Every year for the last three years, Rachel Robinson has attended a convention to petition for the continuation of the Episcopalian campus ministry.
But this time, she's lost the will to fight.
Barth House will shut down Feb. 1 because of budget constraints, bringing Episcopalian campus ministry to an end at The University of Memphis.
Robinson, an intern in charge of the Episcopalian diocese at Barth House, said she feels it is not just a lack of funding contributing to the closing of Barth House but also a lack of support.
"I'm worn out," she said. "It sounds bad, but I'm just worn out. I have no support staff."
Barth House, originally constructed for the student Episcopal center in 1967, was set to shut down in June 2007, but was able to remain open after various donations. The same happened when the building was threatened with closing in September 2007.
Robinson said she doesn't expect Barth House to be rescued again.
"I truly feel like this is it," she said.
Two days before the spring semester began, Robinson was told the Episcopalian campus ministry would no longer receive funding - money the 40-year-old outreach center depends on to operate.
In 2007, St. John's Episcopal Church in Memphis took over the financial responsibilities of Barth House when Father Terry Street became the campus chaplin.
A year later, Street began his own parish in Cordova, leaving the Episcopalian ministry at Barth House. No one stepped up to fill the empty space Street left.
And as he left, so did the funding from St. John's. It was up to the Episcopalian Diocese of West Memphis to help.
During the year the diocese was to financially support Barth House, Robinson said payments for programs were late. Program money pay fordinners Barth House provides to students twice a week. She also said her paychecks were shorted twice in a row.
"It was a very eye-opening experience," Robinson said.
Robinson and Barth House president Lloyd Smith worked last semester to bring Barth House back to life. After all of his work, the day the Episcopalian diocese announced the closing of Barth House was a "sad day," Smith said.
"Our college-aged people need to be reached out to especially in our post-modern society where Christianity doesn't have the best image. College ministry is integral in retaining and gaining valued members within the Episcopal church," Smith said.
Smith is also on the board of his hometown diocese at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Dyersburg and was not a part of the vote that decided the closing of Barth House.
"This is something that should have been voted on by the whole diocese," Smith said. "It bothers me."
Smith said he mirrors Robinson's opinion on the lack of support for Barth House, citing his first glimpse of the building when he arrived on campus last fall.
"From just the outside, it looks like an embarrassment to the Episcopal church," he said. "I didn't know it was open when I first got here because it looked in such shambles."
Smith said the diocese needs to "focus more on the future of our church rather than projects that may or may not succeed," such as upgrades to the multi-million-dollar St. Columba Episcopal Conference and Retreat Center. Robinson said the conference center has become "a bigger priority" than projects like campus ministry.
"They aren't interested in supporting a ministry that does not have any kind of profit," Robinson said. "(Campus ministry) is not instant gratification for a church. You have to invest now to get back later, and I don't think they're interested in that kind of philosophy."
Quoting a verse from the Bible, Smith said he wants to see more being done to help bring young people to the Episcopal church because "when they are old, they won't depart."
