May-June 2018 The Chronicle · Beryl Moore 215-736-3608 ... left, above); her husband Kevin...

TheTheThe ChronicleChronicleChronicle The magazine of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Yardley, PA

May-June 2018

ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL

CHURCH Founded 1835

47 West Afton Avenue

Yardley, PA 19067

Tel: 215.493.2636; Fax: 215.493.3092

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.standrews-yardley.org

The Rt. Rev. Daniel G. P. Gutierrez,

Bishop of Pennsylvania

Parish Staff

The Rev. Hilary Greer, Rector

The Rev. Lloyd H. Winter, Jr.,

Priest Associate

Mark Dolan, Music Director

John Boccanfuso, Parish Administrator

TITAR Commercial, Cleaning Service

Bob Ebert, Sexton

Office of the Rector

Accounting Warden

Gerry Yarnall 215-295-1589

Rector’s Warden

Kathleen Johnson 215-321-0555

The Vestry

Alex Villasante 267-797-5498

Sara Peralta 267-872-9264

Bill Vallier 267-392-5088

Steve Rupprecht 215-428-9568

Lisa O’Donnell 215-295-6162

Kathy Royal 215-493-4413

Doug Riblet 215-321-7920

Beryl Moore 215-736-3608

Jay Johnston 215-493-7852

Marilyn Slivka 215-321-3524

June

4: Gift of Years, 1:30pm, RCR

5: Camera Club, 7:00pm, PH

5: Vestry Meeting, 7:30pm, RCR

6: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, 2:50pm

10: Mutual Ministry, 12noon, PH

12: Property Committee, 7:30pm, RCR

16: Aid for Friends, 8:00am, PH

17: Installation of New Rector, 9:00am, C


26: Prayer Shawl Ministry, 1:00pm, RCR

26:Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, 2:50pm

July


3: Camera Club, 7:00pm, PH

3: Vestry Meeting, 7:30pm, RCR

4: Independence Day, Parish Office closed

4: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, 2:50pm

10: Property Committee, 7:30pm, RCR

15: Finance Committee, 12 noon, PH


21: Aid for Friends, 8:00am, PH

24: Prayer Shawl Ministry, 1:00pm, RCR

THE CHRONICLE MAY-JUNE 2018 2

Subscribe to The Chronicle: To receive The Chronicle by mail at home: annual

subscription for five bi-monthly issues, $20. Checks to St.

Andrew’s Episcopal Church, with “Chronicle” on the

memo line, may be placed in the offertory basket at

church or sent to the church office. Information, contact

Robin Prestage: [email protected].

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

On the cover: At Hilary’s Installation on June 17, she

greets two former Rectors, former Presiding Bishop

Frank Griswold and Sharline Fulton. More images from

the Installation Service, celebrated by Canon Betsy Ivey,

and the parish tea party afterwards are on the back cover.

Photos: Robin Prestage.

Photo credits in this edition: Ann Holland, Bob

Anderson, John Sherrard, Episcopal News

Service, Diocese of Pennsylvania, Robin Prestage.


IN BRIEF

Call for action on ‘immoral’ southern border policy In the wake of recent news reports

detailing the separation of children

from their parents at the U.S.

southern border, Episcopal Public

Policy Network has urged the

Administration to stop “this

inhumane and immoral policy”.

In a statement issued June 19,

EPPN said: “Above all, we implore

the U.S. Congress to undertake

comprehensive immigration

reform. We must allow refugees to

resettle in the U.S., parents to be

reunited with children, and spouses

and extended family to live

together,” the statement read.

An immediate end to the current

policy on immigrant families was

also urged by Presiding Bishop

Michael Curry on MSNBC’s Last

Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on

June 18.

On stage in N. Ireland St. Andrews’ own Gary Sloan

travelled to Northern Ireland in

June to perform in a play he

adapted about Edwin Booth, the

famed actor and brother of

Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes

Booth.

Sloan, an actor, author and

college professor, per-

formed “HAUNTED

PRINCE: A Requiem for

Edwin Booth” at the Brian

Friel Theater in Belfast, on

June 14 during the open-

ing night of the British

Shakespeare Association

conference. It was the first

public presentation of the

new play. Sloan’s adapta-

tion uses Booth’s own words and

those of the Shakespearean

characters he portrayed.

Thank-you to St. Andrew’s A big shout out to the members of

St. Andrew’s who donated 678

children’s books to Cops ’n’ Kids

Delaware Valley during the month

of April —Mary Auker,

Coordinator: Cops ’n’ Kids

Delaware Valley.

Our heartfelt appreciation for St.

Andrew’s donation of 430 pounds

of food for Send Hunger Packing.

Nutritious hot breakfast and lunch

meals will be served to 528 chil-

dren (213 more than last year) —

Denalerie J. Johnson-Faniel,

PhD, CBA, Director, Mercer Street

Friends Food Bank.

Sheena to work in Ghana Sheena Rolle, a good friend of St.

Andrew's, has worked with us on

feeding the hungry through Bread

for the World, preached at our

services, taught at our forums, and

played in the Church of Baseball.

She graduated from Princeton

Theological Seminary this spring,

and will go to Ghana to join the

Circle of Concerned African

Women Theologians at Trinity

Theological Seminary in Accra.

Inside: Outreach & Justice: Helping families through the

summer; Syrian families take in D.C., 4 & 5.

Annual Meeting Notes: Reports from the Senior

Warden and Accounting Warden. 6 & 7.

From the Rector: Hilary outlines special events to help

us deepen out listening habit and explore liturgy, 8 & 9.

Review: Bob Anderson offers a selection of reviews,

but begins with a warning, 10 & 11.

Voices: Jonathan Smith tells us how much this parish

community means to him and his family, 12.

The Church of Baseball: Bob Anderson takes us out to

the ball park (well, the Parish House), 13.

Advocacy: Feeding the hungry; SNAP myths, 14 &15.

From the Bishop: Harsh rebuke against “inhumane,

horrific” immigration policies, 16.

From Episcopal News Service: Presiding Bishop Curry

urges the spreading of Jesus’ love, 17.

Art’s Gallery: Susan Ye Laird’s journey from

Revolutionary China to “gentle” Yardley, 18.

From the History Corner: Jaf Baxter continues his

journey through St. Andrew’s history. 19.

Our third annual poetry festival on May 13

featured poems by Ceci Apalategui (second

left, above); her husband Kevin Pilkington,

Sarah Lawrence professor and acclaimed

poet (left); Hilary Hudgins, daughter of St.

