CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH ASTROP EXAS Come & … · word, episcopos, meaning overseer or elder, has been used since the early church to identify those elect-ed to lead our faith communities.

“The purpose of

the church

calendar, in a

rather grand

nutshell, is to

remind us that

‘the human

family dwells

continually at

the intersection

of time and

eternity.’”

If there is a theme for this newslet-

ter (and that’s not a rhetorical

question), it’s the variety of experi-

ences and interests of Calvary

Episcopal Church and its people.

Tressa Vainwright, writes passion-

ately of the need to confront the

issue of child abuse in this commu-

nity, Amy Carroll updates us on

Calvary Episcopal School, which continues to thrive and develop

into an excellent educational op-

portunity for the children of

June 2013

Inside this issue:

Changes at Calvary 2

Putting the Bishop’s

Visit in Context

3

Imagine Blue 4

Calvary Episcopal

School—Growing

with Its Students

5

The Church in the

Lands of Its Birth

6

Calvary Episcopal

Church, a History

Continued

7

What’s Happening

@ Calvary

VBC 2013

Back

Cover

CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BASTROP, TEXAS

From the Rector/Editor

Come & See

Bastrop. Carol Brown puts in

perspective the June 9 visit of Bish-

op Dena Harrison. John Cum-

mings shares his insights into the

churches of the Middle East, and

Ken Kesselus continues his history

of Calvary to help us know better

who we are.

We have devoted a page to tracking

the changes in the faces of leader-

ship at Calvary, and we have includ-

ed a few photographs from the

past three months. As always, for

more photographs, calendar infor-

mation, and announcements, visit us

at www.cecbastrop.org,. Photo

Galleries can be found under the

Communications tab. To stay in

touch, “like” us on Facebook.

The “summer scatter” is upon us. If

you are traveling this summer, send

us a postcard to collect on a bulletin

board in the Parish Hall. And please

keep us in your prayers; we will hold

you in ours until your return.

Lisa +

Calvary Episcopal Church, Bastrop

All photographs in

this issue are by

Doris Kershaw,

except for those

on p. 3, which are

by Tonya Kibby.

Clockwise from top

left, youth and children on Easter, and scenes

from the Parish Picnic.

Bill Owens Bows Out

Calvary has been very fortunate to

have enjoyed the dedication and

talent of Bill Owens for four years

as volunteer pianist at the 9:00 am

service and accompanist for The

Lord’s Choir. Bill has tirelessly

encouraged and corralled young

singers and musicians to become

part of worship at Calvary. Bill isn’t

leaving us, but he has decided to

resign at summer’s end from music

leadership at the 9:00 service. We

will celebrate Bill’s enormous con-

tributions to Calvary on his last

Sunday, August 25. In Bill’s words:

Dear Calvary Family,

They say the only thing that’s con-

stant about life is that things change.

This letter, I hope, will explain the

changes that are happening in my

life that have led me to the decision

to make August 25 the last Sunday

I’ll be the accompanist for the 9:00

service.

My mom is 96 and is experiencing

the usual changes that go along

with that, so my brother (who lives

in Houston) and I will need to build

some increased flexibility into our

schedules. I have eight grandsons,

two great-grandsons, and a baby

Page 2

Bryan Duncan to Head Up 9:00 Music

Committee

Bill Owen’s resignation creates an

opportunity to reimagine the

music program for the Contempo-

rary Eucharist. Bryan Duncan, who

plays bongos at the service and

whose children, Isabella and James,

sing in the Lord’s Choir, has agreed

to chair a committee appointed by

the Rector to consider the possibil-ities for glorifying God through

music at the 9:00 service after Bill

steps down at the end of August.

Changes at Calvary Jason Hannusch

to Join Staff as Chancel

Choir Director No stranger to Calvary, Jason was

Chancel Choir Director for five

years beginning in 2000 and is

greatly respected by the choir

members who served under him.

Jason has a beautiful tenor voice,

with which he will lead congrega-

tional music this summer at the

11:00 service while the choir takes

a holiday. Working with our won-

derful organist, Joe Doms, and

with the Rector, Jason will contin-

ue Calvary’s strong music tradition

at the 11:00 service.

Toni Kesselus was honored on May 26 during and

following her last service as Chancel Choir Director.

