Tag Archives: Cathedral of Hope

BREAKING: Cathedral cuts positions, salaries due to declining donations

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The Cathedral of Hope eliminated the equivalent of six full-time positions on Monday, and senior staff members at the church have taken voluntary pay cuts, spokeswoman Phoebe Sexton confirmed today.

Sexton said the cuts, which affected 10 people, are the result of a downturn in donations. The positions that were eliminated included both full-time and part-time staff members, as well as contract employees, Sexton said. The cuts spanned both ministerial and administrative positions.

“These are not numbers. These are people, family, friends,” Sexton said. “We will support those affected any way we can.”

She added that while the cuts were unavoidable, the leadership, staff and board see a “bright future” for the church.

The Cathedral, commonly referred to as the world’s largest gay church, claims a total membership of 4,200.

The Cathedral issued the following statement on Tuesday:

Like many churches across our nation, Cathedral of Hope (UCC), is experiencing the impact of the continuing national economic decline. Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson, Senior Pastor, in conjunction with the Executive Staff and Cathedral of Hope Board of Directors, has recently had to make difficult but necessary decisions in order for the church to be a responsible steward of its resources and live and operate within its means.

Those decisions, painful for all involved, include budget reductions, staff layoffs and staff salary reductions. Cathedral of Hope has pledged its continued support to those employees affected, but out of respect for those who have been laid off and out of legal obligation, the church will not discuss these personnel issues.

Even in the face of these challenges the Cathedral of Hope will continue to strive to maintain the highest quality ministries, serving our church, our neighborhood, the City of Dallas and beyond.

For a full story, see Friday’s Dallas Voice.

—  David Taffet

Despite Cathedral of Hope’s gift, church where pastor backed marriage equality forced to move

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The Rev. Oliver White

We first told you back in March about Grace Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul, Minn., the predominantly African-American congregation that lost 72 percent of its membership after its pastor, the Rev. Oliver White, signed a resolution in support of marriage equality at a UCC conference in 2005.

With Grace UCC facing the prospect of having to close its doors, White had sent a letter to 40 other UCC congregations across the country seeking donations. After Dallas’ predominantly LGBT Cathedral of Hope, the UCC’s fourth-largest congregation, responded to White’s letter with a $15,000 “miracle donation,” the story went national and was picked up by The Washington Post.

But as COH member and Dallas Voice columnist Hardy Haberman explained in May, the Cathedral’s donation was really just a drop in the bucket, and Grace Community UCC needed to raise nearly $200,000 by July 1 to pay off its high-interest loan on the building. The church still needed a miracle — and while the national media attention had helped with donations, it had also led to death threats against White and shots being fired near the church during a wedding.

Which brings us to last Friday, when White announced that rather than extend a deadline for the loan payment, Grace UCC has opted to leave its worship space, and will instead take the $55,000 the church has raised and look for a new home. From the Star Tribune:

After days of tense negotiating this week between the church and the investor holding the loan, Grace leadership decided it did not want to keep paying to stay in the beige stucco building on the East Side of St. Paul.

White says it will be sad saying goodbye to the space congregants worshiped in for nearly 12 years, but he hopes to buy a new church using the nearly $55,000 he’s received from dozens of churches, groups and individuals nationwide.

“I’m overwhelmed with a lot of belief in the power of humankind,” he said. “It’s been an amazing display of human kindness. There will be sadness [when the congregation leaves]. But it’s still a building. We are the church. We don’t have to be in that building to be Grace Community Church.”

 

—  John Wright

Dallas wraps up June Pride series

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The panel, from left: Roger Poindexter, Lorie Burch, Scott Whittall, the Rev. Dawson Taylor, Harold Steward, Cece Cox, Pastor Jon Haack and David Fisher. (John Wright/Dallas Voice)

The city of Dallas wrapped up its LGBT Pride Month celebration Wednesday with a discussion of how the LGBT community has enriched the city.

A seven-member panel moderated by Fahari Arts Institute founder Harold Steward discussed the contributions their LGBT organizations have made to Dallas over the years and where they envision Dallas in the future. They then took questions from the handful of people in attendance.

The event in the City Hall Flag Room was the last event in the city’s Pride series “Honor, Educate and Celebrate.”

