On Thursday, December
11, 1997, the members of the Episcopal Church in Louisville gave
thanks to God for Bishop Henry Louttit's consecration of "their
House of Worship by the name of St. Mary Magdalene in the presence
of the Clergy and Congregation assembled, according to the form
prescribed by the Episcopal Church," and for his words of
dedication: "To set this place apart for worship, for the
building up of the living and the remembrance of the dead."
Worshiping At St. Joan Of Arc
More than seventy-five
people gathered for this solemn and festive occasion in the newly
renovated, cross-shaped building once known to Louisvillians as
Ashley's Florist Shop. The transformation of the Ashley home
and flower shop into a parish house and a church building was the
culmination of vision, cooperation, hard work on the part of church
members, priests -- the Vicar of the church, Fr. Ron Southerland,
Seminarian Judy Jones, Sister Rosina Ampah and Sister Carol Andrew
-- and friends. Kenneth H. Brown, an architect in Washington,
D.C., whose mother is a longtime church member, was instrumental in
designing the church building. In addition to gifts of talent,
energy, time and money, many people donated furnishings for the
church and parish house. The oak pews in the sanctuary were
the gift of Grace Church, Sandersville.
Leaving After Father Mayfield's Last Service As Vicar of St. Mary
Magdalene
The Louisville mission
was organized in 1976 with Fr. Judson Mayfield of Good Shepherd,
Swainsboro, as its first vicar. Church services were held in
the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joan of Arc and continued to be
held there until the Ashley house was acquired. Assisting Fr.
Mayfield in the organizing of the mission and its worship services
were Fr. Forrest Etheridge of St. Michael's, Waynesboro, and Lay
Minister Robert Carter from Good Shepherd Swainsboro.
During Fr. Mayfield's
time in Louisville, he led the congregation to build a much-needed
daycare center, The Children's Center, which served not only
families who could afford reasonable fees for daycare but also those
families unable to meet the usual fee. This ministry was
possible through the involvement of many people: a member of
St. Mary Magdalene's Church acted as volunteer director for sixteen
of the seventeen years the church owned and operated the center;
individual church members as well as the church as a whole supported
the center with gifts of time and money; various individuals,
churches, and organizations in the Diocese of Georgia gave regular
support.
The Children's Center
Other outreach
ministries of The Church of St. Mary Magdalene included a Bible
study with local black ministers; recreation for teenagers on Friday
nights at the parish house; a prison ministry to county inmates; the
establishment of a black Alcoholics Anonymous group -- now a part of
an integrated AA group; and most ambitiously, perhaps, in addition
to The Children's Center, the sponsorship of two Vietnamese families
-- providing transportation from Vietnam, locating and furnishing a
home in Louisville, offering English language lessons, and giving
whatever assistance was needed in order for the two families to
begin a new life.
For two decades the
mission has continued in worship and in ministry to others, despite
times of difficulty and discouragement. In 1996, when the
church needed housing for the summer for Seabury seminarian Judy
Jones, sent by Bishop Louttit to serve in Louisville and Waynesboro,
the Ashley house was located and rented. During the summer,
church members learned that the property was for sale, and with
outstanding leadership and cooperation within the church, with
encouragement, guidance and support by the vicar, seminarian,
visiting priests from St. Helena's and Bishop Louttit, the house
with its adjoining shop was bought. The house was refurbished
as a parish house and the florist's shop was transformed into a
church.
At the present time,
the Very Right Rev. Ron Southerland, rector of the Church of the
Annunciation in Vidalia, serves as vicar to St. Mary Magdalene's
Church as well. He is in Louisville every Thursday afternoon
to meet with church members and to lead a discussion group which has
itself become an outreach ministry in its ecumenicity. At
Bishop Louttit's last visit he cited St. Mary Magdalene's Church for
"supporting a number of people in other denominations who need to
wrestle with and think about their faith."
On two Sundays each
month, a priest from the Order of St. Helena in Augusta celebrates
the Holy Eucharist, and on the other two Sundays Morning Prayer is
led by members of the congregation. Through the years music
has been provided by organists, flutists, and harpists, all members
of the church.
In giving thanks to
God for a more visible Anglican presence in Louisville, The Church
of St. Mary Magdalene gives thanks, also, to the many people,
near and far, who have been, from 1976 to the present time, a vital
part of the hope and determination, the faith and the struggles, the
prayers and the work which have given us a "goodly place" in which
to be God's people and to do God's work.
When the first service
of Morning Prayer was held in the new church, the Lay Minister
appointed spoke for the congregation: "My hope is that we who
gather in this place will find the Holy One present here, and in our
day-to-day lives, and in our diverse ministries; that we who gather
in this place will also find the Holy One out there where the world,
which is both our world and God's world, begins, in Louisville and
its environs and beyond, where there may be those who need up
particularly, those whom, for that particular reason, we need."
– Address given at
Grace Church, Sandersville, Georgia, by Louise Abbot at a meeting of
the Dublin Convocation.
