|
|
|
|
Greetings!
Amazingly enough, we
found some other news besides the Red Sox to put in
E-News this month: playoff season coincides with the
Feast of St. Francis and everybody's favorite, the
blessing of the animals. And we receive gentle reminders
this month that Africa and the Gulf Coast are areas
where the need for mission will last through many
seasons of baseball. Plus, don't forget that the
Province I convocation is coming up, and read about
Church reaction to the September House of Bishops
statement.
|
|
|
Presiding Bishop to host live
webcast Oct. 16
 Photo: Courtesy purplepew.org
Access to the webcast will be
available through both the Episcopal
Church and Trinity Wall
Street websites.
The webcast is the second
edition of Episcopal Life Focus,
a new monthly series of
half-hour video "multicasts" co-produced by Episcopal
Life Media and Trinity Wall Street. The series, which
will cover church mission,
ministries and news, debuted Sept. 13.
Past multicasts, including the Oct. 16
event, will be available on demand at Episcopal Life
Online.
Read
more>>
|
|
House of Bishops makes necessary
clarifications, JSC report
finds
 Following the House of
Bishops meeting in New Orleans last month, the Joint
Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council
and the Primates of the Anglican Communion (JSC) issued
a report that found that the Episcopal Church has
"clarified all outstanding questions" relating to its
response to the requests of the Windsor Report, and
questions on which the primates sought clarifications by
Sept. 30. The JSC is a representative body of both the
ACC and primates which meets annually to facilitate the
business of the ACC and the Anglican Communion
Office.
Read
more>>
|
|
Ugandan partners share stories
of hope and need
 Bishop Masereka (far right) and his wife,
Stella (center), engage with members of the Alewife
Deanery at Christ Church, Cambridge. Photo: Amey
Callahan
At an Oct. 3 chapel service at the
Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, Bishop Masereka
explained that when he retired as Kasese's second
bishop, he left behind matters of church administration
in order to focus his efforts on serving the poor and
the sick in his rural district. "These are God's
children, and when they are suffering, I am suffering,
and I felt called to try to do something about it," he
said. An HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of over 15
percent has orphaned thousands of children in an area
where community life is already torn by recent civil
war.
So, in 2001, Masereka started the Bishop Masereka
Christian Foundation. It provides school fees
for orphaned and vulnerable children, and, recently has
opened a medical center to provide health care to an
under-served rural population.
Through the
Masereka foundation, the Diocese of Massachusetts'
Jubilee Ministry currently pays the school fees for 500
children; hundreds more are still in need of
sponsors. More funds will allow for expansion of
the orphan education program, further development of the
medical clinic and training for a Ugandan priest in
medical school. "We are finding that there is always
more that we need to do. We do not want to leave
any of the children stranded along the way, and so we
are here to ask for your continued prayers and your
continued support," Bishop Masereka said.
While
in the diocese, the Maserekas worshiped and met with
groups at St. Peter's Church in Weston and Christ Church
in Waltham, including the Ugandan Anglican community
there, and with members of the Alewife Deanery at Christ
Church in Cambridge. They also had the opportunity
to meet with medical resource people at Children's
Hospital in Boston.
Learn more about
the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation and the Diocese
of Massachusetts' additional AIDS-relief projects in
Kenya and Tanzania.
--Tracy J.
Sukraw
|
|
Benefit dinner to support Gulf
Coast Partnerships "The world responded
immediately to [Hurricane] Katrina and we did too,"
writes Bishop Bud Cederholm in a recent letter to
clergy and delegates to the upcoming Nov. 2-3 Diocesan
Convention. "But the more time we spent in the
region, the more we understood that there are deeper,
longer lasting needs that called for a different
response."
That response includes the Diocese of
Massachusetts' support of the priest-in-residency of the
Rev. Jane Bearden in the Gulf Coast. Bishop
Cederholm is calling on the congregations of the diocese
to collect special offerings in support of this Gulf
Coast relief work, to be collected during a gala New
Orleans-style benefit dinner on Friday, Nov. 2 at the
Diocesan Convention. All are welcome. Ticket
information is available here.
Got a warehouse?
For
the past 18 months, Tim Green of St. Mary's Church in
Newton Lower Falls and Walter Mucha of St. Paul's Church
in Brookline have been collecting used appliances,
household goods and building materials for distribution
through the Mississippi Coast Interfaith Disaster Task
Force in Biloxi, Miss. To continue the program,
they need donated warehouse space in the greater Boston
area.
Read more>>
|
|
Congresswoman Shea-Porter to
join Convocation on Faith, Advocacy and Public Policy
Nov. 16-17
 Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter
(D-NH) Photo: U.S. House of Representatives
Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH),
the first woman elected to national office in the
history of the state of New Hampshire, will join a panel
discussion on Faith, Advocacy & Public Policy at the
Province I intergenerational convocation to take place
Nov. 16-17 at the Doubletree Hotel in
Westborough.
Shea-Porter's election generated
national excitement last year when she ran a largely
grassroots campaign in New Hampshire, a strategy
virtually unheard of at a time when congressional
campaigns typically cost millions of dollars and rely on
media and advertising.