Panelists included Resource Center Dallas CEO and Executive Director Cece Cox, Cedar Springs Merchants Association Executive Director Scott Whittall, Turtle Creek Chorale Executive Director David Fisher, GBLT Chamber of Commerce board member Lorie Burch, Lambda Legal South Central Region Executive Director Roger Poindexter, Cathedral of Hope Executive Minister the Rev. Dawson Taylor and Promise Metropolitan Community Church senior Pastor Jon Haack.

City Council was in executive session so members could not attend, but Councilwoman Delia Jasso stepped out to speak briefly about her pride in the LGBT Task Force for planning great events over the last four weeks. Councilman Scott Griggs also stopped by the Flag Room and spoke briefly. The series began with a kickoff followed by conversations about city services and out officials. Jasso expressed a desire to have another celebration next June and promised it would be “bigger and better.”

While many of the organizations began as a way of welcoming the LGBT community with safe havens to worship, gain access to HIV/AIDS care and enjoy a safe evening out or unbiased legal council, the panel focused on how far Dallas has grown over the decades and how spread out the LGBT community has become. The days have passed where members of the LGBT community only live near Cedar Springs and the only bar patrons along the entertainment strip are gay.

Instead, the LGBT community and its businesses have integrated into Dallas while still maintaining a focus on their original customers, Whittall said. Even religious organizations have grown in attendance with allies who no longer find a barrier between spirituality and sexuality, but Taylor added that the next step is working from being a community that is tolerated to one that is accepted and celebrated.

Task Force member Pam Gerber closed the event by expressing how proud she was to have a June Pride celebration and welcomed input for next year’s events. She said that while the community is working toward acceptance, she “just wants to be.”

“I want to be nothing extraordinary, nothing out of the ordinary,” she said. “I just want to be.”

Suggestions for next year’s Pride can be made to Councilwoman Delia Jasso at 214-670-4052.

—  Anna Waugh

WATCH: Cathedral of Hope raising funds to upgrade media ministry reaching 80 countries

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Cathedral of Hope has recorded its services for the past 20 years and is upgrading its equipment for the first time.

“For the past two years during Lent, we’ve asked for money for the media upgrade,” said Phoebe Sexton, the church’s director of communication.

They’ve collected enough to pay off the first phase of the upgrade that included a new control room and monitors.

“No more masking tape holding things together,” Sexton said.

She said that an anonymous donor is helping CoH secure the rest of the equipment at half price. That includes new high-definition cameras and an archiving system. The church is running out of room to hold physical tapes and many of those tapes are at the end of their shelf life.

“We have one shot to digitize them,” Sexton said.

She said that Cathedral of Hope has one of the largest archives of liberal Christian worship and other events held at the church collected over the past two decades. Services from the church can be seen online and on cable access around the country. The Internet broadcast is watched by thousands of people in about 80 countries.

The video below is about how the Cathedral has used the video ministry to reach people around the world and attracted people to the church.

Continue reading “WATCH: Cathedral of Hope raising funds to upgrade media ministry reaching 80 countries” »

—  David Taffet

Beth El Binah hosts Pride-themed Shabbat

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Dallas’ LGBT Jewish synagogue Beth El Binah is celebrating Pride month with a family and friends Shabbat June 22.

Rabbi Steve Fisch

Rabbi Steve Fisch said the congregation has been doing the Pride-themed Shabbat for many years but it is the second year the congregation has held it at the Cathedral of Hope.

Fisch, who joined the synagogue last June, will deliver the sermon at the Pride Shabbat for the first time. Calling his first year at the synagogue “the most fulfilling experience I’ve had as a rabbi,” he said his sermon will combine the Hebrew words for friend and family, chaver and mishpacha. The two words help form the word for life, chayim, he said, so his message will focus on the vital ties our personal relationships have in impacting and enriching our lives.

Although the event is called the family and friends Shabbat, Fisch said the theme reflects pride in life and how “we are truly fulfilled and our lives are complete” when we reach out to those who are important in our lives.

“In many cases we form families not only from our families of origin but from those people who surround us with love and they become more important in some cases then our family of origin,” he said.

