. His conscience, which he refers to as “his advisor,” told him that he would not be able to live with himself if he gave up on those at the hotel. It turned out that the refugees were not allowed through the checkpoints to the exchange, and were beaten and forced to return to the hotel to endure the remaining days until the genocide ended. Rusesabagina’s wife was among those who were seriously injured in this failed attempt to get some of those he was protecting to safety.

Rusesabagina was almost assassinated two years after the genocide, and decided to leave Rwanda and take his family to Belgium. They have recently moved to San Antonio, at the invitation of family and friends in this area. His autobiography, An Ordinary Man, written with Tom Zoellner, was published in 2006.

The Rev. Robert Woody, rector of the Church of Reconciliation, spent two months of his sabbatical in Rwanda this past summer working on faith-based reconciliation projects. He invited Rusesabagina to speak as an example of someone who was willing, at great personal risk, to question the social, economic and political assumptions of his country.

“The most challenging thing for me about Paul’s story,” says Woody, “is that while he was risking his life, taking what we would call a ‘prophetic’ stance against violence and injustice, with very few exceptions the Rwandan Church and church leaders remained silent or were even complicit in the genocide.  Of course, we too as American Christians and church leaders were silent when our government urged the United Nations to withdraw all the peace-keeping troops, leaving our Rwandan brothers and sisters to be brutally murdered.  Paul’s story forces us to imagine how much we are really willing to sacrifice to live out the Gospel.”

Rusesabagina has created the Hotel Rwanda Foundation (www.hrrfoundation.org) to help prevent future genocides and to raise awareness of the need for a new truth and reconciliation process in Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. As he says, “I could not keep silent during the genocide, and I cannot keep silent today.”

By Marise Melson

On the calendar

For details, registration forms, and online registration (when available), of events sponsored by the diocese go to the website Special Events page: http://www.dwtx.org/index.php/events/Special_Events

For events sponsored by our churches, our ecumenical partners, and from around the wider Church, go to: http://www.dwtx.org/index.php/events/Church_and_Other_Events

April

April 8-10, the Rev. Charlie Cook, Episcopal priest and Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology of the Seminary of the Southwest, leads “The Call of Stories” at Mustang Island Conference Center. 

April 9, TMI - The Episcopal School of Texas - 2010 Golf Tournament will be held at The Republic Golf Club to benefit students at TMI. For information, contact Tara at 210-564-6241 or t.stewart@tmi-sa.org

April 9-11, the Spring Women’s Gathering at Camp Capers.  The Rev. Sandy Casey-Martus is Spiritual Director. 

April 15, the National Alliance on Mental Illness leads training for clergy on recognizing and dealing with mental illness in a one-day retreat at Mustang Island Conference Center on.

April 16-18, the Men’s Retreat - Nails and Prayers, at Camp Capers.  The event combines fellowship, prayer, and worship with working on various projects such as landscaping, painting, carpentry, and rock work. 

April 30-May 2, “Clothing Ourselves with Christ: How to Live as Christ in the World,” at the Mustang Island Conference Center, will be led by the Rev. Dr. Ray Pickett, a renowned New Testament scholar and retreat leader. 

May

May 1-2, the 2010 Acolyte Festival at St. Alban’s, Harlingen. 

May 7-9, the 95th Spiritual Retreat for Recovering Alcoholics, Al-Anons and Adult Children of Alcoholics at Camp Capers. 

May 13-16, Cursillo #249 at Mustang Island Conference Center.  Lay rector is Caroline Mowen of St. Luke’s, San Antonio; Spiritual Director is the Rev. Earl Mahan, St. Matthew’s, Edinburg.

May 17, a Spring Clergy Day at Mustang Island Conference Center. Focus will be discussion of the Anglican Covenant.

June

June 5, Abide in Me II returns to TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas, with Reggie McNeal as keynote speaker. Seating will be limited to the first 500; registration will be online after April 15.

June 9-11, the Community of Hope International Annual Conference at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas. The conference theme, “Listen...with the ear of your heart,” is based on the Rule of St. Benedict.

June 21-23, Walter Brueggemann, well-known scholar and lecturer, comes to Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio for the Summer Institute. Both clergy and laity will enjoy.

June 25-26, the annual diocesan fishing tournament, Fishin’ for Mission, hosted by St. Peter’s, Rockport. Proceeds support world mission projects throughout the Diocese of West Texas.

July

July 30-31, the 2010 TENS (The Episcopal Network for Stewardship) annual conference in Indianapolis, IN. For experienced leaders and new recruits.
 

August

August 6-8, Happening #116 happens at Advent, Brownsville. The weekend is a spiritual renewal event for high schoolers. 

August 21, at Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi and August 28 at St. Mark’s,  San Antonio, a diocesan Stewardship Conference for stewardship chairs and committee members, vestry and bishop’s committee members, church wardens, and clergy.

September

September 24-26, EFM (Education for Ministry) Mentor Training at the Mustang Island Conference Center.  Both a Basic and Formation session will be offered.

October

October 8-9, Phyllis Tickle will speak at St. Luke’s, San Antonio. Tickle’s work has chronicled the evolving church of today.

October 8-10, “Soul at Work: Discerning God’s Will in Daily Life” presented by the Work+Shop and the  Revs. Drs. John Lewis and Jane Patterson at the Mustand Island Conference Center.  Retreat leader will be Margaret Benefiel, CEO of ExecutiveSoul.com. 

October 22-24, Food for the Soul, is a weekend of tasting, preparing, laughing, eating, and praising God for your blessings, at Mustang Island Conference Center.  The Rev. Ed and Chris Dohoney, and Kirk and the Rev. Lisa Mason, will cook and reveal the secrets of those favorite Mustang Island recipes. 

October 22-24, the Women’s Fall Gathering is at Camp Capers.  Spiritual Director is the Rev. Suzanne Guthrie from St. Aiden’s House in Brewster, New York.