Shea-Porter decided to run
for Congress after serving for over a month as a
volunteer in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. According to
her web site bio, she saw firsthand the inadequate
response of the federal government to meet the needs of
citizens after this tragedy and decided that the voice
of hard-working families needed to be heard in
Washington. Her experience ties in to the Millennium
Development Goals, one of the topics for the
convocation, which seek to eradicate poverty and
discrimination throughout the world.
Shea-Porter
will join Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE and other
panelists for the Saturday plenary session at 9 a.m.:
the Rev. Dr. Randall Balmer, author of Thy Kingdom Come: How the
Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens
America; Richard Parker, senior fellow at the
Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and
Public Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University and professor of religion, politics
and public policy (moderator); Maureen Shea, director of
government relations, the Episcopal Church; and Megan
Palmer, MIT Student Campus Ministry.
Balmer will
deliver the keynote address on Friday explaining the
scriptural foundation and rationale for engagement in
advocacy and the political process.
Episcopalians
from around Province I (New England) will come together
to share their political and advocacy experiences and
organizing skills on behalf of social and economic
justice.
Participants will receive training on how to
be an advocate for social justice, how to build a
grassroots network, how to lobby in the political arena
and the dos and don'ts of political activity in
churches.
Age-appropriate activities will be
offered for children and teens to engage them as active
world citizens, including a children's program track for
those under 12. A return of the discovery center,
popular at last year's convocation, will feature
hands-on activities for all ages to explore faith in
relation to advocacy and today's issues in our local
community, nation and world.
Register
now
|
|
Creatures flock to the parishes
for Blessing of the Animals
 The Very Rev. John P. Streit blesses a Boston
Park Service horse. Photo: Maria Plati
The annual
tradition of inviting animal owners to bring their pets
and service animals to local churches was conducted in
parishes across the diocese in honor of the Feast of St.
Francis, the patron saint of animals, also known as "the
first environmental saint" for his love of all living
creatures and respect for the earth.
"All animals
can give us experiences of God's presence in creation
and pets are often our best experiences of unconditional
love; we celebrate and bless them for their constancy
and loyalty," Streit said. "We humans need to be
reminded that we are merely a part of creation, and the
world is not our plaything to be used and used up
according to our whims."
Read
more>>
Related:
The mission
of the Episcopal Network for Animal Welfare is to create
an inclusive and mutually supportive venue for Episcopal
animal advocates with a variety of interests and gifts;
and to offer presence, passion, enthusiasm and resources
to help equip churches to give meaningful voice to every
creature under heaven, especially where neglect,
cruelty, degradation and commercial exploitation are
concerned. One of the goals is to increase awareness of
animal welfare issues at the local level. Read
more>>
Environmental Stewardship:
The Episcopal Ecological Network, a grassroots network
of Episcopalians from around the country, is helping the
Church advocate and articulate protection of the
environment and preserving the sanctity of creation. Read more>>
|
|
Coming up
Cathedral Church of
St. Paul in Boston surveys community
interest in forming a children's choir. Deadline for
responding is Nov. 1
Oct. 17, 23 &
24: Pre-Diocesan Convention
Delegate Forums, 7-9 p.m. Click link
for locations.
Oct.
17: "Evening Interlude" classical
music series at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in
Boston, 5:30 p.m., featuring Longwood Symphony
Orchestra, followed by Evensong at 6:30 p.m. to
celebrate the feast of St. Luke, physician.
Oct. 21: Mission
partnerships gathering with Bishop Lloyd Allen of
Honduras, at St. Paul's Church in Brookline, 4-6
p.m.
Oct. 21:
U2charist at Christ Church in
Needham, 5 p.m.
Oct.
24: Monthly Radical Welcome
Circle at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston,
6:30-8 p.m.
Oct.
27: "Hunger No More" day of
prayer and learning about global poverty and the
Millennium Development Goals, at St. Stephen's Church in
Lynn, 12:45-8 p.m.
Nov.
2-3: Diocesan Convention at Royal
Plaza Hotel in Fitchburg, with Friday benefit
dinner for Gulf Coast Partnerships.
Nov.
4: All Saints' Church in Stoneham
celebrates 100th anniversary, with the Rev. Canon John
L. Peterson, guest speaker, 9 a.m. forum and 10:15 a.m.
Holy Eucharist.
Nov.
10: Quiet Day with guest leader
Jeannette Hanlon, at St. Christopher's Church in
Chatham, 9:30 a.m.
Nov. 11:
Concert to benefit the Millenium Development Goals at
Church of the Holy Spirit, Wayland, 7
p.m.
Nov.
15: Civil rights attorney Charles
Walker Jr. presents the Jonathan Daniels Lecture at
Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, 7
p.m.
Nov.
16-18: "The Real Deal" Junior
High Youth Retreat sponsored by the Diocesan Youth
Council, at the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference
Center, Greenfield, N.H.
Nov.
17: "Roman Catholics Drawn to the
Episcopal Church" workshop at St. Anne's-in-the-Fields
Church in Lincoln, 9 a.m.-4
p.m.
| |
Spread the
word! Forward E-News to your fellow parishioners,
family, friends and seekers and let them know they can
sign up for future issues at: www.diomass.org/subscribe.
You are receiving this newsletter
from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts because you
subscribed or are in our leadership database. To ensure
that you continue to receive e-news from us, add
enews@diomass.org to your address
book. |
|
Episcopal
E-News
The
Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts
| | |