Andrew's; and Terry Culleton, George

School teacher and former Bucks County

Poet Laureate.

4

OUTREACH & JUSTICE

READERS, we are communing Christians and

(mostly) able to make ends meet. And we begin this

month’s article with a series of questions.

1. How can we begin to understand the lives of our

most impoverished neighbors?

2. Is this even possible?

3. Assuming it is possible, do we

really want to?

4. Concerns about material wealth

aside, what will it cost us to

understand? Would it make us

better people?

5. How did Jesus answer these

questions?

I will not pretend to be able to

answer most of these questions, but

let me briefly provide my own

answer to question #4. Understand-

ing the lives of our downtrodden

friends will cost us dearly. We will

pay with our innocence. We will

lose the ability to close our eyes to

poverty. When we see our broken

neighbors as friends who have fallen

on hard times, when we learn to

forego our stations in life and

appropriately contemplate both rich

and poor, we will not forget. Our lives will be forever

changed. I think seeing things in this way will make us

better people! But I have also seen too much caring

lead to depression and nihilism. That leads to one final

question:

How will we work together to end poverty and

injustice, so that none of us must bear these

burdens alone?

Today we give God thanks for the gift of community!

At St. Andrew’s, we are blessed to have been given

this, and one of the ways we honor this gift it is to

build it stronger through the ministries we share with

our less fortunate neighbors. What does the Lord

require of us? But to do justice, love kindness, and

walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).

In the past few months, St Andrew's Outreach and

Justice Group has helped to organize a clothing drive

for Trenton Rescue Mission (Thank you so much to all

who donated!). We have set up the Christmas in June

gift card campaign, and all 36 families have been

provided for. At the time of this writing, Outreach and

Justice Group was also preparing to assist with the

renovation of the Penndel Food Pantry (see photo).

We also began a new campaign spearheaded by Mary

Auker, supporting the Cops n’ Kids Book Drive. (I

also ask that you pray for Mary, who now has a house

full of over 12,000 books and is considering renting a

storage container!)

This coming summer, Outreach and Justice Group is

beginning a monumental project in conjunction with

the Bucks County Housing Group. Our goal is to bring

the lives of the people of Robert Morris Apartments

closer to those of St. Andrew’s parishioners. We can’t

wait to share in the ways we can help strengthen our

community with the congregation!

Eric D. Laird

Projects helping families to continue through summer

THE CHRONICLE MAY-JUNE 2018


ON April 27, our two Syrian

families journeyed to the capital

and Capitol of their new country.

What a joyful weekend they had

and how proud and grateful they

are to be Americans!

Many of us at St. Andrew's have

befriended M.A.R.Y. — Moustafa

and Amal, the 22 year-old parents

of Yusra (4) and Rasha (2) — and

W.A.S. — Weaam, the 32 year old

mother of Abdul (8) and Suleiman

(11). M.A.R.Y. came to Morris-

ville in November 2016 and W.A.S.

came in January 2017; they escaped

slaughter, arrived as legal refugees,

and are now awaiting their green

cards. After that, it's five years until

they become citizens. Inshallah!

Because the families are concerned

about safety, they do not allow

sharing pictures showing their

faces. But pictures from behind can

be worth a million words.

In the photo above/top the family is

looking at the huge Capitol — did

you know that the Dome weighs

18.9 billion pounds? The kids love

this fact. And the Capitol is awe-

some in what it symbolizes for

immigrants, refugees, and citizens

alike: Freedom.

The second photo above is of the

Friday Muslim prayer service in the

Capitol. This was the trip highlight.

Freedom of religion is for all

people of all faiths and of no faith.

Freedom of religion is alive and

well in the People's House. Alham-

dullilah!

The families were invited to the

Capitol by Congressman Brian

Fitzpatrick; he has been kind to

them ever since they met on

the weekend the President

issued the travel ban. In inter-

acting with the families, he

has been tender, thoughtful,

and unassuming, "Brian"

instead of "the Congressman."

This is not an endorsement,

just the fact of this particular

matter. While Brian was

voting, the kids took turns

sitting in his office. Yusra

cannot constitutionally be

President, but Senator Yusra

is a fine and feasible idea.

On the tour of the Capitol,

Yusra and Rasha played with

a scale model of the National Mall.

I imagined a gospel choir singing:

She's Got the Whole Wide World in

Her Hands.

We stayed at the William Penn

House, a Quaker hospitality center

just like a vision of Grandma and

Grandpa's house. This was the first

night that M.A.RY. had spent out-

side their apartment in 529 days.

The next day we went to the zoo,

a.k.a. the Peaceable Kingdom.

Yusra and I put on panda and tiger

masks. After the zoo, the boys

played soccer and frisbee on the

National Mall while the girls went

home to unwind. Jesus lived out a

gospel paradox: The margins are

the center. Throughout the week-

end, people on the margins helped

us — the homeless showed us how

to use the Metro machines and a

mentally ill companion on the bus

prayed for us and told us where to

get off.

On Sunday, it was so frigid at the

National Mall that we splurged for

sweatshirts and hats for the kids.

The sweatshirts were red, white,

and blue and emblazoned with

U.S.A. For us, Team U.S.A. is the

land of the free and the brave, the

tired and the poor, and refugees

seeking to breathe freely and

peacefully. Salaam!

Bob Anderson

Postscript: Three weeks after our

trip, Moustafa and his family

received their green cards granting

them permanent legal status as

residents. Thanks be to God/Allah/

Jehovah for this terrific news.

Weaam and her boys came two

months after Moustafa's family so

they will presumably receive their

green cards in two more months.

And in five more years, both

families and all their friends will be

rejoicing in their becoming citizens

of the United States of America,

Inshallah!

5

D.C. trip welcomes Syrian families to Team USA

6

Report of the Rector’s Warden THIS was a year of preparation,

planning and celebrating. Most of

the Vestry’s efforts, along with

those of the Parish Profile and

Discernment Committees, centered

on a search for a new Rector. All

of us on the Vestry were impressed

and appreciative of the work of

these groups led by Marcie White,

Tim Johnson,

Jonathan Smith and Cindy Shaw.

It was the work of

all of us in the

entire parish in so

many ways that led

us to understand

our hungers and to

locate a Rector.

Of course, the on-

going work of the

Vestry continued

throughout the year

with operational

concerns addressed

by all of the

members each

month. There were

a few areas of

particular focus for

us, first among

them, reinstituting

the mutual ministry

process with our

interim Rector.

