Loading...Whoever said "Liturgy is Drama" was proven correct on Saturday, June 11, 2011, when a group of Episcopalians and their friends gathered in thanksgiving for the ministry of Sister Emily Cooper and in remembrance of all the forgotten children.
One part of the drama began with the gathering of believers who, after 138
years, gave recognition to the unusual ministry of one of their own. Sister
Emily, an Episcopal deaconess, returned to Louisville after commissioning to
serve as the director of Home of the Innocents in 1880. She oversaw the care
of its sick and abandoned children through the early 1900s.
The commemoration day events began with a morning tour of the most recent
location of the Home of the Innocents on a 20-plus acre campus in eastern
edge of downtown Louisville. It then continued with a worship service at
Advent, located across from Cave Hill Cemetery, where Sister Emily and 220
infants and children were laid to rest between 1880 and 1920s in the Home's
recently rediscoverd burial plots.
For many, another part of the drama concerned the weather and whether it would provide its own conclusion to the activities, which were to culminate
with a procession through the cemetery to the burial sites. Weather maps that morning had warned of a great cloud of rain approaching from Owensboro. The question was how fast was it moving? Would there be time enough to visit
the graves?
At the last minute, a decision was made to proceed with the visit to the graves, and despite the uncertainties it proved to be what, I think, God hadin mind.
An outdoor reception was set up just inside the cemetery to offer a reprieve from the hot sun and refreshments before the walk. Under a partially cloudy sky, the group, led by bagpipers, processed with the Rev. Marian McClure Taylor, director of the Kentucky Council of Churches dressed as Sister Emily.
The procession made its way to two burial sites, where 220 children are buried in unmarked graves but are now identified on stunning monuments. One monument has a statue of a deaconess lifting up a baby releasing a dove. The other shows the deaconess releasing scores of butterflies from a baby's receiving blanket.
Fortunately, at the last site a cool breeze soothed the walkers as Bishop Terry White gave the benediction and "Sister Emily Cooper" sang a 19th century lullaby.
The commemoration was the first step in a lengthy process to have the ministry of "Sister Emily Cooper and All the Forgotten Children" included in the Episcopal Church's Holy Women, Holy Men book. In the coming weeks, the Sister Emily commemoration committee hopes to hear news of more commemoration
initiatives by our various congregations. That information will be included with the committee's proposal to the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, which will decide whether to recommend the proposal to the Church's General Convention in 2012.
The committee that originally located the gravesites and researched the names of the children realize that there are "forgotten" children in other graves in the Louisville area, and they have formed a non-profit organization to raise money for marking the additional graves. Tax deductible gifts may be made for this fund through the Home of the Innocents.
More photos of the commemoration by Donald Vish may be found here. A video about Sister Emily's ministry in turn-of-the-century America and Louisville is being made. Look for its publication on our Website this summer.
