Community watch volunteers offer 'peace of mind' to Ellicott City shop owners

From Maryland-


On Wednesday in the late afternoon, Kim Pelech was in the middle of her 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift for the community watch group. Pelech is volunteering every day for the rest of the week.

“There’s great spirit of everyone around here helping,” Pelech said.

Pelech said the business owners and contractors. “use us as a resource. They like having someone else around.”

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, which has served as a hub for the community during both floods, is assisting with the effort.

The Rev. Anjel Scarborough, who has been priest-in-charge since November 2017, said that the efforts of the community watch group is to “give those folks on Main Street a little extra peace of mind as Main Street reopened.”

More here-

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/ph-ho-cf-neighborhood-watch-0731-story.html

Emergency Relief Reaches Yei

From South Sudan-

An emergency airlift of 1.5 tons of fortified food was delivered to the beleaguered people of Yei, South Sudan. The flight originated in Entebbe, Uganda. Feed the Hungry East Africa (FTHEA) arranged the flight to South Sudan.

The city of Yei has been isolated due to insecurity since July. The UN reports that 100,000 people are trapped in the town and continued fighting in the region has made overland traffic very dangerous. Feed the Hungry East Africa consigned the shipment to the Yei Ecumenical Emergency Relief Committee (YEERC), a cooperative effort of church leaders in Yei, including the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.

Hilary Adeba, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese, served as the coordinator in Yei. The Bishop said “the fighting has had an immediate and serious impact on local populations with hundreds of people dead or injured or forced into displacement.” He indicated the food will be distributed to the most vulnerable in Yei - widows, orphans and unaccompanied children.

More here-

http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/emergency-relief-reaches-yei

Kalinga churches ask parishioners to donate for Sendong victims

From The Phillippines-

The parishes of this city are asking their parishioners to give relief assistance for the victims of tropical storm Sendong.

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Luzon (EDNL) appeals to all parishioners in its area of responsibility to donate cash to thousands of victims. They are only receiving cash contributions since they have no means to transport in-kind donations.

Rev. Renato Abibico, EDNL Bishop, is asking each and everyone to share whatever little money for the victims. “Love through sharing, this after all is one of the themes of this season,” he said in his letter read during masses and through the media.

“Let us not forget that God was the one who started this (sharing) during the first Christmas – that He shared to us His unconditional love through the birth of His Son Jesus Christ. Sharing our blessings, however, little it may be, will be great act of love, hoping that by doing so, we will all experience the true meaning of giving this Christmas,” he said in his letter.

Rev. Denver Marrero also of EDNL said all contributions will be coordinated with their Mindanao counterpart for proper distribution to victims.

Bishop Abibico also asks for prayers that the lessons of this disaster will truly be discerned.

More here-

http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=69386

Episcopal Diocese organizing interfaith service

From Missouri-

People of many faiths unite in prayer for healing the city of Joplin. The tornado tragedy of May 22 is drawing people together for an interfaith service of healing. The service will be Monday, May 30 at 6 p.m. at Joe Becker Stadium, located at 1301 East Third, Joplin, Mo.

Clergy and faith community leaders from a broad range of faith traditions will pray, read scripture, and speak during the service. Vocal music will be provided by Phi Mu Alpha, the men’s Music Fraternity of Pittsburg State University.

The service of healing will mark the eighth day since the city was divided in half by a swath of destruction just before 6 p.m. on May 22.

The physical destruction, caused by an EF 5 tornado that claimed more than 132 lives and injured at least 900 people, caused just as much spiritual and emotional damage. The eighth day is associated with a new week, the beginning of creation, and a new hope. The public is invited to experience this interfaith journey of spiritual healing and hope. People of faith will unite together to begin the work of resurrecting the city of Joplin.

http://www.carthagepress.com/news/x530594774/Episcopal-Diocese-organizing-interfaith-service

How to help Joplin

The Diocese of West Missouri has helpful information on how individuals and parishes might respond to the disaster in Joplin.

You can find it here-

http://www.diowestmo.org/home0.aspx

Praying at the edge of the grave

From Missouri-

Today's paper is full of information about ways to help Joplin, including collections sites in the St. Louis area. I imagine many area churches and other religious organizations are collecting money and much-needed items; my own congregation is starting a collection this Sunday, and is trying hard to stay on top of information as it develops, so that we meet the most urgent needs in the most repsonsible and helpful way.