This is a process we will be

completing each year, which will

allow us to determine if we, as a

parish, have accomplished what we

set out to do each year. It will also

allow us to plan for the coming

year. To facilitate this ongoing

process, the Vestry has recently

approved a mutual ministry task

force to begin this work. We also

named liaisons from the Vestry for

many areas, as follows: Steward-

ship: Porter Hibbitts; Property:

Doug Riblet; Outreach: Doug

Riblet; Common Life: Dave

Richardson; Godly Play: Lisa

O’Donnell; Rite 13: Alex

Villadante; Music: Lisa

O’Donnell (jr. choir) Marilyn

Slivka and Beryl Moore (adult

choir); and Preschool: Jay

Johnston. It goes without saying that January

was an exciting time with the

Vestry voting unanimously to call

Hilary Greer as our next Rector.

This year we also welcomed John

Boccanfuso into the role of church

administrator. And what a

beautiful and warm welcome party

we planned together. So many not

only came but also supplied the

feast we all shared! Since that

time, we have been led by Hilary

to spend time contemplating the

“hungers” described in the Parish

Profile. Our contemplation has led

us to see the commonalities in our

vision, including

intergenerationality,

outreach, community,

concern for social

justice, and beauty.

And the children of

our parish were a big

part of our dreams for

the future.

In other work of the

Vestry, we stayed on

top of the finances,

which are doing well,

and completed a

thorough budgeting

process. As an

important part of the

finances, the Vestry

approved the work of

an endowment task

force. The task force,

led by Jim Grady,

completed its work

and made recommen-

dations to the Vestry.

The Vestry needs to

determine and approve the 3-5

endowment areas for the proceeds

as explained in the document and

ensure careful review of the

managing and marketing aspects of

the report.

Kathleen Johnson

Rector’s Warden

ANNUAL MEETING NOTES


AT a Vestry Organization meeting early in June,

Kathleen Johnson was re-appointed Rector’s

Warden and Gerry Yarnall was re-appointed

Accounting Warden and Treasurer. Tim Johnson

will be asked to serve as a Vice-Treasurer. Beryl

Moore was elected Cemetery Warden.

The following committee chairs were approved:

Finance - Jim Grady; Property - Pete Morris;

Stewardship - Porter Hibbits.

New Vestry members this year are Sara Peralta,

William “Bill” Vallier and Kathy Royal (who

was also elected Secretary of the Vestry). They

replace retiring members Dave Richardson,

Porter Hibbitts and Dorothy Schrandt.

The Vestry also approved painting of the red

doors on the Church building and the Parish

House and reviewed an inventory of future

business items.


Report of the Accounting Warden IN terms of achieving financial stability, 2017 was

likely the most significant year that St. Andrew’s

Episcopal Church has ever seen. In March 2017 the

Church received a bequest of $450,000 from long-

term parishioner, the late Ann Merriam. Then later

in the year we received

another significant gift

from the estate of long-

time parishioner Carol

Roberts in the amount

of $100,000. The Vestry

is continuing to consider

various ways in which

these bequests might be

deployed. The monies

are currently held in a

money-market account

and have been accumu-

lating interest.

Also importantly, our

operating results for

2017 were favorable as

well, even without

consideration of the

extraordinary bequests.

Our pledge and plate

income rose to $327,000

from $274,000 in 2016 –

an increase of almost 20

percent. In addition, the

number of pledging

families rose from 66 to

88, an increase of 33 per-

cent. This certainly sets a

high benchmark for our

Stewardship Campaign

today.

Our expenses remained under control in 2017 as well.

Expenses in 2017 were significantly lower than in

past years due to our having an interim rector rather

than a full-time rector. Also, we were spared from

major emergency property issues. Several catch-up

projects were undertaken resulting in property related

expenses being only slightly over budget.

We have also made significant progress in

replenishing monies taken from the Being Church

Capital Campaign Contingency Fund. This Fund was

established for the purpose of providing the Church

with a “margin” to cover six months of expenses in

extraordinarily hard times. We used monies from that

fund to meet current expenses in several past years.

In 2017 we were able to repay almost $20,000 back

to that Fund. We still

“owe” the Fund over

$30,000 and hope to

repay another portion

back in the coming year.

So thank you to all of

you for making the job

of balancing our cash

inflows and outflows

much easier to manage. I

want to make special

note of how extraordi-

nary this has been –

especially in the year of

transition that 2017 was

for us. You — the

people of St. Andrew’s

— have risen to the

challenge of not only

keeping us going, but

pushing us to thrive, and

we should all be both

grateful and proud.

Our current results give

us great reason for

optimism and we need to

keep things on a positive

track. We are now

supporting a full-time

rector again and need to

pay a wage that supports

living in our area as well

as provide medical insurance coverage and pension

contributions.

We are also current with our Diocesan Assessment

and Pledge, paying $1500 per month throughout the

year.

Gerry Yarnall

P.S.: As of June 13 the Stewardship Campaign came

in at $245,000 from 72 pledging units.

Endowment Task Force

THE St. Andrew’s Endowment Task Force

was established by the Vestry and began

meeting in mid-September to determine

how to best manage the bequest of

approximately $450,000 from the estate of

Ann Merriam. During the time of these

deliberations, St. Andrew’s received an

additional major donation of $100,000

from the late Carol Roberts. Members of

this task force were Ron Slivka, Pete

Morris, John Poole, Tim Johnson, Tim

O’Donnell, Joe Royal and Jim Grady.

The task force determined and

recommended to the Vestry that the best

use for these funds is to establish an

endowment fund and place those funds

there. The Vestry will now establish an

Endowment Committee whose primary

and ongoing function will be to monitor

management of the Endowment Fund(s).

Ron Slivka is leading the effort to conduct

the annual audit of parish finances and

operations.

8

I AM excited to be with you here at St. Andrew’s and

thank you for your warm welcome! It has been a

delight to get to know all of you. I’m particularly

grateful to the Parish Profile

Committee and Discernment

Committee for laying such an

excellent foundation for our work

together. My installation on June 17

does not mark the end of their work

or mean that a lone leader is now

responsible for everything – far

from it!

Our Parish Profile Committee spent

hundreds of hours in conversation

with groups throughout the parish

listening for the voice of God

among you. The purpose of this

committee was not to simply

develop a profile, but to clarify the vocational call and

life of this congregation.

The process was rooted in deep, community-wide

listening because, as Parker Palmer writes:

“Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes

from listening…That insight is hidden in the word

vocation itself, which is rooted in the Latin for ‘voice.’

Vocation does not mean a goal I pursue. It means a

calling I hear.”

