The Rev. Dr. Jim Christoph Ordained to the Priesthood

March 19, 2024

The Rev. Dr. James Robert Christoph was ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church this Tuesday at St. Richard's Episcopal Church. The Right Rev. Dr. Justin Holcomb of the Diocese of Central Florida presided for the Rt. Rev. Terry White, Bishop of Kentucky. The Rev. Richard James Martindal gave the sermon. The ministering clergy consisted of the Rev. Canon Dr. E. Daniel Smith, the Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Down, the Rev. Dr. Harry Coverston, the Rev. Rev. Amanda March, the Rev. Liz Williams, and the Rev. Timothy Hoppe. The Rev. Joe Obrochta served as deacon. Click here to download the ordination bulletin created for the event.

St. Richard's Responds to Hateful Graffiti with Faith, Hope, and Love

February 14, 2024

St. Richard's Responds to Hateful Graffiti with FAITH HOPE AND LOVE. On Sunday morning (Feb. 11), the people of St. Richard's and the Tanglewood community were greeted by three large pieces of art by Drucila Mundo, Parish Administrator. "Faith" "Hope" and "Love" in response to the hateful graffiti found on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. In addition, parishioners were encouraged to write messages of love and welcome and place them on the bulletin boards in the breezeway where the graffiti was found. St. Richard's is on a mission to change lives and the world...with faith, hope and love.

Letter of Support from Bishop Holcomb after St. Richard's suffers Vandalism

February 9, 2024

St. Richard's suffered from vandalism this week as someone painted swastikas and hateful comments in various places in our church. The staff found this in the morning and it was all cleaned up in less than an hour. The Seminole County Sheriff's Dept did come out and make a report. The Tanglewood neighborhood has been very supportive and called to give us their support. We also got a very nice letter from Bishop Justin Holcomb from the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida giving us their full support. Click here to download the Bishop's letter.

Rev. Coverston's Guest Column in the Orlando Sentinel

December 6, 2023

The Rev. Harry Coverston wrote a guest column in today's Orlando Sentinel on his journey and lessons learned on a hard, but important, part of our past.

Dr. MaultsBy Publishes Article in National Magazine

November 6, 2023

Our own Dr. Carl MaultsBy will have an article published in the December issue of The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians. "Give the Choir Some:
The Consecration of a Bishop as Music Ministry" is used with the permission of the Association of Anglican Musicians. You can download a reprint of the article by clicking here.

Our Native Plant Garden is Thriving

September 23. 2023

You might want to check out the progress of our native plant garden. It’s located at the front of the church property (on the left side of the main driveway and across toward the walkway to the breezeway and church entrance). We are pleased that the garden was funded by a grant from the Audubon Society and the design was developed by a Rollins College student, including who also provided signage identifying specimens.

The Audubon Society promotes native plant gardens that attract and provide habitat for birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators as well as small nesting animals. Seeds dropped by the plants will propagate more plants that will develop into a meadow fostered by a healthy environment in the ground, free of the need for fertilizer because the eco-environment provides that.

Collectively, the funders and designers continually advise us on upkeep, maintenance, growth development, and weeding. The plants will continue their growth cycles and some will become dormant through the winter. The breakdown of the initial bark mulch ground cover provides nutrients as it becomes soil, and as it becomes less dense it allows seeds to reach the soil in order to propagate. Annual mulching or pine straw and adequate watering is all that is needed.

Many parishoners donated plants, mostly from their own gardens, and labor in planting them on a Saturday in May. The Scouts did the heavy lifting in hauling and spreading mulch. The secondary garden (along the side of the walkway that leads from the parking lot) contains native and non-native specimens and has been maintained and augmented by several parishoners, who will add more plantings in the Fall.

Specific thanks are given to Phyllis Hall and Tracy Comazzi for securing the grant and producing the design, Dr. Leslie Poole, Beth Rudloff, the Scouts, Seamone and Hugh Griffith, Susan Hana, Gail Hencken, Philip Fye, and so many others who generously and quietly give their time and treasure for this outreach.

Here is a significant historical anecdote that you might not even imagine. In a designated spot opposite the For Seasons food pantry, we planted a Norfolk pine tree. It’s about 2 feet tall now, strategically located for lighting and future visibility, and is already attracting bees. What you don’t know is that it was a gift from the garden of a parishioner and donated specifically to honor indigenous peoples believed to have lived on, nurtured, fought for, and died on our very plot of land for a long time. At a later date, a ceremony to honor and a plaque to commemorate these custodians will be held.

The help and support of the St. Richard's community makes this project successful. We hope it also will be an enticement and gift to the neighborhood, even providing a Free Little Library under the spreading oak. This is one way of being mindful that we are a church on a mission to discover God’s grace, change our lives and change the whole world.

Sabbatical Update from the Rev. Alison Harrity - the Last Chapter

August 26, 2023

Greetings my St. Richard’s Family!

