Priest embraces latest chapter in career

by Dan Stefano, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Wednesday May 9, 2012

Wading through water above her ankles isn’t anything new to the Rev. Deb Carr.  In 2004, while starting an Episcopal church in Oakdale, she witnessed flooding left by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan.

The experience is now paying off for Carr, the new priest at Carnegie’s Church of the Atonement, where the basement has flooded more than once this summer.

“My daughter said to me, ‘Mom, God must think you’re in the flood-recovery business.’ ”

From moldy church basements to missions scattered across the globe, Carr’s life as an educator, priest and mother of four has been a busy one. Settled since July 1 in a role essentially the same as rector — making her the first woman to fill that position at the Washington Avenue parish — Carr is embracing the next chapter in her well-traveled career.

“I’ve always just wanted to be obedient to God’s call,” said Carr, who was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 2003 and previously served as assistant to the rector at St. David’s Anglican Church in Peters.

“The people here have embraced me and loved me and been very kind and accepting. It’s really a joy to be here.”

It took some time for Carr to officially gain her new title. She was a part-time preacher for seven months following the departure of the Rev. Paul Sutcliffe.

It’s a role she has prepared for all her life, though.  Growing up in Shillington, Berks County, Carr attended several churches before becoming an Episcopalian in 1985.

With a degree from Kutztown University in elementary education and special education for the visually impaired, she combined her passions and worked as a teacher, director of children’s ministries and preschool director.

In the meantime, missionary work sent her to far-flung locales such as Belize, Honduras, Kenya, Trinidad and Uganda. The trips would provide her with some of the most meaningful moments of her life.

“In all the places I’ve been in the Third World, people who have nothing have a great appreciation and dependence on the Lord, and they are so filled with the joy of the Lord,” Carr said. “It’s humbling, because we have so much.”

Carr singled out a prayer made by children in Uganda, a country ravaged by starvation and AIDS.  “They were praying, ‘Thank you, Lord, that we woke up this morning. Thank you that my mom and dad didn’t die,’ ” she said.

Deb Carr was on staff at our former church St David's in Peters Township  - 2003-2005 & 2007-2011 

WatchWord Video Bible may hit pay-dirt: Super Bowl ad

I have known Jim Fitzgerald  (in picture right with gold shirt) and his wife Betty for over 25 years.  They are true missionaries and servants of the Word.  Jim and I served on many Cursillo and Anglican Fourth Day Teams together and were both in a Tuesday morning Reunion group in Sewickley.  I was in the group 1987-90 and Jim is still active in the group 

By Adam Wagner, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review  

Published: Thursday, August 2, 2012, 9:22 a.m.Updated: Friday, August 3, 2012 

In his final years of coaching professional football, Tony Dungy spent a significant amount of energy figuring out how to upgrade traditional playbooks from the page to interactive technology, such as iPads.

Now, Dungy could play a major part in helping a local company transition the Bible — which Dungy compares to a playbook for religion — into new technologies.

“In terms of getting young people interested, there’s so much that they get visually now,” Dungy said. “They get their information via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — sitting down and reading a book is not what young people do.”

Dungy, who won Super Bowl XLI with the Indianapolis Colts, has agreed to be featured in the first Super Bowl commercial with a Christian theme — if an Ambridge-based company that uses modern media to proclaim the Bible should raise the money to make the spot.

WatchWord Video Bible was established by Jim Fitzgerald, 66, of Sewickley. Its product, developed over 18 years, is a version of the New Testament, portrayed by actors on location in the Middle East, that went on the market in 2008 and has sold more than a half million copies, he said. Originally on video, the enacted Bible also has been on DVD since 2010.

Fitzgerald has taken to the road to get funds to upgrade an app for his Bible; his long-term goal is to also fund the Super Bowl commercial.

On Saturday, Fitzgerald left from the Point to drive cross-country, visiting 21 cities, including Columbus, Dallas, Denver and Salt Lake City. He will conclude meetings with religious leaders and churches in San Francisco on Aug. 17.

He is using a Kickstarter campaign to raise $200,000 before Aug. 19. Kickstarter is a website that helps people fund their ideas by accepting pledges.

Fitzgerald wants the upgraded app to allow his enacted Bible to be used across many platforms, such as Android, iPad and Kindle Fire, and a new version of it that could be downloaded to mobile devices.

He foresaw portability for the enacted Bible years ago.

“In 1994, when I saw the first four chapters, I said: ‘I think the best use of this would someday be handheld players,’ “ Fitzgerald said.

He said that since work on the project began in 1994, about $12 million to $13 million has been spent.. The existing app has been downloaded in 40 different countries since its release last year, and the videos have been translated into Arabic and Japanese.

