From Las Vegas Lights to Utah Bluffs,
Hands in Healing Reach Out to Stop Violence
By Bob Williams

(St. George, Utah, April 21, 2002) ­ Shortly after reminding Sunday church-goers this morning to keep guns safely out of the reach of children and others, a young Episcopalian and a dozen of her friends drove past a Nevada pistol range with a sign beckoning the public to stop in and ³shoot submachine guns for free.² In a similar juxtaposition, group members watched with cell phones ready to dial 9-1-1 as a man and woman screamed fiercely at one another while walking along a major Las Vegas thoroughfare, nearly coming to blows in rage, clueless that their observers had just finished leading a local forum on the prevention of domestic violence.

"Today I realized how oblivious we can be the violence that¹s going on in the world around us," said Kim Keating, a Las Vegas-area high-school participating in Saturday's "Hands in Healing" forum co-hosted by Christ Church, Las Vegas, and the traveling team from the Diocese of Los Angeles. "Because most of the speakers are closer to my own age, what they had to say had a greater impact on me," Keating added, praising the L.A. presenters who offered, from their own "Hands in Healing Violence Prevention Guide,²" basic steps for addressing domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, gang activity, hate crimes, elder abuse, gun safety, and terrorism.

"No matter how big or small our hands are," Keating noted, "we can help pull someone out of a ditch of violence." After hearing a peer-presenter define the signs of an abusive relationship, another young Las Vegas Episcopalian said the talk helped her to realize that she had unknowingly been the victim of a boyfriend who had been so controlling that he "kind of took a bit of my life away." She said the workshop helped her affirm the ways that she had "stood up" for herself and "got away."

Backing up the facts on domestic violence with local statistics was presenter Lisa Lynn Chapman, public information specialist for the Las Vegas-based Safe Nest agency, which offers temporary assistance for those involved in domestic crisis. Another participating teen-ager, who is both a boy scout and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, thanked the group "for helping me strengthen my testimony for my church."

Speaking from his expertise with gang activity locally and beyond, Las Vegas Sheriff¹s Detective Joe Zepeda told the group that one dynamic in play is the increasing influx of Southland gangs - including 18th Street, Pacoima, Crips and Bloods - into Las Vegas areas, including some fairly affluent new housing developments. Another emerging trend is that gang members now tend to be increasingly younger, Zepeda said. Citing his experience as a former Los Angeles-area law enforcement officer, Zepeda shared recollections with L.A. Bishop Jon Bruno, also a former police officer, who moderated the Las Vegas forum.

Bruno is sponsoring the national Hands in Healing initiative in the interest of preventing violence, as well as strengthening the moral and ethical formation of the young adults traveling on the cross-country trek. The itinerary moves tomorrow through Salt Lake City and on to Laramie, Wyoming, where participants will meet members of the Episcopal chaplaincy of which the late Matthew Shepard was a member before being fatally gay-bashed in 1998.

The travelers are also bound for weekend presentations in Omaha, followed by similar visits to Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York and Washington, D. C., where Bishop Bruno will preach at 11am on May 26 in the National Cathedral as part of the observance of the Memorial Day Weekend.

The group will then continue through the South and via Oklahoma City in order to return to Los Angeles on June 5. The seventh anniversary of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City coincided with the Hands in Healing travelers¹ departure April 19 from L.A.¹s Cathedral Center, where a send-off liturgy of prayer and reflection marked the group¹s departure.

Moving in Mission

L.A. City Councilmember Eric Garcetti was on hand for the departure, presenting the group with the gift of a tape recording of the soundtrack from the movie "The Mission." Travelers played the tape today while driving through the red-rock landscape here, much as they had the night before while driving along the red-bright neon among other lights along the glitzy Las Vegas Strip. The travelers¹ white Ford van, customized with decals bearing the colorful Hands in Healing logos and the Episcopal Church shield, has drawn the interest of passersby along the more than 600 miles traveled so far.

This morning the van brought the travelers to the rural Nevada community of Pahrump, where they shared Sunday-morning services with members of St. Martin¹s in-the-Desert Episcopal Church. A number of the travelers joined in preaching during the morning service, and in shared in prayers especially for an end to violence in the Middle East, even as bombings in Jerusalem and the siege on Bethlehem¹s Church of the Nativity continued.

The evening before, travelers attended the contemporary worship service at Christ Church, where the liturgy also doubled as a memorial for the life of late parishioner Ralph Wolvertine, remembered fondly for his zest for living and his unique ability "to fix anything." After the thoroughly upbeat service, travelers agreed they would take "Ralph¹s spirit on the road" with them and apply his expertise as a reminder to check the tires and engine fluids frequently along the journey.

Christ Church parishioner and staff member Debby Martin oversaw arrangements for the Hands in Healing weekend. Also assisting was the Rev. Deacon Bonnie Pauley, who told the group about her ministry with those incarcerated in local jails. Las Vegas, she said, is no exception in the national dilemma about building more jails to accommodate an ever-increasing prisoner census. The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, greeted the travelers and Bishop Bruno upon their arrival at Christ Church on Friday afternoon. Many of the travelers were interested to learn of Bishop Schori¹s expertise as a pilot who flies a plane to visit congregations across her far-flung, statewide diocese.

Among those sharing in this leg of the 48-day national Hands in Healing itinerary were travelers Shawn Evelyn (St. John¹s, Los Angeles), Caitlyn Ferguson (St. Cross, Hermosa Beach), Luis Garibay Jr. (Cathedral Center, Los Angeles), Lester Mackenzie (Advent, Los Angeles), Lynn Mackenzie (St. Mark¹s, Glendale), Frances Moodie and Jorge Moodie (both of St. John¹s, Los Angeles), Jason Nagata (St. Thomas, Hacienda Heights), Luke Jan Perida (Holy Trinity/St. Benedict's, Alhambra), Heather Roberts (St. Cross, Hermosa Beach), Ann Warnock (All Saints, Long Beach), Joel Vanderveen (St. Stephen's, Hollywood) and Mark Wills (St. Andrew¹s, Fullerton). Joining the group at a future date will be Jardine Bruce (St. Clement¹s by-the-Sea, San Clemente), also among the travelers, each of whom was hand-selected for participation by Bishop Bruno.

Guiding the group are diocesan regional youth advisers Sara Clinehens and Michael Cooper, with the assistance of Wendie Roberts, diocesan missioner for Christian Education and Michael Cunningham, diocesan missioner for administration and missions. The overall itinerary is coordinated on behalf of Bishop Bruno through the diocesan Office of Communications and Public Affairs.