Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. II, No. 5
2 February 2001

Welcome once again to the Chi Rho Press eNewsletter. Thank you for passing
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Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com/ to see our entire
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Direct all other e-mail to Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. See the end of this
eNewsletter for a complete list of e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

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Contents:

1. My Memory Book
2. Staff Bio: R. Adam DeBaugh
3. New Promissory Notes
4. Adam's Last Word

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1. My Memory Book

We are very pleased to announce to the young and the young-at-heart a second
printing of “My Memory Book: A Journal for Grieving Children, Second Edition”
by Gretchen Gaines-Lane, LCSW-C.

Please visit http://www.chirhopress.com/products.html and click on the social action button on the left to see a cover of the book.

Though created for children by a children's grief and bereavement specialist,
many adults are using “My Memory Book” to create memorials for loved ones who
have died. Like a panel in the AIDS quilt, a copy of “My Memory Book” can
become an important part of the grief process after losing a beloved friend or
relative.

“I love this workbook for children of all ages,” says Patricia Kelly,
co-author of “Final Gifts” and a consultant in the Washington, D.C. area. “This is a book to treasure.”

Space is available throughout the book for the grieving person to write or
draw. Directions for over 20 exercises are given on the left hand side page,
and the right hand side page is devoted to the grieving person’s creative
use. The reader uses “My Memory Book” to create a book of memories about the loved one who died that is uniquely his or her own. “My Memory Book” encourages written exercises, collage, journaling, and drawings in any medium the user cares to employ.

Dr. Phyllis Silverman, one of the most reknowned experts in the bereavement
field, writes, “This is one of the best workbooks I have seen to help . . .
understand the nature of grief. It legitimates . . . ties to the deceased and
helps find ways to talk about these connections.”

The unique genius of this book is that it is wonderful for anyone to use,
regardless of age. “My Memory Book” provides enough exercises for readers of
any age to return to it again and again to celebrate the life of one recently
lost and of their life together. The book also includes a special section in
the back for readers to design their own exercises.

Though many buy this book for family members, many counselors in the
professional community have also recognized the therapeutic benefits of “My
Memory Book” and use the book with their clients. “This workbook is a
wonderful tool to assist therapists and counselors in their work with bereaved
children,” says Nancy Boyd Webb, DSW, BCD, Professor, Fordham University
Graduate School of Social Service.

An Illinois hospice and hospital just ordered another 100 copies of “My Memory
Book” for their on-going use. We are proud of their recommendation of this
important book as a bereavement tool for people of all ages.

“My Memory Book” is available from Chi Rho Press for $10.95 each, $8.95 each
for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling.

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2. Staff Bio: R. Adam DeBaugh

We conclude our board and staff bios with our Director and Founder.

R. Adam DeBaugh has served the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches for over 25 years. He first started attending the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C., in 1973. He had served as director of the Center for the Study of Power and Peace, an inter-religiously funded international affairs research center in the early 1970s. Then Adam was
Administrative Assistant to Congressman Bob Edgar (D. PA) from January until
June, 1975. (Dr. Edgar, a Methodist minister, is now head of the National
Council of Churches.)

At the end of June, 1975, Adam and the Rev. Roy Birchard started the UFMCC
Washington Field Office on Capitol Hill, becoming Director in 1976. As
head of the Washington Field Office he was the first person to lobby the United States Congress full time for Gay and Lesbian civil rights.

He served on the Board of Directors of the Gay Rights National Lobby for its
entire existence and hosted GRNL staff in the UFMCC Washington Office for the first few years.

In late 1975 he was named Director of the UFMCC Department of Christian Social Action, which position he held until 1986. As Director of Christian Social
Action and of the Washington Office he traveled extensively throughout the
UFMCC, visiting, speaking, and preaching at over 100 churches throughout the
U.S., and supervised the Christian Social Action programs of the denomination.

In 1979 he and the Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson were named the first
co-directors of the new Department of Ecumenical Relations and in 1981 Adam wrote the UFMCC's original application for membership in the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S. With Elder Wilson he supervised the first triennium of dialogue with the NCCC through 1984, when he stepped down from the ecumenical work of the Fellowship.

In October, 1983, he was elected District Coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic
District, only the second lay person to hold the position of District
Coordinator in the UFMCC. (In the UFMCC, the District Coordinator is somewhat analogous to a Bishop in other church polities, having episcopal, pastoral and administrative responsibilities. The Mid-Atlantic District covers six states and the District of Columbia.) He served on the UFMCC General Council (the governing body of the denomination) from its inception in 1985 until his retirement as District Coordinator in June 1992.

In 1990 the Mid-Atlantic District Committee, recognizing Mr. DeBaugh's
gifts in the areas of writing, editing, and publishing, granted his application for
Special Work status for Chi Rho Press, a Gay and Lesbian Christian publishing
house. He decided not to stand for re-election as District Coordinator when
his term expired in June 1992, in order to follow God's clear call on his life
to devote his energies to the ministry of Chi Rho Press.

