Summer celebration

Michele Marr

St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church is blessed with a campus

alongside Huntington Beach’s Helme Park. When Harold Clinehen came to

be the church’s rector, he saw an opportunity in the proximity of the

park and parish.

On Sunday, the congregation will host its third annual

End-of-Summer Celebration in the park. The event combines worship --

Eucharist in the park -- and a barbecue picnic with lots of games and

activities provided for the children.

“We barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs,” parish administrator Geoff

Cullen said. “Everyone is welcome, and there are no charges for the

food or the games.”

The parish’s high school students have written their own prayers

for the service this year that will reflect on the end of summer and

the beginning of the school year.

“Some, I expect, will be in thanksgiving, some might be laments,”

said Bryan Weaver, the church’s youth minister. “They will be the

heartfelt prayers of our youth.”

The younger children in the congregation will sing songs they

learned during vacation Bible school this month. The informal,

outdoor worship service will begin at 11 a.m.

Jill McKenna likes that all the church’s members attend the same

service on this Sunday.

“Everyone is there, so it is a great chance to catch up with

fellow parishioners who worship at different service times during the

rest of the year,” she said.

On Sunday mornings throughout the rest of the year, there are

three worship services. A 7:30 a.m. service is held in the church’s

chapel. It is smaller and more intimate than the services later in

the morning.

A traditional-style Episcopal service is held in the church at

8:45 a.m. An organist and choir provide music for the service. At 11

a.m., the service is contemporary and a worship team leads the hymns

and choruses.

Wendy Kilkenny appreciates the service in the park for another

reason. Its informality makes it possible for her to get her husband

to come.

Parishioner Bob Sands enjoys the relaxed setting too.

“I can eat things and wear things my wife usually won’t let me,”

he said.

The picnic and games begin about noon. Booths include snow cones

and cotton candy. The children compete in three-legged races and

enjoy a trampoline, a Jump-n-Slide and a dunk tank.

“The kids and I love getting to dunk the rector,” said Pastor

Karen Wojahn, director of the parish’s children and family

ministries.

St. Wilfred began in 1960 as a mission of St. James Episcopal

Church in Newport Beach. During its early years, the congregation

held its services in a funeral home on Main Street.

The fledgling church was able to purchase a property of its own,

five acres that had been the Vogel Ranch and chile farm, in 1962. It

left its mission status in 1975 and became a parish of the Episcopal

Diocese of Los Angeles. Clinehen came to the parish in June 1999.

Sunday’s celebration marks the end of summer and the beginning of

a full schedule of fall events and activities at the church.

A newcomer’s reception will be held in the evening Sept. 8. A

healing service, followed by a fellowship dinner is scheduled for the

same evening. A 12-week class in Scripture-based household financial

management is also set to begin Sept. 8.

On Sept. 11, weekly Bible study taught by Clinehen will resume and

services to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy will be held

throughout the day and evening.

On Sept. 15, participants in a Los Angeles Diocese anti-violence

ministry, “Hands in Healing,” will talk with church members at the

parish’s 10 a.m. education hour.

Information on these events and the End-of-Summer Celebration is

available from the church office.