At right, with her grandchildren, Nathan and Madison.

A Thank You

from Toni

I want to thank everyone for

making my last day as Chancel

Choir Director so very meaning-

ful. The choir and Joe did a mag-

nificent job with a fabulous an-them. I was overwhelmed by the

generosity shown by Lisa and the

parish who gave me such won-

derful gifts. My offering for these

past years has been a labor of

love, and on Sunday I felt the love

of God and you returned in an

incomparable measure.

Toni

great-granddaughter. I’d like to be

freer to see all those people.

I have decided that I also need

more time and energy for the

Honor Choir, Amy Pyle’s FAITH

group, accompanying the BMS choirs, teaching sixteen private

students, the Bastrop Education

Foundation, Bastrop County Char-

acter Education, and teaching at

Calvary Episcopal School. So I have

decided to pass on to someone

else the responsibility to plan the

music at the 9:00 service and de-

cide how it will be accompanied.

I’m not disappearing from Calvary and

remain willing to help occasionally.

Blessings to all,

Bill

Seminarian Janet Tunnell prepares

to begin her ministry in St. Peters-burg, FL, after graduating from Seminary of the Southwest.

Page 3

Putting the Bishop’s Visit in Context Carol Brown, Catechist

On Sunday June 9, Bishop Suffragan

Dena Harrison will join us at Calva-

ry at a combined 10am service as

our Celebrant and Preacher, to

confirm and receive new Calvary

parishioners into the Episcopal faith,

and to consecrate the chrism of oil

used in baptisms throughout the

year. During her visit, Bishop Harri-

son will also meet with our vestry

to learn the vision and mission being

carried out at Calvary this year and

hear any particular concerns or

good news.

Bishop Harrison serves under Bish-

op Andrew Doyle, Bishop of Texas,

as one of two Bishops Suffragan of

the Diocese of Texas. (The other

Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese is

Jeff W. Fisher. Bishop Fischer offic-

es in Tyler and serves the eastern

region of the Diocese of Texas.)

Harrison was elected in 2006 by

the clergy and lay delegates to Di-

ocesan Council. She has oversight

of churches in the western region

of the Diocese, including the Austin,

Northwest, Central, and Southwest

convocations, and of the Commis-

sion on Ministry and the committee

on World Mission in the Diocese.

Harrison is also a trustee of Episcopal

Relief and Development and serves

as Chair of St. Luke’s Episcopal

Health System, the Seminary of the

Southwest, St. Stephen’s Episcopal

School, and El Buen Samaritano of

Austin. Despite her heavy adminis-

trative responsibilities, Bishop Harri-

son maintains a pastoral presence in

the congregations in the western

convocations, as Calvary learned

following the 2011 fires, when she

lent both her presence and pastoral

support to our community.

The Episcopal Church gets its name

from the importance of bishops in

our church structure. The Greek

word, episcopos, meaning overseer

or elder, has been used since the

early church to identify those elect-

ed to lead our faith communities.

Several types of bishops are recog-

nized by the Episcopal Church of

the United States (ECUSA). Most

episcopal authority rests in Bish-

ops Diocesan, who are in charge

of a particular diocese. Large dio-

ceses, like ours, may also have

Bishops Suffragan elected to

assist the Bishop Diocesan, or

Assisting Bishops appointed by the

Bishop Diocesan to help carry out

episcopal duties, especially visits to

congregations for confirmation and

reception. A Bishop Coadjutor is

a bishop elected to succeed a sitting

Bishop Diocesan when he or she

retires. ECUSA also elects a Pre-

siding Bishop, currently The Most

Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori,

chief pastor to the Episcopal Church's

2.4 million members. The Presiding

Bishop is the spokesperson for

ECUSA, especially within the wider

Anglican Communion, and presides

over the General Convention, which

meets once every three years.

Our bishops serve an important

role, not only as our chief pastors,

but in representing the unity of the

diocese, unity with other dioceses in

the ECUSA, and our unity with the

history of the apostles through

apostolic succession.

A visit from a Bishop is always im-

portant in the life of a congregation,

one that affirms its relationship with

a much larger community of faith.

Come meet your Bishop Suffragan

on June 9 and join her for a lunch-

eon reception following the 10:00

service.

Baptism of Allen Kaden and Lara May McInnes

Page 4 Page 4

May all things move and be moved

in me

and know and be known in me.

