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William Arthur Beckham
1979-1994; Consecrated January 5, 1979, Trinity Cathedral, Columbia
After the obligation to Micronesia was completed, a mission to Haiti was explored with small group visits. Initially the focus was on aid, education, and health care. Equipment and supplies were furnished for the Episcopal Eye Clinic established at Montrouis. Work trips with young people and adults contributed man hours and materials. Engineers from the diocese designed and supervised construction of a water system for Cange, Haiti, and a diocese-wide "Water Cange" asking paid for it. It now pumps over 60,000 gallons a day up the mountain. A school was built in Cange, dormitory space, a bakery, clinic, nutrition center, a sewing project, and creche program. To
contribute to Partnership Cange, please contact
Partnership Cange
c/o Ms. Jeanne Kean
1339 Whittaker
Columbia, South Carolina 29206
After several years of trial liturgies, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer was made official. Anger, bewilderment, sadness, and pain had to be dealt with and pastored.
A study and survey of the diocese was done by ACTS, including demographic trends for future mission sites. Four new congregations were established: St. David's, Columbia; St. Margaret's, North Spartanburg; St. George's, Anderson; and St. Augustine of Canterbury, Aiken. Two congregations were re-organized and re-located: St. Simon and St. Jude, Irmo, and Ascension, Seneca. One congregation was re-organized and re-named: Church of the Cross, Columbia. Over thirty-five million dollars in building took place during Bishop Beckham's episcopate, including nine new church buildings, two more in progress; twenty-five parish houses, educational buildings, and re-furbished churches. Land had been purchased in six locations, and two others were being negotiated.
A three-day "Celebration '84" commemorated Samuel Seabury's consecration in 1784 as the first Bishop of the American Episcopal Church. In 1992, the diocese held the Episcopal Celebration, the 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Lord Robert A. K. Runcie, preaching.
Diocesan staff moved into the new George Moyer Alexander Diocesan House in 1984, located in the Trinity Cathedral complex. The Reverend Doctor Rogers Sanders Harris was elected Suffragan Bishop. After he was subsequently elected bishop of Southwest Florida, an Assistant Bishop, the Right Reverend W. Franklin Carr, was appointed by Bishop Beckham.
Cathedral College was instituted in 1986, offering short courses around the Diocese for clergy and lay enrichment. York Place, formerly the Church Home for Children, won accreditation as a recognized residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children. Still Hopes was enlarged by adding cottages, an apartment wing, and an Alzheimer's Pavilion. Camp Gravatt was enhanced with a new Cullum Hall, an enlarged Cole Lodge, a renovated dining hall, kitchen, and a tennis court and renamed the Bishop Gravatt Center. A ropes course and Project Discovery retreats for youth recovering from substance abuse were added as well. Diocesan AIDS Task Force trained care teams, educated, and provides emergency funds. Earth Ministry called attention to the spiritual dimensions of ecology needs and our responsibilities as Christians to sustain and celebrate God's creation.
The door was opened for women in the priesthood, and they have been welcomed and supported in this Diocese.
Back in Haiti a new school was built in Chapoteau, housing in Mirebalais for students, and a rectory and school at La Gonave. An electric generator was put into Cange, along with teachers' housing, fish ponds, a market, and guest quarters.
Bishop Beckham, upon his retirement, was lauded in a State of the Church report: "It is imperative that we pause now to celebrate those values and accomplishments in our diocese under the leadership of Bishop Beckham. His relentless steadiness during turbulent times is surely a gift to us all, especially in the use of the 1979 Prayer Book, the welcoming of women into Holy Orders and resolving conflicts within parish and mission churches ... The state of the church, transitional and uncertain though it may be, challenges us to celebrate our life together, affirming the leadership of our beloved bishop while discovering the joy of being together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who truly makes all things new."
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