FA LL 20 09
Ministry with refugees
sh a
ng
e jo
rn y w th
e
proo t d
Inside
Stories of commitment and courage
RRISA: Atlanta’s Ellis Island
Presiding Bishop to visit diocese in November
ref·uge: (noun) shelter or protection
from danger or distress
RRISA is a lifeline, a network of support for the hundreds of refugees who
come to Atlanta every year needing food, housing, jobs and education.
Maggie’s Giving Group presents a festive benefit for RRISA
maggie’s giving group
grew out of a simple
premise: charitable giving
is a natural outgrowth
of a person’s healthy,
mature relationship with
money. Members know
that charitable giving is
key to financial health,
but they do it for the
peace and joy it brings.
Each year maggie’s
giving group chooses
a charity to be the
beneficiary of an annual
event sponsored
primarily by Maggie
Kulyk & Associates, an
Ameriprise Platinum
Financial Services
Practice in Decatur.
This year’s event
will benefit Refugee
Resettlement and
Immigration Services
of Atlanta (RRISA).
maggie’s giving group
is a nonprofit fundraising
community that shares
a commitment to the
Millennium Development
Goals. Everyone is
welcome to participate.
Visit us online
to learn more:
www.maggiesgivinggroup.org
featuring
The Burundi Drummers of Atlanta
Congregation Bet Haverim Chorus
and others
Thursday, October 22, 2009
7:00 p.m.
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church
1790 LaVista Road, N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30329
Event Ticket Donations*
$35 advance | $45 door
For tickets or more information:
www.maggiesgivinggroup.org
404-294-8280
*All tax-deductible donations benefit
Refugee Resettlement and Immigration
Services of Atlanta (www.rrisa.org).
Welcome
by
ABOUT THE COVER
This image, designed in
1938 for the Episcopal
Diocese of Southern
Ohio, still defines
our church’s refugee
ministry: the Holy
Family in flight to Egypt
and an unforgettable
slogan, “In the name
of these refugees,
aid all refugees.” As
World War II broke
out, the Ohio diocese
was among the first
to assert the need for
the Episcopal Church
to assist the uprooted
from Eastern Europe.
Source: Office of Episcopal
Migration Ministries,
New York, N.Y.
Nan Ross, Editor
During the gathering of stories and information
for this issue, I was struggling to comprehend
the traumatic changes and challenges faced
The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
by refugees. One of our writers explained
is a community of 54,700 members
that I’m not alone; most Americans have
in 25,000 households and 95
never experienced sudden and prolonged
congregations in Middle and North
uprootedness. The closest comparison, said
Georgia. It is part of the Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Communion.
Barbara Thompson, a member of All Saints’,
Atlanta, might be what was endured by those
bi s hop
who in 2001 fled the World Trade Center
The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander
as it collapsed. “While running for their
[email protected]
lives they, too, were refugees,” she said.
a s si s ta n t bi s hop
Refugee ministry in our diocese is the grassThe Rt. Rev. Keith B. Whitmore
roots variety. It is accomplished by amazing
[email protected]
people with big hearts who are passionate about
dio c e sa n of f ic e s
their work and the people Jesus has called us to
2744 Peachtree Road
serve. I hope, at the very least, that their stories
Atlanta, GA 30305
will inspire you to look with new eyes on the
(800) 537-6743
strangers among us and, at the most, to become
(404) 601-5320
involved yourself in this work of resurrection.
www.episcopalatlanta.org
Grace and peace to you all.
Ministry with refugees
4 Scenes
5 Bishop’s Message
Refugee stories remind
us of our identity
by J. Neil Alexander
6 FEATURE
Resettling refugees: It’s all
about making friends
by Nan Ross
9 FIRST PERSON
Multiethnic congregation
reaches out to refugees
by John Sewak Ray
10 Profile
David G. Ross:
An advocate for refugees
12 FEATURE
RRISA: Atlanta’s Ellis Island
by Nan Ross
16 FEATURE
Reweaving the network
of community
by Barbara R. Thompson
fa ll 20 09
19 PEOPLE
20 Resources
22 FEATURE
It takes a school:
Holy Innocents’ welcomes
orphaned refugees
by Peggy J. Shaw
24CHURCHWIDE
Church responds faithfully
to the uprooted
by John Denaro
25 GENERAL CONVENTION
GC09 in review
by Samuel G. Candler
28 SPECIAL EVENT
Annual Council to feature visit
from the Presiding Bishop
29 DESTINATIONS
31 REFLECTION
A prayer for refugees
and immigrants
by Mark McGregor and John Denaro
e di t or
Nan Ross
[email protected]
de sign e r
Stephanie Ciscel Brown
Send news items to:
[email protected]
Send ads or address changes to:
[email protected]
or call 404-601-5348
Deadline for next issue:
November 1
Theme: Hispanic Ministries
to be published in early December
Publication # 10796
Periodicals postage paid
at Atlanta, GA
ISSN #1073-6549
Published quarterly
Scenes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1.People from St. Michael and All Angels traditionally take part in the Stone Mountain July 4th parade, this year
on a borrowed fire truck. (PHOTO: NAN ROSS)
2.Seven new presbyters pose with their bishops after their ordination June 28 at the Cathedral of St. Philip.
(PHOTO: NAN ROSS)
3.Representatives of three dioceses—Alabama, Atlanta and Central Gulf Coast—march in the Aug. 8 pilgrimage
through Hayneville, Ala., in memory of Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Myrick Daniels and other martyrs of the
civil rights movement. (PHOTO: BILL MONK)
4.Diocese of Atlanta Young Adults, on a June pilgrimage to New York City, stop at the Episcopal Church Center to
visit with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. (PHOTO: BILL MONK)
5.Atlanta Episcopal Church Women gather in support of one of their own, Kay Meyer (second from left), who
presided over the 46th Triennial Meeting in Anaheim, Calif., in July.
6.Some of the vergers from throughout the Diocese of Atlanta pause for a group portrait at their annual meeting
at St. David’s, Roswell. (PHOTO: BILL MONK)
7.Teacher Shama Kahn works with children attending the new Garrison Afterschool Program, which opened in
August at Church of Our Saviour, Atlanta.
8.Ruby Sales, right, joins a conversation for “Toward a Full and Faithful Telling,” a May 30 gathering sponsored by
the Diocese of Atlanta to explore the effects of racism and the struggle for civil rights. Also on the panel were
Bishop Chip Marble, Dr. Anita George and Bishop Duncan Gray Jr.
9.Spiritual directors talk about their experiences serving as companions for individuals on a spiritual journey at the
first Spiritual Directors Conclave sponsored by the Diocese of Atlanta at St. Patrick’s Church, Atlanta. The meeting
drew about 40 spiritual directors from several faith groups. A follow-up gathering is planned. (PHOTO: NAN ROSS)
4
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
Bishop’s Message
Refugee stories remind us
of our identity
by
J. N ei l A lex ander
It’s hard to capture in words my
experience of visiting the refugee
camp at Kibondo, Tanzania, near
the border with Burundi. At the
time of my visit, the camp was
populated with approximately
144,000 persons, most from
Burundi, who had come for
safe haven in Tanzania with
modest provisions for survival
provided by the international aid
agencies, including Episcopal
Relief and Development.
served the parish in the camp.
“Ever since I arrived,” he said.
“I, too, am a refugee. I came
here with my family and with my
people.” As we were parting, I
was moved to give him the cross
I was wearing as a sign of our
time together. He refused my
gift of the cross, but with tears
running down his face asked
me for the Episcopal Church
lapel pin that was on my jacket.
“Your church is so important to
us,” he said. “This will always
remind me that you cared enough to come visit.”
She was enjoying
a brief moment
of new life.
I remember asking one of the
Tanzanian officials how they managed so many
homeless people. He gently reminded me that just
a few years before this same camp had more than
700,000 Rwandan refugees seeking escape from the
genocide in their homeland. Most of the refugees
had arrived on foot, carrying their children and
what few personal belongings they could carry.
For many it had been a journey of many days and
nights with little or no refreshment along the way.
I still smile when I think about the little girl, perhaps
eight or nine years old, so proud of her new shirt.
It was bright blue, and emblazoned across the front
was the logo of the Milwaukee Brewers. It was
clearly a shirt that had been outgrown or discarded,
made it to a clothes closet, and by some mysterious
route it had found its way to Kibondo. She was
enjoying a brief moment of new life, and she had
no idea that she was a walking advertisement
for American baseball. And it didn’t matter.
When some of the officials of the camp discovered I
was an Anglican bishop, they sent for the priest who
serves the Anglican Parish Camp Kibondo. When
he arrived, he and I went into his church—dirt
floor, mud walls, straw roof—where we talked,
prayed, and shared our stories. At one point in the
conversation, I asked him about how long he had
Refugees are not just in faraway places like
Kibondo. They are our neighbors, perhaps
even next door. Many of us whose families
have been on these shores for generations were
once refugees, searching for something hard
to find back home: safety, security, freedom,
prosperity, new life. It’s the human story.
Refugees are central to the story of the Bible.
Remember Moses and the people of Israel in Egypt?
Remember the Babylonian exile of the Israelites?
Remember Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus fleeing
to a foreign land to escape Herod’s reign of terror?
The Son of Man had no place to lay his head. All
are refugee stories that remind us of our identity.
In one sense, we’re all refugees, and always will
be. It’s probably good not to get too comfortable.
As you read the pages of this issue of Pathways,
perhaps it is a good time to hold in mind the
words of the Epistle to the Hebrews (13:14):
For here we have no lasting city, but we are
looking for the city that is to come. Kibondo?
Always refugees. Always looking for home.
Blessings!
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
5
Feature
Resettling refugees
It’s all about making friends
by
nan ross
Sixteen-year-old Amina Osman’s smiles and her eyes
brighten when she talks about her week at Camp
Mikell in Toccoa. Not just because she had a great
time, but because Kids For Peace—a program that
connects Christian, Jewish and Muslim children—
was meeting there too, and she was able to join other
Muslim children for traditional evening prayers.
An Episcopal Charities Foundation grant to
the refugee ministries program at All Saints’
Episcopal Church paid for several refugee children
to go to summer camp this year. Only a lastminute cancellation provided a spot for Amina.
Louisa Merchant, All Saints’ refugee ministries
coordinator, views Amina’s opportunity to meet—
and worship with—other Muslim children at a
Christian camp as something of a miracle. “She
had a wonderful experience,” Merchant said.
For Amina, whose English flows spontaneously
after five years in Georgia, summer camp “was
a lot of fun and I made a lot of friends. We went
swimming, played soccer and four-square; we sang
and we danced. And we prayed together.”
Amina is one of more than 200 refugees who’ve
been welcomed by caring and committed volunteers
from All Saints’ over the past decade. Amina
works on her English skills every chance she gets
by attending ESL school every Saturday. Weekdays
she’s a student at the new Global Village School in
Decatur. “She studies very hard and cooks, cleans
and does laundry to care for her 10 younger siblings
and nephews,” Merchant added.