The Parish Profile Committee listened deeply to the

entire St. Andrew’s community and discerned six

spiritual hungers for:

Abundance, not scarcity

Spiritual formation

Beauty

Community and communication

Outreach and justice

Collaborative Leadership

My call to be your new Rector marks a new phase of

listening — listening to each other, for where God has

already been moving among us, and for where God

might be leading St. Andrew's next. Our celebration

on June 17 marks the anniversary of the consecration

of our sanctuary on June 17, 1890. The voice of God

speaks to us from our past, in who we already are,

while also calling us from the future.

To support and lead us in listening for this voice, the

Vestry has appointed a Mutual Ministry Team. The

purpose of this team is to build the spiritual practices,

community habits, and church infrastructure to

support the creation of an annual mutual ministry

process that engages the entire parish

in 1) discerning where we are being

called as a parish; 2) the distinct role

each ministry holds in that call; and 3)

assessing where we are, what we have

already done, and what we can learn to

move forward. The coming year can be

thought of in two parts: the first, laying

the groundwork for active listening,

discernment, and processes of

communication. The second, building

on that groundwork by engaging the

entire parish in a discernment and

planning process to live into the God-

given hungers of St. Andrew’s. Our

listening process has already begun with the many

gatherings we enjoyed in each other’s homes as part of

this year’s stewardship campaign. Getting to know

each other more deeply is the (fun!) primary step of

listening to each other and to God together. This

spring brought special Sunday forums focused on the

history and ministry of St. Andrew’s. On June 24 and

July 1, we’ll be gathering at 9:00am to discuss how

our liturgy at St. Andrew’s shapes us as people of

faith, and throughout the summer, we’ll be gathering

in fun ways to get to know each other better. Coming

this fall, there will be special forums, sermon series,

speakers, and a parish retreat day focused on

deepening our practical spiritual habits of listening.

We will experiment with guidelines and groundrules

for communication that will help us listen to each

other even when we disagree. Starting in early 2019,

we will begin a community-wide process for

creatively planning for our ministries together for the

next year.

On June 17, I am excited to celebrate who St.

Andrew’s already is as we pledge ourselves to listen

faithfully for how God is calling us today!

Hilary+

Listening faithfully to how God is calling us

FROM THE RECTOR


HOW does Christian liturgy shape us, form us,

and draw us to God? How do the pieces of the

liturgy work together to both praise God and

transform us?

What does this mean for the many ways we

worship together as a community at St.

Andrew’s? How do you experience liturgy

here?

We’ll consider these questions and more

during the 9:00am forum hour led by Hilary

on Sundays June 24 and July 1. Using excerpts

from James K.A. Smith’s popular book You

Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of

Habit (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016), we

will explore the centuries-old understanding of

liturgy, and discuss what this means for us at

St. Andrew’s.

Each session will start by grounding our

discussion in brief excerpts from Smith’s book

that can be read in less than five minutes, a

discussion of how this speaks to us, and our

own experiences of worship life at St.

Andrew’s. There is no need to read Smith’s

book to join the discussion – hard copies of

one-two pages of excerpts will be printed and

available at each session. Here’s a sampling

from page 77 of Smith’s book:

“Christian worship is rooted in the conviction

that God is the primary actor or agent in the

worship encounter. Worship works from the

top down, you might say. In worship, we don’t

just come to show God our devotion and give

him our praise; we are called to worship

because in this encounter God (re)makes and

molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in

which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our

desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship

isn’t just something we do; it is where God

does something to us. Worship is the heart of

discipleship because it is the gymnasium in

which God retrains our hearts.”

9 THE CHRONICLE MAY-JUNE 2018

FORUM

Discussions of Liturgy: June 24 and July 1 in the Parish House at 9:00am

10

Warning: Do not read this

column or the gospels unless you

are prepared to be scandalized.

IN the eyes of many, "homies" are

gang members who are to be locked

up without a key or a prayer.

But in God's eyes, homies are

beloved children. Look at Jesus.

Jesus was a homie, born to an

unwed, dirt-poor teenager. He

immediately became a refugee and

then returned to hang with

adulterers, lepers, and corrupt tax

collectors; wash everyone's feet;

break bread with his betrayer;

promise a thief the first ticket to

paradise; and tap a woman who had

been possessed by demons to

announce his resurrection. Jesus

welcomes everyone to join his

gang.

LIKE Jesus, Father Gregory

Boyle loves homies. Boyle is the

author of Barking to the Choir: The

Power of Radical Kinship, this

homie's

favorite new book.

Boyle, a Jesuit priest, founded

Homeboy Industries in Los

Angeles. Homeboy hires homies,

often just released from prison, to

work in its bakeries, groceries, silk-

screening and embroidery shops. It

then immerses them in "an

irresistible culture of tenderness."

Barking to the Choir is awesomely

faithful and wickedly funny.

Boyle's homies act in the most

loving ways and, like kids, say the

darndest things. They have a gift

for mangling the English language,

as evidenced by this book's title.

When Boyle talks turkey to

Ramon, an unreliable bakery

worker, Ramon tells Boyle to chill:

he's "barking to the choir." That

response mixes up "Barking up the

wrong tree" with "Preaching to the

choir." But in his confusion, Ramon

nails it.

THE last thing we need is for either

the Preacher or the Choir to stay

stuck in the "old game" of self-

congratulation and other-

condemnation — the "endless

judging, competing, comparing,

and terror that keeps us from . . .

entering the kinship of God."

God's kinship is scandalously and

radically inclusive, so inclusive

Jesus had to be executed as a

common homie. For Jesus and

Boyle:

"There are no monsters, villains, or

bad guys. There are only folks who

carry unspeakable pain. There are

among us the profoundly

traumatized who deal in the

currency of damage. And there are

those who are mentally ill, whose

sickness chases them every day.

But there are no bad guys. Jesus

seems to suggest that there are no

exceptions to this. Yet, it’s hard for

us to believe him.”

Yup, almost impossible to believe.

So some barking is imperative.

Bark these beatitudes:

“Survival of the unfittest" is the

law of the gospel;

Allegiance to "those who line

the bottom" outranks allegiance

to the bottom line; and

The last and the least and the

lost shall be the first and the

favored and the found.

BUT: Bark without biting or

bitterness.

Sit at the feet of Mario, the

intimidating yet most gentle homie,

and learn a truth that can set us

free: ". . only the soul that

ventilates the world with tenderness

has any chance of changing the

world.”

Bark softly and tenderly. Behave

likewise.

