THE CHRIST CHURCHER June 2014

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RECTOR’S NOTES

J une is our big month for honoring and congratulat-ing, which we will do again this year. Sunday, June 1st is our annual Recognition Sunday. We celebrate our young people who have just completed another year of Sunday School – and we will thank our dedicated teachers for their hard work. They will be honored with a brunch at 9:15 AM that day. Following the June 1st service is our annual parish picnic on the lawn across the street. Hamburgers and hotdogs will be pro-vided. If you can pro-vide a side dish, please let us know on a signup sheet in church. June 8th is the Day of Pentecost when we celebrate the outpouring of the Spirit upon the early church. It is a festive and joyous day. At the 10 AM service we will also be baptizing Reed Daniel Moyer, the newest ad-dition to the family of Laurie and Dan Moyer. Our congratulations to the Moyer family (and grandpar-ents Bruce and Nancy Horne). Pentecost is also the last Sunday the choir sings before a well-deserved break for the summer. This concludes the first academic year of Janet Miller’s work with both the adult and youth choirs. What a fabulous job she has done with both choirs. Both choir and congre-gation have been blessed by her musicianship. Please do let Janet know how appreciative we are! Then June 15th is both Father’s Day and the Deppich Awards ceremony. Once again, due to the ongoing generosity of benefactors Earl and Marie Deppich, we will be distributing $10,000 in scholarships to seven

exceptional young people. So the first three Sundays in June will all be occasions of celebration and joy. Other news…our damaged sign in front of the church

is slated for repairs sometime in June. At some point it will disappear for a couple weeks from our front lawn. There was van-dalism back in Octo-ber which has necessi-tated the repairs. For-tunately we received insurance money to help pay for the ex-pense of repair and repainting. Many thanks to Nan Garthwaite and Carol

Pindar who have planted flowers in front of the church. It is always such a pleasure see them blossom-ing throughout the summer.

A s we head into the summer months, please re-member that our pledges tend to slide a bit as people head to the shore and off for vacations. This fall off increases the heart rate of your Finance Committee. If you have not done so, consider pledging online so you can keep your pledge up to date. You can also contact Gerry Martz who can set up this auto deduction for you. Finally, do enjoy the beauty of God’s creation and the warmth of the summer sun. With the exceptional snow and cold it has not been an easy winter! Don’t forget to come give thanks for our collective deliverance at our Sunday services.

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ASSOCIATE’S NOTES

I have recently become interested in the topic of fundamentalism—or fundamentalisms, as there are many varieties—and especially its impact on girls and women. The recent kidnapping of the 200-plus schoolgirls in Nigeria just underlines the issue for me. The threat of raping the girls, to say nothing of selling them into slavery—or marrying them off, which is pretty much all the same thing—reveals the particular-ly brutal underbelly of fundamentalism regarding women. And schoolgirls were taken because educating girls is the greatest sin to many fundamentalisms. Think of Malala Yousufzai, the 14 year old Pakistani schoolgirl activist for girl’s education who in 2012 was shot in the head by Taliban. She made a miraculous recovery but clearly she can never go home again. But that is just one fundamentalism. This is not about Is-lam.

In fact, my interest began when I read Going Clear, which is a fascinating expose of Scientology. I had no particular knowledge about Scientology before I began the book—I basically knew it was a modern religion—or “religion”—founded by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard. It is supposed to be where religion meets science, a clear-headed religion with no supernatural gobbledygook. (The actual teachings are really more like sci-fi gobbledygook, involving aliens and a billion year old battle for the universe…or something.) The church makes money by offering courses purporting to reveal the truth about the uni-verse and ourselves. They are taught in levels, and one pays more and more for each level—but as one “completes” each level, one is presumably getting clos-er and closer to becoming “clear,” or self-actualized. Hubbard was able to establish absolute control over his followers by a system of rewards and punish-ments—and instilling in them the fear that if they left, they would lose everything they had gained spiritually. Over the decades both men and women were abused and enslaved, but what struck me was the particular way Hubbard used women. He had several wives, in-cluding one bigamous relationship. When he began his organization—for many years on a ship at sea—he recruited young girls, dressed in hot pants, to stand at his door, be available for errands, and to spy for him. When they grew older, he would marry them off—order abortions if they got pregnant—and then tear their families apart and forbid all contact at a whim. But while he treated both men and women abomina-bly, how he treated men was not about them being

male. How he treated women was definitely about their being female.

