In Sickness and Health: Cathedral Community Cares
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Winter 2014–15 1047 Amsterdam Avenue Volume 13 Number 67 at 112th Street New York, NY 10025 (212) 316-7540 stjohndivine.org 2014 Winter –15 at the Cathedral In Sickness and Health: Cathedral Community Cares ew Yorkers have recently been faced Summer Health Fair in partnership with Mount Sinai-St. Luke’s “We cannot live only for ourselves. with the prospect of the Ebola virus Hospital and the NYC Sigma Gamma Rho sorority alumni group. loose in the city—a situation that the The Sunday Soup Kitchen serves roughly 25,000 meals a year, A thousand fibers connect us with Dean addresses in his Meditation this offering a diverse and healthy menu. This summer, CCC hosted our fellow men.” issue—and the headlines remind many a cooking class for low-income people, sponsored by Cornell of us, and the Cathedral as an University Cooperative Extension. Clients learned how to shop Herman Melville (1819–1891), institution, of what it was like during for and prepare inexpensive nutritional meals, and were taught inducted into the American Poets Corner in 1985 the last frightening (and continuing) epidemic: HIV/AIDS. There safe food-handling practices. As the Cathedral gears up for its This fall, CCC Program Manager Lauren Phillips attended a Nare many differences between the two viruses. What is the next initiative, The Value of Food, which will address everything weeklong professional workshop in Bolinas, California, same is the human suffering that affects individuals, families from sustainable agriculture to the use of food in cultural and sponsored by Commonweal Advanced Cancer Support Training. and communities. In the 80s, concern was slow to spread sacred ritual, CCC staff and clients remind us that this complex CCC intends to use what she learned to support people with among those not immediately affected; the New York Times subject is, to the hungry, very simple indeed. other long-term illnesses, including HIV/AIDS. Lauren explained recently noted that its own first front-page story about HIV CCC also operates the Clothing Closet, where clients can that she and another woman were the only participants who didn’t come until May 1983, when over 550 people had died choose gently-used, job interview-appropriate clothing work with people in poverty, and so as well as learning in this country, half in NYC alone. at no charge. CCC staff and volunteers offer a personalized techniques and methods, she was able to offer a new The Cathedral was among a number of organizations that made shopping experience to each client. CCC also offers referrals perspective to other health professionals. Important work is a difference in those days. Many of these organizations—Gay for career counseling and job finding programs to those clients being done in a number of fields on the effect of combined Men’s Health Crisis; Housing Works; God’s Love, We Deliver; who are not already enrolled. (Most clients are referred from simultaneous stressors—in elder care, in chronic illness and in and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS—sprang up in training programs and the New York City Human Resources the life trajectories of the disadvantaged. The Cathedral has response to HIV and are still going strong. The Cathedral began Administration.) Many city businesses and organizations have considerable experience with this—and with the kind of care offering direct aid and counseling to HIV-positive people in the donated clothing or organized clothing drives to support the and counsel that can make a difference—and will continue to early 1980s. The AIDS memorial in the Medicine Bay Clothing Closet (see Spirit of the Season). participate in the national conversation. (consisting of an altar with a book inscribed with the names of Beyond the immediate help it offers, CCC serves as a voice for Whatever the future may bring in regard to deadly epidemics those who have died) was set up in 1987. ’’It will be witness to those who struggle with poverty, homelessness, and hunger in and New Yorkers in need, the Cathedral can rely on its history the city and community that we hold close in our love and care West Harlem and Morningside Heights, and citywide. Its role is of service and on the message of the gospels to provide a those persons who have AIDS or have died from AIDS,’’ said not only to spotlight need, but to reinforce the social links template for response. The Right Reverent Paul Moore, Bishop of New York (quoted between the more and less advantaged, and keep our nation’s in the New York Times). ’’It will dignify this tragedy as much as foundational commitment to all citizens up to date and inclusive. possible.” Cathedral Community Cares, the social service arm WHAT’S INSIDE CCC is a member of the New