It’s always about community and the wonderful way God creates community for us no matter where we are.

Libby Harrity: Libby will be starting at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, on August 31. Hampshire is the college that offered to give New College students special financial aid consideration if they transferred. They have much the same system of learning contracts, narrative grading, and students write a thesis to graduate. There will be over 30 New College students there this fall. We will drive up together and I will fly home to Orlando on September 1. She was able to spend some time with me in the Keys, kayaking and visiting Key West. No doubt she will be building a new community! Again, thank you for your support of her in my physical absence. St. Richard’s is the base of support that has given her the courage and encouragement to be exactly who God made her to be!

My Marathon Community:
A team of four construction workers all from Cuba have become part of my summer community. I see them five days a week and they have given me a bit of Spanish practice. Elizabeth, my boating coach, and I have kept in touch this summer and while she is in Islamorada about 40 minutes away, I have been out with her and her friends on the boat, and her family met Libby and me for dinner last week. At Sombrero Beach where I go most weekday mornings, Vic swims a half a mile every day. We always exchange a cordial greeting and talk a bit. At the end of July, he asked me what I did. Turns out Vic is a retired Methodist minister from Michigan. We have met for lunch and talked shop. Over the last few weeks two manatees have been just off the part of the beach where Vic and I visit. They have been a delightful part of my community, too, as have the birds and the fish, the land crabs and even the ants. Paige, who lives in the condo next door, and I have communicated via text since I have been here. I watered her plants when she and her husband were away for the month of July. She shared some of the hottest peppers I have ever had and some of their smoked fish. She took me to the Marathon Community Theater for their 80’s Murder Mystery theater, which was hysterical. Another condo neighbor, Scott, and I visit in the evenings from time to time after he gets home from his 12-hour shift as a private security guard for a super-rich lady in Marathon. He has fascinating stories from working 14 years in Iraq for the US government. Lynne has become a special new friend. On a snorkel trip, one of the ship’s mates and I were talking and he suggested I join Lynne for her Yoga classes at Sombrero Beach. As we chatted after class, I discovered she had attended New College. Small world. She took Libby and me out for breakfast while Libby was here and has had me to her home for dinner. My Library Spanish Class friends bid me a fond farewell at my last class with them Wednesday. There have been about 5 of us there regularly and it’s become a nice small group. At St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, I have become very fond of Jean who serves as the crucifer. She has been interested in my sabbatical progress and now we greet each other with a hug. Betsy, who got my sailing lessons lined up, loves hearing about Libby and other friendly faces make Sunday mornings special. It has been nice to have a small worshiping community less than a mile away.
     Post Cuba I spent a few days in Key West and visited the Dry Tortugas where I have visited on previous trips to the Keys. The 2½-hour ferry ride back was particularly rough. Thank God for Dramamine! Community is quickly formed when the folks at the table with you are seasick for the first hour of the ride! Everyone took care of each other.
I look forward to being back with you my church family. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to live differently for a time and to learn new things and gain new insights into myself and the goodness that does live in every human being by the grace of God.

Much love and peace,
Alison

Cleaned Out!

August 25, 2023

We are thrilled to announce that the digging out of the creek that runs around the back perimeter of the church has been completed. On August 16, the Stormwater Division of the Seminole County Public Works Department, using specialized, Swiss-made equipment, dug out the primary ditch behind the office complex that continues parallel to the pet park and cemetery, eventually joining other conduits in a complex design that dumps into the St. John's River. Anyone who would dare walk (only in safe, protective garb) along the creek bed would be engulfed in muck, with 6-foot-high sides in places and a covering canopy of dense vegetation that would make one feel very vulnerable in this native environment. As a result of this digging out/cleaning project, excessive water should drain from our property to the creek and away from us, mitigating the flooding we experienced after Hurricane Ian. The creek joins another one behind the subdivision across Lake Howell Road, and is dependent on that being clear and flowing, which it was not during Hurricane Ian. Seminole County's efforts and easy working relationship are exemplary. They went above and beyond and were in touch with us every step of the way. We are eternally grateful to them. St. Richard's sustained over $1 million in damages because of Hurricane Ian. Aside from the reconstruction and repair of the church buildings, we have been doing a lot of mitigation work to protect the church from future hurricanes. Cleaning and digging out that back creek is just one of the mitigation efforts and will help keep the property safe during future hurricanes. A huge thanks to Beth Rudloff and Warren Carlson for all of their work with these projects to protect our church.

Sabbatical Update from Rev. Alison Harrity

August 10, 2023

Greetings my St. Richard’s Family!

Cuba! Cuba is beautiful. Cuba is poor. Cuba is stuck in 1959 and while they are truly an independent nation, the people suffer in many ways as a result of the US embargo. It was surreal to be 90 miles away from Key West, and be in a completely different world. 

