CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
JULY 2017 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
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Cathedral changes key with new organist
Daryl Robinson, left, will become Cathedral organist this summer upon Monica Czausz's departure.
The Cathedral organist plays an instrumental role in worship and upholds the music tradition as a pillar of the church. As organist duties shift this summer from Monica Czausz to Daryl Robinson, both musicians have reflected upon the privileges and responsibilities at their fingertips. Both appreciate how the music they play inspires the congregation’s spiritual journey during weekly services as well as at life’s most
joyous and mournful passages. Unlike in their recitals, which spotlight their performance, at church, their skilled presence at the console is put in service of worship. Czausz was organ scholar prior to being appointed Cathedral organist in 2015. She leaves to pursue an artist diploma at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, having just completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music
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Become a Shepherd at Christ Church Cathedral the many challenges of life. Pastoral care at Christ Church SHEPHERD TRAINING They also connect members to Cathedral is administered not Registration support ministries such as the only by priests and lay leaders, it opens August 1 Mourners Path grief program, is also coordinated and supported home communion, or our baby by our Shepherds, who are trained basket program. As an extension of our clergy using the Community of Hope International (who are always available to our members) (COHI) model for lay pastoral care leaders. our pastoral care ministry teams work to enShepherds support our members by ofsure that none of our members walks alone. fering prayer, a listening ear, or a pastoral SHEPHERDS, page 6 presence when members are experiencing
Reflections on Germany I write this column twenty-four hours after returning to Houston from the Cathedral’s pilgrimage to Germany. Fortyone parishioners and I charted the progress of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, which began exactly five hundred years ago. Our pilgrims visited Wittenberg, where Luther was a professor and pastor, and THE VERY REV. where he nailed ninetyBARKLEY five theses (points of THOMPSON debate) against abuses in the Catholic Church on the Castle Church door in 1517. In Wittenberg, we also worshiped at the City Church, where Martin Luther served as pastor for many years. In addition to Wittenberg, our pilgrims visited Wartburg Castle, where Luther hid from the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor for ten months, during which time he translated the New Testament from Latin into German. We visited Mainz, where decades before Luther’s Reformation, Johannes Gutenberg unveiled his miraculous printing press, which enabled Luther’s ideas to spread across Europe like wildfire. (I even got to operate a replica sixteenth century printing press!) And, we traveled to Worms, where Luther stood firm against the Holy Roman Emperor’s demand that he recant his teachings and declared, “Here I stand. I can do no other.” All of these destinations inspired our faith and deepened our knowledge of church history. Even so, our pilgrims were also exposed to the contradictions and tensions within German history. On the façade of the City Church in Wittenberg, we saw the grotesque relief equating Jews with swine, which revealed for
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