In the large multipurpose room at the International
Community School in Avondale, Merchant helps
register Amina and other children and adults of
various nationalities for Saturday School. For the
next nine months, refugee adults and children
will spend every Saturday afternoon receiving
instruction in English, help with homework—
anything that will help them deal with their new life.
Making friends is a lot of what refugee resettlement
is about, says Merchant. “Refugees need American
friends who can help them transition to life in their
new home.”
All Saints’ member Chris Burgess works for the
federal government, but his weekends are devoted
to refugees. He volunteers at Saturday School and
on Sundays he drives from his Dunwoody home
to Avondale to pick up three brothers—refugees
from Eritrea who are Anglicans—and takes
them to All Saints’, where they serve as acolytes
and attend Sunday school. Then he drives them
back to Avondale before returning home.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Burgess said of
Saturday School and the eager faces that surround
6
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
him, “I work just to eat; this is (my) labor of love.”
While Saturday School has certified teachers, “we
need everything else: adjunct faculty, supplies and
money because we’ll run out of it before the year’s up.”
For Patty Lyons, a school psychologist and therapist
and another All Saints’ member, “It’s the people”
who bring her back Saturdays and keep her
connected as a resource even during the week. “It’s
addicting! Besides, if you a take a personal interest
in them, you get more out of it.”
Lyons has learned that with parents working up
to 12 hours a day, it’s the children who need extra
attention. In their countries of origin, some were
raped and lost siblings or parents. “They always
want more. If we give them a hand up, they will
live a life they never would have had. They are very
motivated. You just fall in love with these kids.
It’s all about relationships. That’s what our rector,
Geoffrey (Hoare), tells us all the time.”
Refugee parents, the first generation in this country,
are very devoted to their children and make huge
sacrifices so that the second generation can get an
education and succeed, Lyons said. “And they all
love their (home) countries and want to go back.”
Merchant says All Saints’ will sponsor its 12th
refugee family this year and has about 120
parishioners involved in helping with ESL classes,
cultural acclimation or tutoring for citizenship
tests. All Saints’ is “known widely in the refugee
community for having the strongest refugee
ministry in the city,” she said.
Above, far left: Athens residents Matthew and
Angie Hicks and their two daughters pose for a
group photo with a Karen refugee family from
Burma that is living in an apartment the Hickses
own. Already Anglican, the Karen family now
attends Emmanuel Church. (Photo: hicks family)
Above, center: All Saints’, Atlanta, members
Patty Nolan and Chris Burgess are part of the
Saturday School volunteer team in Avondale.
They are pictured here with African refugee
children they have befriended.(Photo: Nan ross)
Above right: Louisa Merchant, refugee ministries
coordinator at All Saints’, Atlanta, helps register
three Iraqi teens for Saturday School. The
young women belong to a family the parish
sponsored this year. (Photo: Nan ross)
Below, far left: While Vicar John Sewak Ray looks,
on Bishop J. Neil Alexander confirms a boy who came
from Burma with his family to make a new home. To
the right of the bishop is Julia Botin, a member of the
Society of St. Anna the Prophet. (Photo: bill monk)
Merchant hopes others follow All Saints’ lead, and
over the past couple of years a number of churches
in the Diocese of Atlanta have: St. Luke’s has
sponsored families through Refugee Resettlement
and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA); St.
Bartholomew’s has welcomed a Karen family from
Myanmar (Burma); and Christ Church in Norcross
is preparing to sponsor its first family through
RRISA this fall. And St. Michael and All Angels,
Stone Mountain, has provided worship space
on Sunday afternoons for Sudanese Anglicans.
Other churches are getting involved with RRISA
assistance programs and provide ongoing financial
Continued next page
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
7
Left: Joined by an interpreter from RRISA (far
right), Deacon Christina Dondero and Sharon Steele
(center) of St. Bartholomew’s, Atlanta, welcome
their refugee family from Myanmar (Burma) at
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. (Photo: St. Bartholomew’s)
Continued from previous page
support with grants or through their operating
budgets. (See how to help, page 14.)
Transition is tough, but
freedom gets a thumbs-up
Deacon Christina Dondero of St. Bartholomew’s,
Atlanta, grew up in Southeast Asia and was eager to
be involved in resettling a refugee family from that
part of the world. When she and her husband, Tim,
delivered a Karen family from Myanmar (Burma) to
For most congregations, sponsoring a refugee
family requires some time, discernment and money
to prepare. But at Emmanuel Church in Athens, a
refugee family’s arrival “was a bit of a surprise, but
a good one!” reported Matthew Hicks, the parish’s
director for faith formation.
Hicks and his wife, Angie, own and rent several
apartments in Athens, and several months ago they
decided to quietly make one of them available rentfree for a year. They offered the apartment to Jubilee
Partners, a ministry for refugees in northeast Georgia.
their new apartment in Clarkston, she said, “We sat
on the floor with them and visited as best we could
using simple English and gestures. The grandfather sat
between us and kept taking our hands, repeating the
only words he knew in English, ‘Thank you, thank you.’”
The family has been here for six months. A child,
Wah Doh Soe, has started first grade, and the
parents are both working in a chicken factory a
two-hour drive away; one works all night and the
other all day while the grandmother takes care of
the children. The grandmother, Mu Nyah Wah, is
also a skilled weaver and has woven and sewn by
hand clothes for the family as well as beautiful
bags that church members have purchased. She
works on a small back-strap loom that she secures
to a dresser as she sits on the floor to weave.
Dondero said, “They are learning their way in this new
The family that arrived at the Hicks’ apartment
in August turns out to be the same Karen refugee
family from Burma that had been sponsored earlier
this year by Christ the King Episcopal Church,
Lilburn. Bishop of Atlanta J. Neil Alexander had
even baptized their baby boy. But they had moved to
Comer for additional respite care at Jubilee Partners,
and now they were ready to live on their own. They
moved into Angie and Matthew Hicks’ apartment.
Used to going to services at Christ the King, the
Burmese family doesn’t want to miss a single
Sunday at their new church, so the Hickses and
their two young daughters drive by and pick them
up every week. Though the language barrier is still
strong, their daughters, who are about the same age,
don’t seem to notice.
country, but when I visit them and see the papers
Wah Doh Soe brings home from school to be signed
or a letter the grandfather received from the Social
Security Administration about an appointment he did
not know to keep, I am overwhelmed with all they
“The people here at Emmanuel have been very kind
to them,” said Hicks. “Our outreach group inquired
right away about what they needed. Everyone has
been so generous.”
still have to learn. But when I ask Hsa Eh how his
life is now, he says, ‘In Burma, no freedom; in the
refugee camp in Thailand, no freedom.’ ‘And here?’
I ask. ‘He gives me a smile and a thumbs-up.’”
8
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
Hicks said, “Even though we’ve been way more
involved than we thought we’d be, it’s been quite an
experience. Well, they are Episcopalians!”
First Person
Multiethnic congregation
reaches out to refugees
by
John Sewak R ay
The theme of the stranger, the foreigner and the alien
pervades Scripture. Leviticus 19:34 describes how
the people of God were to relate to the foreigner:
“The alien who resides with you shall be to you as
the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as
yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
In Ephesians 2, Paul writes how “you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the
saints and also members of the household of God.”
Christ the King Episcopal Church in Lilburn, an
eastern suburb of Atlanta, is the first congregation
in the Diocese of Atlanta intentionally planted as a
multiethnic community of faith. We know firsthand
that the alien who resides among us is ethnically
different and therefore “the other.”
At Christ the King, this has taken us beyond
making our church a “house of prayer for all
nations.” A young and growing worshipping
community, Christ the King took its first steps of
mission outreach last year. We sponsored through
Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services
of Atlanta (RRISA) a single mother with three
small girls fleeing an oppressive military regime
in Myanmar. They had lived for many years in a
refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border.
In the weeks before the family’s arrival, we
participated in a workshop led by Tom Van
Laningham, RRISA’s church relations director. We
learned what was and what wasn’t expected of us.
Paw Htoo and her daughters arrived Feb. 27, 2008,
at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport after a marathon
journey that took them from a refugee camp, to
Bangkok, to Chicago, and finally Atlanta. Dorothy
Lee, our Jamaican-born team leader for outreach,
and I were there with RRISA interpreters to meet
them. It was a cold day and we noticed the littlest
one had neither socks nor shoes. They had only one
plastic bag holding all their precious documents. No
carry-ons, no checked baggage. I will never forget
Paw Htoo’s expression of awe and incredulity as
she stepped into her new warm, welcoming home,
complete with the aroma of hot food. She and her
children quite literally entered a New World.
RRISA looks after all financial and legal matters on
behalf of the refugee family. Our aim was to build a
loving relationship in which we cared and provided
in other ways, such as supplementing mandatory
English-as-a-Second Language lessons with muchneeded extra English conversation practice. We
helped furnish a two-bedroom apartment with
essentials—beds, a kitchen table, pots and pans—
and some extras like the dolls the three girls hugged
immediately. We visited with them regularly.
It has not been an easy adjustment for a single
mother with small children, especially in an
economy that does not have jobs for refugees that
lack many job skills and basic language proficiency.
But the will to succeed is there.
The oldest daughter, now 12, like many refugee
children is learning all she can by leaps and bounds.
And we as a congregation have learned that we
can carry out God’s mission entrusted to us by
reaching out to the alien, the refugee, who resides
among us. In so doing, we are brought closer to each
other by undertaking this sponsoring together, by
persevering week after week in seeing the real needs
we could meet, and by loving Paw Htoo and her
family as we love ourselves and our families.
And the king will answer them, “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.”
The Rev. John Sewak Ray is vicar of Christ
the King Episcopal Church, Lilburn.
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
9
profile
David G. Ross
An advocate for refugees
Q: What motivates you to devote your time and
skills to refugees?
A: The refugee story is an absolutely compelling
story. Refugees have fled their home country
because of persecution, and are living in a second
country, usually in refugee camps. The U.S.
government invites a select number of these refugees
to permanently resettle in the United States. But
under the U.S. resettlement model, the government
really looks to the faith community to do most of the
resettlement work. This resettlement work goes to
the heart of “welcoming the stranger.” I guarantee
that once a volunteer meets a refugee family at
Hartsfield Jackson Airport to welcome them to their
new home, that volunteer will be hooked. When
refugees arrive here, they often come with nothing
more than a small plastic grocery bag containing
all of their worldly possessions. A few short years
later that refugee family has bought a home, and
the kids are off to college or graduate school. It is an
incredible story of resiliency that plays out time after
time. Seeing how much refugees grow and prosper
in a short period of time is particularly rewarding.
Q: Please describe your involvement with refugee
resettlement and with RRISA.
A: My involvement with refugee resettlement
started at All Saints’. When I first joined All Saints’,
I noticed that it had a very vibrant refugee ministry
(and still does). I started volunteering with the All
Saints’ refugee committee in helping to resettle
refugee families. Other members were volunteering
David Ross, a retired attorney,
currently serves as interim director
of the Refugee Resettlement and
Immigration Services of Atlanta
(shown above left), located at
4151 Memorial Drive, Suite 205D,
in Decatur. He served on the
RRISA board six years, including
three years as its chair.
Left: A refugee family from
Bhutan, a country sandwiched
between China and India,
is welcomed to the RRISA
headquarters.