In giving tenderness, we receive

tenderness:

"In all my years of living, I have

never been given greater access to

the tenderness of God than through

the channel of the thousands of

homies I’ve been privileged to

know.”

HERE is the bottom line gospel

truth: "we belong to each other, and

to this spacious God of ours, who

thinks there are no bad guys, just

beloved children."

We're all homies, kin to be treated

with kindness. For "God is in every

kindness."

May all of us homies be at home in

our kinship and God's kindness.

Woof!

Bob Anderson

Barking to the Choir: Softly and tenderly to change the world

REVIEW



Lectio Divina: Sacred Words, Sacred Encounters When Carolyn Lyday speaks, I

listen. Carolyn is an amma, a

spiritual mother.

Carolyn studied with Henri

Nouwen at Yale Divinity School.

In the 1970s, she joined the George

School faculty and St. Andrew's.

She has often shared her wisdom in

sermons and parish forums.

Carolyn recently led two forums on

prayer. In the second, we

considered and practiced Lectio

Divina.

Lectio Divina means Divine

reading of a text, usually of a

scriptural passage but also of poems

and other art forms and even

Creation itself.

It's an affair of the heart, not the

head. One reads a passage

prayerfully — reflecting,

responding, and resting in God's

presence. Listening in silence, we

seek to discern how God is already

praying in and through us.

A sacred word savored in silence

often leads to a sacred encounter.

In my experience, these sacred

words and encounters lead to

peaceful and powerful renewals of

energy and direction.

What Carolyn reads, I read. She

recommends Lectio Divina - The

Sacred Art by Christine Valters

Paintner so I read it and now

recommend it myself.

When I practice Lectio Divina, I

use The Message, Eugene

Peterson's putting the Bible into

kitchen table language. Paintner

quotes Peterson:

"What we must never be

encouraged to do . . . is to force

Scripture to fit our experience. Our

experience is too small; it's like

trying to put the ocean into a

thimble. What we want is to fit into

the world revealed by Scripture, to

swim in this vast ocean."

Come on in. The water's deep but

delightful. Let's go swimming.

Words: A Life and Death Matter Words kill, words give life; they're

either poison or fruit — you choose.

(Proverbs 18-21, the Message).

Words of accusation, of judgment,

of gossip, of hatred kill. In fact,

they kill twice. They kill both the

speaker's target and the speaker's

soul.

Our words constantly kill each

other in our culture and political

wars. In his book Nonviolent

Communication: A Language of

Life, Marshall B. Rosenberg has a

simple message. Enough Already:

Choose Life.

The message is simple, but the

practice is difficult. Our spirit, so to

speak, is willing, but our tongues

are weak. This book is a helpful

and practical guide to reorienting

our thinking and reframing our

speaking.

I hope that we, individually and

collectively, will commit ourselves

to speaking and acting

nonviolently. I yearn for parish

forums on this lifesaving topic.

In the meantime, I give Rosenberg

the last word by quoting his first

words: "What I want in my life is

compassion, a flow between myself

and others based on a mutual giving

from the heart."

Me too. May we choose our words

lovingly. May we choose life.

By Henri Nouwen about Jesus: "The whole message of the Gospel

is this: ‘Become like Jesus.’"

So writes the late Henri Nouwen, a

Dutch Catholic priest, a professor, a

friend of the poor and the

handicapped, and an all-around

mensch.

Here is a progressive way to

become like Jesus:

Read every book by Henri

Nouwen.

Take every word to heart.

Turn your heart into

compassionate action.

Become like Henri.

Become like Jesus.

Will I see my dog in heaven? Yes, says Franciscan Friar Jack

Wintz in his playful yet profound

book by that title.

We will see and celebrate the whole

family of Creation, as born in the

Garden of Eden; found away in the

manger; painted in the Peaceable

Kingdom; described in the psalms;

praised by St. Francis in his

Canticle of the Creatures; and sung

by good Episcopalians in All

Creatures Great and Small.

It's all happening at the zoo, in

heaven as on earth.

Bob Anderson

REVIEWS IN BRIEF

12

A FEW weeks ago Katherine Benziger spoke about

her first visit to St. Andrew’s with her son Jack, and

how despite sitting in the back of the church she was

made to feel a welcome part of the community. That

got me thinking that it’s been almost exactly 20 years

since our family visited and then became members at

St. Andrew’s. It’s hard to believe I have

spent more time here with you than

anywhere else in my life.

Now there are some urban myths about one

of, if not the first visit we had to St.

Andrew’s. Does anyone know that story?

We were in rector discernment, it was

around Easter time, and we were attending

the long past 9:30am family service. Our

son Lewis was about 8 months old. Here is

where some details get a little hazy. Anyone

that was there can help fill in the blanks, as

sometimes my memory tends to make things

in the past seem a little bigger than reality.

There were a lot of people — maybe 600 or

700? It was hot hot hot — maybe 120

degrees — of course this was before the Capital

Campaign, so no air-conditioning in the church. We

were all crowding up to the altar for communion.

Then Lewis (or maybe it was me) began to cry — or

maybe it was Lewis screaming and me crying. We

could not escape the push of bodies crowding up to

the altar. How could we escape? Then like a soccer

star scoring the winning goal at Wembley Stadium,

Lewis was lifted up by many upraised arms and

passed person to person to the back of the church

where the air was cooler and he settled down…well, it

was something like that.

Other versions of this story I have heard claim about

40 people were there, but Lewis was still crying until a

woman with a kindly face and a British accent tapped

me on the shoulder and said, “Here, perhaps I can

help”, after which I just passed our only child to a

complete stranger while Joanne watched helplessly as

this person proceeded to coo and walk with Lewis to

the back of the church — thankfully not out

of the church! That person was Betty

Burlingame.

Whichever version you choose to believe is

kind of true. There have been countless times

over the years where our family has been lifted up and

carried on raised arms by many of you here during our

times of need. I won’t get into specific details because

as many of you know, I tend to get kind of weepy. In

turn we have been able to join in lifting some of you

up. The gift of providing love and support — and the

equal gift of accepting it — is

universal here. That is one

reason why the community of St.

Andrew’s means so much to

many of us.

What I’d also like to talk about

briefly, and why I am so excited

today, is what I see St. Andrew’s

meaning to me and to all of us in

the future.

As part of the discernment

committee, I had the chance

more than most to intensely

study our Parish Profile and

think about what it said to me –

about US. We Hunger for ABUNDANCE, NOT

SCARCITY. We Hunger for SPIRITUAL

FORMATION. We Hunger for BEAUTY;

COMMUNITY and COMMUNICATION;

OUTREACH and JUSTICE, and we Hunger for

COLLABORATIVE LEADESRHIP with our new

Rector — and I think with each other.