     Some brief reflections:

Other than the crocodile and alligator, Cuba has no large predators. There are a few deer and very large tree rats in the wild. The diversity of their birds is large and they have the smallest hummingbird in the world, the bee hummingbird, which we were able to see flitting back and forth at a house that has become a tourist attraction as the owner cultivates and maintains the plants that draw the tiny birds. 

     Viñales, a region in the west of Cuba, has rock formations from the Jurassic period.that are other worldly. The floating mountains of the movie Avatar came to mind. It is a rich farming region where most of the tobacco is grown. We had a tour of a tobacco farm where they took us through the process of a cigar from seed to "puro" as they refer to their cigars. The process takes up to one year. 

     Santeria is the Yoruba religion that is practiced in Cuba and I have always been familiar with white clad women who have recently taken their vows are wear all white for a period of time. We visited the Yemaya Temple in Trinidad and our guide Emilio explained very thoroughly that it wasn't voodoo, but rather an integration of African traditions and Christianity. Yemaya is the Black Madonna who is also venerated as Chestahowa in Poland. After arriving at St. Richard's I have encountered representations of the deity as black and female frequently. Early in my time a friend told me that Yemaya was my patron and gave me a statute of her. Pam Taormina brought me back a carved plaque of the Black Madonna from France. It sits on my desk right in front of the computer screen where she is ever present. To have one of our stops on the tour be the Yemaya Temple was very special and magical. 

     The history of Cuba is fascinating and still unfolding. The socialist/communist system has left all people poor and struggling. They have access to medical care but no medicine; every pharmacy we walked past was empty. They rely heavily on herbal remedies for everything from skin irritations to diabetes. The currency is confusing and the government is constantly changing the rules on the Cuban people. One store takes only Cuban pesos, the next only "strong currency" the US dollar and Euro. In another store, only Cubans can use a card issued from the government that they must obtain only with "strong currency". It is frustrating for the people. Every building needs to be repaired and painted, every road needs to be paved. And I loved it. The mountains are covered in royal palms. The beach is beautiful and wide. The people are doing their best. 

There is much more to tell...

Much love and peace,
Alison

Sabbatical Update from Rev. Alison Harrity

July 23, 2023

Greetings my St. Richard’s Family!
     First, thank you for praying for and reaching out to Libby. At the beginning of July, a Tampa Bay Times reporter called to get a quote from her as a New College of Florida Trustee had tweeted out a court document that was being filed charging Libby with misdemeanor battery. The school has since notified her that she will have a hearing for code of conduct violations and she has been fired from her job in the admissions office. She continues to need your prayers and your support as she is absolutely committed to returning to New College of Florida and resist the changes that are being made to eliminate the educational freedom that New College offers the state university system.
     Second, I send greetings from my cousin Leslie and her wife Rori from Upstate New York. My mother and I traveled to New York so that I could perform the ceremony and we could celebrate the happy couple. It was a beautiful day. We stayed very close to my alma mater, Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, and I was able to catch up with old friends and see the new things on campus.
     Now, sabbatical happenings! July was my month to sail! Ellie from Middle Keys Sailing got me on the water and in a sunfish for 8 hours’ worth of lessons. With very little wind, it was slow going, which was fine with me! I capsized on day two and Ellie congratulated me for joining the ranks of all sailors! It was great fun and now I know how to rig a sailboat and the origins of sayings like, “the wind was knocked out of my sails” and “four sheets to the wind” and why the disciples were so freaked out on a boat in a storm with Jesus sleeping through it all!
     My Spanish continues to improve, although my confidence in speaking is very low. My homework for this week is to translate the verbs in the story of Jonah! My teacher Giselle is making the lessons relevant to my work, which is wonderful. The classes I take for free at the library have given me some local acquaintances who greeted me with a loud “Hola!” at the Florida Keys BrewBQ at the community park. Live music and beer and BBQ!
     Florida Keys History and Discovery Center in Islamorada filled out my sabbatical library with more books on Florida history and Florida Keys history. I was pleased to see they had several copies of our own Leslie Poole’s most recent book called “Saving Florida.” If you don’t have a copy, get yours today!
     Took a day trip to Key West to go to the Butterfly Conservatory, which is so wonderful that I went twice! Visited with our parishioner Lily Adamo in Islamorada. We attended St. James the Fisherman Episcopal Church together and had lunch at Mangrove Mike’s, which is featured in the Netflix series Bloodline.
     Thanks to Cindy and Bob Borr, I have a kayak to take out anytime, which has been fun in the mangrove tunnels of Boot Key. I get to the beach to read most weekdays and get a bike ride in most evenings. And I pray for you all and for the life of the world.
     July 30 is the first day of my Cuba trip and will send an update when I get back!
     Dale has kept me posted on most of the happenings at St. Richard’s. and when I get home from the 10 a.m. service here at St. Columbas, I can usually catch the announcements at St. Richard’s on the LiveStream. Always glad to hear Charlie Wilson’s voice!

Peace and Love,
Alison