Vol. 2, No. 1, Feb. 2007

Anglican Primates to meet, discuss Anglican Covenant

The 38 primates of the Anglican Communion will receive a report from the Anglican Covenant Design Group as part of the Primates' Meeting February 12 to 19 in Tanzania. Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, will attend the meeting, although some Primates of the Global South have said they will not recognize her. The primates are the heads of the autonomous provinces - usually national -- that are a part of the Anglican Communion (e.g., Jefferts Schori is the primate of The Episcopal Church).

The Anglican Covenant Design Group was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in January 2007 and met for the first time January 15 to 19 in Nassau. The group is headed by The Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Primate of the West Indies, and includes 10 other members, two of whom are from The Episcopal Church.

The idea of an Anglican Covenant was proposed by the Windsor Report, written by the Lambeth Commission and released in the fall of 2004. The Lambeth Commission was put in place expressly to consider the current disagreements among the member churches of the Anglican Communion.

An Anglican Covenant, said the Windsor Report, would clarify the identity and mission of the churches of the Communion, the "house rules," to use the words of the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council, by which the family of Anglican churches wishes to live together. Such a covenant could indicate how "agreement to disagree" on issues that affect the Communion might be reached, as well as propose mechanisms for handling fundamental differences of view.

Both the Rev. Dr. Katherine Grieb, associate professor of New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, rector of Church of the Ascension in Pueblo, Colorado, the two U. S. members of the Design Group, said the report to go to the Primates in February contains a draft of a proposed covenant.

"The covenant process is moving at a great speed," Grieb said. "It's a good time for all of us to become clear about what the covenant is." Of the report, Radner said: "I think it will surprise people positively for the balance, for effectiveness of discussions and what we were able to produce. It's going to respond to a wide variety of concerns that have been expressed."

Radner said the group's discussions during its mid-January meeting in Nassau, Bahamas, and its resulting report took into account the anxieties some people have about a covenant and what this particular design group might produce.

For a full story from Episcopal News Service about the design group's meeting: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_81748_ENG_HTM.htm

For several documents relating to The Windsor Report, including
a link to the full Windsor Report
- A communique from the Primates' Meeting in February 2005
- The Archbishop of Canterbury's reflections in June 2006
- The "Windsor Bishops" letter from their September 2006 meeting
- Several reflections by Bishop Lillibridge
visit http://www.council-dwtx.org/Council_2007/Windsor%20Report%20Background.htm

Windsor Bishops meet again at Camp Allen

A group of 22 bishops, including Bishop Lillibridge, who have declared themselves to be supporters of the Windsor Report, met for the second time in early January at Camp Allen near Houston. While they did not release any statement, as they had after their previous meeting last September, they did send a private letter to the 38 Anglican primates. The letter, according to The Living Church, summarized the bishops' hopes for the primates' meeting and contained a request that no further diocesan incursions occur among bishops committed to the Windsor Report.

The bulk of the meeting focused on the upcoming Primates' Meeting and on the work of the Covenant Design Group.

The bishops also had the opportunity to discuss their views with Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, chair of the Anglican Covenant Design Group and Archbishop Donald Mtetemela, Primate of Tanzania, who were attending the Camp Allen meeting.

Youth to take on mission work at Council

Young people of the diocese will take an active part in the 103rd Annual Diocesan Council, February 22-24, in Corpus Christi. The You2 Youth Mission begins at 10 p.m. Friday evening, Feb. 23, with a U2 Eucharist featuring the music of Bono and the U2 band. The teens will bed down for the night in the parish hall at Church of the Good Shepherd, then Saturday morning they will be commissioned as missioners of the diocese and will go to Cliff Maus Village for a work day. Cliff Maus is a low-income apartment complex that is supported by the Episcopal churches of Corpus Christi. Following the adjournment of Council at about 1 p.m. on Saturday, Council participants will be invited to join the work day at Cliff Maus.
Cost of the Youth Mission is $10; one adult sponsor must accompany each six youth participants. To register, www.council-dwtx.org.

Council In Action

Council visitors, alternate delegates, and other attendees at Council will be busy making a difference in some people's lives as they assemble disaster kits for later distribution and hygiene kits for the diocesan Water Well Ministry or work on tapestries with the Hands of Hope Tapestry Ministry. (The ministry supplies women in Third World countries with materials and skills to make tapestries that provide income.)
The completed kits will be distributed as needed through the diocesan disaster relief effort and the World Mission Department.
Those planning to attend Council are asked to bring supplies (click here for the list) for the kits.