As part of that effort, I've been regularly checking on the Diocese of West Missouri's website. (In the Episcopal Church, the state of Missouri is divided into two dioceses, Missouri and West Missouri. Joplin obviously is in West Missouri, while St. Louis is in Missouri.) There is a lot of good, concrete information on the site. On the day after the tornado, Bishop Martin Field posted a letter, including a list of those clergy and families who were accounted for, as well as explaining the difficulty of obtaining all the information needed to make a full report. It reminded me of the parable of the shepherd going out of his way to find the one lost sheep. According to the website, the Bishop is in Joplin now and will remain there through the weekend.

More here-

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/civil-religion/pamela-dolan/article_34f83490-87b3-11e0-96b5-0019bb30f31a.html

How the Violence of the Tornadoes Brought Churches in the South Together

From Huffington-

Toby Rowe, an Arkansas Episcopalian whose house was destroyed when a massive tornado swept through Vilonia Monday evening, said that among the first people he saw were Church of Christ volunteers passing out boxes containing supplies that families would need in the first 24 hours after losing a home. As clean up from the storms began, three congregations in downtown Little Rock -- Second Baptist Church, First Methodist Church, and Christ Episcopal Church -- put out a call for volunteers to assist in debris removal. Another church is taking in the pets of people who have no place for them now that their owners are living in emergency shelters or apartments rented by their insurance companies. Stories are coming in to denominational offices about church buildings whose roofs have been blown off. In almost every case, church members interviewed say that they are thankful that lives were spared, and they have announced that they are going to rebuild; the focus has not been on the wrath of a God who would allow such a thing to happen.

The amazing thing about this series of storms is that it has done much to bring churches together that historically have had little to do with one another. The response to segregation in the South left many churches at odds with one another when the Civil Rights movement began. Those feelings were very slow to heal. In more recent years, differences of opinion on issues such as gay marriage and the acceptance of Muslims in local communities have once again divided churches.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bishop-larry-benfield/tornadoes-in-the-south-christian-response_b_855191.html

Episcopal Relief & Development helps southern storm victims

From ENS-

Episcopal Relief & Development said April 28 that it has been in contact with dioceses in the southern part of the United States and is working with local churches to respond in a number of locations after powerful spring storms battered the region.
The New York Times reported that more than 200 people died as at least 100 storms tore through the area during the night of April 27-28. A National Weather Service map showing known damage is here.

By the afternoon of April 28, the Times said, some 269 people had been killed by storms that have swept across the South during the past several days. The National Weather Service said the deaths were the most since a tornado outbreak killed 315 people in 1974.

This most recent wave of destructive weather comes after storms barreled through the Southeast over the weekend of April 16.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_128190_ENG_HTM.htm

Christ Episcopal plans grand opening

From Mississippi-

Christ Episcopal Church in Bay St. Louis will host a community grand opening at 4 p.m. Sunday for the new church and parish hall, rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the previous structures. Christ Church is at 912 S. Beach Blvd.

Established in 1889, the church has been destroyed by fire and two hurricanes and is rebuilt back on the beach where it was.

This time, however, said the Rev. Patrick Skutch, rector, “it’s deliberately turned in a different direction so that as you drive along the beach, you see the profile of the church, and it was very important to the congregation that the church be inviting. It says very strongly, ‘We are here, and we are open and we would like to see you.’

“The old church was set back a little bit further on the landscape, and you did not see as much of it when you went by.”

The sanctuary and the parish hall next door to it were consecrated in May for parish use and worship.

“This opening is geared toward an intentional welcome and open house for the community itself,” Skutch said.

Read more:

http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/08/2541398/christ-episcopal-plans-grand-opening.html#ixzz11rXIehuz

Katrina Volunteers Call Mississippi Home

From Fox-

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, many of the volunteers who responded to the Mississippi coast for temporary relief projects have become permanent residents.

