Diocesan News

As the 80th General Convention got underway in Baltimore, it looked like the movement afoot across The Episcopal Church to add the late Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris to the church's commemorative calendar had hit a major speed bump in the form of a substitute for resolution C023 from the legislative committees dealing with prayer book, liturgy and music matters. But when it came before the House of Bishops for initial action on July 8, but the bishops voted on yet another proposal that keeps the measure alive for House of Deputies consideration.

The Office of the Bishop has issued the following notice:

Updated June 22, 2022, to include memorial service date, July 2, 2022, and details.

The Office of the Bishop has issued the following notice:

Bishop Alan M. Gates issued the following message to the diocesan community on June 17, 2022:

CRECHE--the Charles River Episcopal Co-Housing Endeavor--is adding a fourth house to its stable of intentional communities, to be launched next year as Jubilee House in a new partnership with New Roots AME Church in Dorchester.

The Rev. Isaac Everett, CRECHE's executive director, announced plans for the new house at the organization's annual Pentecost gathering for friends and supporters on June 5 in the yard of CRECHE's Emmanuel House in Allston.

Bliss Austin Spooner, who served as director of development for four years, departed from the diocesan staff on June 14, having accepted a position with Hearth, Inc., a Boston nonprofit organization dedicated to ending elderly and older adult homelessness through the creation and management of affordable supportive housing.

Hymn singing and reminiscences marked the late afternoon memorial service for the Rt. Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston on June 12, which would have been her 92nd birthday.

About 1,000 viewers watched the service via livestream, and churches in Brockton, Cambridge, Salem and Weston also hosted gatherings simultaneously as a way to extend participation in the service.

Harris died on March 13, 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Initial plans for a churchwide memorial service at Washington National Cathedral were paused and have not advanced, but the recent local easing of public gathering restrictions opened a window of opportunity for a diocesan liturgy to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Harris--a civil rights and social justice activist and a pioneering disciple of Jesus.