Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley and the interim executive directors at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center, Rick and the Rev. Helen Hargreaves, are pleased to announce that Renzi Ricketts has been called as Summer Camp Director for Camp St. Christopher. Ricketts brings tremendous enthusiasm and years of summer camp experience to Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island, where the camp has provided children, youth, and young adults with a transformative summer experience rooted in Christianity for more than 80 years. 

Born and raised in Missouri, Renzi has spent the entirety of her life being molded by the unique and sacred experiences of camp. Renzi graduated from Culver-Stockton College with a degree in Communications and a minor in nonprofit management in 2015 and is currently enrolled in a Youth Development Leadership master's program at Clemson University. Renzi has spent the past decade mentoring summer staff and directing youth programs in Arkansas and Colorado. “Nature nurtures spiritual connections, and with all of the changes that are impacting all of our church communities in South Carolina, I am honored to be a part of a team that yearns to bring people together and uphold traditions,” said Ricketts. 

Joining Renzi will be her husband, Paul, who will serve as a Service Ministries Associate at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center, and their two cats Dijon and Pickles.

The origins of Camp St. Christopher date back to 1938 when the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina sought to create a summer camp ministry for the youth of South Carolina. Victor and Marjorie Morawetz, who were Seabrook Island residents at the time, allowed the use of their property for the camp. Later, the Morawetzes deeded the entirety of their property on the island to the diocese, and St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center was created out of that amazing generosity.

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley expressed gratitude as we continue to move forward. “I am grateful that St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center has been returned to the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, and we are particularly thankful that most of the staff has remained in place as we start this next season of ministry.”

Early registration for Camp St. Christopher will begin on January 9, 2023. Find out more information about the upcoming season of camp on the St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center website at this link. Applications are open now for those wishing to be part of staff, counselors, or interns. Learn more on the website at this link. Summer Camp staff members need to be at least 18 years old on or before June 1, 2023, and have graduated High School in 2022 or earlier. Counselors need to be at least 16 years old on or before June 1, 2023. Interns need to have graduated high school by the summer of 2023.

The Friends of Maude Callen, an organization under the 501c3 status of the Sumpter Free Health Clinic in Pineville, includes members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in St. Stephen, most notably, Libba Carroll, who serves as the leader of the group. “I have a great team that works with me and we are all passionate about what we do,” said Carroll.

Through their tireless volunteer efforts, the building is structurally sound again, with a roof and walls inside along the same footprint as when it was in service in the second half of the 20th century. The group was able to find a desk similar to what was originally in the clinic, and added a statue of Maude Callen sitting at a desk with the quote “Let me live in my house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” Despite all of the work that has been done so far, there is more to be done. Carroll says the group would like for the building to become a resource center for public use for events centered on health education such as health fairs, or even as a place for community meetings. “Maude Callen wouldn’t want it to be a museum; she was all about serving the poor,” said Carroll.

The clinic does not have flooring, interior doors, running water, heat or air conditioning, and only has minimal electricity. The Friends of Maude Callen is also working, with the assistance of the South Carolina Archives, to obtain status for the clinic as a national historic landmark. The group welcomes donations to help them continue to tell the story of a woman who was truly the hands and feet of Jesus in the rural communities of upper Berkeley County. Donations can be sent to Sumpter Free Health Clinic at Post Office Box 340, St. Stephen, SC 29479 (designate for “Maude Callen Clinic” in the memo/note line).

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley had scheduling conflicts that did not allow her to be present at the rededication event, but she enjoyed time spent at a recent visitation at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in St. Stephen, talking with members about the ceremony and learning more about the tremendous legacy of Nurse Maude Callen. She encourages everyone in the diocese to consider supporting all efforts to highlight a true angel of the Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church.

“I am thankful to the people of St. Stephen’s who have been instrumental in the community’s efforts to preserve this important part of history for this area of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Nurse Maude Callen, who began her career as a missionary for The Episcopal Church, improved the lives of countless women, children, and families in the Diocese of South Carolina and spent her life in service to those around her, particularly those living in historically marginalized communities. I fully support all efforts to preserve this important part of our diocese’s history, so we may continue to honor the amazing legacy of Maude Callen and tell her story for generations to come.”