May all creation

dance for you within me.

Page 4

Imagine Blue Tressa Vainwright, with Contributions from Jenifer Compton Hammock

Each year, the Children’s Advocacy

Center sponsors the “Sing for the

Children” event on the Bastrop

courthouse lawn in April, Child

Abuse Awareness Month. Jenifer

Compton Hammock, a friend, and

mother of a student at CES shared

with me her thoughts on the event

(the banner she mentions was

lovingly created by the school’s

aftercare children for Child Abuse

Awareness Month and hangs in the

window of the Bastrop YMCA

office).

Jenifer reflects, “While a few

groups gathered on the front lawn

last Tuesday at the Bastrop County

Courthouse listening to speakers

and coordinators, and as Mr. Ow-

ens' Honor Choir sang out for

these children and this cause - our

children were singing, running free -

they laughed & giggled,

played Frisbee in the grass, picked

flowers, they shouted to their

mommies, "I love you!" - they were

carefree, smiling and happy. Then

later, as the event was over, after

Emily sang with her choir, and

played tag barefoot in the lawn -

just like I did as a child - the dread-

ed question was finally asked by my

own eight-year-old, ‘Why are the

ribbons blue?’ In a split second, I

said a prayer to God and to my

own mom, Georgia Compton,

hopefully looking down over us, to

give me strength and the words . . .

How was I to answer this? I an-

swered it with the simple

truth, ‘Because it's the color of a

bruise.’

In our children's eyes, blue is the

color of the sky and heaven they

painted on their banner; and if you

look closely at the banner, it's the

color of bluebonnets, near a paint-

ed kitty-cat and a monkey hanging

from a tree branch, or the birds

flying through the clouds . . . in our

children's eyes, it is NOT bruising.

It is Beauty, it is Faith, it is Hope, it

is CHILDHOOD.”

I ask you to imagine with me a

world where all children are loved,

respected, and cared for. Abuse

and neglect of any kind do not

exist. Close your eyes and really

see it. Feel it!

Unfortunately, there is no need to

imagine abuse. Too many children

have experienced it first hand, and

the rest of us only need to have the

thought barely enter our con-

sciousness to have intense feelings

arise. Anger, fear, sadness, disgust,

are feelings that I have felt and

witnessed in others. These are

honest and justifiable reactions and

feel so unbearable that we close

our eyes and turn away from the

pain.

Child Abuse Awareness Month

began in 1989 when a Grandmoth-

er in Virginia survived the death of

her Grandchild to abuse. She tied a

blue ribbon to her car’s antenna to

make people “wonder.” For that

reason, the blue ribbon symbolizes

awareness and efforts in child abuse

prevention. This social “issue” is

not a comfortable subject to dis-

cuss or confront or one with an

easy “fix.” It stems from a multi-

tude of deeper personal, as well as

societal challenges and influences.

At last year’s “We Sing for the

Children”, I asked my daughter,

then 14, what she felt was the most

critical prevention effort. Without

hesitation, she answered: “If you

look at all

efforts for

this cause,

they all have

one thing in

c o m m o n .

They all have

hope. Hope

is like the

super glue

that holds the

effort together. Without hope, it is

as if we are building a house on

loose sand.”

In an article, Mindy Graber, a foren-

sic interviewer with the Children’s

Advocacy Center, shares the fol-lowing excerpt from an interview

she performed. “Is there a part of

your body that is hurting you?” In

response to this question, the 10

year old girl I am sitting with, points

to her chest area. I then ask her

“What part of your body are you

pointing to?” “My heart” is her

response.

Reflecting on this experience, Gra-ber writes, “I believe one of the

most heinous behaviors, is to take a

child’s trust, and use the innocence

of their innate nature as children, to

commit acts of abuse . . . For a child

to trust the grown-ups in her/his

life, should be a given. As adults,

that is our job.”

Can we also allow ourselves to feel

child abuse in our hearts”? Maybe

this is the path we must take to end

this painful affliction. Our hearts

must be open and vulnerable, like a

child’s heart, for our children to

trust us fully.

This year, a “Flash Mob” dance

took place during Yesterfest on the

last Saturday of April. It was a

“mob with a cause,” celebrating the

light inside of all children, and a

tribute to efforts in child abuse

awareness and prevention. The

crowds on Main Street stopped,

listened, and watched, showing

their support.

