From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Episcopalians: West Tennessee parish emerges from rubble left by powerful storms


From dmack@episcopalchurch.org
Date Fri, 9 May 2003 13:25:55 -0400

May 8, 2003

2003-101

Episcopalians: West Tennessee parish  emerges from rubble left 
by powerful storms

by Jan Nunley and Julie Denman

(ENS)Powerful storms ripped across West Tennessee late Sunday, 
May 4, killing at least 15 people, injuring 77, and causing more 
than $5 million in damage--including the destruction of one of 
Tennessee's oldest churches, St. Luke's in downtown Jackson.

The National Weather Service rated the storms at F4 on the 
Fujita scale, packing winds at over 205 mph.

With hail hitting all around, St. Luke's rector, the Rev. Chuck 
Filiatreau, rushed to the church. His wife Gretchen made some 
phone calls and St. Luke's members began to travel the darkened 
streets to gather at their place of worship, which dates from 
1844 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.

"You never know when something like this is going to happen, and 
last night it happened to us," Filiatreau told The Tennessean 
two days after the storms. "Other churches have gone through 
similar disasters and rebuilt. I know we'll do the same." 

"Today was quite emotional," St. Luke's member Tommy Rhoads 
said. "We lost the Tiffany window, which depicted St. Luke. 
However, the oldest windows in the building, the Italian 
mosaics, were spared, as was most of the stuff' in the nave."

" he front of the church is just an eight-foot pile of bricks," 
said another St. Luke's member, Jimmy Harrison. "I climbed into 
the nave. This is the old part of the church--destroyed. Our 
church was so beautiful, so serene--and now it's rubble. We will 
worship in the parish hall. This parish family will do fine. 
We're strong. We've got strong leaders, and we're a strong 
congregation."

No wailing, only work

Other West Tennessee parishes and organizations chipped in to 
help immediately. By email, members of the Daughters of the King 
learned that the husband of a chapter president in Memphis, Don 
Smith, traveled to Jackson on Monday with prayer books in hand 
and began work with about 30 others, including diocesan bishop 
Don Johnson, on the St. Luke's site. 

Smith said that one side of the church's roof had beams with 
only the sky above them. The pews, covered with plastic 
sheeting, were put on the side of the nave that had more plywood 
roofing left. The rest of the church, he reported, especially 
the children's area, is "a mess" due to the damaged roof and the 
water coming in. Smith called the people of St. Luke's 
"courageous," and added that there was "no wailing, only work" 
on the cleanup.

Many other communities in the area were damaged. The Rev. Jack 
Rogers reported that St. Mary's, Dyersburg, received minor 
damage. 

"Many people from across the diocese have called offering 
assistance, and we are relaying those messages of support to 
these two congregations," said Julie Denman, director of 
communications for the diocese. "Because there are no phone 
lines into St. Luke's at the present, communication is 
difficult, and we don't know at the present what their immediate 
needs are, let alone long-term needs. However, due to the extent 
of the damage, it will be costly."

(Bishop Johnson is establishing, through his discretionary fund, 
a disaster relief fund. To contribute to this account, please 
send checks to the Bishop's Discretionary Fund and mark it for 
disaster relief. The address is: The Diocese of West Tennessee, 
692 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38105.)

------

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News 
Service. Julie Denman is director of communication for the 
Diocese of West Tennessee and editor of Church News.


Browse month . . . Browse month (sort by Source) . . . Advanced Search & Browse . . . WFN Home