"When I first came down, it was right after the storm," said Matt Walenciak, who originally came as part of a college volunteer project. "People have lost everything -- their houses, their cars, their jobs, even family members. And they would just welcome you with open arms. They'd scrap together whatever money they could to buy food to feed the volunteers that were down there."
The hospitality, gratitude and self-reliance exhibited by Mississippi residents in the wake of Katrina also inspired Andrew Thompson to stay on the coast, where he eventually met his wife Kathryn, a fellow volunteer.

"Seeing people who we've helped build their house turn around and want to help us with other people's houses, that was really a turning point," Mr. Thompson said. "Instead of everybody (needing) help, they're starting to help each other."

Thompson and Walenciak have been rebuilding and repairing storm-ravaged homes through Mission on the Bay, a joint program by the Episcopal and Lutheran churches to coordinate volunteers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It was one of the last remaining volunteer camps in the area. But over the weekend, Mission on the Bay will be closing its doors as well.


Read more:

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/29/katrina-volunteers-call-mississippi-home/#ixzz0y5rrW0nt

Katrina memories mix with spill worries

From ELO-

If you live on the Gulf Coast, says the Very Rev. James "Bo" Roberts, it's not a question of whether a natural disaster will strike, but rather when the next one will come.

Roberts knows what he's taking about. He is the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Gulfport, Mississippi, one of six churches along the Gulf Coast portion of the Diocese of Mississippi that Hurricane Katrina destroyed on Aug. 29, 2005. He began his ministry at St. Mark's in April 1969, "right before [Hurricane] Camille came and tore it all up in August of that year, so I have rebuilt completely twice," along with making lots of repairs after other storms in between.

Nell Bolton, executive director of Episcopal Community Services of Louisiana, which grew out of the Diocese of Louisiana's early post-storm disaster-relief efforts, recites the events of the last five years almost like a litany: "Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, and the economic downturn and now the oil spill."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_124244_ENG_HTM.htm

Pakistani Christians in UK make plea for funds

From The Church Times-

PAKISTANI Christians in the UK have called on fellow churchgoers to send financial support to areas of Pakistan affected by floods. More than 1600 people have died, and 14 million have been hit by the devastating monsoon rains.

The effects of the flood disaster are thought to be worse than those of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, and the earthquake in Haiti combined, in terms of people af­fected, the United Nations has said.

The Disasters Emergency Committee’s Pakistan Floods Appeal has so far raised more than £7 million pounds, but getting aid to flooded areas is proving difficult.

The Bishop of Peshawar, the Rt Revd Humphrey Sarfraz Peters, has visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in north-west Pakistan. “Our Christians, who are already deprived and marginalised, are in pathetic conditions. They have lost almost everything in their houses; they could only save their lives.” He asked for prayers for the minority Chris tian population in the region, who, he said, would receive “hardly any thing” from international aid pack ages.

The diocese has launched an emergency relief and rescue programme for the 1300 Christian families affected. The Church of Ireland has pledged ¤10,000 to this fund.

The vice-chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), Wilson Chowdhry, said: “We are asking brothers and sisters up and down the country to pray for a speedy restoration of the homes and livelihoods of the affected local people. . . The BPCA
is raising a fund for the victims of the flooding. The money raised will not be used in any projects that are singularly for the benefit of the Christian community, but will be used in generic, inclusive projects.”

More here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=98938

Six months later, many in Haiti feel, 'it just happened'

From ENI-

Some Haitians feel as if it happened just days ago, the Rev. Kerwin Delicat, an Episcopal (Anglican) priest based in the city of Léogâne, said as people prepared to mark six months since a calamitous earthquake struck on 12 January.

While some progress is discernable such as students being back at school for some time, Léogâne, like the capital of Port-au-Prince, is still years from recovery.

"Eventually, there will be a return to normal life," Delicat said in interview. "But it's been just less than six months. It's like something that just happened."

Many residents still mourn loved ones. For some, trauma is less palpable than immediately after the quake. But others are still struggling to resume their lives, Delicat said.

"It will take a long time for many families to restart a normal life, because the consequences have been so huge," Delicat said in an interview with ENInews. "A man works 30 years of hard labour, then, in one day, in one instant, he loses his wife, his children."

