LOS ANGELES: The deacon and the art of debate

By Pat McCaughan, February 09, 2010 [Episcopal News Service] Students chanted "woo, woo, woo" and applauded as their religion teacher and debate team coach, the Rev. Lee Harris, was ordained a deacon during a Feb. 4 school Eucharist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church and School in Upland, California.

Not your typical road to ordination; not your typical deacon. Harris inaugurated the debate program, initially as an elective class, around the same time he began exploring his call to the diaconate. "My diaconal vocation grew out of the teaching and coaching. But, all of it just kind of happened on this amazing journey," he later explained.

Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop Suffragan Chester L. Talton officiated at Harris's ordination, which is believed to be the first ordination to take place during a school Eucharist, said Serena Beeks, executive director of the diocese's commission on schools.

Beeks's ordination sermon doubled as a lesson about servant ministry.

"What's a deacon?" asked Beeks, causing the overflowing crowd of students, church members, family and friends to erupt in laughter, cheers and applause.

Students called out responses: "A kind of priest." "It's a step to being a priest." "Someone who's studied the gospel."

"Yes, that's right, Mr. Harris has studied a lot of gospel," said Beeks, who then invited Harris to do what he loves best — teach.

"Mr. Harris, can you tell us what a deacon is?" asked Beeks, joking that there could be trouble if he answered incorrectly.

"A deacon is one who takes the gospel into the world and brings the needs of the world back to the church," Harris replied.

Beeks asked the students to consider the ways Harris serves the school and prepares the debate team for competition and advocacy.

"He coaches the team so they can compete. He doesn't do the work of debate for them," she said. "He shows them how rewarding it is … to get better at what they do. He makes it possible for the debaters to do well, He treats them with love and respect and shows them the way it works so they can move forward, hoping someday they'll use their debating skill to help convince other people to do the right thing."

An 'amazing journey'

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and a former retail employee and wall-covering contractor, Harris said he once had no intention of teaching, much less coaching debate, or even attending church. Feeling ostracized after a divorce decades ago, he'd left the church and stayed away for more than 15 years.

And then one morning in the early 1990s he felt compelled to find a church. "It was the one time in my life I felt totally picked up by God, by the nape of the neck like a mother cat picks up her kittens," he recalled.

"It was like I was dragged there. God intervened in my life in a way I'd never experienced before. I still get emotional thinking about it. That was the day I walked into St. Mark's."

Eventually, he began substitute teaching and then teaching religion classes full time to students in grades kindergarten through eight, embarking upon his "amazing journey."

Midway through studies at the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont, he was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer, the kind of cancer "made famous by Lance Armstrong," Harris said.

"It's God's grace they even found it. I had no symptoms, but for the ordination process I had to get a physical examination and one of my tests was a little off." More extensive tests discovered a "tennis-ball-sized tumor in the back of my abdomen," he recalled.

While undergoing surgery and chemotherapy treatments, Harris managed his responsibilities at St. Mark's and his own schoolwork without missing much class time. "I started chemotherapy at the end of the semester. I took some incompletes, finished them up later and I was back when school started again in August. I was pretty weak, but I was back," he said.

The art of debate

On Feb. 6, two days after Harris's ordination, St. Mark's sent five teams of three students -- dressed in plaid, navy and white school uniforms -- to compete in a tournament against 60 students from five other California middle schools in the Inland Valley League at Walton Middle School in Compton.

It was the third tournament of the season, and Harris had prepared his students to debate the merits or shortcomings of several topics: replacing income tax with a national sales tax; same-gender instruction; violent video games; President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize; and children's allowances.

"I've been a debater since fifth grade. It's really fun. You get to meet new people. It's a great experience," said Ashwin Balaji, 12, celebrating a first-session win with his two teammates after they argued successfully against replacing the income tax with a national sales tax.

The Middle School Public Debate Program  is a Claremont McKenna College outreach program that serves public, private and charter schools in California and other states. St. Mark's is the only Episcopal school that participates in the Inland Valley League.

Students participating in debate hone their active listening, critical thinking and public speaking skills, and learn how to articulate and respond to an argument, Harris said.

"It helps bring kids out of their shells," he said. "The judges will try to help debaters become better at what they are trying to do."

Under Harris's coaching, the debate team has become a family tradition.

Raj Balaji, 14, Ashwin's older brother and a former St. Mark's debater, said debate "fine-tuned" his organizational skills and helped him with other classes. Raj Balaji served as a volunteer judge Feb. 6, looking for "well-developed arguments."

"I look for how good students are at refuting issues, and if they can put forward strong support for their points," he said.

Raj Balaji is now on the debate team at Damien High School in nearby La Verne.

Likewise, Ariana Lamb, 18, a member of St. Mark's inaugural six-student team, was on hand to judge the match-ups. "Debating made me a more confident person," she said.

Debate also teaches students to win and to lose graciously, to work as a team and to not get rattled by losses, said Kelly Mancuso, director of St. Mark's preschool and the mother of Chloe Mancuso, another debater.

At the end of the day, each of St. Mark's five teams placed in the top 10 and each team won four of its five debates.

"It equals an 80 percent win rate … almost unheard of. They got the first place tournament award for the highest percentage of wins," Harris said. "I'm so proud of these kids. It was an excellent day."

-- The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal News Service correspondent for Provinces V, VI, VII and VIII and the House of Bishops. She is based in Los Angeles.