Fall 2009

The daily round of worship has long been our touchstone. We consciously carry ourselves to the chapel three times each day and meet together with God. It’s a reminder of Mark’s gospel that so often when we are journeying along this both normal and formative way, God drops something new upon us. Sometimes a challenge but so often a great blessing.

“On the way” this summer we have offered hospitality to many visitors: family, friends from the past, new ministry groups. Conference attendees and companions continue to bring fresh insight from their inroads into the times in which we live. Our mission calls us to respond in ministry to the needs of our times. Sometimes this is simply that we continue to work in our own deprived neighborhood, laboring together with our neighbors for the regeneration of the city. Our way is quieter as autumn approaches; we have time to reflect, to look back, to plan for the future, to wonder, but always moving forward in the kingdom of God here in Aliquippa.

A youth group from St. Luke’s, Gladstone, New Jersey came for a week to work as volunteers with John Stanley (Church Army) in building flood control barriers in the vulnerable trailer park at the end of Spring St. just up the road from our property. They swelled our ranks at the Saturday Eucharist and common meal.

After years of trying to get a dangerously disintegrating illegal ramp removed from an abandoned row house next to one of our rental properties, we finally received permission to dismantle it ourselves. Bill, James, John, Alison and Mark took on the task on a bright July morning.

Håkan, Bill and James restock the Earth Oven’s woodpile, clearing the property of several fallen trees

A Journey to Adulthood (J2A) group on pilgrimage from St. Christopher’s in Grand Blanc, Michigan spent a weekend with the Community as the last stop on their way home. The commitment and enthusiasm from these young pilgrims is always a source of encouragement.

Bill Farra was 21 when he arrived at the Church of the Redeemer in Houston, Texas to join a movement of the Spirit that would take him and others on a ministry adventure that has spanned 43 years. During his first two years at the church he was drawn into the small community of those who committed themselves to live out the Christian life together, while completing law school and serving as organist at the church. After passing the state bar exam, Bill was more interested in pursuing ministry than practicing law. Helping to establish a coffeehouse ministry to Houston’s hippy population was the first challenge. Along with Redeemer’s growing international reputation came an invitation for Bill to spend six months assisting in a downtown parish in Auckland, New Zealand. After that he was part of a group from Redeemer that was invited by the Bishop of Coventry, England to share in his diocese the fruits of their common life and ministry. The first year in Coventry, Bill married Mimi Armstrong in the famous St. Michael’s Cathedral. Before long a variety of people, local and long distance, had begun to express their desire to join this communitybased ministry and in 1973 the Community of Celebration was officially formed as an English charity (non-profit), mentored by the Benedictine monks of Nashdom Abbey in this new way of fitting into the Church.

When a bishop in Scotland asked the Community to take up residence at the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, Bill and Mimi were part of the group that answered the call. Life on that wee island off the West coast provided the ideal spot to develop the Community as a religious order with its daily rhythm of prayer, work, study and recreation. Buying the local bakery provided needed employment both for the Community and the town, and also gave a spark to Bill’s later interest in bread baking. After 10 years on the island, the Spirit urged the Community to recover its urban roots, and in 1985 at the invitation of the Bishop of Pittsburgh the Community relocated to Aliquippa, a depressed steel town in western Pennsylvania. During much of the past 24 years Bill has functioned as Primary Guardian and administrator of the Community, and has served on the Board of the Aliquippa Alliance for Unity and Development, a local nonprofit organization for economic revitalization. Beyond the local scene he is presently the Diocesan Jubilee Officer for the Diocese of Pittsburgh serving the national Jubilee Ministry, and was recently elected Convener of the National Association of Episcopal Christian Communities.