York City Coalition Against of the Cathedral, grew out of those early efforts and was Hunger, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, and Food Keeping Time: Looking Ahead formally established by the Congregation of St Savior in the Bank for New York City, and has participated in events and Early Music New York early 90s. HIV-positive men and women—struggling with the Take a Pause to Consider campaigns to advocate for policies that protect and support diagnosis and day-to-day management of a then-terminal Cathedral Christmas Climate Change clients. The recent cut to the SNAP (food stamps) program is disease—were welcomed, counseled and fed, as were others a reminder of how important such advocacy is. The number of Dean’s Meditation Close Friends and fighting poverty, homelessness, hunger and illness. those seeking food at the Cathedral Soup Kitchen and other New Arrivals The American Poets Corner In the decades since, the CCC program has become more food banks around the country has been going up since 2008. The Spirit of the Season comprehensive. In 2012, staffers launched the first public It is instructive to remember at this time how the AIDS crisis Looking Back health initiative to address systemic gaps in healthcare and galvanized an entire generation of gay men, playing a significant Vivian Hewitt: health education for low-income clients. CCC has developed role in the gay rights movement that is today enjoying great A Life of Achievement partnerships with hospitals, clinics, and community success, as more states legalize gay marriage. Trauma reveals organizations; offers free on-site screenings (for HIV, diabetes its merciful side when it leads to action. and other conditions) and workshops; and presents an annual The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine Keeping Time Dean’s Meditation: Fear The Right Reverend THE CATHEDRAL CELEBRATES FORTY YEARS OF EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK Andrew ML Dietsche Sweelinck, Jacob van Eyck, Pierre Phalèse & Bishop of New York Tielman Susato. Early Music New York’s men’s choir “We can easily forgive a The Very Reverend will be joined by a consort of recorders. Christmas “When I hear Dr. James A. Kowalski concerts, held this year on December 6, 7, 13 and child who is afraid of the dark; Dean of the Cathedral 25, typically sell out early, so order your tickets now. music I fear the real tragedy of life is when Pentagram Renz and the other original EM/NY members men are afraid of the light.” Graphic Design were alumni of Pro Musica, the famous early music no danger, I ensemble that disbanded in 1974. Early Music Margaret Diehl Plato New York was originally based in Renz’s W. 71st St. Writer studio. They put out a press release about the new am invulnerable, Isadora Wilkenfeld group, the New York Times wrote an article and “It is a fire straight from the pit of Editor The Very Reverend James Parks Morton, then Dean of the Cathedral, called them up to offer any I see no foe. hell… We cannot fool ourselves Newsletter ©2014 assistance they might need. Renz allowed as how by The Cathedral Church they were a bit strapped for space, and the next into thinking that the vast moat of of Saint John the Divine I am related week the group was rehearsing at the Cathedral. the Atlantic Ocean will protect us A non-profit institution; Over the years they occupied different rooms, but contributions and gifts are ended up in the crypt, in a 1000-square foot space. to the earliest from the flames of this fire.” tax deductible to the extent “It was great,” he said. “In those days, things were a permitted by law. bit looser, and I was often the one who voluntarily Dr. Kent Brantly, US medical missionary, director of turned out the Cathedral lights at night. I explored times and to the Monrovia’s only Ebola treatment center and disease Schedule of Daily every inch of the Cathedral, the triforum, out on the survivor, speaking to Congress Liturgical Services buttresses…. It was like a fantasyland.” latest times.” Sunday In those early days, the group only rehearsed at 8 am Henry David Thoreau (1818–1862), inducted “Information travels faster than the Cathedral; they played at Tully Hall. “But then Morning Prayer into the American Poets Corner in 1988 I became disillusioned with the acoustics there viruses do now. This is why we & Holy Eucharist Photo: Courtesy EM/NY and rental costs were rising.” One of the earliest harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Holland as 9 am Frederick Renz, founder and maestro of Early Music performances at the Cathedral was the medieval a Fulbright Scholar and spent six seasons with Pro are afraid. But this is also why Holy Eucharist New York, which has earned accolades worldwide, drama, “Daniel at the Lion’s Den.” Dean Morton’s Musica as a keyboard soloist.