Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori releases statement on the border crisis

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1 Borrego Springs, California September 2014 Volume 17, No. 8 Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori releases statement on the border crisis [Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs press release] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following statement on the current crisis of unaccompanied children and families at the United States border. The influx of vulnerable people from Central America, including unaccompanied minors as well as mothers with children, continues to challenge the United States to respond compassionately. Like Sudanese or Syrian refugees, these people are fleeing hunger, violence, and the fear of rape, murder, and enslavement. The violence in Central America has escalated significantly in recent months, particularly as a result of gangs and trafficking in drugs and human beings. These people are literally fleeing for their lives. The United States has a checkered history in responding to refugee crises. We shut our eyes and ears, as well as our ports, during the crimes against Jews and other vulnerable persons in the midst of the Second World War. We have been more welcoming to Sudanese youths looking for survival in the last 20 years. The Episcopal Church believes we have a responsibility to all our neighbors, particularly the strangers and sojourners around us. We have been resettling refugees since Today, Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) and Episcopal Relief & Development are working with churches and dioceses in areas where these Central American women and children are being served. Episcopalians are responding with prayers and concern, and asking how to help. I urge you to remember these people and their difficult and dangerous position in your prayers today, this coming Sunday, and continuing until we find a just resolution. The Episcopal Church has established an account to receive financial contributions to assist Episcopal Migration Ministries in this work. For details, please contact EMM@episcopalchurch.org Continued on page 2.

2 I would also encourage you to contact your legislators, and ask them to support an appropriate humanitarian response to this crisis. We are our brothers and sisters keepers, and as a Church, we are asking the United States government to support such a response, grounded in justice and the fundamental dignity of every human being. Our Office of Government Relations is submitting detailed testimony to a United States Senate hearing today, as that chamber prepares to consider a budget request from the President. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori Presiding Bishop and Primate The Episcopal Church St. Barnabas Parishioners would like to thank Rev. George Keith and Rev. Al Smith for their service this summer! We really appreciate and look forward to you both being with us each summer. We will see you again next year God willing! THANK YOU! St Barnabas Prayer List O God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, we humbly ask you for all sorts and conditions of men; that you would be pleased to make your ways known to them, your saving health to all nations. More especially we pray for your holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by your good spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to your fatherly goodness all those who are in any way afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; especially those for whom our prayers are desired; that it may please you to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we ask for Jesus Christ s sake. Amen BCP pg. #815 We pray especially for Our Men and Women in uniform, Luke Vesci, Cpl Daniel Peterson, Tootie Hatch, Richard & Nancy Bye, Kurt Levins, Paul Carroll, Jim Carroll, Jacob Thompson, Kay Sharkey, Ann Easley, Laureana Easley, Leila Easley, Jean Smith, Louise, David Born, Rhoda Riddell, Verna Robinson, Elizabeth, Jackie, Wendy Christi, AnnMarie Tidwell, Norma, Emily, Michael, Barbara Scott, the men, women and children crossing our southern border seeking asylum and those caring for them.

3 In the previous issue of the Carillon our featured Parishioner was Mary Bennett. With our interest piqued, it was only natural that we wanted to learn more about her delightful husband of 56 years, and Chuck has very graciously provided us with some answers. Unlike his wife, Chuck was born in Lansing, Michigan, the eldest of four children. He attended schools, grade through high, there and it was in his high school World Literature class that he met his future bride. Parishioner Profile Chuck Bennett During these years the Bennett s son, Charles Lee II was born. In order to augment the family s income, Chuck and Mary managed apartment houses, with Chuck doing the maintenance work while at the same time working as a sheet metal mechanic in the aerospace industry. When Chuck got his degree in 1968, he took a job with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, Conn. It became a very brief sojourn back there in the cold weather they had left behind some years ago and by summer they returned to California, very wisely to the San Diego area this time. Upon graduating, Chuck enlisted in the U S Navy and after Basic Training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois he was sent to Norman, Oklahoma for Airman Preparatory School, then to Memphis, Tennessee for Aviation Machinists Mate training. Finally, after all this training, Chuck was assigned to permanent duty, (as if anything in the Navy is ever permanent), at the Naval Air Mine Defense Development Unit, Mine Defense Laboratory in Panama City, Florida. For the remainder of his Naval service he served as crew chief on a helicopter designed for towing standard mine sweeping gear. After 2 ½ years he was honorably discharged in A year before his discharge, Chuck and Mary were married in their home town of Lansing and immediately moved to Panama City. After his discharge the young couple moved back to Michigan. While Mary was busy producing their first child, Mary Donnette, Chuck worked at various construction jobs and then took employment as an aircraft mechanic for the Michigan National Guard. He also began attending night school with the ultimate goal of attaining his Bachelor of Science degree. The family moved to Inglewood, California, in order for Chuck to attend the Northrop Institute of Technology to further his education. Working and going to school wasn t easy, of course, but Chuck persevered and six years later he graduated with that coveted BS degree. Chuck went to work for General Dynamics Convair Division and remained with them until Here he served in many supervisory positions and worked on many missile projects, some of which have almost become household names, such famous ones like the Atlas Missile, the Tomahawk Cruise Missile, the Space Shuttle External Tank, the DC-10 Fuselage, and many, many more. The last program he worked on was called the Composite Capsule Launching System. I imagine just the title will spark the reader s interest and you ll ask Chuck to explain it to you. It s far too complicated for this writer s English major mentality! Eventually, Hughes Aircraft bought General Dynamics Convair and the Bennetts moved to Tucson, AZ where Chuck continued to work on missile systems until his retirement in During their years of raising a family, their free time was almost completely spent hiking, camping and backpacking all over the west. Chuck was an Outing Leader for the Sierra Club and both he and Mary were instructors for that organization s North County Groups annual Wilderness Basics Course, actually serving in that capacity for 23 years. It was only natural that upon retirement they would head for Borrego Springs, where they had spent many hours hiking and backpacking. Continued on page 4 Carillon Page 3

