CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
AUGUST 2020 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
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I break so that I may reveal As a kid, I loved dinosaurs. To this day, the rhinoceros is my favorite animal at the zoo, because he looks to me like a Triceratops. Every week in grade school, I would insist my mother take me to the Greene County Library to check out the over-sized dinosaur books, with glossy artTHE VERY REV. ist renderings of BronBARKLEY tosaurus, Diplodocus, THOMPSON and Tyrannosaurus rex. These were not with the children’s books but rather found in the grown-up section, and as I read them I felt like a real paleontologist. Somewhere along the way, I learned the motto of the Paleontological Society. In Latin, it is Frango ut patefaciam. In English, that translates to “I break so that I may reveal.” I hadn’t thought about that motto for years, but lately it has sprung to mind unbidden. Within the past three months, so much of the world has broken. And the breaking has revealed a lot. Cracked open, we have seen where our weaknesses are, with regard to both our public health and our economic models. The breaking open of the veneer of racial harmony has revealed that we still have so much work to do to render this a land experienced by all as life-giving, sustaining, and free. The continued breaking open of our political divide (How much more can it break?!) reveals that, for a long time, neighbors and friends have viewed our county and its challenges very differently from one another. And, we see more when the view zooms down to the up-close-and-personal. I don’t know about you, but in some ways
REVEAL, page 3
Setup for a Cathedral web event.
Virtual connections at Cathedral run deep Minister for Youth Marcia Quintanilla said the Cathedral’s virtual mission trip has been the best part of her summer. “The kids loved it,” she said. Instead of on-site visits, the teens met via Zoom each day with a representative of a local non-profit. “On Monday it was New Hope Housing, on Tuesday it was The Beacon and on Wednesday it was Interfaith Ministries,” Quintanilla said. Before the “trip”, the youth were given a mission trip pack with their supplies for
the week. For New Hope clients they made keychain holders for their new homes. They made masks for The Beacon and for Interfaith Ministries, they got to call people on their birthdays. “The first person we called was 75,” Quintanilla said. “He said we made his day.” Now Quintanilla is inspired to figure out how they can have a meaningful online impact in Costa Rica, where they would have gone this summer. “The Cathedral culture is one of service,”
CONNECTIONS, page 6
Praying with Anglican Prayer Beads
Anglican Beads from a 20’s & 30’s bead making event.
In the dueling storms of pandemic and pervasive political unrest, you may be seeking to hold, or find, your center by expanding your prayer practice. Like so many of us, you may feel that these trying times prevent you from focusing the way you once could. While our Episcopalian tradition offers a variety of prayer practices, praying with Anglican prayer beads provides a tactile way to keep focused and may prove particularly helpful. Cool in your hands and pleasing to the eye, the beads can also slip into your pocket and provide comfort even when you are not actively praying. We know that God is always with us, but touching this reminder of our prayer life can provide
PRAYER BEADS, page 7