Diocesan News

It’s time to create a new mission strategy for the Diocese of Massachusetts, and everyone’s voice is needed.  Members of the diocesan community are invited to attend one or more of the six open listening forums scheduled in January and February--opportunities to share insights and experiences…

Bishop Alan M. Gates wrote on Nov. 17: On our first full day in Jerusalem we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally venerated as having been constructed over the sites of Jesus’ crucifixion at Golgotha and his resurrection at the Garden Tomb. Beneath the central rotunda is a…

Watch the video of Bishop Alan. M. Gates giving his annual address at Diocesan Convention on Nov. 14, 2015, at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston.  Text of the address is available here.

In a Nov. 18 letter, Bishop Alan M. Gates and Bishop Gayle E. Harris of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts joined with other Massachusetts church leaders to ask Governor Charlie Baker to reconsider his position against the local resettlement of Syrian refugees.The letter, issued by the…

The Ven. Michael Hamilton waits with Bishop Gates outside the doors of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. Matthew Cavanaugh Bishop Gates makes the traditional three knocks on the cathedral doors. Matthew Cavanaugh …

Gathering for the first time for worship and work in the newly renovated Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, this year’s annual Diocesan Convention had a special spirit of celebration about it as it voted its positions on world concerns and deliberated over mission matters closer to home.About…

The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and participants in the Diocesan Investment Trust now have a new option for environmentally responsible investing.  The diocesan Financial Advisory Committee and the Trustees of Donations announced at Diocesan Convention on Nov. 14 the opening of the…

Bishop Douglas J. Fisher of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts gave the sermon at the Nov. 13 rededication of the newly renovated Cathedral Church of St. Paul and the official seating of Bishop Alan M. Gates.  Watch Bishop Fisher's full sermon above.  The text of his sermon is available…

Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, but in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, how?, asks Bishop Pierre Whalon of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.  His Nov. 14 statement follows.How can we pray this prayer of all prayers, here in Paris, the day after? O…

Ten of the Episcopal Church’s 12 active bishops suffragan—including Bishop Gayle E. Harris of the Diocese of Massachusetts—gathered in Rome last month, where they had the chance to join the weekly papal audience on Oct. 7 in St. Peter’s Square.  “We were surprised to be given places of honor…