POTTERSVILLE A simple cross, blackened by an arsonist's flames, has a new home atop a new church.
Almost three years to the date after a zealot set fire to Christ Episcopal Church, Bishop William Howard Love, the leader of the Albany Episcopal Diocese, will consecrate the new church Saturday.
It is nothing less than remarkable that the small, elderly congregation persevered to see their church rebuilt, said Richie Henzler, a musician who plays the recorder at services. The dozen or so active members of the congregation never doubted it would happen, he said, even though at a time when new Episcopal churches are rarely built, there was no full-time priest to advocate for them because pastors rotate among the small North Country churches.
"We couldn't leave in ashes something burned in hate," Henzler said.
June Watson, whose husband, John, is the lay leader of the congregation, said the little church is important in the history of the Warren County community and its residents, even if they don't attend services there.
Coin drops popped up in local stores, the Hometown Deli and the Nice 'n' Easy gas station down the road. Donations and expressions of support came in from as far away as Alaska.
The rest is here-
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=803237
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