Fitzgerald also dreams of WatchWord featured on the nation’s largest stage — the Super Bowl.

“The Super Bowl is one of the few places that you can speak to almost everybody at the same time. … Super Bowl ads stand out, and people pay attention to them,” Fitzgerald said.

Others with ties to the NFL support WatchWord, such as Justin Hartwig, a former Steelers offensive lineman who uses the app.

“What’s great about this is it’s in a really easy format where kids can understand the Bible or people who aren’t believes who may be intimidated by the Bible can understand it, and it’s more than just words on a page,” Hartwig said.

Today and last week at Christ the Redeemer

We had a great week and a wonderful day of worship at Redeemer Parish today.  Our Deacon Rege Turocy preached a strong message on the Gospel text.  The Holy Spirit showed up as Jeff, Val and John led the praise and worship.  We had a surprise visitor this morning -- our Archbishop and Bishop Bob Duncan and without his customary thick wire rim glasses!  He had eye surgery and he can now see without the need for spectacles! I know how that surgery changed, my wife, Gale's life and I imagine it will change his life too.  The Bishop shared how grateful he was for us and for the courage we exhibited in giving up everything and moving to Canonsburg.  It just reminded me, once again, of Rick Warren's words to us in Bedford TX in 2009, "They got the steeple but we got the people"; and, "They got the buildings but we got the blessings."

We were able get the carillons in the belfry serviced and working last week.  The system is 25 years old and hadn't been functioning in over three years. And we had two brand spanking new 70" Sharp Aquos Monitors mounted and functioning in the nave as well as an almost new Kawai grand piano which we bought through the annual piano sale of the Pittsburgh Opera.  We also added a new cast brass aumbry.  And guess what! All of it already has been paid for in full.

Next is the installation of a new sound system and the installation of a communion rail.  Both are in the works.      

Again, God is good, all the time - All the time, God is good

Because it is his nature!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Just Do It.

Redeemer Parish now has eight weeks of worship and ministry under its belt in Canonsburg.  The first Sunday (Pentecost - May 27) was our kick off and our largest service -- we had over 145 in worship.  One surprise visitor that day was the Rev David Rucker the rector of All Saints Anglican Church Penn Hills.  I invited him to vest and process with us and to minister at the Lord's Table.  David was moved mightily by the Holy Spirit that day and as a result proposed sending a team from his parish to be with us on Sunday to experience Holy Spirit inspired worship.  We were glad to host them but I was more than a little anxious that we might not live up to his/their expectations.  What if the Holy Spirit doesn't show up? What if our services are duds?  What if the atmosphere was just a one timer because we had just moved into a new facility?

This Sunday will be their fourth and final visit and I will be preaching.  Last Sunday their organist/pianist Todd was our instrumentalist.  He played and a group from our parish sang -- it was a marvelous combination and the Holy Spirit didn't disappoint us -- He showed up!

David and I will be talking soon about how we can sustain the close relationship our two parishes have enjoyed these past weeks.  We will explore having a pulpit exchange and maybe we could provide a mini-"Faith Alive" type weekend  for them.  We will see.

I believe a growing edges for our diocese, now that we are out from under TEC and have a new structure in the ACNA and a new mission focus, is how do our parishes recover fellowship and ministry together.  It is very easy to fall into a pattern of isolation and minister as separate "silos".   It is also clear that if we are waiting for the diocese to provide the direction and the impetus for us to minister together we will be sorely disappointed and will be waiting a looooong time.  We need to take the bull by the horns and just do it or perhaps better said, let Jesus do it.

 1 Thess 5:24"The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it"  

TEC GenCon - Trannies, SSBs, No Covenant, CWOB, We're Outta Here and Useful Idiots

I have been reluctant to write anything about the General Convention of my former denomination, the Episcopal Church, which concludes today in Indianapolis.  Why?  Principally because "I don't have a dog in this hunt" anymore and I don't want to simply "be lobbing in shells from the outside" (two cliches in one sentence!)  I did spend the first 27 years of my Christian life in TEC as opposed to the last four in the Southern Cone and the ACNA so there is a long history and still some interest -- just not an investment in the results. 

Like the Gaderine herd of swine, the Episcopal Church is flying headlong over the proverbial cliff.  First they opened the ordination process to transgendered persons, then they approved "provisional rites" for the blessing of same-sex relationships, next they refused to take a stand one way or the other on the Anglican Covenant, finally they gave tacit approval of offering Holy Communion to unbaptized persons in contravention of the clear words of their canons, their prayerbook and the Bible.

Yesterday as a result of these actions most of delegation of the Diocese of South Carolina and their diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, left Indianapolis and went home early concurring that it was no longer business as usual and they could no longer participate in these affairs.