Tressa is a parishioner, CES parent, and member of the Calvary Cares outreach committee. Jenifer is a CES parent.

Somehow the emotions of despair,

anger, and hopelessness that natu-

rally arise from experiences and

thoughts of child abuse need to be

transformed to hope and action.

How do we do this? By dancing

together, lifted up with God’s

grace. This will allow heal-

ing, action, and change. Let

blue remind us of the bruise

so we can feel the hurt, and

then let us feel the soothing,

calm and peaceful qualities of

blue, like a child sees the

colors of the world, with an

open and loving heart.

Again, close your eyes and

imagine a world where all

children are loved, respect-

ed, and cared for. Abuse

and neglect do not exist.

See it. Feel it! Allow it to

permeate your heart. Next time

you feel the pain in your heart at

the thought or memory of abuse,

open your eyes wide, and when

you can, face the pain head on.

Believe that together, through our

intention and efforts, we can create

peace for our children.

To find out more on how you can

help, contact The Children’s Advo-

cacy Center, at 512-321-6161, or

v is i t the ir webs i te at

www.childrensadvocacycenter.org .

Child Abuse Hotline: 800-252-5400

FAITH at Calvary’s Parish Picnic

Under the direction of Glennie

Burgess, Head of School, Calvary

Episcopal School continues to

grow and develop in all areas. As

our students blossom, we contin-

ue to improve the quality of edu-

cation and our ability to meet the

demands of the future. We will

add fourth grade next year with a

stellar teacher, Janet Staton, and at the Spring Fling, our Annual Fund

event, Mthr. Lisa announced that

the CES Board of Trustee’s has

committed to develop a plan to

grow through 8th grade.

Earlier this year, through the lead-

ership of Tracy Bratton, with the

help of a generous donation and

the City of Bastrop, and with the

approval of the Vestry and the

City of Bastrop, we had a raised

crosswalk constructed in Alley A to enhance the safety of students,

staff, and parishioners. During

construction, our third graders

brought donuts and juice to the

city workers one morning, who

were all smiles to meet the chil-

dren they would be protecting.

Also, due to the generosity of Bill

Owens and the good work of

Shawn Kana and Chase McDon-

ald, we now have a beautiful awn-

ing over our front door that is big

enough to shield an entire class

from rain or sun as the code is

entered to open the main door to

the school.

The school’s Future Growth and

Expansion Committee has worked

hard this year to recommend a

path to the future. The CES

Board, with Vestry and City

Council approval, purchased a

modular building to be placed

temporarily behind Gethsemane

to house our fourth grade class

(with room for an additional class).

The school recognizes that we

have reached the limit for growth

on the church campus, so we are

excited to be in conversation with

a representative of Coast Range

Investments, which is developing

XS Ranch, a master planned com-

munity of more than 7,000 homes.

The community is north of 71,

between Bastrop and Austin. The XS Ranch developers have given us

a letter of intent to donate 15

acres to the Diocese of Texas

(which owns all of Calvary’s prop-

erty), to be designated as a CES

school site. We hope to move the

grades to XS Ranch in the fall of

2015, while leaving the early child-

hood program and Kindergarten

on the church campus. As a parish

school, we are committed to stay

seamlessly linked to our home

base in downtown Bastrop.

We have also spent the past year

working on defining our school

identity. We have adopted a new

logo in our school colors of navy,

silver and white, a school motto,

Terras Irradient (Let Them Give

Light to the World), and a guiding

scripture (Matthew 5:14-16, “You

are the light of the world. A city

on a hill cannot be hidden. Nei-

ther do people light a lamp and put

it under a bowl. Instead, they put

it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the

same way, let your light shine

before others, that they may see

your good deeds and praise your

Father in Heaven”). We have also

upgraded our existing dress code

so that next fall Calvary students

will dress daily in khaki and navy, to

strengthen school identity in our

students and to make CES more

visible in the greater community.

And of course, we are continuing

to develop our Episcopal identity,

as reflected in a new Mission State-

ment that uses language from the

baptismal service in the Book of

Common Prayer.

