ABOVE PHOTO: AME Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister Sr. (First Episcopal District) (l) and the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, senior pastor, are joined by members of the Philadelphia Annual Conference in blessing the newly repaired windows at Mother Bethel AME Church in Society Hill. In February, the windows were broken as part of a vandalism spree. The surrounding community, the Philadelphia Fund for Black Sacred Places, and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia teamed up to raise money to finance the repairs.
(Photos/Denise Clay-Murray)
Church and community members gathered at the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday for a rededication of the windows broken in an incident of vandalism last Wednesday.
Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister Sr. joined the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, senior pastor of Mother Bethel, in saying a prayer of blessing over the windows, which were broken back in February.
When the vandalism happened, the surrounding community, the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Fund for Black Sacred Places, sprang into action to raise about $25,000 to replace the windows and install a new security system in the church, Tyler said.
(l-r), Sheila Alexander Reid, executive director for diversity with the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Betsy Ivey, director of the Philadelphia Fund for Black Sacred Places, AME Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister Sr. (First Episcopal District), Germantown-based stained glass master artist, Owusu Ansah, the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler and Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia celebrated the rededication of the broken stained glass windows at Mother Bethel AME Church last Wednesday. Ansah restored the windows for the church, which was vandalized in February.
(Photos/Denise Clay-Murray)
Germantown-based stained glass master artist, Owusu Ansah, did the restoration.
The original windows were installed when the church was built in 1889 and were broken back in February as part of a rash of similar vandalizations in the Society Hill area. In addition to Mother Bethel, rocks were thrown through the windows of the St. Peter The Apostle church on North 5th Street, the Shrine of St. John Neumann on North 4th Street and the InterAct Theater on South Hicks Street.
The man charged with the crime, Haneef Cooper, is awaiting trial.
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