The group is hopeful that as more people learn about Maude Callen, support will increase. Earlier this year, almost all six members of the Friends of Maude Callen went to Houston to see a play written by Martin Casella about Nurse Maude. The play centers on the nearly two months in 1951 that LIFE magazine photojournalist W. Eugene Smith spent with Callen as she brought health care to the small, impoverished community of Pineville. Performances were held at The George Theater in Houston, TX from September to October. Carroll said the play will debut in Chicago next year, and hopefully will make it to Broadway in the near future. 

After the holidays, Friends of Maude Callen welcomes groups of 10 or more to come to Pineville and tour the facility and learn more about Maude Callen and her tremendous impact on the local community. Tours can be scheduled by emailing Libba Carroll at [email protected].

About Maude Callen
Born in 1898 in Quincy, Florida to a family of 13 daughters (only three of whom survived), Maude Evelyn Daniel was orphaned before the age of 7 and raised by her uncle, Dr. William Gunn. As she helped her uncle care for his patients, she was inspired to pursue her own future in healthcare. After graduating from Florida A&M University, she attended the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where she earned a nursing degree. She wed William Dewer Callen in 1921, and they moved to Pineville two years later so she could serve as a medical missionary under the sponsorship of The Episcopal Church.

Upon arriving in this rural and impoverished part of northern Berkeley County, Maude Callen saw an immediate need for competent healthcare and she started a midwife practice in her home that lasted for 13 years (at the time, she was one of nine professionally-trained nurse midwives in South Carolina). Most of the residents of the area lacked education and transportation, and she was typically the primary healthcare provider, and teacher, for her patients.

She taught countless children how to read and write, held vaccination clinics in local schools, and distributed clothing and supplies to those without. She also helped transport the gravely ill to the very few hospitals that would treat African-American patients at the time. She started the county’s first venereal disease clinic and also supported clinics for ongoing nutrition.

In 1935, the Social Security Act established the Division of Maternal and Child Health; and Callen was employed as a public health nurse for Berkeley County. During this time, she trained hundreds of women in midwifery to ensure further dispersion of healthcare providers in the state. In the 1940s, Dr. Hilla Sheriff also joined the Division of Maternal and Child Health and worked with Callen to further educate midwives to provide medical care. Together, they secured the use of the historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island for their Midwife Training Institute. The program required midwives to return every four years to renew their licenses as a form of continuing education.

In 1951, she was featured in “LIFE Magazine” where the writer, W. Eugene Smith, described her as “the most fulfilled person I have ever known.” Because of the national attention the article provided, Callen received more than $20,000 in donations to build a proper clinic which is what was lovingly restored and rededicated on December 2, 2022. While she retired as a nurse in 1971, at the age of 73, she still cooked meals for local senior citizens and provided a car service for the elderly. The television show “On the Road with Charles Kuralt” profiled Callen in 1983 and stated, “At 85, Miss Maude serves meals each weekday to some 50 elderly residents, most of them younger than she is.”

Callen is quoted as having said, on turning down an invitation from President Reagan to visit the White House, “You can’t just call me up and ask me to be somewhere. I’ve got to do my job.” She continued to volunteer until she died in 1990 at the age of 92.

(Some biographical information about Maude Callen was excerpted from a Facebook post by Brandon Coffey. Most information and additional photos can also be found at this link. Photos are by Brandon Coffey, with one historical picture of the Clinic in a state of disrepair by Christine Jones.)

The Rev. Cn. Ramelle McCall, diocesan canon for leadership, was accompanied by the Rev. Laura Rezac (St. Stephen's, Charleston) and George Dowis (Grace Church Cathedral) and two diocesan youth (Ellison Gray Babb and Jack Clayton from Grace Church Cathedral) at the Cathedral Domain Conference Center in Irvine, Kentucky from December 1-4 at the Province IV Youth Ministries Leadership Meeting. It was a great opportunity for youth and youth leaders to listen to each other, share ideas, and develop ministry ideas for Province IV (which includes 20 dioceses of The Episcopal Church in the southeastern US).

