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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.
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