And I recently came upon a record his son, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr, left about a conversation his dad had with him one night when he was in his 20’s: (“I’ve had) scores of women. Blood and pain women. My Scarlet Women,” he says. “Souls torn open,” he says…“I’ll teach you. Learn well, my son, for you shall take my place….Scarlet Women of your own,” he says. “Plenty. For they are the secret to the Doorway. Use and consume. Feast. Drink the power through them. Waste and discard them. Sex … is the route to power,” he says. “Find your Scarlet Woman,” he says... “Make your own Scarlet Women,” he says. “Scarlet?” I ask.

“Yes, Scarlet. The blood of their bodies; the blood of their soul,” he says.

From Going Clear, I moved on to Stolen Innocence—about a girl raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) who was forced to marry at 14 but later escaped. This led me to other books about women who have escaped from FLDS—it seems to have become a cottage industry. It is incredi-bly difficult to escape, as they live in remote places, the cops are all FLDS, everyone is a potential spy, and there are other wives watching like hawks. Also girls usually have minimal education—by the way, so did many of Hubbard’s Scientologist girls—and were ter-rified of not being able to find work to support their usually numerous families. Flora Jessop’s account in Escape of what she had to go through to get all 8 of her children together in the same place when no other wife was home in order to get them all away is just harrowing. And I most recently read UN Orthodox, by Deborah Feldman, which is the story of a girl raised as a Hassidic Jew who also managed to escape, though at the cost of her relationships with her entire family, and all vestiges of her religious faith. But Mus-lim, Jew, Christian or Scientologist, in every case, the scenario was the same: girls were taught rigid roles and fear of their own bodies, given as little education as possible, and instructed to submit to their husband in all things.

L. Ron Hubbard talked about stealing from women “the blood of their souls” as the secret of power. That seems to be about the size of it, for fundamentalists around the world… Judy Buck-Glenn

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VESTRY NOTES The Vestry of Christ Church met on Thursday, May 15, 2014. Father Tompkins convened the meeting with prayer at 7:00 P.M. The April meeting minutes were approved. FINANCIAL REPORT Carol King provided the financial highlights as of April 30, 2014. Total income for April was ahead by $1,062.00; total expenses for April exceeded budget by $503.00; year to date income is behind by $979.00; year to date expenses are below budget by $3,789.00. The Financial Report was approved as presented. VESTRY CLERK / NEW VESTRY MEMBER APPOINTMENTS Joanne Daws was nominated and elected as the new Vestry Clerk. Robert Hand was nominated and elected to assume Michael White’s unexpired term on the Ves-try. Robert will serve for a period of two years. DEPPICH SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE Betsy Kirkpatrick reported that the Deppich Scholar-ship committee met on May 13, 2014 to review the Deppich Scholarship applications. Seven students were awarded scholarships. Congratulations to Kevin Huber, Liz Iannacci, Ben Kellett, Aaron Kellett, Nicole Melso, Alex Melso, and Erin Shemeluk. Father Tomkins thanked the committee for the excellent job they do each year in reviewing the Deppich Scholarship appli-cations and awarding the scholarships. PAROCHIAL REPORT Father Tompkins reviewed the Parochial Report with the vestry. The report was unanimously approved. PROPERTY REPORT No official Property Report was presented. However Bill Graham reported that the committee is working on having the property mulched. Also, spring/summer plantings are being worked on. Lastly, the church sign will be sent out for repairs and painting. The sign will be down for approximately two weeks.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE PARISH There will be a picnic for the parish on Sunday, June 1st following the 10:00 service. Rev. Judy mentioned that it was suggested that parish members bring side dishes for the picnic to have along with the hamburg-ers and hot dogs being served. The use of a sign-up sheet for the side dishes was discussed. Father Tompkins reported that he will be training 4 additional teams to serve as LEMS (Lay Ministers). He also reported that Memorial Garden planting will be started shortly, along with Phase II of the plan for the Memorial Garden. Ken Mobley reported that he would like to take the Acolytes and Readers to a Union soccer game on Sat-urday, July 12, 2014 which is also Fireworks Night. Ken was looking for a commitment from the Vestry of $10.00 per child towards the cost of their ticket. The Vestry approved this request. Ken also asked for chap-erones for the trip. John Rubillo volunteered to be a chaperone. There being no further business, the meeting was ad-journed at 7:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted,