Léogâne, a coastal community 29 kilometres (18 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, was at the quake's epicentre. Nearly nine out of 10 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Even today, most people in the city live out of tents because their homes were destroyed or damaged, or due to people's fears of concrete structures.

More here-

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=4255

Churches Minister to Their Ministers After the Flood

From Nashville-

Area denominations are offering extra help and resources for their clergy following Tennessee’s recent floods. The job of comforting and counseling congregants can be especially difficult after a disaster.

Bishop John Bauerschmidt says a natural disaster is particularly challenging because the recovery effort affects every member of a congregation for months on end.

Bauerschmidt called in a professional crisis counselor to teach Episcopal church workers how to look for signs of disaster-related stress in their congregation and themselves, and when to suggest individuals seek out clinical help. The Bishop says he benefitted from a similar workshop when he was leading a church in coastal Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

“You’re dealing with issues and challenges of such a scale that it’s difficult to find the resources within yourself to deal with them emotionally and spiritually.”

There were quiet murmurs and even tears as Susan Gillpatrick began the session with photos of flood damage.

Gillpatrick is a crisis management specialist with Centerstone. She says church leaders should be on the lookout for signs that they need a break.

More here-

http://wpln.org/?p=19008

Action Report: Episcopal Groups Help Katrina Victims

From Louisiana-

These days, Sylvia Blanchard of Gentilly can't help but smile as she looks around her newly repaired home.

"It was like a mircale, it just was a miracle to me, you know I didn't think this would happen."
But there was so little to smile about three years ago about when her husband Anthony, a VIetnam Veteran with three Purple Hearts had a serious stroke that left him disabled on the day the Road Home turned him down for the second time.

"He had a massive stroke, went to the Road Home, and they gave him the run around, and fooled around, and he had a massive stroke, and been down ever since."

"It was one of those cases that just broke my heart," said Connie Uddo of the St. Paul's Homecoming Center. "It literally ripped me in two. I remember driving home and feeling sick to my stomach, crying."

But the despair turned into a celebration last month when the Blanchard home was completed, blessed, and the ribbon cut. The St. Paul's Episcopal Church Homecoming Center joined forces with Episcopal Community Services, and they brought in more than one thousand volunteers to finish the Blanchard home.

"36 volunteer groups on this house over the last two years," said a smiling Connie Uddo. "We finally were doing it, so it was Oh Happy Day!"

More here-

http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Action-Report-Episcopal-Groups-Help-Katrina-Victims-96915699.html

Rescuing Art From the Rubble of the Quake

From The New York Times-

Susan Blakney, a paintings conservator from New York, scrambled up a mound of rubble left by the collapse of the Episcopal Holy Trinity Cathedral here, searching for small shards of the cathedral’s murals.

The cathedral is a cherished part of this country’s cultural heritage and most of its murals were destroyed in the earthquake that struck here in January. Two from the north transept, though, one depicting the Last Supper and the other the baptism of Christ, remain largely intact.

“It looks like there are some chunks underneath here,” Ms. Blakney, 62, yelled to colleagues working with her last Thursday in an effort to save thousands of works of art damaged in the quake.

The rescue is being organized by the Smithsonian Institution, which is to open a center here in June where American conservators will work side-by-side with Haitian staff members to repair torn paintings, shattered sculptures and other works pulled from the rubble of museums and churches.

Haitian artists and cultural professionals have been conducting informal salvage operations for the past four months. But the Americans are bringing conservation expertise — there are few if any professionally trained art conservators in Haiti — and special equipment, much of it paid for by private money.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/arts/design/11restore.html

Battered churches different, but share drive to recover

From Tennessee-

This is the tale of two flooded Nashville churches.

One is a big-steeple Belle Meade landmark, with 3,300 members. The other is a modest red-brick building in the Bordeaux suburbs, with 90 members.

One congregation is wealthy congregants with a vast array of contacts and resources. The other is a tiny old-fashioned neighborhood church.

But St. George's Episcopal Church and Rose of Sharon Primitive Baptist Church have a lot more in common than you think. Both have generations of families who depend on them. Both are deeply loved. And Nashville's flood of 2010 tore into both.

St. George's Episcopal Church, opened in 1949, is well-known even to people who don't go there because of its location at 4715 Harding Road and its outreach ministries. It's a popular pick for weddings and funerals.