I see in our future being able to more fully live into

and expand our reach for these hungers. Not just

because of Hilary (no pressure, Hilary), but because I

could see in our recent journey of profile creation, to

discernment, to welcoming Hilary how we share such

energy and a common bond in caring about these

things. I just think we have extraordinary growth as a

community ahead of us.

So thank-you for being such an important community

to the Smiths these past 20 years, and thank-you for

being with us during our continued journey together

into the future.

Jonathan Smith

Living into and expanding the reach for our parish hungers

VOICES



GALLERY

Opening Day for The Church of Baseball On Sunday, April 8, St. Andrew's celebrated the Church of Baseball.

Team hats and jerseys were worn to church and in the parish forum

between services. There was crackerjack and pregame tunes. St. A's

teammates offered stories, skits, and songs illustrating why Church and

Baseball go Hand in Glove. All under the guidance of Commissioner

Bob Anderson and Umpire Tom Conners. Joy came to Mudville.

14

THE people of St. Andrew's and our new

rector are enthusiastically engaged in

charting our course forward. We seek not

just to survive, but to thrive. Abundance,

not scarcity: 5000 plus meals, not just five

loaves and two fish.

Three words are essential to an abundant

future: Interfaith plus Food plus Alliance.

Interfaith: Churches that stay stuck in

dogma and isolate themselves from other

faiths are going to die. We have found

wisdom and pure joy from learning from

Rabbi Elliot Strom and Imam Numaan

Cheema at forums and from befriending

the Syrian families who have resettled in

Morrisville. Like Jesus, we go out to meet

and love our neighbors of all faiths and

backgrounds.

Food: Churches that stay stuck in feeding

their own needs and comfort are going to

die. Jesus put sharing meals and feeding

the hungry at the heart of his ministry.

Andrew brought forward the child with

the five loaves and two fish that turned

into 5000 plus meals. Like Jesus and

Andrew, St. Andrew's finds abundant life

and joy in feeding the hungry.

Alliance: Churches whose members stay

stuck in their pews are going to die. Jesus

built relationships and partnerships; he

went inward to pray, but outward to build

community. The key question is not what

we do behind our own walls, but what

impact we have in the larger community.

To insist on seeing that the hungry get fed

means joining alliances to deliver

services, educate the community, and

advocate for justice.

Interfaith Food Alliance: These three

words join together to form the Interfaith

Food Alliance. Luckily, we already have

an Interfaith Food Alliance (IFA) and St.

Andrew's is already a member, along with

our Yardley mosque, Zubaida, and eight

other faith communities. http://

www.interfaithfoodalliance.com. Now is

the time to step up or help for the IFA and

the hungry.

The IFA invites us (and specifically you,

dear reader) to join in the fight against

hunger by:

Volunteering at the Family Backpack

Center at Morrisville Methodist

Church on Tuesday evenings and

Saturday mornings;

Writing your state and federal

representatives;

Donating food, supplies, and funds;

Talking about the atrocity of food

insecurity; and

Looking into the eyes of those who

are hungry.

Details can be found on the IFA's website.

I add one more invitation pertinent to our

abundant St. Andrew's future:

Make room at our table for everyone

and then dance with joy. https://

www.youtube.com/watch?

v=92OM5bdQ4N4

Shalom, Salaam, and Peace.

Bob Anderson


ADVOCACY

Three Essential Words: Interfaith Food Alliance

Bread for the World Lobby Day in D.C.

Leah French and I and six companions from the Interfaith Food

Alliance went to Washington D.C on June 12 for the Lobby Day

organized by Bread for the World.

The gospel story for June 12 was the feeding of the 7000. Jesus

was a founding member of Bread for the World!

Charity raises just six cents of every dollar needed to

feed the hungry. Faithful advocacy is essential to

securing adequate funding for our anti-hunger

programs.

The picture (right) of our meeting with Congressman

Brian Fitzpatrick tells a good story. Our conversation

was enjoyable, thoughtful, and constructive. We dif-

fered over some particulars, but had a common desire

to respect every person’s dignity and right to food

security. The Congressman has co-sponsored bi-

partisan bills to reauthorize the Global Security Act

and to provide summer meals to school children; and

he has twice voted against steep cuts in SNAP

funding, including the recently defeated farm bill. He

will likely follow that course.

“O God, whose love is so wide as to cover the

universe and so narrow as to heal the cracks in our hearts, help

us to express and enact your love in feeding the hungry.” May

we be Bread for the World.

Bob Anderson


What is SNAP? Supplemental Nutritional

Assistance Program – formerly known as food

stamps.

MYTH: Most SNAP benefits are going to

people who could be working.

FACT: Most SNAP recipients are children and elderly.

Only 40 percent of eligible seniors are participating. Half

of all SNAP benefits go to children.

MYTH: There is nothing we can do to help

the hungry.

FACT: There is LOTS we can do! Volunteer, donate or

collect food. Advocate — call and write your elected

officials. VOTE! Remember: hunger isn't only about food.

We should also be concerned about passage of living-

wage laws.

MYTH: It's better for local charities to feed people,

rather than the government.

FACT: Food banks, soup kitchens were created to solve

temporary, emergency situations, not systematic problems.

They are staffed mainly by volunteers, with donations, and

are open limited hours. They do not have the capacity to

feed the number of people who need help.

MYTH: SNAP enables lazy people to live well

on society's dime.

FACT: The average benefit is about $1.40 per meal, per

day.

MYTH: SNAP is rife with fraud and abuse.

FACT: The accuracy rate for SNAP is 96.2 percent. The

overwhelming majority of SNAP recipients follow the

stringent rules.

MYTH: People waste SNAP benefits on junk food.

FACT: Sugar and sweets account for only 2.8 percent of

the average family's SNAP purchases.

MYTH: All poor people receive food stamps.

FACT: Approx. 25 percent of those who are eligible for

federal nutrition assistance don't apply. This is due to diffi-

culty in navigating the system and the stigma of poverty.

MYTH: Undocumented immigrants are eligible

for SNAP benefits.

FACT: False. Documented adults with green cards must

wait five years before being eligible for SNAP. Only four

percent of participants are non-citizens. (Documented refu-

gees or immigrants)

MYTH: People waste SNAP benefits on alcohol

and cigarettes.

FACT: SNAP benefits cannot be used to purchase any

non-food item. This includes: diapers, shampoo, soap,

toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, etc.