Joanne Daws, Vestry Clerk

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MUSIC NOTES Where Do Hymns Come From? The hymns in our hymnal are supplements were writ-ten across the globe over many centuries. From old Hebrew melodies to 11th century plainsong to Renais-sance era European chorale tunes, from early American folk hymns to melodies and texts newly composed or arranged last month, plus a growing number of hymns from Africa and Asia, the sources are widely varied. Where does your favorite hymn come from? Email your favorite hymn to : music@christchurchridleypark.org, and in the coming months, I’ll write a paragraph or two about the origin of the text and melody.

Organ Class Seating? Odd fact: In the early days of Northwest Airlines, one of the luxury Boeing planes was outfitted with no less than a pipe organ in one of the two passenger decks! Amongst secular favorites of the day, one of the pieces amongst the organists’ repertoire was, “Nearer My God to Thee”. Now, THAT takes a certain sense of humor! I’d hate to imagine what happened when the plane hit turbulence, especially in an era where listeners were much less accustomed to hearing dissonance than they are today! The plane cost more to fly and maintain than it could take in, so it and others in its fleet were discontinued by 1960. This and more in a new book: Non-Stop: A turbulent History of Northwest Airlines, University of Minnesota Press. © 2013 by Jack El-Hai.

Janet Miller, Organist

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION RECOGNITION SUNDAY

O n Sunday, June 1 children and youth who have attended at least half of their Sunday School classes will receive their annual award pins at the 10:00 ser-vice. However, all children who have attended Sunday School, regardless of how many times, will be recog-nized and everyone in every class will receive a small gift from the Christian Education Committee. We will also briefly acknowledge Sunday School teachers, who will come up with their classes. Although there will be no Sunday school on June 1, we hope as many teachers as possible will attend the Teacher Recognition Brunch at 9:15 am in Mussel-man Hall and stay for the 10:00 service.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION TEACHER BRUNCH On Sunday June 1 the Christian Education Committee will provide a special brunch as a token of thanks and appreciation to all who are in any way involved in the Children’s Christian education program: teachers or subs, Children’s Chapel or Youth leaders, record-keepers, and all who serve on the Christian Education Committee. If you have something special to share—a fun lesson or activity, a terrific book or DVD, or a great website—we’d love to hear about it! The brunch will begin at 9:15 AM in Musselman Hall on Sunday June, 1. And we hope all, especially teach-ers, will come to the 10 AM service, where the children will be recognized.

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OUTREACH COMMITTEE NOTES

T he Outreach Committee met on Monday, May 19, 2014. Thank Yous for recent Christ Church support were received from Deep Roots at Clairvaux Farms, City Team Ministries, Ridley Park United Methodist Church and Chester Eastside Ministries. St. Mary’s Food Cupboard reported distributing meals to 617 individuals during the month of April. As this was the last meeting before the Committee’s summer hiatus, a number of monetary allocations were made to cover the summer months: Acme Cards (June/July/August) $675 Gas Cards $150 Loaves & Fishes (August) $250 Meals on Wheels (August) $250 St. Mary’s Food Cupboard $250 Ridley Park United Methodist Church $250 As the final collection number has not yet been received, the committee agreed to match the amount for the Baby Manna initiative held during the month of May. In addition cleaning supplies and snacks to support the Missionaries Charity Day Camp – Gift of Mary, Chester, PA were approved for expenditures up to $200 and $750 respectively. Finally, a $50 reimbursement to Rev. Judy was approved as she dis-tributed this amount to a family in need. The next 69th Street Life Center meal activity is scheduled for June 11th. A sign-up sheet for various items from main courses to accompaniments is located on the table adjacent to the water cooler. Re-minders will be placed in the Bulletin and announcement made at Sunday Services during the coming weeks. It was noted that bars of soap have been earmarked for inclusion in the Seaman’s Institute Ditty Bag in-ventory. We will be collecting these along with the other items requested throughout the year. In its continuing effort to share with you the difference that your contributions to Outreach make, this month the committee is showcasing Deep Roots at Clairvaux farms. Deep Roots works with children and their families, who are disconnected through homelessness or other similar marginalization. The program challenges children to envision a brighter future, to sustain healthy relationships and to navigate a course towards personal and social responsibility through better life expe-riences, with mentors, providing healthy life-models for all future relationships. One year ago in May, the Farm closed, but has reopened and its ministry is alive, well and growing! They have completed renovation of the first residence building which now is home to two families. Clairvaux is close to finishing the second residence and hopes to have the third building completed by mid-summer. This will greatly expand their capacity for families who are experiencing homelessness. But the mission is more than just providing shelter….mission trips and work camps scheduled throughout the summer will play a vital role in helping to break the cycle of homelessness that breaks young spirits