He said having the Pride Shabbat was important because June is LGBT Pride Month and he wants members of the congregation to embrace their religion and sexuality. He said when people pride themselves on who they are they lead “full and enriching” lives, learning to accept themselves and share their lives with others.

“We want our family and friends to know that we’re very proud of our status and very proud of our religion and that we can combine the two,” he said. “We’re very proud of being liberal Jews and we’re very proud of being gay and that the two are very much intertwined.”

Beth El Binah’s Family and Friends Shabbat is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 22, at the Interfaith Peace Chapel at Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs Road.

—  Anna Waugh

Amnesty International holds candlelight vigil in Arlington for Matthew Shepard

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A candlelight vigil will be held outside of Theatre Arlington from 10:20 to 11 p.m. on Friday evening, June 1 after the 8 p.m. performance of the play, The Laramie Project.

The play chronicles the circumstances surrounding the murder of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming college student who was killed because he was gay. The purpose of the vigil is to remember Shepard and others like him who are bullied or killed because they are different or perceived to be different, and to shed some light on how we can be more pro-active in a way that makes incidents like Matthew’s death much less likely.

The vigil is being spearheaded by the leader of Tarrant County’s Amnesty International group, Ellen Kaner. Other speakers include Rev. David Howard (Minister of the Unity Church of Arlington), Len Ellis (Board Member of the Dallas Peace Center), Mary Jo Kaska (Director of Programming for Hope for Peace and Justice) and Rev. Rachel Ciupek-Reed, Pastor of the Cathedral of Hope in Bedford. Anyone is welcome to attend the vigil, whether attending the play that evening or not.

Theatre Arlington is at 305 W. Main St. in Arlington just east of the intersection with West Street.

Tickets for the play are available on Theatre Arlington’s website. There are also performances Saturday, June 2 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 3 at 2 p.m.

—  David Taffet

How the Cathedral of Hope saved a black church that nearly became a martyr for marriage equality

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The Rev. Jo Hudson

In today’s Voice we have a column by local leatherman and regular contributor Hardy Haberman about the straight pastor of a predominantly African-American church in St. Paul, Minn., whose support for marriage equality cost him 72 percent of his flock and now poses a financial threat to the very survival of his congregation.

Haberman focuses on how the pastor, the Rev. Oliver White of Grace Community United Church, did the right thing regardless of the potential consequences when he voted in favor of a resolution supporting marriage equality at a United Church of Christ meeting in 2005.

Haberman reports that he got wind of White’s predicament when his own pastor, the Rev. Jo Hudson at Cathedral of Hope UCC in Dallas, issued an appeal on behalf of Grace Community UCC during a recent service.

On Thursday, Religion News Service and the Washington Post picked up this same story, shedding some light on the ensuing response from Haberman’s fellow worshippers at the Cathedral.

Turns out, although White sent letters seeking financial assistance to 40 UCC congregations across the country, he got only three responses — one for $500, one for $600 and “a miracle donation from Dallas.” The donation from the Cathedral, raised during two services on the same Sunday, totaled $15,000 and has allowed Grace Community UCC to keep its doors open, at least for now.

The Cathedral, commonly referred to as the world’s largest gay church, also happens to be UCC’s fourth-largest congregation.

Below is a snippet from the WaPo piece, which you can and should read in its entirety by going here:

Continue reading “How the Cathedral of Hope saved a black church that nearly became a martyr for marriage equality” »

—  John Wright

Like virgins

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Turtle Creek Chorale channels its inner Madonna — and other women throughout history — for its latest concert

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STRIKE A POSE | The chorale gets into the groove Sunday performing Madonna songs, but the concert honors many women throughout history.

RICH LOPEZ  | Staff Writer

Trey Jacobs knew exactly who he had in mind when forging the concept of the upcoming Turtle Creek Chorale concert Madonna to Madonna: The Ageless Strength of Women. The show was conceived to feature music that honors women from the Virgin Mary to the queen of pop. Iconic as they are, Jacobs looked to high school for the women who made him the person he is today — besides Mom, of course.

“As a musician, my role model was my high school choral director Jane Price,” says the TCC’s interim conductor. “She taught me how to express emotion through music.”