A committed lay person, Adam DeBaugh is an accomplished writer, speaker,
workshop leader, and preacher. He served on the Board of Directors of the
Washington Blade newspaper in the early 1970's, and on the Board of Directors
of Emmaus House of Prayer, another Special Work of the Mid-Atlantic District.
He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Fund for Overcoming Racism, a
scholarship fund for people of color who are studying for the UFMCC clergy
ministry. He was a member of the board of directors of Among Friends, Inc., a
non-profit Washington area agency that provides transitional services to Gay
and Lesbian people in crisis.

He has written a number of booklets, including “Writing to Congress” and “The
Least of These: A Christian Social Action Bible Study on Matthew 25,” which
are currently distributed by Chi Rho Press. He is a contributor to the books “The Road to Emmaus” and “Positively Gay.” Currently an active member of Holy
Redeemer MCC, College Park, Maryland, he is single and lives in Montgomery
Village, Maryland.
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3. New Promissory Notes

We are getting ready for the reprinting of two of our major books. We will be
doing a second edition of “From Wounded Hearts: Faith Stories of LGBT People
and Those Who Love Them,” compiled by Roberta Showalter Kreider, and a second printing of Dr. Rembert Truluck’s “Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse.”

Capitalization is always an issue, so we are issuing new Promissory Notes to
fund these new printings. The good news is that both books have sold well.
The bad news is that it takes money to print books!

As before, $1,000 Promissory Notes are available from Chi Rho Press, at 8%
simple interest, repaid in eight quarterly payments over a two year period.
Write Adam@ChiRhoPress.com for the text of the Promissory Note, and send your check for $1,000 (or $2,000, $3,000, or even $5,000!). We will send a signed Note after the receipt of your check.

Thanks for your support!
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4. Adam's Last Word.

Yesterday was Groundhog Day! Or Candlemas for liturgical Christians, the
Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple and the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.

There is a lot of confusing history about this day. There are lots of
different celebrations all melded together. It is the end of the 40 days of
uncleanness after the birth of a man-child and Mary’s “purification” in the
temple. The baby Jesus is presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, where the
Prophets Simeon and Anna bless him and declare him the messiah (“Nunc
dimittis,” “Now lettest thy servant depart in peace, oh Lord, according to Thy
word: mine own eyes hath seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared in the
sight of all the peoples, a light to reveal Thee to the nations and the glory
of Thy people Israel.”

The Christian Church co-opted some amazing Pagan celebrations to add to this
feast day. Feb 2 is the feast day of the Celtic Pagan goddess Bridgid (from
whom we get the word “bride”). Bridgid, said to be the inventor of whistling
and keening, was a triple goddess of poetry, smithcraft, and medicine. The
Church made her patron saint of those three things as well! Of course the
Church insisted Bridgid was really an early Christian missionary sent to
Ireland, and that her miracles misled the common, Pagan folk to believe she
was a goddess.

St. Bridgid was associated with miracles and fertility and as late as the 18th
Century there was a women’s only shrine to her in Kildare (the Church of the
Oak) in Ireland, where 19 nuns tended her eternal flame.

The Pagan Bridgid was also the goddess of fire, the hearth, fields, smithy,
poetry, and childbirth. She blesses women who are about to marry, who bear
her name (Bride) on their wedding day.

And because of the time of year, Pagan Bridget also represented the beginnings
of the end of winter, the departure of the horned god, and the coming of the
sun. So Bridgid had lots to do with light, as the days began to get longer,
and with candles, lamps, and lights in home and sanctuary.

Candles and other lights are closely associated with her. So Christians made
St. Bridgid’s Day, the 40th day of Epiphany and the time when Mary brought the
baby Jesus to the Temple for her own ritual purification and his presentation
to God, as a time when all the candles to be used in the church in the coming
year were blessed. Jesus is “the Light of the World.”

The end of winter was foretold by certain burrowing or hibernating animals,
hence Groundhog Day in the US. “If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter
will have another flight. If Candlemas day be clouds and rain, Winter is
gone, and will not come again.” Well at least not until next year.

Whatever tradition you come from, Candlemas has something for everyone!  It’s
time to remove the last Yuletide greens from your home; to start cleaning up
your fields, gardens, and homes; to celebrate Mary’s purification after
childbirth; to remember Jesus’ presentation at the Temple and the prophesy of
Simeon.

It is a time to see to your lights for the coming year, both physically and
spiritually. Because of Bridgid’s inspiration for poets and creative people,
it is time to affirm the artist and innovator within and to energize your
creative self.

Happy Candlemas! Cheers old Bridgid!

Have a great week, everyone.

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We are glad you are partners with us here at Chi Rho Press. We are eager
for your comments, your suggestions, your assistance with selling our books, and
your own purchases! And of course, we covet your prayers for this ministry.

Grace and peace,

Adam DeBaugh, Director
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Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

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