Delegates to Diocesan Convention in Dallas Build Houses and Camaraderie Together
Episcopal News Service. November 4, 1993 [93196]
Don Taylor, Director of Communication in the Diocese of Dallas
This year's two-day annual convention in the Diocese of Dallas began on October 15 with an opportunity for delegates to swing with rather than at each other. After years of meetings that featured acrimonious confrontations with all "sides" going away battered by feelings of frustration and hurt, the delegates decided to do something constructive.
Following the opening Eucharist, they exited St. Matthew's Cathedral to buses that transported them to one of two houses the diocese is constructing in cooperation with Dallas Habitat for Humanity.
Dallas Habitat is affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International, the organization based in Americus, Georgia, with which former President Jimmy Carter has been so closely linked. The ecumenical housing ministry builds communities of hope, dignity and self-worth through construction of homes for families who could not otherwise afford their part of the American dream.
Many Episcopal churches throughout the country have participated in Habitat projects as individual parishes or jointly with other parishes. However, Dallas may be the first diocese to use the program as an integral part of its diocesan convention agenda.
"This has never been just a question of building houses for the sake of social action benefits," said Bishop James Stanton of Dallas in his convention address. "It has always been about building up the household of God." The houses serve as symbols of the bishop's vision as the diocese provided the funding and the "sweat" investment by setting a mutual goal and working together to make it happen.
During his convention address, Stanton pointed out that the Habitat project was accomplished without a single legislative action of the diocese. "Not one resolution was presented to make this happen. Not one dollar of the budget was appropriated to it. Not one debate or one election was held about it. Somehow we knew it was right," Stanton said. It was an idea that caught fire in the hearts of Episcopalians throughout northeast Texas.
Like the "barn raisings" of pioneer days, clergy and lay delegates hammered and sawed their way through the day, working side-by-side with others who, in former times, would not have spoken civilly with them during a convention. In addition to those assigned to physical labor on the two houses, a host of support people were on hand to provide a banquet for the workers.
By the end of the labors, two framed and roofed houses stood where only a foundation stood hours before. Many delegates complained of sore muscles, but also reported swollen hearts. Dedication of the two houses is scheduled for November 20, 1993.
When the delegates reassembled for the business of the convention, it was clear that their work on the Habitat project had also built a new sense of camaraderie among them. Delegates dispatched their business in short order. The election and budget battles of past memories seemed left to the past. One delegate stated, "When I got to my seat, the folks around me, who would never have spoken to me before, all greeted me with hugs. It was wonderful."
A highlight of the session occurred when the chair of the resolutions committee announced, "Rt. Rev. Sir, the resolutions committee has nothing to report." A thunder of applause went up throughout the Great Hall.