And eyeglasses

Once again St. George, San Antonio, will collect used or new prescription and reading glasses for distribution in Honduras and Mexico. Senior wardens and bishop's wardens are asked to set up a collection area in their church, announce the effort through their church newsletter and Sunday bulletin, then bring the collected eyeglasses to Council and drop them off at the World Mission booth. To date the diocese has contributed about 5,000 pairs of eyeglasses to the people of Honduras and Mexico.

Reaching Out Budget allocations indicate preference for Exec. Board

Of the 90 churches of the diocese who participated in the determinations for the diocesan Reaching Out Budget for 2007, 52 asked the diocesan Executive Board to allocate their apportionment. The remaining 38 churches allocated their Reaching Out apportionment among the 18 ministries in the Reaching Out budget, but nine of the 38 followed the exact budget recommendations of the Executive Board.

Given that 68 percent of the congregations chose to defer to the Executive Board, the latter will bring a resolution to Diocesan Council in February asking that in the future, Executive Board, rather than local congregations, make the allocations to the ministries in the Reaching Out budget.

The Reaching Out budget is that portion -- about one-third -- of the diocesan budget that directly supports the diocese's ministry programs, not including the salary costs for diocesan staff who manage the ministries. The 2007 Reaching Out Budget is about $1.11 million of the diocesan total budget of $3.6 million.

Beginning with the 2005 budget, congregations were invited to participate in budget decisions by allocating one-third of their apportionments among the Reaching Out ministries, or they could elect to have the Executive Board make their allocations. In 2006, 37 churches deferred to the Executive Board.

Other results of the 2007 Reaching Out budget process:

The total request from the 18 ministries was $1,240,682; the amount of funds available for the ministries was $1,127,293.

Of the $1,127,293 available for allocation, $717,822 was allocated by churches; the remainder was allocated by the Executive Board.

One ministry -- World Mission -- was over funded by $4,408. Since no ministry can be allocated more than its request, those dollars were re-allocated by the Executive Board.

Three ministries were funded fully, five ministries were underfunded (to the level of the 2006 budgets), and five ministries were funded as allocated by the congregations without adjustment by the Executive Board.

For more details about the diocesan Reaching Out budget, visit http://www.council-dwtx.org/Reaching_Out_2007/index.html

Allocation to Episcopal Church

In other results from the Reaching Out budget process, 40 churches of the diocese chose to allocate no dollars to the national Episcopal Church, directing that those dollars instead be used for missionary work outside the Diocese of West Texas. In 2007, congregations had to designate 14.83 percent of their allocation either to The Episcopal Church or to Missionary Giving, or a combination thereof.

The option to re-direct apportionment dollars away from The Episcopal Church was first offered to congregations of the Diocese of West Texas following the 2003 General Convention during which an openly gay man was confirmed as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, and has been available to churches every year since then. Many churches give this same option to their parishioners.

The amount of money designated by the 51 churches who elected to include The Episcopal Church in their allocations was $57,172. The amount that could have been designated, had all diocesan congregations supported The Episcopal Church, was $167,178, a figure the Executive Board determined based on allocations in 2006. That figure represented 14.83 percent of the Reaching Out budget. The actual "asking" of The Episcopal Church of this diocese is 21 percent of the entire diocesan budget after a $100,000 exemption, about $744,000.

Seventy-one churches allocated $110,000 to missionary work outside the diocese; this is over and above the World Mission Department budget of $32,200.

Briefly

The diocesan Water Well Ministry is expanding into Northern Mexico; the next organizational meeting will be Sunday, Feb. 11, 3 p.m., at Grace Church, Weslaco. Anyone with a passion for water ministry or who just wants to find out more should attend the meeting or contact Curt Mowen by e-mail at Water@satx.rr.com or CCMowen@satx.rr.com, or phone him at (210) 938-8802, (210) 723-4383. Water well drilling trips to Honduras are planned throughout 2007 and 2008. Contact Curt Mowen for exact dates.

Episcopal Church appropriate software is available free for the downloading at www.episcopal-software.com. The software packages include liturgy, lectionaries, Christian education, Bible study, membership tracking, teacher education, confirmation, PDA software, journaling, and a music library. This software is NOT produced by The Episcopal Church; it was created by John and Sheryl Washburn of Moscow, Idaho. Contact them at jewashburn@adelphia.net.

If you didn�t get this -- if you are having trouble receiving The Direct Line, or know someone who is, check your spam filter. Some e-mail systems will not accept posts from a list. The Direct Line is sent through e-mail by Constant Contact; the current issue of The Direct Line is on the diocesan website at www.episcopal-dwtx.org.