As an Episcopal

school, our children

thrive on daily chap-

el, and we see the

many ways in which

Christ is present in

our students. Our

2nd & 3rd graders

invited the children of Calvary to collect

money for the

children of West

ISD, creating post-

ers and putting out

a container for

money. Children

brought in their

allowances and

savings and con-

vinced their parents

and grand-grandparents

to contribute. In

Calvary Episcopal School—Growing with its Students Amy Beal Carroll

Page 5

Amy is a parishioner of Calvary, a parent of CEC students, and a member of the CES Board of Trustees.

Calvary Episcopal School is a ministry of Calvary Episcopal Church that serves children in the community, including

seventeen children who are members of the parish (almost 25% of current enrollment). The Vestry selects trustees

to serve on the Board of CES, and under its bylaws, at least 60% of trustees must be confirmed communicants of

Calvary. Mthr. Lisa, as Rector, is Chair of the CES Board and regularly attends Board and subcommittee meetings.

The current President of the Board is Lisa Chavez. CES’s finances are separate from the church, and while they bene-

fit from the use of church facilities, they contribute to the overhead costs. When a third grade classroom was created

in the Community Life Center this past school year, CES also began contributing to the CLC mortgage.

Calvary Episcopal School

512-321-1610,

[email protected]

P.O Box 626, Bastrop, 78602

http://calvaryschool.net

Glennie Burgess, Head of School

two weeks, they collected

$372.73, which they sent to

West ISD. Many of our children

were on the receiving end of

help during the Bastrop fires, so

it was heartwarming to see the

children raise money for others.

This year, the school also partici-

pated in community service

projects of Pink Santa, Chil-

dren’s Advocacy Center, and

other local efforts.

We ask for prayers as we grow

into our bright future. Please

follow us on our Facebook page,

Calvary Episcopal School,

Bastrop TX. If you would like

to donate to our Annual Fund,

we will put your generosity to

work to educate our students

and encourage Christ to grow in

their hearts. Thank you for

supporting Calvary Episcopal

School.

Page 6

A Palestinian Anglican priest once

told me of a conversation he’d had

with an American woman at an

international religious conference.

“When did your family convert?”

she asked him, obviously expecting

to hear a heart-warming story of

western missionary success. To

her complete confusion, he re-

plied, “Around 45 AD.”

Brought up in a mixed Italian-Irish

section of Boston, I knew little

more than this woman about

Christians in the Middle East when

I first arrived in Baghdad after

college to begin a two-year stint as

a volunteer teaching algebra at an

American Jesuit-run school. But

during that time and in other plac-

es in the region where I’ve lived

since then, I’ve often been amazed

by stories from the long history of

Christianity in these countries.

For example, Palestinian and Jorda-

nian Christians trace their roots to

James, the brother of Jesus, the

first leader and bishop of the

church in Jerusalem. Syrian and

Lebanese Christians belong to

churches sprung directly from the

work of Peter and Paul in Antioch,

and the Copts of Egypt can trace an unbroken line of bishops back

to Mark, who preached in Alexan-

dria in the mid-first century. The

church in Cyprus reveres as its

founders Barnabas and Lazarus,

while Iraqi Christians claim the

Apostles Thomas and Thaddeus as

their spiritual ancestors.

Despite these historical New

Testament beginnings, the region’s

churches gradually receded from

the memories and awareness of

the much later-established church

communities of Europe. There

were early theological disputes, the

significance of which is by now

often hard to explain, and subse-

quently, there were political and

historical divisions, so that by the

sixth century, most of the Middle

East churches were separated

from the self-declared orthodox

churches of Constantinople and

Rome.

With the rise and political domi-

nance of Islam throughout the region from the seventh century

onward, much of the population

was gradually attracted to the new

religion for many reasons.

(Despite popular belief to the

contrary in the West, forced con-

version to Islam was extremely

rare.) Still, a remnant always re-

mained with the old Christian faith.

At the start of the 21st century,

Christians exist as a majority or

close to it in Cyprus and Lebanon

and as sizable minorities in Egypt,

Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.

Since the late 19th century, the

desire for economic betterment

promoted Christian emigration

from the poorer parts of the Mid-

dle East, mostly to Europe and the

Americas. But individual Christians

were prominent among the lead-

ers of the new nations that

emerged after World War I, and

for that reason, historic Christian

communities found themselves in

reasonably secure situations for the first several decades of inde-

pendence. More recently, howev-

er, circumstances have become

particularly hard for several of

these communities, despite nearly

two millennia of historical connec-

tion to the lands of the New Tes-

tament.