Water began streaming down the aisle during the 7:30 a.m. Sunday service.

"We were literally in the Eucharist prayer," said the Rev. R. Leigh Spruill, rector.

More here-

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100507/COLUMNIST0101/5070336/-1/nsitemapXML/Battered-churches-different--but-share-drive-to-recover

TENNESSEE: Weekend floods damage at least one Episcopal church

From Episcopal Life Online-

Two days of record rain in the Nashville area have damaged buildings at St. George's Episcopal Church and closed the Diocese of Tennessee offices.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with our fellow parishioners and neighbors in Tennessee as we deal with the effects of the rainstorms experienced in the state over this past weekend," Bishop John Bauerschmidt said in a statement posted on the diocesan website May 3. "We are mindful of the loss of life and the damage caused to homes and businesses, which is still being assessed."

He reported "significant flooding … with damage to buildings" at St. George's Church, Nashville. The home of the Rev. Rob Courtney, rector of St. James the Less Episcopal Church in Madison, Tennessee, was also flooded, the bishop said. Courtney lives in the Bellevue area of Nashville, which was reportedly hard-hit by the rains.

Bauerschmidt said that the diocesan offices were closed May 3 due to a reported levee leak near the MetroCenter area of Nashville, and an accompanying evacuation of the area.

"Other reports indicate that many of our parishioners in Middle Tennessee have been affected, at homes and places of business, by these storms," the bishop wrote. "We ask for your continued prayers for our region and for its people."

The Associated Press reported that a destructive line of weekend storms killed 21 people in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, at least 12 of them in Tennessee. Six people have died in the Nashville area, according the Tennessean newspaper.

More here-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81803_121992_ENG_HTM.htm

Diocese of Haiti planning for future, planning for partnerships

From Episcopal Life Online-

Life still is not easy in Haiti nearly four months after a magnitude-7 earthquake devastated the country, but the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is working on reconstruction plans and has begun again its long-standing education ministry.
That was the report April 29 from the Rev. Kesner Ajax, Diocese of Haiti partnership coordinator, during a day-long meeting at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City. Ajax, who holds a number of positions in the diocese, is also the executive director of the Bishop Tharp Institute of Business and Technology (BTI) in Les Cayes in southwest Haiti.

"It is not easy right now," Ajax said at a briefing for church center employees.

The diocese is dealing with the same problems of poverty that it tried to alleviate before the earthquake, he said. The earthquake damaged or destroyed most of the diocese's churches and other institutions, and shifted the country's population, with many Port-au-Prince residents now living in the countryside. Thus, the diocese, along with the nation, must make decisions about where and how to rebuild, he said, adding "life is supposed to continue."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_121944_ENG_HTM.htm

ALABAMA: Episcopalians come together to clean up after tornadoes

From Episcopal Life Online-

Severe storms that killed 10 people in Mississippi and two in Alabama April 24-25 also severely damaged Christ Episcopal Church in Albertville, Alabama.
A F3 tornado (on the F0-5 Fujita Scale) tore through the northern Alabama city, injuring a reported 33 people and severely damaging buildings on East Main Street, also known as Million Dollar Avenue, in the historic downtown.

"I am very grateful for all of Albertville that we have been able to weather this with no death," the Rev. David Kendrick, Christ Church's rector, told WAAYtv.com on April 26. "And so there is sadness, but there is always blessing and there is always new life. I truly believe that with all my heart."

Kendrick had just finished writing his sermon about 10:30 p.m. on April 24 and gone to bed when he and his wife, Laura, heard tornado warning sirens sound outside their red brick townhouse, the Diocese of Alabama reported. They took shelter in a bathroom near the center of the townhouse, Kendrick said, while windows in the living room and a bedroom exploded and ceilings gave way. Leaves and glass shards were blown under the bathroom door, according to the diocesan report.

Kendrick and 15 parishioners gathered at the church on April 25 to survey the damage: The churchyard's huge, old trees had been uprooted, there were large holes in the roof and the church's sidewalls were leaning. The tornado had shifted the entire structure to the left of its foundation, the diocese said.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_121891_ENG_HTM.htm