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26 July 01
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Chi Rho Connection
Vol. II, No. 17
26 July 2001
'When you come to
a fork in the road, take it.' Yogi Berra.
Welcome once again
to the Chi Rho Connection, the
electronic newsletter of Chi Rho Press. Thank you for
passing this Chi Rho Connection on to others.
.To
join our list, send an e-mail message to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoo.com.
Please
visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see
our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas, and
stained glass.
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. A
True Story from Roberta Kreider
2. New Meditation Mailings
3. Kevin Fries Published!
4. Become a Guardian Angel
5. Success in Norfolk
6. Adam's Last Word
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1. A True Story from Roberta Kreider
Editor's Note: Roberta
Showalter Kreider recently passed
on this story of a meeting she and her husband Harold
had this month with the mother of a young man who thinks
he might be gay. Roberta compiled 'From Wounded
Hearts:
Faith Stories of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgendered People and Those Who Love Them.'
On Friday a friend
from our church called to ask me to
call a woman who wanted to get in touch with me. The
woman came yesterday afternoon to buy a copy of 'From
Wounded Hearts' and to talk. Her son has recently told
her that he wonders if he is gay. She and her husband
are very supportive of him and have assured him that
they will love him no matter what.
A friend from school
loaned the woman's son a copy of
'From Wounded Hearts' and it was all marked up with all
kinds of negative comments written in the margins.
When the son showed the book to his mother, she wisely
suggested that he not read it because of the negative
rebuttals written in the copy he had. But she read it
because she wanted to learn more.
Now she wants an
unmarked copy for her son to read.
She felt the stories were so helpful that she wanted
to have their own copy. She said, 'Even if my son turns
out not to be gay, as a teacher, I want to know more,
so I can be a supportive teacher.' She stayed for
around two hours and wants us to come to their home to
meet her son and husband after we get home from Oregon.
It is interesting
that the person who loaned the book
wanted to convince the young man of the sin of
homosexuality and ended up encouraging the mother.
I think she may even go to a PFLAG meeting with us!
The mother went home
with a bag of five videos and Mel
White's 'Stranger at the Gate' that I loaned to her.
The mother was so grateful for 'From Wounded Hearts.'
After she sat down in our living room she said, 'I can't
believe I'm really meeting you.' So many surprises
happen in our lives.
Can 'From Wounded
Hearts' change the life of someone you
know? Buy a copy at our Web site,
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com. $19.95 each, six
or more
copies for $14.95 each plus shipping and handling.
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2. Kevin Stone Fries Published!
Congratulations to
Kevin Stone Fries, Chi Rho Press'
Editor/Office Manager, on the publication of his
interview with Felice Picano in 'A/B: Auto/Biographical
Studies.' A/B is the journal of the Autobiographical
Society, the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. Vol. 15, No. 1 is a Special Issue,
'Autobiographical Que(e)ries' on LGBT autobiography,
journals, and diaries.
Kevin's article,
'Prelude to Process: Sources of Felice
Picano's Life Writing: An Interview Based on Oral and
Written Communication,' explores the 'prolific author
as well as editor of gay fiction, Felice Picano's
reflections upon his own writing of gay memoir.'
Kevin is working
with Felice on the publication of
Picano's diaries and journals. Felice Picano is the
award-winning author of such widely acclaimed books
as 'Book of Lies,' 'The Lure,' 'Like People in History,'
'Looking Glass Lives,' and 'Onyx,' his most recent book.
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We will start a new
weekly mailing next week as a gift
to you from Chi Rho Press. Each Monday we will be
sending our Chi Rho Connection subscribers a selection
from 'The Road to Emmaus.'
One of our most popular
and successful books, 'The
Road to Emmaus,' a collection of daily meditations, was
published in 1989 by Emmaus Press. Chi Rho Press
director Adam DeBaugh was on the board of directors of
Emmaus House of Prayer and Emmaus Press. When Emmaus
Press went out of business, Chi Rho Press became the
exclusive distributor of 'The Road to Emmaus.'
This excellent volume
contains a Gospel reading and a
meditation based on it for every day of the year. The
meditations were written by LGBT Christians and
supporters from a wide variety of backgrounds and
traditions. Authors include the late Rev. Larry Uhrig,
Fr. Bob Nugent, Sister Jeannine Gramick, Dr. Joseph
Houle, Rev. Kathy Baker, Adam DeBaugh, Dr. Louis F.
Kavar, Jack Pantaleo, Rev. Dusty Pruitt, Rev. Andy
Sidden, Virginia Miles, and Sarah Fershee. 'The Road
to Emmaus' has been discounted for sale at
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com to $9.95 each,
six or more
copies for $7.50 each, plus shipping and handling.
We hope you are nurtured
and blessed by these weekly
reflections and will feel moved to pass them on to
your friends and family.
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Chi Rho Press is
looking for Guardian Angels:
individuals, couples, or families who will become
sponsors of the Press and more involved as partners
in this ministry.
This program is part
of our vision of ecumenical, grass
roots ministry enabling individuals, couples, and
families to become part of Chi Rho Press. The goal of
the Guardian Angel Individual Sponsor Program is to
raise enough in sponsorships to move our Editor/Office
Manager to full time and to enable us to publish
additional books each year.
We are inviting you
to become a Guardian Angel of Chi
Rho Press. A few Guardian Angels have already taken
Chi Rho Press under their wings. Please help us today.
And pass this on to your friends and family and ask for
their help as well!