A few conservatives at this convention tried valiantly to derail the revisionist express train but the revisionists would not be deterred.  They had their agenda and that was that.  In the House of Deputies the Rev. Neal Michell of the Diocese of Dallas and the Rev. David Thurlow of South Carolina in particular stand out as fighting the good fight with all their might.  About a dozen conservative bishops released the "Indianapolis Statement" opposing the above mentioned actions of the convention.  Unfortunately, however, the time, for pious platitudes is long passed.    

The newly reconstituted Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh seemed to be rather quiet at this convention.  Although largely comprised of so-called conservatives they did not seem to be speaking for or against much of anything on the floor of convention.  Pittsburgh Deputy, the Rev. Dr. James B. Simons, was elected to the Executive Council for a six year term.

The Soviets in post-war Europe had a name for folks like this -- they were called "useful idiots".  This term was applied to respectable people, even opponents, who went along with the Soviet agenda unwittingly and so provided cover and even respectability to that agenda.  Unfortunately, the conservatives remaining in TEC, unless they differentiate themselves like South Carolina, at some point will become "useful idiots" for the TEC revisionists.  That point may have come to pass at this General Convention.    

UPDATE: Apparently, today the HOB amended CO29 the resolution on Communion of the Unbaptized to keep the practice canonically illegal in TEC.  TEC has dodged a bullet on this at least for the next three years until the next GenCon in 2015 when it will surely consider it again.

Jesus answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female" - Matthew 19:4

From the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up Department."

This is a photo sent to me today from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church meeting this week in Indianapolis. Hard to convince me that TEC still qualifies as a Christian Church.

I attended the 1994 General Convention held in Indy -- 18 years ago, how time flies!

Rectory and Church Moves

At noon on Saturday June 30 I left the St David’s rectory for the last time leaving behind one set of keys and two garage door openers.  The house was empty save a few items that had been there when we moved in over three and one-half years ago.  It was a nice house albeit a weird layout but it was convenient to the church and it had a fenced in back yard for our dog Sherman.

The rectory move last Wednesday June 27 was a bit more tedious and challenging than the Church move on May 24.  The move from the rectory was our third move in four years.  And each house was smaller than then the one we moved from so that we had more stuff to fit into less space.  Even though we inundated the trash collector with large amounts of trash each Thursday in May and we made at least a dozen trips to Goodwill we still are dealing with more than we can possibly put to use.  The new garage is full of stuff we have to deal with if we want to be able to park a car in it before winter.   Plus we moved during the worse heat wave of the summer this far -- four days of  90+ degree heat.

To complicate matter I had a wedding rehearsal on Friday with the wedding service in Saturday.  The wedding should have been at St. David’s Anglican Church but when we were planning the affair last fall I couldn’t guarantee the couple they could be married at our church given the fluid situation with TEC.   The groom had been baptized and confirmed at St David’s.  His mother had been buried from there just a year ago which made this very sad for the family.  Fortunately the Rev. Karen Stevenson and the good people of Trinity Church Washington allowed us to use their church.  We were very grateful.     

As part of the church move we left everything behind except for personal property (mainly the contents of my office and Rege Turocy’s Healing Room).  We rented a U-Haul truck and a half-dozen guys loaded it up in one hour.  This was part of the legal definition of relinquishment –we hand it all over to TEC.

I had made sure over the preceding weeks that everyone who had personal property at the church had an opportunity to remove it.  In fact I had provided a bulletin insert which stated:

Please note the following distinctions and act accordingly: personal property as it relates to this church is any item that belongs to you and may currently reside at this facility. It may include something you have brought here and left here or something you have loaned to this church for the church’s use.  If you want to keep your personal property, please take it home before we vacate on May 31^st.

Church property is something that you may have donated to this church for use by the church and or something you have been given a receipt for in monetary value as a gift-in-kind -- usually for income tax deduction purposes.  These items are church property and cannot be removed for any reason.  Removal of church property from these premises without the expressed agreement of Christ the Redeemer Parish and the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is absolutely prohibited and could be the cause of a dispute in the transition process into which we have now entered.

If you have questions about these distinctions please see any vestry person or clergy.   

Christ the Redeemer Clergy, Staff, Wardens and Vestry


The long and short of it is we have completed the last aspect of relinquishment and we no longer have to deal with TEC, -- we are gone, gone, gone, solid gone.  Rick Warren at the ACNA inaugural Assembly at Bedford TX in June 2009 said (Bishop John Rodgers used these quotes of Rick in a letter to our parish as we left our church building in May 2012) "They get the steeple, but you get the people" and "They get the buildings, but you get the blessing."  Amen.