Woman at the Well House, a ministry for formerly incarcerated women, will hold their annual gala -- "Building Bridges to the Future" -- Sunday, Feb. 11, 6 to 10 p.m., at The Dominion. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band will be featured, along with dinner and dancing. For reservations, call (210) 472-2787.

Morningside Ministries Retirement Community has received a $150,000 grant from the A T & T Foundation, the philanthropic arm of A T& T. The grant will allow Morningside Ministries to expand its telemedicine health clinic to three sites and provide clinic operation two days a week instead of one. The Diocese of West Texas is one of the three church organizations that founded and continue to support Morningside Ministries. The others are First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio, and the United Methodist Church in San Antonio.

The passion narrative as recorded in the Gospel of Luke will be the subject of a one-day study at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, February 9, 10, or 14. Instructor is Sister Sarah Sharkey, professor of sacred Scripture at Oblate. Cost is $35. To register, www.ost.edu.

In December, the Episcopal churches in Hidalgo and Willacy counties distributed 136 grocery bags filled with Christmas dinner to the youth in the Get2Work program of the Good Samaritan Community Services (GSCS). The youth arrived -- some with their parents, others with their siblings -- to pick up their grocery bag full of food, a Christmas greeting, and an invitation to join the parish for Christmas services. Some of the churches offered cookies and drinks as they arrived.
HEB donated $250 for the purchase of a chicken for each bag. Among the churches participating were St. Peter and Paul in Mission, St. John's in McAllen, St. Matthew's in Edinburg, Trinity in Pharr, Grace Episcopal in Weslaco and Epiphany in Raymondville.
Pictured (L to R) The Rev. Chris Roque, GSCS Rio Grand Valley board member; Rudy Caballero, Case Manager for McAllen area; Jane Cozad, Development manager for GSCS Rio Grande Valley; student and her mother (with grocery sack); Back row: Rosa Villanueva, Lead Case Manager for McAllen area.

The Discernment Programs at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., invites undergraduate students at colleges and universities across the nation to apply for the sixth Summer Discernment Institute to be held May 28 - July 21, 2007. Applications for 18 placement openings in the Institute will be due by February 19. Students interested in exploring vocations in ordained ministry or service with non-profit organizations will be accepted into the eight-week program and receive a stipend for their work in their chosen internship. Students spend the first week at Sewanee engaged in activities that help prepare them for their six-week internships. Students return to Sewanee the final week for an opportunity for debriefing and reflection on their vocational experience. More information and a copy of the application form can be found at http://www.sewanee.edu/lillyproj/lsdi.html. Or call 931.598.1869.

The 2007 Spring Women's Gathering will feature Demi Prentiss on the topic of The Transformed Life -- A Practical Pilgrimage, March 23-25 at Camp Capers. "From earliest times, Christians have understood the transformational work of God through the powerful metaphors/realities of Christ�s incarnation and resurrection," writes Prentiss in her intro to the weekend. "As we open ourselves to experience God at work in our own lives, we find ourselves confronting practical questions: How can we live incarnationally? What does the resurrected life look like? How do we grow beyond seeking individual salvation to understanding ourselves as members of the Body of Christ?" Demi Prentiss lived, worshipped, and worked in the Diocese of West Texas for 15 years. She and her husband, Paul, moved to Denton in January.

From Our Churches

One of the favorite days of the members of Grace Church, Port Lavaca, is always the December party for the Bluebonnet Youth Ranch children. Russell Cain, the church's senior warden, sponsors the event each year. "We so look forward to seeing the children each year - how they have grown - getting just the right gifts for each child," says Grace Church member Chris O'Neil.

This year's party, on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006, featured a trip to Magnolia Beach and then to the Port Lavaca Historical Museum; plus a pizza party lunch at the church. The children visited with old St. Nick (Harbor Master Jim O'Neil) and opened their bags of toys and surprises. The "Sisters Two" performed old-fashioned Christmas carols and some new ones too. Local clowns entertained the children with face painting, balloons and jokes. The members of Grace Church made this a special day by stuffing super-sized Christmas bags full of toys and practical gifts.

The Port Lavaca community also gets involved: Hillman's Seafood and Russell's realtors from Port Lavaca, Seadrift, Port O'Connor and Palacios all make generous contributions for the children. The ladies of the Victoria Crossroads Chapter of Project Linus donated "snuggly warm" fleece blankets, each monogrammed with the child's name.

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