10
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
(Photos: Nan ross)
with the refugee resettlement program at the Christian Council of
Metropolitan Atlanta, so I joined the refugee resettlement advisory
committee at the council. Later, we helped spin the refugee program
out from the council as a stand-alone nonprofit organization, which
became RRISA. I served on RRISA’s board from 2002 through 2008,
including serving as president from 2004 through 2006. I’m now
helping with the search for a new executive director at RRISA, and
am going to RRISA every day to help “keep the seat warm” of the
executive director until one is hired.
Q. How did your work as a social worker, journalist and attorney
prepare you for this work?
A: The fact is all three disciplines fit into the refugee resettlement
world. Social workers deal with human crisis, and there are plenty of
human crises that face the caseworkers at RRISA every day. It may
be the Iraqi refugee suffering from a bipolar condition who can’t find
suitable treatment. It may be the Burmese family about to face eviction
from its apartment because they can’t find employment. There is also
a large public policy component to refugee resettlement, which ties in
to my journalism and law careers. The way state and local laws are
written often helps or hinders the resettlement of refugees.
Q: What do U.S.-born people need to know about those who come
to the U.S. as refugees?
A: First, a refugee coming to the U.S. has been invited by our government
to relocate here permanently, and under the refugee program refugees
are granted a particular legal status. There is no issue or question about
documentation or legal status. Second, the U.S. refugee resettlement
program is both a humanitarian effort of this country, but it also ties in
to our foreign policy. For example, many of the recent refugees coming
to Atlanta are Iraqis who helped our armed forces or other government
agencies in Iraq and, because of that, had to flee for their safety. Finally,
its been shown time again that refugees here are more likely than other
groups to start businesses, go to college, buy homes and those types
of achievements. Refugees who make it to the U.S. are by definition
survivors, and they make a very positive contribution to Atlanta.
Q: What can churches and individuals do to offer support to those
refugees who are starting over here?
A: Churches play a vital role in refugee resettlement. Our government
really looks to the faith communities to make resettlement happen.
Churches can sponsor a refugee family, participating in the entire
resettlement process, from picking the refugees up at the airport,
setting up an apartment, providing clothes and food, and getting
the kids enrolled in school. Or, a church can help with part of the
resettlement, like helping furnish an apartment or with English
tutoring. Individuals can do the same. Also, public funding doesn’t
come close to paying for the costs of resettlement, so we have to raise
substantial private funds to help. Churches, individuals and other
donors provide essential cash and in-kind contributions.
THE david Ross FILE
David G. Ross grew up in a
small West Texas town. Raised
a Methodist, he became an
Episcopalian when he moved to
Atlanta in 1978 to start practicing
law. He is a member of All Saints’
Episcopal Church, Atlanta.
Ross retired in 2007 after
nearly 30 years as an attorney
with Powell Goldstein LLP.
During his last two years he
was chief operations officer
for the 300-attorney firm with
offices in Atlanta, Washington,
D.C., Dallas and Charlotte.
In the early ‘70s Ross worked as
a reporter for Chicago Today,
the afternoon newspaper of
The Chicago Tribune, and he
served as a social worker for the
Department of Corrections in
both Kansas and North Carolina.
He has juris doctorate and MBA
degrees from the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
a master’s in journalism from
Northwestern University and a
bachelor’s in social work from
the University of Kansas.
He has served on the board
of Refugee Resettlement and
Immigration Services of Atlanta
since 2000, spending three
years as its chair. He now
serves as interim director.
In addition to working with
RRISA, he has been active with
Planned Parenthood of Atlanta
(1987 to 1992) and then served as
vice president for the southern
region of Planned Parenthood
Federation of America.
Ross has served on the Mayor’s
Task Force to End Childhood
Prostitution and oversaw the
creation of Project Liberty,
a collaborative pro bono
project of Powell Goldstein
and BellSouth, representing
immigrant victims of domestic
violence and human trafficking.
He’s married to married to
Kelli Carroll, an obstetrician
and gynecologist at
Piedmont Hospital.
www.episcopalatlanta.org
11
Feature
Atlanta’s Ellis Island
RRISA helps Episcopal Migration Ministries
to welcome and resettle refugees
by
nan ross
Refugee Resettlement
and Immigration
Services of Atlanta
Ellis Island,
once the center
for receiving
4151 Memorial Drive, Suite 205D
refugees and
Decatur, GA 30032
immigrants
404-622-2235
into the United
[email protected]
States, is a
www.rrisa.org
museum now.
And tourists
can take a ferry past the Statue of Liberty to see
where thousands sought refuge a century and more
ago. But Americans have not given up welcoming
those whom poet Emma Lazarus called the world’s
tired and poor “yearning to breathe free.”
On the top floor of a quiet Decatur office park
is the headquarters for Refugee Resettlement
and Immigration Services of Atlanta. RRISA,
or “Reesa” as it is called, is an arm of Episcopal
Migration Ministries, headquartered at the
Episcopal Church Center in New York.
“You could say we are a virtual Ellis Island,” says
Tom Van Laningham, RRISA’s director of church
relations. “The system for accepting refugees has
changed. Instead of entering through Ellis Island,
many come directly to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson
Airport,” says the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) pastor.
“We’re the portal where they really get off the ship,”
adds David Ross, a member of All Saints’, Atlanta,
currently serving as RRISA’s interim director. The
seven-year-old nonprofit got its start more than 30
years ago as part of the Christian Council and works
closely with the U.S. State Department, which
annually allows 65,000 refugees to enter the country
and start over. “It’s really a model for public-private
partnerships,” Ross says, “unfortunately the public
funds are never enough.”
12
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
Thursdays are “intake day” at RRISA and its maze
of offices is teeming with activity. On this particular
Thursday, college students are teaching computer
skills to a group of new residents. Meanwhile, a staff
of about 40 greets and processes individuals and
families who have just arrived from Iraq, Burma,
Bhutan, Sudan and various other countries—all
fleeing persecution, war, famine and extreme
poverty. The ones who make it to the U.S. are
only a tiny fraction of refugees worldwide.
In Atlanta, considered one of the hubs for refugee
resettlement because of its multicultural population
and service-industry jobs, Van Laningham’s primary
role is to match a family in advance with a local
church sponsor. Ideally, this means the sponsoring
group will meet the family at the airport and deliver
them to a furnished apartment with a hot meal
waiting, and then help them begin their introduction
to a very different world. Refugees arrive with a
one-time U.S. State Department grant of $450 per
person. And with that they are expected to cover
rent, utilities, furniture, food, transportation and
clothing. That leaves a lot of gaps to be filled.
“Churches are a natural vehicle to offer help to
refugees,” Van Laningham says. They’re service
oriented and understand the importance of
welcoming the stranger. He visits churches of all
types regularly to explain the sponsorship process.
Over the past four years, 85 churches have been
involved in RRISA’s ministry of hospitality, more
than 3,000 volunteers have helped RRISA families,
and donations have totaled more than $400,000.
RRISA remains in the picture throughout the
refugee’s transition process, which normally takes
about four months. “Refugees tend to be highly
motivated people, want to succeed, and generally soon
become tax-paying citizens,” Van Laningham says.
Right: At the RRISA offices, visiting college
students offer instruction on using computers
to refugees seeking to acquire new skills.
Below right: The RRISA community room bustles with
activity on Thursdays, also called “intake day” for a
newly arrived group of refugees. (Photos: Nan ross)
While the economic downturn has had its
impact on job availability and can extend
the transition process, RRISA provides
assistance for finding employment, workshops
on financial and home management,
language interpretation and translation,
plus parenting and other social groups.
Other than jobs, the biggest hurdles for the
new residents are generally in the realm of
transportation and, for most, the language
barrier—though children pick up English much
more quickly than their parents.
Sponsoring churches make a huge difference, no
matter how the help arrives. For some it’s money;
for others it means collecting new backpacks for
schoolchildren, used furniture and household
items for newly arriving families.
While some churches have been involved
for more than a decade and have been very
generous with foundation grants and gifts, Van
Laningham says he’s casting the net wider in the
religious community. In the next year, he hopes
to recruit 200 congregations from various faith
groups to provide basic partnership support.
Threads of Promise:
RRISA’s new microenterprise
Threads of Promise is the name for RRISA’s new weaving
cooperative involving Karen refugees from Burma, many
of whom are master weavers. The microenterprise
will provide a place for the weavers who, using simple
back-strap looms, will produce various items to sell.
“Local weaving guilds and craft stores are
A dozen Diocese of Atlanta congregations from
Jasper to College Park have already signed on to
become partners. “You’ll be amazed at the first
church to respond,” Van Laningham says. “It was
Holy Comforter”—an Atlanta congregation that
serves a large community of mentally challenged
adults. “That was a beautiful experience for
me; they know what it is be among the least.”
already reaching out with offers to help,” says
RRISA’s interim director David Ross. “We’re
determined to make it work, and there will be
plenty of opportunities for volunteering.”
The weavers, mostly women with young children,
are just beginning to gather at RRISA’s learning
center on Memorial Drive, where they can also
receive English instruction, child care, financial
basics and mentoring from volunteers.
Learn more about how to help
RRISA on the next page.
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
13
HOW TO HELP
How churches can provide
hospitality to refugees*
A co-sponsoring congregation
first assembles lay leaders
and a hospitality team of 2530 helpers for seven tasks:
1.Collect $3,500 to cover
rent and utilities for a
minimum of three months.
2.Collect food and
apartment furnishings.
3.Set up an apartment.
4.Meet the family at the airport
and transport to apartment.
Provide a hot meal on arrival.
5.Provide access to clothing
closets at RRISA, Goodwill,
Cathedral Thrift House, etc.,
and necessities as needed.
6.Provide transportation as
needed and orientation
to MARTA for health
appointments, job interviews,
grocery shopping, worship
and area sightseeing.
7.Provide loving support
to nurture the family for
the initial 3-4 months of
adjustment, then letting
go to allow the family to
regain self-sufficiency.
Donations that can
make a difference*
•$3,500 assists 1 family
for 3 months
•$2,000 supplements the
purchase of household
furnishings for 3 families
•$1,000 provides emergency
cash assistance for 3 families
•$650 pays rent for a family as
they prepare to start new jobs
and become self-sufficient
•$250 covers a refugee child’s
tuition for summer camp
•$100 stocks a kitchen
with food for a family of
four upon their arrival
Above: An affiliate of Episcopal Migration Ministries, RRISA was designated
in June one of The Episcopal Church’s Jubilee Ministry Centers for its
engagement in active mission and ministry among and with poor and
oppressed people. Bishop J. Neil Alexander presented its leaders with a
certificate making the partnership official. From left are the Rev. Debra Shew,
canon for community ministries; RRISA’s Sandra Mullins; Bishop Alexander; the
Rev. John Denaro of Episcopal Migration Ministries; and Tom Van Laningham,
also of RRISA. RRISA becomes the 12th Jubilee Center in the Diocese of
Atlanta, joining more than 600 others across the Episcopal Church. First
established by the 1982 General Convention, Jubilee Ministry Centers are
considered to be “at the heart of the church’s mission.” (Photo: Nan ross)
Friday Fundraising Consulting Group
is delighted to work with your parish to empower its
Christ-centered mission by creating and implementing
strategies for securing capital campaign support,
major and planned gifts support and expanding
annual stewardship giving.
