Houston Congregation Offers Hope Against Racism
"They needed us as much as we needed them," Cornelius Perry says of the two Houston congregations that came together four years ago to create Hope Episcopal Church. At the time, Perry was a member of the primarily-black Incarnation Episcopal, which he describes as a "small, family-oriented church." Unable to maintain itself without diocesan support, the church was scheduled to be closed in 2005.
Located about a quarter-mile down the road was St. Michael's, another small Episcopal church with money problems. The difference? St. Michael's was predominately white. With both parishes facing hard times, it wasn't long before the two began talking about pooling their resources.
"We found we had more in common than we realized," says Perry. "We formed a lot of small groups and began meeting." In time, their union was approved by the Diocese of Texas, and the resulting congregation adopted a new name--Hope Episcopal. Among its first acts was the calling of their rector, the Rev. Martha Frances.
"There've been some struggles," admits Perry, who currently serves as senior warden. Not the least of these challenges was adjusting to the fact that Hope Episcopal was now occupying space once owned by St. Michael's, whose facilities were in much better shape than Incarnation's. "There were cultural differences,too," Perry adds, "but we all have the same mission. Not a lot of people left [following the merger], probably 10 percent from each church."
Part of that "same mission," Perry says, is increasing awareness of multicultural ministries in the Diocese of Texas. To this end, Perry and two other individuals were invited to participate in last summer's Kaleidoscope Institute in Los Angeles. There they were trained to share the fundamentals of the program with parishes around the diocese.
Founded in 2006 by the Rev. Eric Law, who had been working in multicultural relations since the late 1980s, the Institute currently offers two training sessions a year, a two-week long program in the summer and a more intense one-week program in the winter. Each session comprises two courses taught consecutively--Fundamental Skills for Building Inclusive Community, and Model and Processes for Community Transformation.
In addition to the sessions held in Los Angeles, a four-day Kaleidoscope Institute is hosted each year by the Diocese of Texas at Camp Allen. The Diocese has also implemented the Fertile Ground Project, which offers one and a half-day workshops at the invitation of parishes and other groups. As its brochure explains, the Fertile Ground Project is "designed to introduce new ideas, theories and skills to clergy and laity in order to create more inclusive communities. It is a program designed to address issues facing our churches today around topics of culture awareness, racism sensitivity, and other topics surrounding these sensitive issues. It is designed to help people explore these issues in a safe, non-threatening manner."
As Cornelius Perry puts it, "We need to learn to communicate with each other."
Click here to learn more about Kaleidoscope and Fertile Ground. Download a copy of Fertile Ground's brochure here.
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