Thus, Jacobs will take a cue from Madge and express himself with a selection of Madonna songs — and then some.

Jacobs took over the chorale after the season outline had already been set. Running the gamut of women throughout history, from antiquity to the contemporary, was not his idea. But he expanded the idea to make his own mark.

“There was no music selected yet,” he says. “For me, it was about trying to pair [the idea] with a concept that would resonate with people. And it became this show that truly honors women.”

With a set-list that goes from Rachmaninoff to Shania Twain, the chorale teams up with some special guests for a unique experience. Enlisting the help of local singers Patty Breckenridge and Sally Vahle, New York musician Nisha Asnani and Cathedral of Hope’s the Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson, the ladies add the appropriate feminine touch to the show.

While people are scrambling to get loan approval for Madonna tickets in October, there is a distinct curiosity for how the TCC boys will be pulling off some of her greatest hits. There will even be some “chorale-ography” involved.

“They’ll be singing ‘Open Your Heart,’ ‘Dress You Up,’ ‘Papa Don’t Preach,’” says Joe Rattan, who also does the chorale’s marketing. “Oh, and ‘Vogue.’”

Rattan and Jacobs confirm that the TCC men will, in fact, be vogueing.

Clearly Madonna is a big draw for any gay event, but both men are sure to note that the inspiration of this show isn’t just about the material girl or even just about the Virgin Mary.

“The show runs the full emotional gamut,” Rattan says. “It’s very touching, there are some funny moments. Trey really breathed life into it to be this and has done a wonderful job. The guys are excited and inspired by what they are singing and I’ve been moved by what I heard.”

Jacobs assures that a concert about women by men won’t miss the point.

“I had talks with the chorale and many of them would talk about these female role models,” he says. “Sometimes it was a strong character from a movie or musical, or more personal, but it was fascinating to hear all these different men talk about women in such reverence. That’s what this is about.”

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 2, 2012.

—  Kevin Thomas

Deaths • 02.10.12

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Petrick Wade

Wade Petrik, 52, aka “Dixie Normous” of Dallas died peacefully at his home on Newton Avenue in Oak Lawn on Feb. 3, 2012.

Petrik was born Sept. 8, 1959 in Burlington, N.J., to Marianne and Bill Petrik. He grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas.

He loved his co-workers at Kroger on Cedar Springs, where Wade was a floor supervisor and an impromptu entertainer.

Blessed with an extraordinary sense of humor, Petrik always had an audience. Some may even remember his debuts at “The Does Your Mother Know Show.” He also worked the back door at the Round-Up Saloon, so if you tried to sneak in, he probably busted you.

Petrik is survived by his best friend, Rudy Leal; sisters, Dr. Trish Dodd, and Jessie Klein and her daughters; and a long list of wonderful friends in the gay community, who were truly family.

Services will be from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs Road. Wade loved his furry friends, especially his beloved companion, Randy, so please make donations to your local animal rescue group.

—  Kevin Thomas

Community mourns ‘Chief’ Guy-Gainer

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Gay 23-year Air Force vet became North Texas’ pre-eminent advocate for the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

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PAYING RESPECTS | The Rev. Stephen Sprinkle, center, who delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Dave Guy-Gainer on Feb. 7, also spoke at the impromptu candlelight memorial at the Legacy of Love monument on Cedar Springs Road on Feb. 4. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

DAVID TAFFET  |  Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

American flags lined the walk in front of Cathedral of Hope for the funeral of Dave Guy-Gainer on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

The 63-year-old gay Air Force veteran who served for 23 years and spent a decade working tirelessly for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” died unexpectedly Feb. 2.

At a hastily called memorial at the Legacy of Love monument on Cedar Springs Road on Saturday, Feb. 4, Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance President Patti Fink said, “I don’t know why Dave died, but I do know why he lived.”

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Dave Guy-Gainer

Rafael McDonnell, communications and advocacy manager for Resource Center Dallas, said the day Guy-Gainer died was the saddest of his life.

And Stonewall Democrats of Dallas President Omar Narvaez recalled that on the day DADT repeal took effect last year, Guy-Gainer told him, “The fight’s not over.”