Parish and diocesan clients include:
Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
Holy Cross Church, Sanford, FL
Holy Cross Faith Memorial, Pawleys Island, SC
Holy Trinity Church, Greensboro, NC
Sisters of Mercy, Philadelphia, PA
St. Andrew’s Church, Glenmoore, PA
St. Luke’s Church, Atlanta, GA
St. Mark’s Church, Philadelphia, PA
St. Thomas Church, Philadelphia, PA
We welcome the opportunity to learn more about
your fundraising needs and to help you successfully
meet them.
*Information provided by RRISA.
Volunteer with RRISA
Contact the RRISA office:
404-622-2235 or [email protected]
14
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
[email protected]
678.595.7498 tel 404.745.0990 fax
2131 Virginia Place NE, Atlanta, GA 30305
www.fridayfundraising.com
M arketpl ace:
VACATION RENTALS
St. Simon’s Island, GA: Ocean view, one street
back from beach. Hear the waves crash. 2 BR, 1-1/2
bath, full kitchen, nice front porch to watch ships
go by and dolphins play. Furnished. Walk to beach,
pier, restaurants, lighthouse and shopping. Longterm and short-term rentals. Call 678-643-6154.
RETREATS / BED & BREAKFAST / services
Retreat House: Highlands, N.C. Guided and nonguided retreat weekends or weekdays for small
groups or individuals. Contact Deacon Edith
Woodling, trained spiritual director, for more
information: 404-228-0723 or 404-840-4833
St. Simon’s Beach East, GA: Wonderful three bedroom,
four bath house one block from the ocean on 11th Street
at East Beach. Recently renovated house sleeps eight.
Spacious rooms, nice kitchen, large screened porch
and pool. Reasonable rate. Call Pat 404-237-2684
Bed and Breakfast: Quiet, rest, comfort, delicious food,
a warm welcome. What you will find at Morningside Bed
and Breakfast Home, set on four wooded acres in the
beautiful mountains surrounding Highlands, N.C. Visit
our website, www.morningsidebandbhome.com, then
come and visit us. Toll free number: 1-866-936-5755
St. Simon’s Island, GA: Comfortable and attractive
second-story vacation rental three blocks from the
beach. Deck, living room/dining area, two bedrooms,
one bath and fully equipped kitchen. Towels and
linens furnished. Sleeps 4. No pets or smoking. 3
night minimum. $85 per night or $550 a week. $40
cleaning fee. Call 706-579-1895 or 770-401-4187.
2010 Passion Play: The Rev. Gray Temple, his wife
Jean, with Mary and Bob Trogdon have organized a
trip to the Oberammergau Passion Play for August
28-September 9, 2010. Spaces are limited. For
information about this trip, please contact Mary or
Bob at [email protected] or marytrogdon@
bellsouth.net or call 770-394-4214 or 770-843-0715.
Lake Chatuge: Beautifully furnished cottage in
Hayesville, NC, minutes from Hiawassee! Short-term
or long-term rental. Great weekend getaway. Rocking
chair porch, fireplace, two bedrooms, two baths,
sleeps six. All you need is toothbrush and clothes.
[email protected] or 502-525-7256
Private Vocal Instruction: Experienced vocal
teacher new in Woodstock area wants to expand
private studio. Founder of Capitol City Opera
Company, private vocal instructor for 30+
years. Contact Donna Angel, 770-592-4197.
Franklin, NC: Small rustic log cabin. Sleeps four in
queen bed and 2 twins. One bath. Cozy, well-furnished
interior. Stone fireplace, oak floors, large covered
rear porch. Gas grill, washer/dryer, TV with cable,
VCR, music CD. Available year-round. Weekly $365,
three-night weekend $235. Price includes cleaning fee.
Winter rates slightly higher; includes firewood. Color
brochure. Call Terry Holland in Macon: 478-746-1939.
Highlands, NC: Private, three- bedroom, two-bath home
in Highlands. Sleeps six comfortably. Peaceful setting.
Two miles from downtown. Weekly rental $975 includes
cleaning fee. Weekend, three nights, $450. 404-228-0723.
Highlands, NC: Little Bear Pen Mountain. 4 bedroom,
3 bath main house with optional 2 bedroom, 1 bath
guest house. Main house: large living room with
fireplace, covered deck, view of Whiteside Mountain,
lower level large den w/ another fireplace, washer,
dryer, dishwasher. Spaciousness of floor plan allows
guests to spread out and have privacy. No pets. Call
Ellen 404-862-8675, [email protected]
Mt. Dora, FL: Centrally located for day trips to
Disney World, Sea World, Daytona Beach, Kennedy
Space Center. One mile from historic downtown with
quaint shops; one mile from Renniger’s Flea Market &
Antiques, Ice House Theater. Fully equipped kitchen,
washer and dryer, sleeps four, one bath. Large
covered rear deck. Short-term or long-term; available
year-round. No pets. Call Carolyn 478-456-7028.
Ormond Beach, FL: Lovely 2BR/2BA oceanfront condo
on 7th floor w/ balcony and beachfront pool. Very wellappointed, sleeps 5-6, covered parking. Rent $1900/month
or year-round rental. No pets or smoking. 404-892-1749
Nantucket Island: Lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath home
within walking distance of beach and historic
town. Available for rent: $2,500 weekly in summer,
$1,500 per week in the off season (reduced for
longer periods). Contact: [email protected]
Piano Lessons: Take Piano Lessons on our Steinway or in
your home. (Buckhead/Emory) Jon McCurdy, 404-264-1407 
Piano Tuning: Repairs, rebuilt piano for rent or
sale. Quality professional service. Your piano sounds
new! [email protected], 404-378-8310
Church Textiles: Custom designed church textiles,
handwoven or cloth, made to meet the needs of
individual parishes. Textiles include altar falls, hangings,
vestments for all staff and clergy. Pictures of previous
projects are available on request. For more information
on your custom project and estimates, contact Amelia
Broussard at [email protected] or 706-692-5663.
Needlepoint Design for Churches: Needlepoint
kneelers, stoles, and altar hangings custom designed
especially for you. I am available for consultation
and can help guide you through the process from
design and fund raising to completion of your
project. Referrals available. Call Nancy Keating at
404-370-0422 or e-mail [email protected].
Hooked Rugs and Wall Hangings: One of my hooked
pieces will add color and personality to your room! Take
a look at my website: joanswallsandfloors.com. Contact
Joan at 404-355-0522 or [email protected]
Elder Care: Residential care for 1 or 2 elderly
persons in private, quiet Decatur home. Nurturing
but non-medical assistance provided. Convalescing,
homebound, or terminally ill persons welcome.
Small companion dog also welcome. Experienced
caregiver. References available. 770-939-7573
Plumbing: White Collar Plumbing offers quality
work at fair prices. Water heaters, gas lines, toilets/
faucets, etc. Licensed and insured. 678-873-6095
Book/Paper Conservator: All Saints’ member Kim
Knox Norman accepting projects from individuals and
groups. Repair and protect rare books, Bibles, paper
documents, any other family treasures. Priced by
hourly or project basis. Firm estimates and many local
references. [email protected] or 404-556-4498
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
15
FEATURE
Reweaving the network
of community
The story of a church-based ministry with refugees
by
Barbara R. Thompson
When I think back on the beginning of All Saints’
Episcopal Church’s ministry to survivors of war in
the fall of 1994, I see that it began with one of those
gentle nudges of the Spirit that would have been all
too easy to miss.
The family’s ordeal did not change overnight, but
in the months ahead, All Saints’ volunteers were
able to provide them with the big-tickets items they
needed: an old Volvo, a plumbing job, emergency
rent and food money.
I was writing a magazine article on child survivors
of war, and Alma Karamesic, a teenager from
Bosnia I had interviewed, called to invite me for a
cup of coffee.
This, it turned out, was just the beginning. Alma’s
mother, Nermina, told me about another abandoned
family, and then another. One by one, All Saints’
parishioners were invited to share a cup of coffee
with refugees, and one by one, while sitting on the
floor of an empty apartment, with a hospitable but
fear-filled family, they found themselves drawn to
friendship and practical assistance.
I had met Alma and her brother at Jubilee Partners,
an intentional Christian community in Comer,
Ga., and now I was on a tight deadline. To save
time, I invited Alma and her family to come visit
me. Alma laughed. “You see,” she said, “We do
not have a car.” Could I call her later? She laughed
again, and now I understood she was embarrassed.
“You see, we do not have a phone.” I promised to
drop by sometime and hung up. But something in
Alma’s voice—some hollow note, an undercurrent
of desperation?—made it impossible for me get back
to my task.
Thirty minutes later I was sitting on a rickety chair
with Alma and her family, drinking coffee in an
otherwise empty apartment. The air smelled like
foul plumbing and mildew, and although it was just
noontime, roaches were already climbing the walls.
Alma’s family, I learned, had been in Atlanta for 10
days, without money or friends and mostly without
food. The parents spoke no English, they had no
jobs or a car, and the rent was due in a few weeks.
Their fear, in fact their terror, was palpable.
Within two hours of my first visit with Alma’s
family, a friend and I were delivering food and
furniture donated by other friends, and the
grapevine was already at work, moving All Saints’
parishioners to respond to their need.
16
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
Some All Saints’ parishioners for the first time
saw the world through the eyes of the poor and
dispossessed. And when they got over their shock,
outrage and disbelief that there was no organization
or institution that was going to intervene, they rolled
up their sleeves and did it themselves.
The results were astonishing:
•Within three years of arriving in Atlanta with
nothing but the clothes on their backs, the first
three families All Saints’ worked with bought
their own homes without any assistance.
•Several All Saints’ families opened their
homes so teenagers could live with them while
they attended private schools, and another
parishioner started a landscaping company
that enabled two more families to buy homes.
•As the number of families in need continued
to grow, a generous All Saints’ parishioner
gave the funds to hire a full-time refugee
ministries coordinator. Today, the All Saints’
refugee ministry has helped well over 100
refugee families, and it is recognized as a
national model by the Episcopal Church.
The ministry is a loose coalition of soccer teams, a
Sudanese church and Sunday School, tutoring and
family sponsorship. This ministry also gave birth to
the K-6 International Community School for child
survivors of war and local children.
All Saints’ then provided seed money for the
Saturday School, a school that began with five
illiterate and innumerate teenagers and has
expanded to 60 students, ages 5 through 75.
Thanks to the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, the
Saturday School has expanded to a five-day a week
program for 30 teen survivors of war and refugee
camps called the Global Village School. Four All
Saints’ members serve on the board of directors and
more as volunteers.
l e a r n i ng t o t rus t aga i n
A while back, I was driving by Nermina’s house
late at night (her family lived just a few houses away
from my own), and I could see her through the
window, smoking a cigarette. I knew she was trying
to unwind from her stressful, low-paying job at a
grocery store, and I stopped in to say hello.