Some groups, like the Catholic

Maronites in Lebanon and the

oriental orthodox Assyrians of

Iraq, had become closely associat-

ed with the region’s would-be

colonial powers, France and Brit-

ain, which put them at a distinct

disadvantage with their country-

men as nationalism intensified in

the last half of the 20th century.

Others found themselves living in

deteriorating living conditions

The Church in the Land of Its Birth John Cummings

John Cummings’ wife, Joanne, is a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State currently posted to the US Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen,

after previously serving in Egypt, Jerusalem, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. John came to Bastrop in May 2011 after being evacuated from Syria when the US Embassy there sent home all the dependents following the outbreak of the civil war. He was in Yemen as Joanne's 'trailing spouse'

following his own career with U.S. agencies and the World Bank in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan. While John hopes to resume the role of 'trailing spouse' in Yemen at some point, he says that Calvary has been a welcoming home for him, both spiritually and

intellectually, and that Bastrop has been a good place to be a 'refugee'.

imposed from outside. For exam-

ple, Palestinian Christians in Jerusa-

lem and the West Bank came

under the harsh regulations of

Israeli occupation after 1967, and

at least half of that community has

by now joined relatives who had

earlier migrated to the West.

In the new century, despotic but

secular regimes in Iraq, Egypt, and

Syria have been overthrown—in

Iraq with the American invasion

and in Egypt and Syria by the

upwelling of domestic discontent

that has become known as the

Arab Spring. In all three countries,

for Christians (and other minori-

ties), basic social stability had gen-

erally outweighed the obvious

political imperfections of the for-

mer regimes. With that stability

now demolished, the minorities

find themselves at risk of loss of

homes and livelihoods and even of

active persecution.

Iraqi Christians have particularly

suffered as their country’s social

structure has crumbled in the

aftermath of a war that had been

predicted to be both mercifully

brief and surgically precise in re-

placing despotism with democracy. After ten years of episodic chaos,

as many as three quarters of these

Christians have been displaced

from their ancient homeland.

Unfortunately, since 2011, the Iraqi

scenario seems to have now be-

come the fate of Syria’s minorities.

In Egypt, however, despite some

increased emigration, the much

larger (as many as 10 million peo-

ple) and better-organized Coptic

Christian community is generally

standing its ground. Copts were in

the forefront of the Egyptian revolt

in 2011 and during its aftermath,

and they’ve been adamant in insist-

ing that the constitutional founda-

tions of the new Egyptian republic

guarantee religious freedom and

political integration.

There is some hope as well in the

renewed concern of Christians in

Europe and the Americas—Roman

Catholics, Anglicans, Evangelicals,

and Orthodox—for the dire situa-

tions faced today by many Middle

East Christians.

As we try to help, however, we

should keep two considerations

firmly in mind. First, our fellow

Christians in the Mideast have long,

rich, and proud traditions strongly

rooted in the earliest days of the

Church and preserved over the

centuries, and these traditions

should be respected. Second, the

history of Western countries’ deal-

ings with the peoples of the Middle

East, from the Crusades to Opera-

tion Iraqi Freedom, have much too

often been characterized by disas-

trous, if unintended, consequences

for these ancient church communi-

ties.

That being said, there is much that

American Episcopalians, both as

individuals and as congregations, can

do to support Christians in the

Middle East. For example, the

Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and

the Middle East (ECJME) is both

one of the geographically largest and, in membership terms, smallest

provinces in the worldwide Angli-

can Communion. It has a long and

well-established history of working

directly (and non-competitively)

with regional churches, while

providing vital basic services in

education, healthcare, refugee assis-

tance, and religious ministry to

people in more than a dozen coun-

tries. In carrying out its mission,

ECJME relies for its resources on

expatriates among its members and,

to a much greater degree, on the

links it has with other Anglican/

Episcopal churches. More infor-

mation is available at http://

www.jmeca.org.uk/welcome-jmeca/

four-dioceses and at http://

www.dioceseofegypt.org/english/

province.

Calvary Episcopal Church, a History Continued

his pastorate at the local Methodist

church to become an Episcopalian.

