New Orleans church making sure victims of gun violence aren't forgotten

From New Orleans-

New Orleans has one of the highest death rates tied to gun violence in America. 

Like many places, gun violence in “The Big Easy” is often defined by numbers. 

St. Anna’s Episcopal Church is making sure the names of the victims aren’t forgotten and that people take notice of the issue that advocates are fighting to stop. 

“This city is still killing over a hundred people a year,” said Father Terry. “Numbers dehumanize, names humanize.”

Since 2007, Father Bill Terry has written the name of every murder victim in the city on what he calls the murder board, outside the church. 

“I would say 95%, if we look at the murder board, of homicides are done by guns,” said Father Terry. 

More here-

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/national/new-orleans-church-making-sure-victims-of-gun-violence-arent-forgotten

In New Orleans, prayer teams cover one block at a time

From ENS-

Millie Campbell, 76 years old, is one of the people praying for New Orleans, a city still recovering from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster and experiencing a murderous crime wave.

A couple of times per week, Campbell and her companion Betty Minor, 69, drive slowly around assigned neighborhoods, praying for their city, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune via Religion News Service.

On a recent trip, Campbell backed her blue Chevrolet away from her spotless brick home. “Oh God,” she said, “we thank you for the blood of Jesus.” Then she cranked the wheel straight, put the car into drive, and headed slowly up Frenchmen Street, one hand on the wheel, the other turned upward toward the heavens.

“Touch this block in the name of Jesus,” she continued. Also in the front seat, Minor filled in the gaps between Campbell’s appeals: “Hallelujah … Glory, glory.”

Half a dozen others also do the prayer drives. They pray for an end to the scourge of murders sapping the city — 199 last year, and 17 or so on the streets Campbell drove last week.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/01/30/as-new-orleans-still-recovers-prayer-teams-cover-one-block-at-a-time/

Red Thread Promise

From PBS (with video)

SONYA YENCER (Red Thread Promise): The name of the Red Thread Promise came from an ancient Chinese proverb that talks about a silken red thread of destiny that connects everybody. In Haiti, disabled children are often not treated well, they are often neglected, sometimes abused, abandoned. So, following the earthquake, the majority of St. Vincent ‘s original school and clinic and church was completely destroyed and there was only one building left standing. Anything that wasn’t destroyed was looted.

REV. SCOTT ALBERGATE (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church): It was clear right away the connection between New Orleans and Haiti. St. Paul’s is the most devastated of our churches in Katrina. And, with its story of rebuilding completely on faith and with the spirit too at the same time. Not just to rebuild themselves but to pay forward all of the blessings that this church received.

KATHY KORGE ALBERGATE (Red Thread Promise): When the earthquake hit in Haiti, I said, you know what, we need wheelchairs there. We need wheelchairs that are going to handle the terrain. We had over 24 churches in the United States contributing for one full container of wheelchairs, crutches, canes. Our Diocese reached out. They did it. Janie and Grant heard about the wheelchair program through church and they saw it in the hallway and they wanted to do a fundraiser. They came to us. We didn’t ask them. But, many children at St. Paul’s and in our school here, in the church and school came to us with different fundraisers.
We have given the children brand new wheelchairs, their own, that are fit for them. Little Diana went from an adult wheelchair that was falling apart to this teeny tiny little petite wheelchair. We saw her glow. We’ve given teenage boys an opportunity to play basketball now by having a wheelchair that they can twirl around in. It’s been incredible.

So if we do nothing else other than to make sure they have proper food, water and a chance to have a good education, we feel accomplished, we feel like we’ve paid it forward. We’re doing something to help.

YENCER: I think people can choose to grasp that red thread of destiny, choose to acknowledge that it’s there. That we really are connected. That these are our brothers and sisters regardless of the color of our skin or where we grew up. You know, it’s humanity that brings us all together.

More here-

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-6-2012/red-thread-promise/10071/

RELIGIOUS CENTERS ON NEW ORLEANS COLLEGE CAMPUSES

From New Orleans-

Episcopal Campus Ministry (ECM) at the University of New Orleans (UNO)

Adrian Madriz, the Episcopal Campus Ministry Coordinator, told me the main objective as a religious group at the University of New Orleans is to get as many students involved in community service as possible and to promote sustainable community development. According to Adrian, many students have benefited from ECM's presence: from the students who they provide a free lunch to every week, to the students who found platforms on which to become engaged in the community through ECM's various service initiatives, and to the students who come to ECM and find a listening ear at all hours of the day.

ECM and its student volunteers have been involved in projects such as building houses with Habitat for Humanity, maintaining community gardens, feeding the homeless at the New Orleans Mission, preparing food for Second Harvest, tutoring young children at the All Souls Community Center, canvassing with the Orleans Public Education Network, and helping countless schools in the area with various maintenance tasks.

Here's Adrian's response to my question about the partying aspects of college student life: "We address the partying life in the sense that partying excessively can be a distraction from their greater mission - we have to put others' needs before our own as much as humanly possible." This was followed by more of a blunt statement by Adrian: "Obviously one cannot credibly claim they are too busy for service work if they spend eight hours a week getting drunk." He went on to say, "We try to advocate an awareness of the utility of one's time and that time spent doing selfish acts is time taken away from selfless works."

More here-

http://blog.nola.com/faith/2011/11/post_15.html

Top New York choir performs and aids youth in NOLA

From New Orleans-

Pundits often say that Wall Street has little in common with the rest of the country, but don’t tell that to the folks at All Souls Episcopal Church in the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Since Katrina-related levee breaks inundated the neighborhood in 2005, All Souls has forged a strong musical connection with one of the best known Anglican churches in America: Trinity Wall Street.

Choristers from the landmark Manhattan church have traveled to New Orleans for the past two summers, leading a music workshop for children in the downtown neighborhood. The 2011 workshop kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday with a free, pass-the-hat benefit concert in the Garden District’s historic Trinity Church, 1329 Jackson Ave.

About half of the New York ensemble will be present, led by its recently appointed music director, composer Julian Wachner. The a cappella program mixes American pieces, traditional work by Bach and Byrd, and a composition by Wachner.

More here-

http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2011/06/top_new_york_choir_performs_an.html