While we talked, Nermina waved her hand around
their immaculate three-bedroom house, and said,
“Barbie, you and All Saints’, you gave us all this.”
I was genuinely distressed. “No, no, it was your
own hard, hard work that got you here.” Nermina,
also the mother of a 10-year-old, was chronically
exhausted from the terrible physical and
Continued next page
Right: Barbara Thompson talks
with 18-year-old Lima Naseri,
who moved to Atlanta four years
ago from Afghanistan. They are
attending a luncheon for the female
students of the new Global Village
School in Decatur. Behind them
is a chart that shows the many
countries of origin of the students
at the school. Naseri graduated in
May with honors from Druid Hills
High School and is now a freshman
at Berry College in Rome, Ga.
Below right: Skits that demonstrate
how to use public transportation
in metro Atlanta keeps students
at the Global Village School for
young refugee women listening
attentively. The school serves about
30 students who had little formal
education in their home countries
because of their gender. The school
was established through a grant
from Atlanta Women’s Foundation
and is supported by a board of
directors that includes Barbara
Thompson (standing, right) and
three other members of All Saints’
Episcopal Church.
(Photos: Nan ross)
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
17
Continued from previous page
psychological strain of her shockingly poor working conditions. Her
18-year-old son had given up his dream of returning to high school to
work six, and sometimes seven, days a week alongside his father.
Fall and Winter 2009
Program Retreats
September 25–27
Living the Day with the
Heart: Nouwen Retreat
Sr. Kathleen Flood
October 4–5
Spirituality and the Arts:
Creating a Garden Sanctuary
June Mays
October 30–November 1
Seeking Our Hidden
Wholeness in Christ
The Rev. Marjorie Thompson
November 13–15
Tongued with Fire:
The Poet’s Voice and
Our Faith Journey
The Right Rev. Henry
Parsley
December 31–January 1
The Practice of Peace: A New
Year’s Mindfulness Retreat
The Rev. Gordon Peerman
and Kathy Woods
www.stmaryssewanee.org
931-598-5342
800-728-1659
18
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
Nermina was adamant. “We lost everything we owned (in Bosnia) in
15 minutes,” she said. I knew it was true: Her son’s best friend had held
the gun that forced them to run to the buses used to haul people away
and ethnically cleanse their small town of every nominally Muslim
family. The families who didn’t make the 15-minute deadline were
killed. “We lost everything in 15 minutes,” Nermina repeated. “But
the worst thing we lost was our ability to trust. We could not believe in
anything. You gave us back the ability to believe, to trust people again,
and this trust gave us the courage to fight for our own lives.”
I wish that Nermina’s story ended here, on the high note of a life
recovered. But war is the crime that keeps on giving, and the toll it
takes in physical, spiritual and psychological health lasts a lifetime
and shortens that life as it goes. Remember the cigarette and stressful
grocery-store job? Nermina came down with a savage headache
at work and lost consciousness. She died a week later without ever
waking up. The family could not afford the fees for a proper funeral
charged by a local mosque, and they asked for help to plan the
service. An All Saints’ parishioner who had already helped us bury
one Bosnian father, Djemo, made the arrangements for Nermina to
be buried in the Stone Mountain cemetery, next to Djemo and in the
midst of long rows of Confederate soldiers.
I gave Nermina’s eulogy to a crowd of mourners, equal parts Bosnian
and American. We had no imam to officiate at the Muslim service, so
a Roman Catholic nun, in one of the great ironies, played that role. I
felt anxiety about how some Bosnian friends, many of whom were just
turning to the Muslim faith, would feel about our homemade, modern
liturgy. I thought especially of one outspoken, often angry woman
whom I feared might take offense. After the mourners had thrown dirt
to cover the coffin (in the Muslim tradition), this woman came to me
with tears streaming down her face. I braced myself. “Ms. Barbara,” she
said, “You can die in a strange country if you have friends like this.”
You can die, and you can find new life, in a strange country, as long as
you have a group of people who will help you reweave the network of
community. Practical and spiritual help, in life and in death, this was
and is the beauty of the All Saints’ refugee ministry. I think it is a role
that any church can play as it joins hands with the victims of war in
our midst and helps them to feel once again that they are beloved and
loving members of the human family.
Barbara R. Thompson prepared this article for a presentation at the
Candler School of Theology, Emory University, October 13, 2008.
PEOPLE
Bishop of Atlanta J.
Neil Alexander has
appointed Ginny Heckel
of Lakemont to serve as
president of the Board of
Directors of the Episcopal
Charities Foundation,
which supports the work of
numerous ministries and nonprofit organizations in
Middle and North Georgia.
Heckel is a member of St. James’ Episcopal Church,
Clayton, where she is a eucharistic visitor and
editor of the parish newsletter. Heckel’s background
is in data management administration, program
development and statistical analysis in the area of
nonprofit organizations. She has a master’s degree
in public health and served as executive director of a
large medical research foundation in Houston.
Created in 1982, ECF responds on behalf of the
Diocese of Atlanta to the Christian imperative that
the hungry be fed, the naked clothed, the homeless
housed, and the poor be sharers in the good news of
the Gospel. Since its inception, ECF has given away
nearly $3.5 million in the name of Episcopalians in
the Diocese of Atlanta.
Dr. Dale Adelmann is the
new canon for music at
the Cathedral of St. Philip,
Atlanta. He recently was
director of music at All
Saints’ Episcopal Church,
Beverly Hills, Calif., and
earlier served as organist
and choirmaster for St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo,
N.Y., where he conducted the Choir of Men & Boys
and the Cathedral Girls’ Choir in 175 choral services
and concerts annually, led six foreign tours to sing in
residence at many of the great cathedrals of England,
and recorded three critically admired compact discs.
He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the
University of Michigan School of Music and Yale
University’s Institute of Sacred Music respectively.
He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of
Cambridge, England, and completed a Ph.D.
specializing in Anglican choral worship.
Bonnie Y. Burgess of
Atlanta has been named by
Bishop J. Neil Alexander
to serve as director of
administration and finance
for the Diocese of Atlanta.
She joined the diocesan
staff Sept. 1.
Burgess has extensive professional experience in
the area of financial services and was an executive
with Bank of America for 20 years before retiring in
2005. Since then she has worked as a consultant and
business strategist.
A member of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta,
and a lifelong Episcopalian, Burgess has lived in
Atlanta for nearly 30 years. She currently serves the
parish as junior warden and is a longtime member
of its finance committee. She also headed and for
many years has been a member of the Altar Guild.
New calls
The Rev. Harvey Hill has been called as rector of
St. James’, Cedar Hill. Ordained last June in the
Diocese of Atlanta, he also is associate professor of
religion at Berry College, Rome.
The Rev. Keith Oglesby has been called to be the
rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Cumming.
He was associate rector at St. Aidan’s, Alpharetta.
The Rev. Joseph Shippen has been called as rector
of St. James, Macon. Ordained a priest in 2006 in
the Diocese of Atlanta, Shippen also serves as a
chaplain to prisoners on death row.
The Rev. Michael R. Sullivan has been called as
rector of Holy Innocents’, Atlanta. He is the former
rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lynchburg, Va.
The Rev. Chad Vaughn has been called as rector
of St. Francis’, Macon. Ordained in the Diocese of
Atlanta in 2006, he has been serving as associate
rector of St. David’s, Austin.
Retirements
The Rev. Dr. Raymond M. Gotko retired from
active ministry Aug. 1. Gotko and his wife, Lynda,
are living in Monteagle, Tenn.
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
19
Resources
Understanding the plight
of refugees and more
by
Linda Scott
Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta Resource Center
All items mentioned here are available for loan
from the Episcopal Resource Center or for purchase
through the Cathedral Book Store. Contact Lscott@
episcopalatlanta.org, 404-601-5353, or the bookstore,
404-237-7582. Visit the Resource Center online:
www.resources.episcopalatlanta.org
My Name is Sangoel
By Karen Lynn Williams
and Khadra Mohammed;
Eerdmans, 2009
Sangoel is a refugee. Leaving
behind his homeland of Sudan,
he has little to call his own other
than his name. A poignant story
of identity and belonging that
will help young readers understand the plight of the
millions of children in the world who are refugees.
The Book of Mary
By Nicola Slee; Morehouse, 2009
Mary has been revered,
admired, discussed and
reflected upon more than any
other woman in history. These
10 chapters explore her faith
and daring, her solitude and
freedom, her companionship
and sisterhood, her sexuality and body, her wisdom
and authority, her ministry and priesthood, her pain,
her resistance and refusal, her obscurity and identity.
Gospel in the Global Village:
Seeking God’s Dream of Shalom
By Katharine Jefferts Schori; Morehouse, 2009
This book takes readers along on a spiritual
journey from Canterbury to Kansas and from the
Bronx to Brazil as Bishop Katharine reaches out
20
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
to communities of faith
with a message of justice
and peace. Focusing
on the Millennium
Development Goals, this
collection of addresses and
sermons explores issues
and challenges of deep
concern to the Anglican
Communion and to all
people of faith during the first three years of her
tenure as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Outcasts United: A Refugee
Team an American Town
By Warren St. John;
Spiegel & Grau, 2009
Warren St. John, a reporter
for The New York Times, has
written an extraordinary tale of
a refugee youth soccer team, the
Fugees, and the transformation
of a small American town, Clarkston, Ga. Clarkston
became a center of refugee settlement in the 1990s,
and this is the complex and inspiring tale of a
small town becoming a global community and the
ingenious way they create a home in a changing
world. It does this by following a pivotal season in
the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach.
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
By Neil White; Wm MorrowHarperCollins, 2009
“Daddy is going to camp”... That
is what Neil White, journalist
and magazine editor told his
children when a judge sentenced
him to18 months at the Federal
Medical Center in Carville, La.
Hidden away along the Mississippi River, this small
circle of outcasts—prisoners, leprosy patients and
guards, and the nuns and doctors who cared for
them, forged a tenacious, clandestine community,
to repel the cruelty of the outside world. An
Episcopalian, White draws you in as he rediscovers
the value of simplicity, friendship and gratitude.
Connected: You and
God in the Psalms
By Peter Wallace;
Morehouse, 2009
Using 90 selected psalms
as a basis for meditation,
Peter Wallace has written an
inspirational guide for people
from high school age through
adulthood. He presents fresh ideas for finding ways
to connect with God, with one another, and with
the joys and tragedies of the world around us.
Good Influence: Teaching the
Wisdom of Adulthood
By Daniel R. Heischman; Morehouse, 2009
Youth and young adults desperately seek to develop
an inner core that will rescue them in times of
distress and help them to define and shape moral
convictions, passions and interests in building a
better world. This book helps
adults understand what young
people are searching for,
describes how to have a lasting
impact on a child or student’s
development, teaches credible
models of adulthood, and guides
adults towards achieving the
passion and wisdom for spiritual mentorship.
To Bless a Child
By Roy G. Pollina;
Morehouse Education
Resources, 2009
This 48-page book invites
parents, grandparents and
anyone who loves and
regularly cares for a child to
establish a lifelong tradition
of “blessing”—praying and
hoping good things for a
child, with divine intent. The first half of the book
establishes the power and authority for blessing
children through examining its biblical foundations.