This caused a rift between the two

congregations, leading the Method-

ists to withdraw the offer to use

their building.

Phillips moved to Austin to study for

holy orders, and in 1871 returned to

Bastrop as the first Rector. Col.

Higgins added to this milestone by

providing Calvary with its own place

of worship. In 1868, he had pur-

chased from the German Methodists

a building that stood on the south

side of Farm Street, about eighty feet

west of the corner of Farm and

Church. The Germans had moved

to another location and granted

permission for use of the structure

by local African Americans, who,

after being freed from slavery, orga-

nized a congregation. Higgins contin-

ued the practice of allowing them to

hold worship services there. Now,

ready to give it rent-free for his own

parish’s use, the Colonel asked the

African Americans to find other

accommodations.

The women of the congregation and

their servants cleaned and white-

washed the structure, while the men

built a small altar and curtained off

one corner as a vesting room for

Philips. In 1874, when announcing

The fledging Calvary Parish, founded

in 1869, moved into the 1870s with

few resources save the enthusiasm

of a small group and the undying

commitment of Mrs. Caroline Hig-

gins. At first, the congregation cele-

brated Episcopal worship, generally

the reading of Morning Prayer, one

Sunday a month at the Methodist

Church building. Mrs. Higgins began teaching the others to chant Psalms

and the Te Deum and to sing hymns,

and her husband, J.C., aided her with

his “fine tenor voice.” The couple

complemented the liturgy by carry-

ing their home organ to the church

for each service. This caused quite a

stir in town because only a tuning

fork had been used previously for

such a purpose, and “old timers”

considered it sinful to employ such a

“machine” in public worship.

In addition, Mrs. Higgins and her

sister taught Sunday School, and the

women organized a guild, the first

parish organization. Among the initial

group confirmed by Bishop Gregg

was the Rev. John Phillips, who left

that Bishop Gregg was scheduled the

next day to hold services, the Adver-

tiser referred to this building as “the

Little Church around the Corner,” a

term of endearment that apparently

became common among Bastropi-

ans. Philips left in 1876 and was

replaced by the Rev. W.G.W. Smith,

who remained three years and was

followed by Edwin Wickens. Under

the leadership of these clergy and

worshiping in the small facility, the

parish held regular worship and grew

to more than forty communicants.

To Be Continued.

This is the third part of a history that Ken began in the December 2012 and March 2013 issues of Come & See. Ken is a former rector

of Calvary (1981 to 2000), a writer and an historian of Bastrop County.

Early worship at Calvary Episcopal Church

Christmas 1870

Page 7

The Rev. Ken Kesselus, Rector Emeritus

Betty Hetzel and stepdaughter

Kellye Newton in front of Skeeter Hetzel’s niche in the columbarium.

Scenes from the

Maundy Thursday

service.

CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH P.O. Box 721

Bastrop, TX 78602

What’s Happening @ Calvary

June 2 9:00 am Youth Service, Outside (8:00 and 11:00

services held as usual)

June 9 10:00 am Confirmation & Graduate Sunday,

Combined Service, followed by luncheon

with Bishop

June 26-29 Calvary Youth attend Convergence, a youth

leadership event in the Diocese of Texas

June 30 Don Calvert Memorial Blood Drive

July 16-18 5:30 pm Vacation Bible Camp, “Shepherd King;

A Heart for God.”

July 21-26 MissionPalooza, PULSE Mission Trip with

other youth of the Diocese of Texas

July 28 Newcomers Social

August 25 10:00 am Reception honoring Bill Owens

September 8 Rally Day and Return of Sunday School

Offices: 1028 Main St., Bastrop Church: 603 Spring St., Bastrop

Phone: 512-303-7515 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.cecbastrop.org

Rector: The Rev. Lisa S. Hines Email: [email protected]

Newsletter Editor: Lisa Hines

For the complete church calendar, go to

www.cecbastrop.org and select Calendar

from the Communications dropdown menu.

Shepherd King: A Heart for God Vacation Bible Camp 2013

July 16-18, 5:30—8:00 pm

Puppets tell the story and campers have the fun with supper, games, crafts, music and more! Collect special treasures each of the three days to help you remember David.

We need you! Campers, Junior Counselors & Adults . . . Email [email protected] for Registration forms. See Volunteer sign-up sheets in the Parish Hall.