MYTH: People are hungry because they are

too lazy to work.

FACT: Many who visit food pantries are elderly,

physically challenged and mentally ill. Many others are

hard-working families living below the poverty line. Rents

are high in our geographical region. Food is one of the few

flexible items in a family's budget. Often they do without

food to pay other bills.

MYTH: You can't be overweight and be

food insecure.

FACT: People who live in poverty tend to have less

access to healthy and affordable food. People living in

poverty cannot afford enough food, and often, what they

can afford is processed and unhealthy with low nutritional

value.

MYTH: Hunger in the USA is a myth.

FACT: 50 million Americans are food insecure. The

S.S.D.A. defines food insecurity as meaning "consistent

access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and

other resources at times during the year."

MYTH: SNAP creates a dependency.

FACT: On average, a new participant stays on SNAP for

only eight-ten months.

MYTH: People on SNAP just need to get a job.

FACT: Approx. 40 percent of households receiving SNAP

benefits have at least one working person. SNAP provides

a vital lifeline for families during a search for

employment.

15

Myths and facts regarding food insecurity in our world

16

But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little

child and put it by his side, and said to them,

'Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes

me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who

sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.

Luke 9:47-48

FRIDAY, JUNE 15: Father's Day is approaching, and

I will long for my son who is away and will soon

depart for ROTC boot camp. I love him with a love

that knows no boundaries. The separation will be

painful, and I will pray for his safety. I will ask Jesus

to hold him close and embrace him within

a holy presence.

I cannot imagine being forcibly separated

from my child. Throughout Holy Scripture,

God is continually seeking to be united

with us. So much so, that God sent Jesus

Christ. Scripture is clear that evil scatters

and God unites. Separation and scattering

are occurring in our country.

Today, children are crying for their parents.

Tonight a child will sit alone in the

darkness because of a policy. Each moment

that a child endures this separation is horrific,

inhumane, and unnatural. It counters every verse in

scripture to be one with God, one another and as a

family.

This is a moment in time when our faith and life must

be in Jesus Christ. This is a time when our faith must

become a reality. This is the moment when we can

shine the light of Jesus into the darkness of despair.

This is a moment when our leaders have the

opportunity to bring peace.

I am speaking as an American, a bishop of the

Episcopal Church and someone who has given my

life to Jesus Christ. I am asking that Christians of all

denominations raise their collective voice against the

policy of forcibly separating children from their

parents if they are caught at the borders. This policy

must end today.

For one holy moment, let us place aside political

parties and personal partisan mindsets. In this sacred

moment let us cast aside blame, the past, policies,

laws or the reasons parents have chosen to immigrate.

They are excuses for living in darkness and for not

seeking the light. We believe in life, we believe in

family.

I am pleading that we not, nor do we, confuse the

issue of separating children from their families from

the technical legalities of immigration. Separating

children from their parents violates God's Law. God's

law is not beholden to the laws of man:

"But Peter and the apostles answered and

said, 'We must obey God rather than men.'"

(Acts 5:29).

This is not who we are as citizens of the

United States. This is not who we are as

people who carry the name of Jesus Christ.

People of faith and conscience, this has to

be changed today. A child's future is in our

hands. Our collective conscience is on

display.

We are better than this. Let us raise our

collective voice and show the world why Jesus

matters. Let us demonstrate why Jesus is the answer

to the problems that confound society, and that His

followers actually believe it.

Take this moment to imagine the terror a child is

enduring by being removed from his or her parent.

The pain, isolation, fear, and despair. As Christians,

this pain must touch our faith and our lives. On this

Father's Day, let us give the gift and light of Christ to

a child who sits apart from their family. Through

prayer, I hope you are moved to express your faith

and beliefs to those that represent you at all levels of

government.

May God bless America and may God bless us all.

The Rt. Rev. Daniel G. P. Gutiérrez

XVI Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of

Pennsylvania

Separating immigrant children from their parents is horrific, inhumane and violates God’s law

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE BISHOP



MAY was quite a month to be an

Episcopalian.

For the week leading up to the

royal wedding at Windsor, people

across the world wanted to know

everything about Presiding Bishop

Michael Curry, including why the

leader of the Episcopal Church

would be preaching in the

presence of the Queen of

England. Then on May 19,

nearly 30 million TV

viewers in the United

States alone watched

Curry’s sermon on the

power of God’s love at the

wedding of Prince Harry

and Meghan Markle. For

a week afterward, Curry

was interviewed or pro-

filed by seemingly every

major media outlet, from

the BBC to ABC’s The View to the

celebrity gossip site TMZ.

Episcopalians, who have long

known of Curry’s talent as a

preacher, responded with a mix of

joy at “one of us” receiving such

attention and hope that Curry’s

rising profile would boost the

church’s profile – and maybe even

help fill the pews.

“I think you can’t discount just the

kind of euphoric pride that

Episcopalians felt,” said Melodie

Woerman, communications

director for the Diocese of Kansas.

After the royal wedding, posts

about Curry on her diocese’s social

media accounts generated a level

of intense interest “like I had never

seen before,” she said.

Curry did his part to seize this

opportunity for evangelism, delib-

erately turning the conversations in

interviews back to Jesus’ message

of love’s power to change the

world. And days after the royal

wedding, in a bit of scheduling

serendipity, he joined other

ecumenical Christian leaders for a

“Reclaiming Jesus” church service,

procession and candlelight vigil in

Washington, D.C. (photo above).

Though planned long before Curry

was asked to preach at Windsor

Castle, those events, held on May

24, drew additional news coverage

due to his sudden star power.

Of course, news cycles don’t last

forever. If Curry was granted his

Warholian 15 minutes of interna-

tional fame, he succeeded in

extending it by several days. But

he, the church and Episcopalians

now are faced with the question,

what’s next?

“Part of evangelism is helping the

church to be more visible, just as a

practical matter, and the other part

of it is the church having a mes-

sage that is worthy of the hearing,”

Curry told Episcopal News Service

in a phone interview May 31,

recapping the whirlwind of his past

few weeks. “And this has nothing

to do with Michael Curry. Jesus

figured this out. Jesus was right.

This way of love is the only way of

life. That’s it.”

“The world just recently discov-

ered Presiding Bishop Curry and

his amazing ability to make the

Gospel come alive. The

House of Bishops and many

in the Episcopal Church

and beyond have known

this for a long time,”

Olympia Bishop Greg

Rickel said prior to Curry’s

recent visit to Olympia

Diocese. “It will be a price-

less gift to have him with us

for these four days in June.