The second half takes the reader through five steps
for constructing a blessing.
J o h n M c Q u i s to n
is proud to present the
Third An n uAl
JAne BAird lec Ture
“daily Beginnings:
A Benedictine Approach
to contemporary life”
f e at uring
John McQuiston
Lawyer and Author
thursday, november 12, 2009
7:00 p.m. in Child hall of
the Cathedral of st. Philip
J o h n M c Q u i sto n is an attorney and a lay leader in his
congregation in Memphis, tennessee. After discovering st. Benedict’s
Rule, author McQuiston interpreted and restated the ancient system
of spiritual living, enabling today’s reader to understand and make
use of its remarkable insights.
2744 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
www.cathedralbookstore.com
The lecture is free, but reservations are required.
Please call 404-237-7582 or email [email protected]
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
21
FEATURE
It takes a school
Holy Innocents’ becomes home
for orphaned refugees
by
“They deserved
our respect,
our compassion,
and our help.”
Peggy J. Shaw
Home. That’s how
Kartee Johnson,
a former Liberian
refugee, thinks of
Holy Innocents’
Episcopal School
(HIES) in Sandy
Springs.
—Meredith Many,
Holy Innocents’
math teacher
Just two years
ago, Kartee and
his orphaned
siblings arrived in Clarkston, an Atlanta suburb,
with little more than a memory of their late mother
telling them to stay together and get an education.
Now, three of the children have scholarships to
college, and the youngest is a junior at the school
that made it all possible.
“Holy Innocents’ assisting us was an incredible
thing,” said Kartee from his dorm room at Berry
College in Rome. “I think that is the first great thing
anyone ever offered me in my lifetime, and I was
really happy to receive it. It became more than a
school. I felt like I was home.”
Kartee and his twin brother, Sam, big sister Helena,
and youngest sister, Elizabeth, first came to HIES in
the summer of 2007.
“We had some folks from the school and the church
gathered to hear their story,” remembered Chris
Pomar, director of admissions. “And the children
had to take turns telling their story because it was
so emotional. The room was just silent. No one had
ever heard anything like this.”
Since the Johnsons had been schooled in French,
HIES first offered tutoring. Teachers and students
spent summer days helping the kids improve their
22
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
English and catch up on coursework. After just a
few weeks, however, volunteers developed strong
feelings about keeping the resilient and personable
kids at Holy Innocents’.
“I thought they needed this,” emphasized math
teacher Meredith Many. “They’d been through
so much, and they deserved our respect, our
compassion, and our help.”
And administrators agreed. “Everyone was
so impressed by these kids,” said Pomar.
“And I thought the worst thing you could
do was separate them. They needed one
another, and needed to be together.”
After the students received their scholarships,
parents, teachers, administrators, and Holy
Innocents’ Episcopal Church members rallied to
help—finding the kids a better apartment, as well
as getting them food stamps, groceries, and extras
like occasional pizzas. Volunteers also charted an
elaborate car-pool schedule to help the Johnsons
get back and forth to campus, doctors’ offices, the
supermarket, shops, church services, and even
soccer practices and matches.
Kartee now sees the generosity as a gift from God.
“My mom was a great believer, and she passed this
on to each and every one of us,” he said. “I think
it was the will of God that we got to come here
in the first place and meet the people from Holy
Innocents’. And God’s work is still going on.”
Last year, one Holy Innocents’ family donated a
used car, and, when graduation grew near, more
assistance was given. Erin Ainor, director of college
counseling, for example, guided the seniors through
complicated applications, and English teacher Niki
Simpson prepped them for college essays.
And all the hard work and
dedication paid off. Helena
is now enrolled at Georgia
Perimeter College, Sam’s
beginning his first year at Mercer
University, and Elizabeth is
a junior at Holy Innocents’.
And Kartee—who wanted to stay
close to his sisters—is a freshman
at Berry. “When I toured the
campus I really liked it,” said
Kartee. “Then I heard the story
of Berry being built to help the
people who couldn’t afford to go
to school, and it touched me.”
Kartee hopes to be a pre-med
major, and Sam plans to go
back to Africa and work with
children in a refugee camp. “I
want to help them with their
education, or work with kids
who don’t have medical care,
so the camp can be more safe
for them,” he explained.
This school year, volunteers are
continuing to help the Johnsons.
Meredith Many, however,
believes that it is also important
for members of the community
to look at what the children have
done for them.
“You think that you have reached
out a helping hand, but they give
so much back,” Many explained.
“The students learned from
them. They respected what these
children had been through, and
they saw their determination and
commitment to education.
“They have a special place in my
heart,” said the math teacher,
who has become a special friend.
“And I’m a better person for
having known them.”
Above: The Johnson siblings, from left: Sam, Helena, Kartee and
Elizabeth (HIES classes of ‘09, ‘08, ‘09 and ‘11 respectively). (Photo: hies)
Journey to Georgia
Helena, Kartee, Sam and Elizabeth Johnson, orphaned refugees from
West Africa, lost their father to mob violence in the late 1990s. The
family fled on foot to Guinea, where they lived in camps for eight years.
After their mother’s tragic death in 2007, the Johnson children were
transported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the
U.S. and resettled through the Refugee Resettlement and Immigration
Service (RRISA) in Decatur.
Then, at the Saturday School tutoring program for teenage refugees, the
brothers and sisters caught the attention of Barbara Thompson, a founder
of Dekalb County’s International Community School.
“I could hear in their voices their yearning for a good education,”
recalled Thompson. “It seemed to me that, as survivors of one of the
world’s most brutal civil wars, they had suffered enough.”
Wanting the Johnsons to have “the loving care of a Christian community,”
Thompson contacted Chris Pomar, director of admissions at Holy Innocents’
Episcopal School (HIES). Thompson secretly hoped that the school would
give at least one child a scholarship. Eventually, however, administrators
made the challenging decision to offer scholarships to all four.
“We had no experience dealing with anything like this,” said Head of
School Kirk Duncan. “I was hesitant to jump into uncharted waters—
bringing in a group of students who were still learning English and whose
academic background was very different from ours. I was worried not
only about the effect it might have on our classrooms, but also on the
Johnson kids themselves, suddenly dropping them into a group of highachieving American kids. That’s not an easy decision.”
“But Chris Pomar quickly put things into perspective for me. He said,
‘Kirk, we’re an Episcopal school—we have to do this. It’s what our mission
is all about.’ And he was absolutely right.”
In that first 2007-2008 school year, Helena entered Holy Innocents’ as
a senior, Kartee and Sam were juniors, and Elizabeth was enrolled as a
freshman. Now, three of the children attend college and Elizabeth is in
her junior year at HIES.
As graduating seniors, Helena, Kartee, and Sam have each won the
school’s coveted Excellence in Moral Courage Award. And because of his
experience at Holy Innocents’, Kartee said he would offer this advice to
other refugees: “I would tell them that the United States is a great place,
a place of opportunity,” he reflected. “And I would tell them if I could go
through all of these struggles then they, too, could do it.”
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
23
Churchwide
Church responds faithfully
to the uprooted
by
John Denaro
As one who promotes the work of Episcopal
Migration Ministries, I’m grateful for the insight of
a colleague who refers to the Bible as a handbook on
service to refugees and immigrants.
In the world today are more than 14-million refugees,
people who have fled their homeland and cannot
return for fear of persecution based on their race,
religion, or membership in a social or political group.
Our scriptures are filled with calls to care for the
sojourner and the foreigner in our midst. And the
experience of exile by the likes of Abraham, Moses,
the Israelites in the wilderness, Ruth, and, of course,
Jesus—who as an infant was delivered from the
threat of violence in his home country to safety in
Egypt—reveals the essential need for us to respond
faithfully to the uprooted.
EMM, with nine other national institutions, assists
a small fraction of all refugees each year through
resettlement. (Another 20 million people are
internally displaced within the borders of their home
countries and are not eligible for resettlement.) Some
of the refugees EMM serve join family members
previously resettled in the U.S. Others do not have
“an anchor relative” here and must make their way
in their new home country on their own.
It is something of a revelation to many folks in our
churches that for nearly three decades, through
a formal program of the U.S. government, and
informally for decades prior, the Episcopal Church
has extended welcome and hospitality to people
forcibly displaced by violence and oppression who
have come to our shores in search of safety and a
chance to rebuild their lives.
In the mid-1970s, Episcopal parishes, along with
congregations of many faiths, opened their hearts
and doors to several hundred-thousand Vietnamese
refugees after the fall of Saigon. The compassionate
and generous response of Americans to these
vulnerable souls—with the faith community taking
the lead—is arguably one major reason our country
has persisted in resettling refugees ever since.
The Refugee Act of 1980 etched into law a
foreign-policy strategy to extend a hand of hope to
individuals fleeing repressive regimes and to relieve
the burden refugees create for neighboring countries
that first receive them. It also provided a ready
means for us to live out a biblical mandate to show
compassion for the sojourner and to welcome the
stranger with whom Jesus so strongly identified.
24
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
In every case, an EMM affiliate office—like
Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of
Atlanta (or RRISA)—provides basic services and
support to these newcomers. RRISA’s outstanding
work recently earned it the designation of a Jubilee
Center of the Episcopal Church.
This year in a sermon she preached on World
Refugee Day, our presiding bishop, the Most Rev.
Katharine Jefferts Schori, invited us to see ourselves
in the refugee, when she said: “…we all yearn for a
place to lay our heads, raise children, feed families,
find meaningful employment and a place in
community that will care we exist.”
In the Diocese of Atlanta many parishes have
demonstrated an exceptional commitment to
refugees. Your willingness to share the journey
of the uprooted provides an ongoing example for
ministry that can invigorate the mission spirit
of congregations and tap into the heart of our
Christian identity.
The Rev. John Denaro is Episcopal Migration Ministries’ program
officer for sponsorship and media development.
gener al convention
General Convention in review
In the end, decisions encourage
local initiative and mission
by
Samuel G. Candler
It has been weeks since the General Convention
of the Episcopal Church concluded, and much of
its heat—whether indicative of fire or not—has
subsided. I remember a time, just 30 years ago,
when most Episcopal parishioners had little idea
what occurred every three years in the legislative
councils of the Episcopal Church. Then, of course,
in a double step forward, the Episcopal Church
General Convention allowed women to be ordained
priests and, at almost the same time, authorized a
new Book of Common Prayer.
Those two events, around 1979, would have lasting
effects on local congregations of the Episcopal
Church. This year, in 2009, when every decision
of General Convention is quickly delivered around
the world in internet seconds, one wonders which
actions of General Convention will truly have
immediate, or even lasting, effect on local parishes.
My own review of the Episcopal Church after
General Convention 2009 is that we have reiterated,
and claimed our dependence upon, local initiatives
for ministry in this church. On the controversial
sexuality issues of the day, the Episcopal Church
recognized pastoral generosity at the local level.
On matters relating to the wider Anglican
Communion, the Episcopal Church has urged local
parishes, and dioceses and individuals, to develop
personal and missional relationships themselves.
