CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
JUNE 2015 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
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The Spanish Prisoner
The Rev. John R. Pitts, an assisting priest in the Diocese of Texas, preaches at the Cathedral on May 3.
Balancing matters of church and state An attorney-turned-preacher, the Rev. John R. Pitts has a dual calling, serving as an assisting priest to the Diocese of Texas while also working as a lobbyist. Six years ago, he founded the public affairs firm Texas Star
Alliance after years spent as general counsel to former Lt. Governor Bob Bullock and also as chaplain to the Texas Senate. Rev. Pitts keeps his church and state duties
PITTS, page 6
Documentary series tackles social issues This summer, the Justice and Peace Council will present a summer documentary series, “Pray, Learn, Act.” For one night a month starting June 17, all are invited to gather for a special Eucharist, followed by dinner and a documentary screening in Reynolds Hall. Each film will conclude with a question and answer session featuring local community
organizations who are already doing significant work on the issue at hand. The first film and discussion on June 17 will focus on transgender issues. The groundbreaking documentary “Voices of Witness: Out of the Box” gives voice to the journeys of transgender people of faith through candid storytelling. Following the film, members of Integrity and PFLAG will help discuss some of the specific challenges for transgender individuals in our communities. On July 22, we will gather to learn about the issue of human trafficking. The documentary “Not My Life” offers a global picture of the array of dehumanizing practices related to human trafficking,
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“Hello. I’m in trouble, and I hope you can help. I’m in Indonesia, and my wallet and passport have been stolen. I can’t get out of the country for several days, and I need some money to get by. Can you wire some to me?” I first received this desperate Facebook THE VERY REV. message from a parishBARKLEY ioner several years ago. THOMPSON Since then, I’ve received identical messages from at least a dozen other parishioners, maybe even from you. Don’t worry; you don’t have amnesia, and you were never trapped in a foreign country. The message wasn’t exactly from you, but rather from someone who had hacked your Facebook account. A decade before Facebook, emails circulated, purportedly from a Nigerian businessman. He had a business proposition that would result in a huge monetary payout, if only the recipient would first wire him money — or better yet, give him a bank account number — in order that he could fund the next phase of development. These messages are the latest iteration of a centuries-old scam called “the Spanish Prisoner.” The name derives from the original version of the scam. In it, someone would receive an anonymous, handwritten letter whose sender claimed to be held captive in a Spanish prison. If the recipient would send money for his release, the letter said, the prisoner would then share the bounty of a much larger hidden treasure. By 1898, Spanish Prisoner schemes were so ubiquitous that The New York Times ran an editorial entitled “An Old Swindle Revived,” warning readers about this snail-mail version of the scam. Who would fall for such a ruse? Lots of people, it turns out. According to the
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