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SEAMAN’S INSTITUTE - DITTY BAGS

T he Outreach Committee is still collecting things for the 25 ditty bags that will be delivered at Christmas to a ship full of mariners by the Seaman’s Institute. Items need for June, July and August: Shampoo, tooth-paste, and shaving cream. The bin for the Seaman’s Institute collections is under the shelf in the vestibule with the green doors.

THANK YOU Thanks to everyone who donated clothes, books or time to our spring/summer Cradles to Crayons collec-tion. Once again, many hands made lighter work while we were sorting. There were about 15 bags/boxes to be sorted and dropped off at C2C. Thanks also for your contributions for the sundaes, enjoyed after the sort :) Everything was greatly appreciated.

The Outreach Committee

VACATION CHURCH SCHOOL

N arnia is returning this summer as the theme of our Vacation Church School. The C S Lewis classic is a wonderful way to introduce children to Christian themes. The land of Narnia is frozen in the icy grip of the White Witch, who makes it “Always winter and never Christmas.” But there are those faithful inhabit-ants who whisper that someday Aslan will return to break the power of the White Witch—and as rumours begin to spread that “Aslan is on the move”, four chil-dren from our world enter Narnia through a wardrobe door and are drawn into the struggle…until one of them proves a Traitor. Can Narnia—and the boy who has betrayed her—be saved?

The week-long Vacation Church School this year is held from July 21-25, from 9:15-11:45. Please note that VCS will be held for five days this year, rather than the usual four. We ask families to be prompt, as we will begin each day with a showing of the BBC ver-sion of The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe at 9:15. It is longer than either the cartoon or the movie version, but is far truer to the book.

Help is needed! We particularly need help to set up for Narnia on Wednesday June 16 beginning at 10 AM. We will be building Narnia—Wardrobe, Faun’s cave, Witch’s palace and all! It’s a big project and we really need help!

We also need older youth or adults who can give a half day—or a couple of half-days, or all five days. Helpers can lead children in crafts, serve snacks, read stories, or guide and supervise play.

If you can’t help set up or teach, we would also greatly welcome help taking things down on the afternoon immediately after VCS ends on Friday July 25!

There is a two-sided application form for VCS else-where in the Christ Churcher. Each form is good for up to three children from the same family. Please feel free to pass it out to neighbours and friends.

Additional forms can be obtained by calling the office at 610-521-1626.

You may send in the form, or drop it into the collec-tion plate. There is a minimal charge to help cover costs of materials and snacks, but this can be waived simply upon request.