Among the continuing fights Guy-Gainer envisioned was acceptance by and service from the military’s Chaplain Corps. Toward that end, Guy-Gainer helped create the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy. In October, he brought a group together from around the country for a meeting at the Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas to formalize plans for the forum.

And while gays, lesbians and bisexuals can now serve openly, Guy-Gainer continued to fight for the rights of transgender men and women to serve.

“It’s very sad for us,” said Dennis Coleman, executive director of Equality Texas, where Guy-Gainer was a board member. “He was dedicated to state work as well as federal work.”

Guy-Gainer worked locally as well. In 2010, he ran as an openly gay candidate for City Council in Forest Hill, a small town south of Fort Worth in Tarrant County. Although he made it to the runoff, he lost to the 12-year incumbent by a few dozen votes.

In remarks at the funeral, gay retired Army Col. Paul Dodd said Guy-Gainer, who became the pre-eminent advocate for DADT repeal in North Texas, worked just as hard to end the problem of bullying. He alluded to Guy-Gainer’s death-by-suicide indirectly.

Dodd said that on Sept. 20, 2011, the day DADT repeal went into effect, Guy-Gainer wrote, “After a celebratory, euphoric high, this old airman crash landed tonight with reports of another youth who took his own life. We simply aren’t getting to the youth who are suffering.”

The Rev. Stephen Sprinkle, who was a close friend of Guy-Gainer’s and delivered the eulogy, talked about the suicide more directly. He said he felt anguished over how to deal with it in the funeral service.

“Everyone was hurting from it,” Sprinkle said. “Frustration, anger, guilt — that’s what I had to address.”

DADT-party

CELEBRATING REPEAL | Gay and lesbian veterans, including Dave Guy-Gainer, far right, identified themselves at a celebration at the Resource Center Dallas on Sept. 20, 2011, the day the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” went into effect. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

He said he decided to talk about Guy-Gainer’s suicide so that those mourning his loss wouldn’t treat it as a scandal but as a tragedy. And he said he needed to dismiss fundamentalist beliefs of eternal damnation for those who take their own lives.

“One of our tall trees fell, and we all feel it,” Sprinkle began his eulogy. “I begin with sighs too deep for words.”

He spoke about the biblical concept of lamentation.

“Lamentation is something the community needs to know how to do,” he said. “Suicide is a single act with plural effects that arose from problems and pain.”

But he said he’d simply miss Guy-Gainer’s “sweet, awkward goofiness” and praised him as a “relentless advocate for human rights” who fought “bullying and anti-LGBTQ religious bigotry.”

Guy-Gainer joined the Air Force at the age of 18 and served for 23 years. His work for the repeal of DADT and his LGBT activism began after another gay vet insisted he march in uniform in Austin’s Pride parade in 2001.

He became vice president of American Veterans for Equal Rights and served on the board of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for about five years.

Gainer grew up in Charleston, W. Va., in what he called a “very, very fundamentalist family.”

In a 2009 profile published by Dallas Voice, he said growing up he knew he was gay, but that he was raised to be a minister.

“I figured, I’ll join the military, that’ll fix me,” he said. “I’ll get married like all the GIs did, and that’ll fix me. But you know what? It didn’t fix me.”

Guy-Gainer’s daughter, Brie, said that wasn’t his only reason to join the military.

“Dad has a true passion for the rights and duties of people who choose to live in a free country,” she wrote to Dallas Voice in 2009.

Guy-Gainer received five Meritorious Service medals and the Bronze Star and retired in 1990 as a chief master sergeant, a rank achieved by the top 1 percent of enlisted men and women.

He met his husband David Guy in 2000. They married in San Francisco in 2004 and had a commitment ceremony in Texas followed by a party at the military base in San Antonio where he worked at the time.

His work to end DADT earned him an invitation to the White House signing ceremony for the repeal legislation in December 2010. In September 2011, at a party celebrating the repeal going into effect, he donated boxes of papers relating to his work to the Phil Johnson Historic Archives and Research Library at Resource Center.

After the funeral service at Cathedral of Hope, Guy-Gainer was buried at the DFW National Cemetery in Dallas with full military honors.

Guy asked that donations be made to Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, in care of Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs, Dallas, Texas 75235.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition February 10, 2012.

—  Kevin Thomas