This article by Tanya Drobness first appeared on June 17 in NorthJersey.com. Click here for the full article.
If there’s one place the Rev. John Perris wants to take his mission group this year, it’s the coal country of the Appalachian South.
There awaits Grace House on the Mountain, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. There also awaits the reality of everyday environmental degradation by mountaintop coal mining, paralleling the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “Historically, stretches of Appalachia are places where people have struggled to live, and in some ways it’s really appropriate this year to go,” said John Perris, senior pastor at St. James Episcopal Church.
Highlighted Quote: On Saturday, June 26, 10 teenagers and six adults from St. James will start a week-long mission at Grace House where they will help rebuild homes and learn what it means to live in a rural and mountainous coal-mining region.