F.Y.I. 2014 PLEDGE UPDATE Amount pledged as of 4/30 $54,721.00 Amount received as of 4/ 30 $56,148.00 Difference $ 1,427.00

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JUNE BIRTHDAYS

1 Steven Barnard Leslie McFadden 3 Elizabeth Kunze Paul Mc Quade 4 Chris Haines Destiny Lundberg 5 Diane Marsich Ollie Rhine 6 Gordon Buchan Kirsten Hinckley 7 Betty Gallagher Jesse Tyson 8 Vicki Myers 9 Stephanie Hinckley Gabriella Kunze 10 Griffin Hechmer Kelli Mullany 11 Michael Cannon Susan Houtz Paul O’Connell 12 Gladys Roman 14 Anne Yontz 15 Vincent Maietta 16 Cliff Kellett Joe Osowski

17 Jennifer Creaven 19 Brian Phillips 20 Logan Keller Roberta Lunari David Rainey Bill Rouse

21 Michelle Bonavita

Gage Fromal Susan Fromal Antonella Schinchirimini

23 Joe Foca

Susan Francis 24 Meredith Kirkpatrick 25 Johnson Bowie 26 Billy Rouse 27 Tyler Colbert

Austin Colbert 28 Jessica Bordas

Christina Boyer P. J. O’Connell

29 Dana Buchan

Barbara Clark Rhys Hechmer

30 Angela Doyle Cindy Ewers

EPISCOPAL NIGHT WITH THE PHILLIES Please join other Episcopalians throughout the diocese at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, August 7, when the Phils host the Houston Astros at 7:05 PM. To order your tickets go to http://www.phillies.com/episcopal and be sure to enter the promotion code: EDOP. Place your orders by July 7. Tickets are subject to availability!

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When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all to-gether in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, ap-peared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

- Acts 2

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Mission Statement

The mission of Christ Church is to be a caring community of individuals seeking to be better persons and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ within the Episcopal Tradition. We share the Gospel: 1) through meaningful and joyful worship; 2) through educating and nurturing the youth of our congregation; 3) through a family spirit of loving fellowship and acceptance; 4) and through welcoming support groups and community organizations to use our facilities.

CHRIST CHURCH OFFICE 610-521-1626 The Rev. Douglas Tompkins, Rector ext. 22 The Rev. Judith Buck-Glenn, Associate Rector ext. 24 The Rev. Wm. Musselman, Rector Emeritus Janet Miller,, Organist ext. 23 Mary Lou Patton, Secretary/Admin Assistant ext. 21 Kathy Okarski, Pathways ext. 25 Robert & Lynn White, Property Managers ext. 26 Gerry Martz, Financial Secretary ext. 28

Church Office Hours: M-F, 9—1:30

www.ChristChurchRidleyPark.org

Bill Graham 302-475-9429 Michael Huppman 534-1292 Betsy Kirkpatrick 362-0442 John Rubillo

Ken Mobley 610- 543-7314 Carol King 610- 461-1262 Mike Barnard 610-521-1311 Cheryl Huber 610 522-0732 Judy Yorke 610-521-3022

Marlene Nickerson 610-633-6368 Ollie Rhine 610-534-9621 Jack Signor III 484-442-8179 Barbara Torrens 610-532-7758

CHRIST CHURCH Episcopal

104 Nevin Street Ridley Park, PA 19078

YI CLEANERS & ALTERATIONS

610-521-1483 LISA YI 121 SELLERS AVENUE RIDLEY PARK, PA 19078

Griffith Funeral Chapel Serving the community since 1898

Horace B. Griffith, III 520 Chester Pike

Norwood, PA 19074 610-586-2142

Michael Capozzoli Vice-President

Capozzoli Catering 801 Morton Ave. Folsom, PA 19033

610-532-5704 1-800.643-8981 fax: 610-532-2590 For over 60 years, serving the Tri-state area

www.CapozzoliCatering.com

INTERESTED IN LISTING YOUR BUSINESS HERE? CALL THE CHURCH

OFFICE AT (610) 521-1626

F. KIRK ADAMS ATTORNEY AT LAW Six East Hinckley Avenue

Suite 201 Ridley Park, Pennsylvania 19078

Phone: (610) 521-8800 Fax: (610) 521-5868

Cell Phone: (610) 476-6918 E-Mail: fkirkadams@hotmail.com

Wayne A. Cline Registered Representative 208 East Rose Valley Road Wallingford, PA 19086 Tel.: 610-657-9107 Fax: 610-566-3067 Email: wayne.cline@ingfp.com

Bill Graham’s Service Center Auto Repair (610) 521-9977 (610) 521-5455

Fax (610) 521-9541

Bill Graham, owner State Inspections & Emissions 109 E. Sellers Ave

Ridley Park