4 At first they bought a little fixer-upper which they spent 3 or 4 years fixing up. Upon selling that property, they bought a lot not too far from town and designed and had built the house of their dreams. Of course, over the years, Chuck has continued to expend his talent and energy on making that house ever more to their liking. The Bennett progeny had left home long before the move to the desert and at present son, Charles, is living in San Pedro with his family and Mary and her husband live in Tucson. As we all know, Chuck and Mary have dedicated many volunteer hours to the Park with Chuck serving every position on the Anza-Borrego Foundation Board at one time or another over the past 15 years. He even served briefly as Executive Director. His greatest enjoyment, though, is working in the field. For 15 years he maintained four Bighorn guzzlers up there in the remote areas, which involved going out and checking them at least twice a year to make sure that they were functioning correctly so that the animals had a consistent water supply. Chuck has been on a number of archeological surveys and digs as a member of the Colorado Desert Archaeology Society (CDAS) which has afforded him the opportunity to travel to Mongolia three times, twice as a Field Team Leader for an Earth Watch Program at the Ick Nart Natural Preserve. He also serves on the Steering Committee of CDAS and is currently their Treasurer. With all this on his plate, one would think his days are totally filled, but our friend still finds time to indulge his favorite hobbies: hiking, reading, and creating beautiful objects out of wood. Be sure to watch for his unusual screwdrivers at the next Art Institute Exhibit. Chuck and Mary are fairly recent parishioners, having come to St Barnabas through our beloved Alex and Nancy Nagy. We are all so grateful that they did. Chuck has already served once on the Vestry and is a truly gifted Lector. And we always look forward to when Mary serves as hostess at the Coffee Hour! DAY THREE: Looking forward to spending a night at our favorite Super 8 Motel in Yucca Valley, eating some good Mexican food, maybe a little karaoke. To our surprise, the whole town was booked up for a UFO convention! Who knew? Ended up in Joshua Tree at a bare-bones place that didn t usually accept dogs but took pity on us and gave us the end room next to the trash dump. At least it was clean. DAYS FOUR AND FIVE: Our second visit to Lancaster, first visit to their local Elks Club. While driving slowly down K Street in search of the Lodge, what did we pass but an Episcopal Church! It was a sign. The next day was Sunday, so I had to make time for the church service. I chose the 8:00 a.m. since we were checking out that day, so sadly no music, but a beautiful service and very similar to ours. DAY EIGHT: Enjoying a five-day stay at our ultimate destination, Lake Isabella. Today we were fortunate to meet Laurie at another Elks Club. Postcards from a Road Trip In addition to tending bar at the Elks, she drives a tanker truck and sews all her own clothes! Amazing. (I told her about you, Louise!) DAYS TEN AND ELEVEN: California City. This is a place where we ve stopped several times over the last ten years to stretch our legs on the way to Tehachapi, Mojave or Lancaster. On each visit, the same motel was under construction but not yet finished. Well, they finally finished it! So of course we had to spend a couple of days. It was a nice Best Western, and we finally got our Mexican dinner. DAY SIXTEEN: Back to Borrego Springs, and welcomed by rain, thunder, lightning and fires. Driving through the badlands from Salton City on S- 22 was a bit tense, what with worrying about flash floods, but we made it just fine, thanks be to God. It was a great trip, but there s no place like home! Wendy Quinn