I especially appreciated this Convention’s work
on ecumenical and inter-religious relationships;
again, our Episcopal Church recognized that good
and healthy ecumenical relationships occur most
authentically at the local level.
Perhaps the most dramatic decision of General
Convention was the Episcopal Church budget for the
next three years. Surely everyone recognizes that the
global economic recalibration has affected even our
local parishes, and certainly our larger offices. The
Episcopal Church passed a budget which eliminated
some major staff positions at the national level; the
budget assumes that some of those offices will no
longer exist. There was understandable lament at
those decisions.
On the other hand, that very budget was also part
of a de-centralization theme, a theme of local
initiative, which lay in the background of almost
every General Convention action this summer.
Just because the national office of the Episcopal
Church cannot finance a certain ministry does not
mean that the ministry ceases to exist. Indeed, the
ministry—whatever it might be—might flourish
more wonderfully if it starts and develops at the local
level—at the level of vibrant parishes! Even more
critically, the Episcopal Church did restore major
outreach funding levels; it did not balance the budget
by cutting mission efforts outside the church.
The only exception to this theme of de-centralization
was also important. We passed a resolution
authorizing a denominational health insurance
plan for The Episcopal Church. In doing so, the
Church hopes to take advantage of more negotiating
strength in the matters of health insurance. Health
care may be one area where larger could be better.
How did General Convention 2009 affect us at
the local level? Simply put, General Convention
expressed the very need for local initiative in
the Episcopal Church. The vigor of Anglican
Christianity continues to be most real in vibrant
parishes and in the energy of faithful parishioners.
The Episcopal Church, and any church, is at its
most effective when it encourages and enables such
local energy and mission.
The Very Rev. Sam Candler is dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip
and a six-time deputy to General Convention.
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
25
gener al convention
EDITOR’s NOTE: Here is a summary of
What the Episcopal Church
did at General Convention:
a summary of key actions
key actions taken by the Episcopal Church
by
David Skidmore
at its 76th General Convention in Anaheim,
Calif, July 8–17. The resolution numbers are
given in parentheses, and the full text of all
resolutions (original and as amended) is available
at http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/
The Episcopal Church:
Christian formation (A083)
Added a new role, lay
evangelist, to the list of possible
licensed ministries (A064)
Affirmed access to the ordination
process for all the baptized,
and affirmed its commitment
to and support of the Anglican
Communion (D025)
Called for the creation of
an “evangelism toolkit” for
congregations and dioceses (A066)
Called for a major strategic
vision for outreach to Latino/
Hispanic people (D038)
Called for development of resources
for formation in Episcopal identity
and leadership in the church (B013)
Adopted the Five Marks of Mission
of the Anglican Communion as its
five top strategic priorities (D027)
Approved a charter for lifelong
Christian formation (A082)
and called for all dioceses to
develop a strategy the lifelong
Approved full communion with the
Moravian Church (A073) and an
agreement for continued dialogue
with the Presbyterian Church (A075)
Approved an interim eucharistic
sharing with the United Methodist
Church and starting a dialogue
with the historic African American
Methodist Churches (D054)
Encouraged congregations
to raise awareness of health
ministry and implement it as a
vital part of their life (A077)
Called on the House of Bishops and
Standing Commission on Music and
Liturgy to develop an open process
for church-wide participation in
developing theological resources and
liturgies for same-gender blessings,
for consideration in 2012 (C056)
Adopted a new liturgical resource
to assist individuals and families
dealing with childbirth and
the loss of children (A088)
Added additional commemorations
to the church calendar, Holy
Women, Holy Men: Celebrating
the Saints (A095) (A096)
Established a mandatory lay
pension plan for lay employees
working a minimum of 1,000 hours
in a congregation, diocese or other
Episcopal church body (A138)
Approved a church-wide health
insurance plan for all dioceses,
congregations, and affiliated
organizations (A177)
Encouraged each diocese to enter
into a companion relationship with
a diocese of the Episcopal Church of
Sudan, and to include a prayer for
peace in each public liturgy (D007)
Recommitted to being an
antiracist church (A143) and to
research the church’s complicity
in the slave trade (A142)
Reaffirmed financial support
for Jubilee Ministries in the
fight against poverty (A154)
Called the church to speak out
against domestic violence and
for clergy and lay leaders to be
trained in its prevention (D096)
Affirmed due process of law for all
living in the U.S., and called for
implementation of comprehensive
immigration reform (B006)
Agreed to restrict the use of bottled
water at General Convention and
to encourage members to practice
water conservation (A045)
Approved the revision of the
clergy discipline canons of Title IV,
giving more emphasis to healing,
repentance and reconciliation (A185)
26
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
gener al convention
Convention asks dioceses
for less money, reduces
church-wide spending
e p i sc opa l n e ws s e rv ic e
1
The 76th General Convention adopted a $141 million
budget for 2010-2012 that asks for less money from
dioceses and drastically reduces church-wide spending
by $23 million.
Some church-wide programs will be eliminated under the
budget, encouraging more mission work to take place in
dioceses and congregations. At least 30 of the 180 people
employed by the Episcopal Church in its New York and
regional offices were in position to lose their jobs.
The next General Convention could be two days shorter,
and interim church bodies will meet face-to-face less
frequently during the triennium. The Episcopal Church’s
provincial contribution to the budget of the Anglican
Communion Office would decrease by a third.
2
The Program Budget and Finance Committee restored
a budget line item dedicating 0.7 percent of income to
U.N. Millennium Development Goals work that had been
cut from a draft version of the budget, and added a
corresponding percentage for domestic-poverty initiatives.
PBF’s proposal predicts total triennial income of
$141,271,984, with $79,161,193 coming from the dioceses
and $27.6 million from investment income. Expenses
are budgeted at $140,856,531. Those figures compare
with the projected bottom line of the current 20072009 triennial budget of $164,863,529 in revenue and
$163,934,334 in expenses.
Diocesan income amounts to 56 percent of revenue and
investment income accounts for 20 percent. Sixteen
percent of triennial income, or a predicted $22.8
million, will come from government money granted
to the church for its refugee resettlement work. Eight
percent ($11.6 million) will come from other income,
including such items as rental income, advertising,
subscriptions and merchandise sales.
3
SCENES FROM gener al convention
(From top right)
1. Bishops and deputies pause during a rare joint
session of their houses. From left are Canon Rick
Callaway, Bishop Keith Whitmore, Bishop J. Neil
Alexander, the Rev. Rob Wood, Vicky Partin, Canon
Alicia Schuster Weltner, Dean Sam Candler, Richard
Perry, the Rev. Mac Thigpen, the Rev. Claiborne Jones,
Arthur Villarreal, Gini Peterson, John Andrews, Bruce
Garner and Janet Peterson.
2. Deputies Alicia Schuster Weltner and Sam Candler
listen attentively during proceedings of the House of
Deputies. (Photo: bill monk)
3. The Diocese of Atlanta’s Kay Meyer of St. Andrew’s,
Fort Valley, fills up the big screen during her address
to the House of Deputies on behalf of Episcopal Church
Women. Meyer completed her three-term as national
4
president at the ECW Triennial Meeting, which met
during the General Convention. (Photo: nan ross)
4. Margaret Cash of the Diocese of New York
expresses her delight as Presiding Bishop Katharine
Jefferts Schori gives her an ECW cross that she
blessed at the opening ceremony for the 46th
Episcopal Church Women’s Triennial. ECW National
President Kay Meyer (center) assisted her in
presenting a cross to every woman in attendance.
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
27
SPECIAL EVENT
Annual Council to
feature visit from the
Presiding Bishop
Presiding Bishop Katharine
Jefferts Schori will make
her first official visit to
the Diocese of Atlanta for
the diocese’s 103rd Annual
Council Nov. 6-7 at the
Cathedral of St. Philip.
Bishop Jefferts Schori
will preach and celebrate
Holy Communion at 5:30
p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at
the Cathedral, 2744
Peachtree Road, Atlanta.
The service is open to
all. A noontime barbecue the following day on the
Cathedral grounds also will be open to the diocesan
community. There will be a charge for the meal.
During her stay, Bishop Jefferts Schori will address
clergy and delegates for the opening session of the 103rd
Annual Council on Friday morning. In the afternoon,
she is expected to visit several diocesan ministries.
Events for the community
with the Presiding Bishop:
Annual Council Eucharist
5:30 p.m., Nov. 6, The Cathedral of St. Philip
Diocesan Barbecue
Noon, Nov. 7, The Cathedral of St. Philip
(requires ticket purchase)
Sunday Worship Services
9:00 and 11:15 a.m., Nov. 8
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta
For more information: www.episcopalatlanta.org
Before departing from Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Bishop
Jefferts Schori will preach and celebrate Holy Eucharist
at both Sunday services Nov. 8 at St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church, 306 Peyton Road, Atlanta.
Bishop Jefferts Schori was elected the 26th presiding
bishop of the Episcopal Church during the General
Convention in 2006. She is the first woman to serve as
presiding bishop and is the first female primate in the
Anglican Communion.
The 103rd Annual Council will be hosted by the MidAtlanta Convocation, whose dean is the Very Rev. Robert
Wright, rector of St. Paul’s, Atlanta. Janet Patterson of
Athens chairs the planning committee for the meeting.
Council materials are in the mail to clergy and delegates.
Oct. 1 is the deadline for nominations, resolutions and
proposed changes to the diocesan constitution and
canons. Information will be posted on the diocesan
website, www.episcopalatlanta.org.
This easy-to-understand brochure
helps make both theological and
financial sense of how churches
are supported. Authored by
stewardship consultant Rob Townes,
“Understanding Financial Support
for Churches” is a valuable asset for
all church stewardship efforts.
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PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
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Order this and our other publications
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Gifts of Stock
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To order, call (770) 988-8111 or
go to www.sinclairtownes.com
and click “Fund Raising Store.”
28
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EDITOR’s NOTE: Receive free weekly
Events around the
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e-news from the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
via Connecting, named best E-newsletter by
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Have an event to publicize? Send information
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SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
Mozart’s ‘Solemn Vespers,’ Sept. 25
The Epiphany Choir will perform Mozart’s seldom-heard
“Vesperaesolennes de confessore” with members of
the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and soprano Wanda
Yang Temko at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at the Episcopal
Church of the Epiphany, 2089 Ponce de Leon Ave.,
Atlanta. The all-Mozart program, directed by Epiphany’s
organist and choirmaster Jamie Shiell, also includes
the Exultate Jubilate, Epistle Sonatas and Ave Verum.
Admission is free. Information: 404-373-8338
Global Mission Conference,
Oct. 3
The 5th Annual Diocese
of Atlanta Global Mission
Conference is Oct. 3 at the
Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744
Peachtree Road, Atlanta.
Keynote speaker is (pictured
right) David Myers, Ph.D., a
political science professor, consultant on Latin American
opinion polling and chair of the Diocese of Central
Pennsylvania’s companion relationship with the Episcopal
Church in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Also featured are interactive
workshops exploring the Millennium Development Goals.