I hope everyone will find a

time to intersect with him at

the public venues and hear

his message and vision for the

Jesus Movement.”

The bigger question for dioceses,

congregations and parishioners

may be whether the attention Curry

has brought to the Episcopal

Church and to the Reclaiming

Jesus initiative will flow down to

them in ways that serve the long-

term mission of the church and the

work of its members. Even if it

does, some say there still is plenty

of work to be done.

David Paulsen

Paulsen is an editor and reporter

for the Episcopal News Service. He

can be reached at

[email protected].

Curry spurs Episcopalians to spread the message of Jesus’ love

17

FROM EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE

18

ART’S GALLERY

BORN as China’s Great Revolution began in the late

1960s, parishioner Susan Ye Laird now looks back on a

surprisingly idyllic childhood and a life with far more ups

than downs.

“It was like ‘Born Free,’” she recalls of the freedom to

roam the surroundings around her home on campus of a

university outside Shanghai where her father, a university

administrator; her mother, a high school Chinese literature

teacher; and her older brother (with Susan in the photo

below) lived.

“We lived on the outskirts of the city. It had its own quite

isolated and protective shield and the Cultural Revolution

wasn’t as bloody as elsewhere. Certainly, due to the fact

that our grandparents were not categorized as counter-

revolutionary, we were seen as ‘good seeds.’”

Growing up, she attended elementary school and then

boarding school where she learned English. She married

her first husband, a fellow college student in China, in

1991 and came to the U.S on Thanksgiving Day 1992.

After a year in Anchorage, Alaska, they moved to

Norfolk, VA and Old Dominion University where she

earned a master’s degree in

electrical and computer engineer-

ing while her husband was

working toward his Ph.D.

Unable to find a job after gradua-

tion and with troubles at home,

Susan struck out on her own and

found a computer-related job in

Wilmington, DE. in 1996.

Following a divorce, she moved

to New Jersey where she worked

for the College of St. Elizabeth in

Morristown and for New Jersey

State Police headquarters in its

Police Information Technology

Bureau in West Trenton. She married Eugene Kashpureff

in 2001 and their son, Gregoriy, was born in 2002. In

2009, she and Eugene divorced and Susan devoted her

attention to raising her young son while doing computer-

related work for the NJ State Police.

Susan discovered Yardley and St. Andrew’s around this

time from a female friend who lived there.

It was during this time that she met Eric Laird online.

“We were bloggers. It was all anonymous at that time and

we must have corresponded for two or three years before

we met,” Susan recalls. They married in 2010 and their

son, James, was born in 2011. (Both sons were baptized at

St. Andrews.)

Eric has his Ph.D. in nanotechnology from Drexel Univer-

sity in Philadelphia. The dictionary defines that as “the

manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized

from 1 to 100 nanometers.” He works for Breen Color

Concentrates in Lambertville, NJ. Breen provides custom

color and additive concentrates to the plastics industry.

He chairs St. Andrews Outreach Committee and has over-

seen two church-sponsored trips to Guatemala. Eric went

on one and Gregoriy went on two.

Susan is devoting her time these days to helping Eric raise

two sons and working from home on a monthly poetry and

fiction publication with the great name of “Better than

Starbucks.” (www.betterthanstarbucks.org). She holds the

unusual title of “translation editor,” which means she

“finds people to translate submissions from around the

world.” It keeps her busy and in touch with people all over

the world.

Susan loves Yardley and St. Andrews. She and her family

(pictured above) usually attend the 10:15 a.m. service but,

through Eric’s work with the Outreach Committee, have

friends at both services.

Her thoughts about St. Andrews?

“I am amazed at how gentle and how patient people treat

each other within our church community. I had quite

stressful work after my trusted boss retired in 2006, so St.

Andrews became my sanctuary and safe place.

It has a small and intimate setting in its buildings and in

the people.”

Art Mayhew

From revolutionary China to ‘gentle, patient’ Yardley



THE December 1965 Vestry

minutes record that an

anonymous person has

offered to give wrought iron

railings to be placed before

the choir stalls. Best guess

as to the donor: Richard N.

Marshall. The gift was

accepted. (These railings

were removed in the early

1990s when the chancel was

reconfigured to its

present form. Much of what

remains of the railings now

adorn the openings in the

fireplaces in St. Andrew’s

House, after the downstairs

was renovated.

THESE same minutes also

detail a fund raising project,

the sale of 100 jars of “Nuts

and Bolts”, a cocktail snack

put up by the Spruce Bend

Farm in Flemington, NJ. As

John Parsons, the Secretary

to the Vestry writes: “The

name of this confection does

not adequately describe the

indigestibility of the product.

The Vestry will however

unload 100 jars at a profit of

50 cents each in defiance of

the motto: ‘Salus populi

supreme est lex.’”

The big “event” in 1966 was

the sudden disappearance of

the rector, Father Davison, in

early November of that year. A

note in the November 8

minutes states that “Fr.

Davison is no longer able to

continue further useful service

to the parish.”

At a November 20 meeting of

the Vestry these items:

“Discussions held concerning

efforts to locate Fr. Davison”

and “discussions held on the

apparent financial

irregularities both personal

and church.”

The day before Fr. Davison

left he went to the home of

two long time members of St.

Andrew’s (Ann and Ralph

Yardley) and asked for

financial assistance for a

“needy parishioner”. The

church members responded

with a check for $200.

Apparently they were not

the only church members

who were called on that

day by Fr. Davison seeking

funds for the “needy

parishioner.”

The next day Fr. Davison

was gone, leaving his wife

and children who were

living in the Rectory. On

that same day a man who

had been living with the

Davisons in the Rectory

also “disappeared”.

Beyond the financial

irregularities there were

rumors of other problems. In

the emergency prompted by

Davison’s departure, Bill

Mills, Rector of The Church

of the Incarnation in

Morrisville, offered to assist in

handling church needs. Other

priests from neighboring

parishes also stepped in and

offered their aid.

SO closed another chapter in

the life of St. Andrew’s and

opened the door to a new

chapter with the arrival of a

new Rector, Frank Griswold

and his wife Phoebe to set St.

Andrew’s further on a

renaissance and his ministry

on the path to his becoming

Presiding Bishop of the

Episcopal Church USA.

FROM THE HISTORY CORNER

Jaf Baxter recounts the genesis and subsequent history of

St. Andrew’s.

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May-June 2018 The Chronicle · Beryl Moore 215-736-3608 ... left, above); her husband Kevin...

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