Guardian Angels will
1. Receive a 'welcome
gift' of a Stained Glass Cross as
a thank you for your support.
2. Be eligible for
a 7.5% discount on all purchases from
Chi Rho Press that you make.
3. Be listed as a
Guardian Angel Sponsor in Chi Rho Press
publications, press releases, eNewsletters, and on the Web
page.
4. Get a subscription
to a new Newsletter just for
Sponsors.
5. Receive an annual report prepared just for Sponsors.
6. Be informed about
advance sales of publications from
Chi Rho Press.
7. And of course, you will remain in our prayers!
And what do we ask
from our Guardian Angels in return?
Only three things,
1. Please keep the
ministry of Chi Rho Press in your
prayers.
2. A gift of at least
$150 a year to Chi Rho Press
from individuals, couples, or families.
3. Keep your friends,
family, co-workers, and churches
informed about the resources available from Chi Rho
Press, our Web page, and our eNewsletter.
That's it. For just
$150 a year, you can become a
Guardian Angel Sponsor of this growing publishing house,
serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and
seeking community of faith. Chi Rho Press is reaching
people with resources that are not available anywhere
else, resources that are made especially for our LGBT
community.
'Even though we have
managed to keep the costs of this
special ministry very low, we need your support to grow
and to expand our outreach. Won't you help?' asks Board
member Steve Barchers.
Simply send your
check for at least $150 to Chi Rho Press,
ATTN: Guardian Angel Program, P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg,
MD 20898. If you have specific questions about the
Guardian Angel Program, you may e-mail us at
Angels@ChiRhoPress.com, or
telephone us at 301/926-1208.
Thank you for your support!
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We had a wonderful
visit at New Life MCC in Norfolk,
Virginia last weekend. They have a huge (15,000 square
feet) building and a lively and active congregation.
And the church is right near the ocean and Chesapeake
Bay. What a great location and facility!
Pastor Marty Luna
and the Rev. Maria Wolfe were our
hosts at their lovely sea-side condo. Church Sunday
was a wonderful service, Marty preached a powerful
sermon on Mary and Martha, and we had a successful
bookstore before and after the service.
On Saturday, we got
a chance to walk on the beach and
sit in the sun. Then we all had a great seafood dinner
together!
This is a very friendly
church doing incredible ministry
in the Tidewater. Many thanks to Marty and Maria and
to all the saints at New Life MCC!
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We had some wonderful
responses to my rant about the
Salvation Army and its attempts to circumvent local
and state civil rights laws as a part of Resident Bush's
so-called 'faith-based initiative.'
The Rev. Julie Two
Suess wrote, 'Instead of not putting
money in the red bucket, why don't we either identify
the money as ours (those cute pink triangle stamps work)
or drop in a note saying that we are not contributing
and why.'
Good ideas, Julie,
though I am not convinced that giving
the Salvation Wehrmacht LGBT-identified money will do
anything to change their policies. I much prefer the
idea of putting in notes instead of money. In fact, Chi
Rho Press will be printing up cards for people to drop
in the Salvation Army's red kettles come Christmas time.
The cards will say,
Dear Salvation Army,
While I appreciate
the good works that you do in terms of
feeding, clothing, and housing the poor and needy, I am
appalled by your attempt this past summer to subvert
local and state civil rights laws. Because of your
homophobic policies, I am bypassing your Red Kettles
this season and will be giving my charitable
contributions to organizations friendly to the gay and
lesbian community.
Merry Christmas.
Would you like a
quantity of these cards? Please let
me know.
*************
I got my $300 tax
refund check from the IRS this week!
I am splitting it between Chi Rho Press and Soulforce.
We hope you will
take part of the tax refund being sent
to you this summer and become a Guardian Angel Sponsor
of Chi Rho Press. I really hope you prayerfully consider
becoming one of our Guardian Angels. We need your help
to continue this ministry!
*************
Summer has
been really here in the Washington area the past
couple of weeks. We have had hot, humid temperatures,
broken occasionally by thunderstorms. But there is much
going on and Kevin and I are keeping very busy. We hope
you are praying for us and our ministry! And have a
great summer.
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We are glad
you are partners in ministry 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
---------------------------
If you've received our Chi Rho Connection as a result of the good offices
of
someone passing it along to you (which we certainly encourage) and would
like to
receive it directly from us, please follow the directions at the end of
our
Connection to subscribe.
For
orders, please write to us: Orders@ChiRhoPress.com.
If you have
questions, please write to Question@ChiRhoPress.com.
For comments and
suggestions about this eNewsletter, please write Connection@ChiRhoPress.com.
To learn about our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@ChiRhoPress.com. For
all other correspondence, please write Adam@ChiRhoPress.com.
Our snail mail address is:
Chi Rho Press,
Inc.
P.O. Box 7864
Gaithersburg, MD 20898
Our telephone and fax number is 301/926-1208.
Our Canadian
friends can order using credit cards on our web page or through
our Canadian distributor, MAP Enterprises, Mary Ann Pearson, Box 340,
54
Centre St., Odessa, ONT., Canada, K0H 2H0; e-mail: mapenterprises@home.com;
phone or fax: 1-613-386-5711; or toll free (leave a message) 1-877-245-9569.
Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc.
******************************************
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R. Adam DeBaugh,
Director, Adam@ChiRhoPress.com.
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager, Kevin@ChiRhoPress.com
Visit the Chi Rho Press Website http://www.ChiRhoPress.com