5 July Vestry Report There was not a quorum for the July meeting. So no votes were taken. The financials for June were reviewed. Income has been positive this year. We are running in the black! Cathy Gay has contacted Wells Fargo to sell our PIMCO stocks and purchase EATON VANCE stocks. This was a recommendation from our advisor in anticipation of rising interest rates which would effect income from the PIMCO stock. The Vestry voted on this by and agreed this was a good move. The Vestry and Laura+ have been looking into moving Laura s+ health insurance from church insurance to Medicare. After much discussion and research by Lyle it was discovered that we cannot move Laura+ into Medicare at this time. The diocese and Lyle are still looking into this as it would save us considerable monies if we were able to make the move. The Vestry discussed the Food Bank. There have been some concerns and difficulties with our outreach to the people in Slab City. This has been worked out. Ernie will now be taking care of paper work for Slab City separately from that done for the distribution at the church. Antoinette has stepped aside as administrator for this program for personal reasons. Shirley Vialpando will take this on for the time being. If anyone out there would like to help with this ministry please contact Shirley. There have been some complications with our sound system in the church. A proposal for an update has been provided by Fred Jee and Richard Gray, who will be helping us with the transition to a new system. The project will cost approximately $1, to complete. One of our generous parishioners has made a donation to help with this project. Further discussion will resume in September when everyone is available to weigh in on this project and the hope is that we will have it completed in late October. There was a request from the Anza-Borrego Foundation to use our church for a benefit concert. The Vestry has requested a proposal in writing before they vote on it. This will be addressed at the September Vestry meeting. There were no committee reports at this meeting. There will not be a meeting in August. The next regular Vestry meeting will be on Thursday September 25th at 8:00am. Trent C. Hoskins-Kleinkopf Holy Happy Hour Hosts for September September 7 Mary & Chuck Bennett September 14 Wendy Quinn & Sonja McGrath September 21 Ann & Laureana Easley September 28 Cathy Gay & Diane Hydoski Lectors Schedule for September September 7 Wendy Quinn & Chuck Bennett September 14 Carol Sargent & Martha Mitchell September 21 Lyle Brecht & Fred Jee September 28 Jan Naragon & Joann McLean

6 Borrego Youth Golf Completes it s 4th Season PGA pro Rick Wooten of JC Resorts and LPGA pro Martha Mitchell offer their time to the youth of Borrego Springs to instill good game manners in order to help build and maintain the professional etiquette that encompasses the world of golf as well as good technique and a love of the game. Many volunteers, headed up by our very own go getter Tracey Alexander, have been on hand to organize and carry out the many tasks necessary to make this program the success that it has been. This program has morphed into more than just a golf outing. Each week the kids are out there learning and playing soccer, catch, hoola hoop, calisthenics, as well as driving and putting. Several of the youth have shown potential in the game and have been taken on by mentors to help them master the game in sessions outside the regular Youth Golf sessions. If you would like to mentor one of these students please contact Tracey. Lunches have been provided this year by Carlee s, Kendall s and Carmelita s. Transportation has been provided by volunteers using BSUSD busses to get kids to the course and then off to other activities this summer. A giant THANK YOU to all of you who have made this program possible through your generous donations of time, talent and treasure. Only with your generous donations can programs like this be possible. So, what s next? We are a talented bunch here at St. Barnabas. We can do more! What programs do you think would benefit the youth of our community? Bring your ideas and energy to the Vestry and help us do more outreach to our local community. Trent C. Hoskins-Kleinkopf

7 June 2014 Financial Update Parishioners have asked to be kept better informed as to the finances of the church. In an attempt to do that The Finance Committee will be including each month in the Carillon the latest numbers that will give you an idea of how the church finances are doing over the course of the year. Budget for FY 2014 Expected Pledges $81, Expected Open Plate $9, Total Expected Income $91, Total Budgeted Expenditures $116, Expected Shortfall for FY14 -$25, Actuals through June Pledges Received $51, Open Plate Received $9, Current Total Income $60, Current Position for FY14 Total Expenditures $116, Current Total Income $60, Current Position for FY14 $ 55, St. Barnabas Monthly Income FY 14 vs. FY 13

8 SEPTEMBER SUNDAY HOLY 9:30AM FOOD BANK SEPTEMBER 15th 12:00 pm Volunteers are needed to help with set up and distribution so come early. Donations are also needed to keep this ministry going. Make Checks payable to St Barnabas with memo in note field to Food Bank Bible Study will resume October 7th at 5:30 pm in the parish office St. Barnabas Carillon Editing and Design: Trent Hoskins-Kleinkopf stbarnabasborrego@gmail.com (760) Production: Carol Sargent & Trent Hoskins-Kleinkopf Newsletter Committee: Trent Hoskins-Kleinkopf, Wendy Quinn & Shirley Vialpando Editor Emeritus: Lynnis Wilderson St. Barnabas Episcopal Church 2680 Country Club Road P.O. Box 691 Borrego Springs, CA Church office: Website: