News

Diocesan News
Nov. 7, 2024 Beloved of God in Massachusetts, In the deluge of emotions and words after Tuesday’s election, it was a challenge to find more which might add meaning yesterday. Perhaps those of you pastoring congregations, schools, and other communities, church or otherwise, felt the same way…

Diocese and Parish News

Diocesan News
The bishops of the Episcopal dioceses of Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts issued on March 23, 2021, the following declaration of a climate emergency, with suggested resources and actions.  The declaration is available in Spanish here. …
Diocesan News
The bishops have issued the following statement regarding the March 16 shootings in Atlanta and anti-Asian violence. The shootings in Atlanta this week are yet one more manifestation of violent hatred and racism in our nation. While details of the tragedy will yet emerge, any attempt to avoid…
Parish News

While many visitors to Trinity Church in Topsfield may notice the set of striking bronze sculptures on the grounds of the church depicting Christ and three apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane,  fewer people have known or understood much about the history of the sculptures or their sculptor until Meg Black, a member of Trinity Church and an art history professor, spent years researching them.

Diocesan News

Since the launch of the reconfigured Racial Justice Commission at Diocesan Convention last November, it has been forming subcommittees and organizing for work in five priority areas.  “Because the work is large, we’ve been finding people who want to join us in the work, people who represent the whole of the diocese, people who have a particular interest in things like reparations, formation, how we integrate antiracism principles into everything we do as a church,” the Rev. Natalie Thomas, a commission co-chair, said in a recent interview with several commission leaders.

Reflections

Racism distorts all parts of a system. It is a systemic and structural scourge gnawing at the very core of society. In seeking to dismantle racism, it is imperative to first acknowledge that the manifestations of racism don't just happen because of a few social, political or business miscreants. They occur because the environment of racism nurtured and still promoted by a culture rooted in apartheid did not end at the ballot box.

Diocesan News
As a second Easter in the context of global pandemic approaches, worship services and activities will be different again this year. Though traditional egg hunts may not be taking place this Easter, congregations across the diocese are being invited to participate in a creative new activity…
In the News
As a college student, Amy McCreath studied politics and Russian studies with thoughts of working to help end the Cold War through a career in the State Department. But her concept of how she might best serve others changed when she became absorbed in learning about another intractable problem of…
Diocesan News

The Office of the Bishop has issued the following notice:

Parish News
In spring seasons past at Grace Church in Newton, it wouldn’t be unusual to see members of the congregation outdoors tending to the gardens of the church on family work days or on special Sundays when the church school would go out to help in the gardens under the watchful eyes of…
Diocesan News

The following pastoral letter with renewed COVID-19 guidelines was issued to congregational and diocesan leadership on March 4, 2021.