After returning home, Canon McCall reflected on what he learned from the event. "It was a fantastic event, and it showed us that each diocese has the capability and tools to produce great events for our youth," said Cn. McCall. "However, each diocese in Province IV agreed that we need to give more trust to our youth in decision making and work to create a better social media presence so that we can better meet them where they are." 

Many thanks to this group for representing the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina at this important gathering. View more photos from the meeting on the diocesan Facebook page at this link.

St. James, Charleston, located at 1872 Camp Road on James Island, a parish with roots in The Episcopal Church dating back more than 200 years, returned to the Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church on Thursday, December 1, 2022, as a result of the South Carolina Supreme Court’s August ruling. In that decision, the Court determined that St. James, Charleston, and seven other churches that left The Episcopal Church in 2012 and later joined the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), did not have proper ownership based on state trust law. The Right Reverend Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, has called the Reveverend Taylor Smith to lead the church as priest-in-charge, and he will lead the service of Holy Eucharist to reopen St. James Episcopal Church on Sunday, December 4, at 10 am. Going forward, services of Holy Eucharist will be held each Sunday at 8 am and 10 am.

Bishop Woodliff-Stanley is hopeful for the future of St. James, and for the pastoral skills and experience the Rev. Smith will bring to the congregation. “I am thrilled to call the Rev. Taylor Smith to serve as priest-in-charge of St. James as we welcome this historic church back to the diocese,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Taylor is a seasoned priest with a heart for outreach and a keen pastoral intuition; his easy manner and gracious spirit will be great gifts in helping us reestablish St. James as a strong presence in our diocese.”

A lifelong Episcopalian, Fr. Taylor has roots in Buffalo, NY, and spent his high school years in New Jersey before moving to North Carolina to attend Duke University as an undergraduate. Upon graduation, he began a career as a commercial loan officer near Charlotte for about six years prior to discerning a call to the priesthood. He graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1996 and was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Western North Carolina where he continued to serve in diocesan and parish ministry for four years. In 2000, he was called to the Diocese of Maryland, where he served at Grace Church, Elkridge for 12 years and then St. Mark’s Church in Highland, MD for nine years. In January, Fr. Taylor moved to Charleston with his wife, Kathy, after she accepted a new job.

Since moving here earlier this year, Fr. Taylor has spent time visiting a number of Episcopal churches in the Lowcountry as he discerned his next call. He shares Bishop Woodliff-Stanley’s vision for the future of St. James Episcopal Church on James Island. “I am equally honored and excited to be called by Bishop Woodliff-Stanley to serve St. James,” said Fr. Taylor. “I look forward to living into the call and living up to the challenge.  As with everywhere else in the world, there’s great opportunity in James Island to spread Good News of God's inclusive love and we will do that through worship and by serving Christ by serving the world around us.”       

​After nearly 10 years of litigation instigated by the churches that wanted to leave The Episcopal Church, the South Carolina Supreme Court determined that eight of the 36 churches which had claimed possession of their properties and left The Episcopal Church, including St. James in Charleston, had created an irrevocable trust in favor of The Episcopal Church and its associated diocese, The (Episcopal) Diocese of South Carolina. St. James, Charleston, located on James Island, is the sixth church to be returned to the historic diocese since the Court published decisions in April and August of this year.

St. James Church originated from the Saint Andrew’s Parish that was created when the South Carolina General Assembly passed the Church Act of 1706, and by 1720, St. James Church was active on James Island.  The Diocese of South Carolina was one of the nine original dioceses that formed The Episcopal Church after the American Revolution, and St. James, Charleston, was a part of the diocese for centuries prior to the diocesan schism in 2012. The church is located on James Island at 1872 Camp Road.