The day closes with Holy Eucharist. Participants are
invited to bring displays that reflect their parish’s global
mission experiences. Registration deadline is Oct 1; $15
covers materials, lunch and refreshments. Information:
www.episcopalatlanta.org or contact Terry Franzen,
[email protected] or 770-248-2882
Healing Mission, Sept. 25-27
The Rev. Jack and Anna Marie Sheffield, founders of
Deep River Ministries, will lead the Harvest of Healing
Mission at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus Sept.
25-27. Sponsored by the Chattahoochee Valley Chapter
of the Order of St. Luke the Physician, the event
features workshops, worship, music, praise, thanksgiving
and healing services. The mission begins at 6:30 p.m.
Friday and concludes at 6 p.m. Sunday. Registration
is $10. Information: Barbara Rivers, 706-327-2230 or
[email protected]
Art and Wine Festival and Sale, Sept. 26
Christ Episcopal Church, Norcross, will host an Art and
Wine Festival and Sale—“Fete des Arts et du Vin”—from
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at 400 Holcomb
Bridge Road, Norcross. Featured will be local and Haitian
artists and a variety of wines for tasting. The event
benefits the school of St. Joseph of Arimathea Episcopal
Mission in Jasmin, Haiti, a remote village lacking
electricity, clean water and a reliable food source.
Information: 770-447-1166
Renaissance Festival, Sept. 26
A Renaissance Festival is planned from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 26, at St. Teresa’s Episcopal Church,
5725 Fords Road, Acworth. Entertainment includes a
horse show, pony rides and a jousting game for kids,
plus a magician, juggler, a bird show with hunting
falcons and much more. Special vendors and foods are
included. Tickets are $12. Information: 770-590-9040 or
http://saintteresa.episcopalatlanta.org
Young Adult Summit, Oct. 16-18
Young adults from the Diocese of Atlanta and other
Province IV dioceses will meet Oct. 16-18 at Mikell
Camp and Conference Center in Toccoa for the second
annual Young Adult Summit. Their special guest for the
weekend will be Bishop of Atlanta J. Neil Alexander.
Sponsored by DAYA (Diocese of Atlanta Young Adults),
the gathering includes workshops, a panel discussion
and plenty of free time. Information: lwoody@
episcopalatlanta.org or www.youngadultsummit.org
A Day with Richard Rohr, Oct. 24
Richard Rohr, priest, noted author and founder of the
Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque,
N.M., is featured at a “Day with Richard Rohr: The
Intersection of Prayer and Life in the 21st Century” at
the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta. Tickets are $40;
includes lunch. Information: www.stphilipscathedral.org
or 404-365-1000
ECW Annual Meeting, Oct. 24
Episcopal Church Women from throughout the Diocese
of Atlanta will gather for their 102nd annual meeting
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at St. Andrew’s
in the Pines, Peachtree City. Guest speaker is Kathryn
Bryan, director of program support for The Friendship
Center at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, Atlanta,
who will talk about “Friendship as Outreach that Serves
Us All.” Also planned is a celebration of service for the
diocesan ECW’s chaplain, the Rev. Audrey Burdett. A
registration fee of $15 per person covers lunch and door
prizes and is due Oct. 10. Information: Diane Burrows,
706-367-9840 or [email protected]
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
29
destinations continued
Heart & Soul Festival, Oct. 27
Episcopal Church of the Holy Family, Jasper, will host
its annual Heart & Soul Festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 17. The day includes a yard sale, coffee
bistro, live music, barbecue, silent auction, bake and
book sales and children’s activities. Proceeds benefit
several local charities including the Good Samaritan
Health and Wellness Center, which provides food and
health care for children and adults in Pickens County.
The church is at 202 Griffith Road in Jasper. Information:
770-893-4525 or [email protected]
Brueggemann lecture, Oct. 29
Scholar and author Walter Brueggemann will deliver
the 2009 Ann Evans Woodall Lecture speaking on “The
Common Cup” at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 at All Saints’ Episcopal
Church, 634 West Peachtree Road, Atlanta. Brueggmann
says: “Think about the four verbs used in the Eucharist:
take, bless, break and give. This is the grounding of our
mission to the world, and it transforms into ‘missional
energy’ for us to perform God’s work on earth.” No
charge, reservation, or ticket required. Information:
404-267-267-4273 or [email protected]
NOVEMBER
Walk the Road to Emmaus House, Nov. 1
Emmaus House will host its fourth annual Walk the Road
event from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at 1017 Hank
Aaron Drive, Atlanta 30315.The afternoon includes a
walk around the neighborhood, an art sale, a cookout
and an open house. “We promise challenging and fun
learning opportunities and an introduction to some
saints in our neighborhood,” said the Rev. Claiborne
Jones, vicar and director. Participants are encouraged
to bring canned goods for the food pantry and school
supplies for Emmaus House children. Information:
[email protected] or 404-525-5948
Jane Baird Lecture, Nov. 12
John McQuiston, Memphis attorney and author of works
interpreting and restating St. Benedict’s ancient rule of
life, will deliver the Cathedral Book Store’s third annual
Jane Baird Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at the
Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road, Atlanta. He
will discuss “Daily Beginnings: A Benedictine Approach to
Contemporary Life.” Admission is free, but reservations
are required: 404-237-7582 or cbs3mindspring.com
JANUARY
40th Trinity Institute, Jan. 27-29
“Building an Ethical Economy: Theology and the
Marketplace” is the theme Jan. 27-29 for the 40th
Trinity Institute, which will be presented locally in live,
interactive broadcasts through the Diocese of Atlanta’s
Institute for Ministry & Theological Education. Speakers
will include Rowan Williams, the 104th archbishop of
Canterbury; Partha Dasgupta, professor of economics
at the University of Cambridge; Katherine Tanner,
professor of theology at the University of Chicago
Divinity School; and Bernard Ntahoturi, archbishop
of the Anglican Church of Burundi. Host sites in the
Diocese of Atlanta include St. Gregory the Great
Church in Athens and St. Martin
in the Fields Church in Atlanta.
Information and registration:
Nancy Armstrong, 404-601-5357 or
[email protected],
or Linda Scott, 404-601-5353 lscott@
episcopalatlanta.org or visit http://
imte.episcopalatlanta.org.
Foundations Certification Course
Begins, Jan. 29-30
The two-year Foundations for
Christian Education Certification
Course explores music, sacraments,
liturgy, church history, policy,
missiology, ethics, The Book
of Common Prayer, biblical
interpretation, issues in teaching
and learning, faith formation, family
systems, and the church year.
Orientation and certification classes
in liturgy, music and sacraments
will be Jan. 29-30 at Montara Farm,
near Atlanta. Retreat faculty are
Bishop Keith Whitmore, the Rev.
Todd Smelser and RuthElizabeth
Conine-Nakano. Information and
registration: Nancy Armstrong,
404-601-5357 or narmstrong@
episcopalatlanta.org, or Linda
Scott, 404-601-5353 lscott@
episcopalatlanta.org or visit http://
imte.episcopalatlanta.org
30
PATHWAYS Fall 20 09
REFLECTION
A prayer for refugees and immigrants
Blessed are You, God of all nations.
You bless our land richly with gifts of the earth and with people created in your image.
Grant that we will be stewards and peacemakers, who live as your children.
Blessed are You, Lord Jesus Christ.
You crossed every border between divinity and humanity to make your home with us.
Help us to welcome you in refugees, immigrants and all newcomers to our nation.
Blessed are You, Holy Spirit.
You work in the hearts of all to bring about harmony and goodwill.
Strengthen us in human solidarity and in hope.
All-loving God, grant us vision to recognize your presence in our midst,
especially in the stranger among us. Give us courage to open the door
to our neighbors and grace to build a kingdom community. Amen.
Authors are Mark McGregor, a member of the Society of Jesus, and John Denaro,
an Episcopal priest on the staff of Episcopal Migration Ministries.
w w w.episcopalatlanta.org
31
The EP
EPISCOPAL
SCOPAL D
DIOCESE
OCESE of ATLANTA
2744 Peachtree Road, Atlanta,
At anta, GA 30305
(404)
404 601-5320 or (800)
800 537-6743
www.episcopalatlanta.org
www.episcopa at anta.org
M u s i c at t H E c at H E D R a L O F s t. P H i L i P 2 0 0 9 - 2 010
Dale Adelmann, Canon for Music
David Fishburn, Associate Organist/Choirmaster
Timothy Gunter, Coordinator for Music
2744 Peachtree Road, NW,
Atlanta, GA 30305
www.stphilipscathedral.org
concert tickets may be purchased online or at the door
prior to all performances. for more information: call
404-365-1050 or visit www.stphilipscathedral.org
catHedr al c oncertS
emile t. fisher lenten concert
Friday, 12 March, 7:30 p.m.
Cathedral Choir, Dale Adelmann, conductor
Tickets $15
atlanta Summer organ festival
Wednesday, 30 June, 7:30 p.m.
Ned Tipton, organ; Tickets $10
SPecial liturgical e VentS
Sunday, november 1, at 4 p.m.
Choral Requiem Mass (Fauré) for All Saints’ Day
Monday, november 2, at 7 p.m.
Homeless Requiem
Sunday, november 29, at 4 p.m.
Advent Procession with the Cathedral Choir
Sunday, december 20, at 4 p.m.
Christmas Lessons & Carols with the Cathedral Schola
Sunday, January 10, at 4 p.m.
Choral Eucharist for the Feast of the Epiphany
Sunday, february 14, at 4 p.m.
Eucharist for the Feast of Absalom Jones
Wednesday, february 17, at 12:15 p.m. & 7 p.m.
Holy Eucharist for Ash Wednesday with the Cathedral Schola
Sunday, March 28, at 4 p.m.
Readings & Carols for Lent with the Cathedral Schola
thursday, april 1, at 7 p.m.
Holy Eucharist for Maundy Thursday
with the Cathedral Choir
friday, april 2, at noon and 7 p.m.
Liturgy for Good Friday with the Cathedral Schola
Sunday, May 16, at 4 p.m.
Choral Eucharist for Ascension Sunday with
the Cathedral Choir and Choristers
Sunday af terno on recital SerieS
3:15 p.m. on Sundays prior to Evensong at 4 p.m.
SeP teMBer
13
Arlan Sunnarborg, organ
20
Alvin Blount, organ
27
David Pickering, organ
o c to Ber
4
Albert Ahlstrom, organ
11
Federico Andreoni, organ
18
Jamie Shiell, organ
25
Perimeter Flutes
n oV eMBer
1
Gail Archer, organ
8
David Lamb, organ
15
John Richardson, organ
Ja nua ry
10
Derrick Goff, organ
17
Joe Arndt, organ
24
Karen Christianson, organ
31
Brian Luckett, guitar; Nicole Randall, flute
feBrua ry
7
Leon W. Couch III, organ
14
Clayton State Chorale
21
John Dautzenberg, organ
28
Ennio Cominetti, organ
M a rcH
7
J. Clark, organ
21
Hillary Sullivan, organ
a Pril
11
Caroline Robinson, organ
18
Barbara Salter, organ
25
David H. Brock, organ
M ay
2
9
16
Bill Callaway, organ
Roger Sayer, organ
Richard Pilliner, organ