Thirteen Bishops met in Tampa
Press Release-February 7, 2006, Tampa , Florida .

Thirteen Bishops met in Tampa , Florida for two days, February 6-7th to continue discussions initiated over a year ago in Navasota , Texas at the Spring Meeting of the House of Bishops. Other meetings have occurred in Los Angeles last July and Chicago last December.

Discussions continue to be frank, respectful and are focused on a variety of issues that have caused pain and dissension for some within the Episcopal Church and have threatened to continue to fracture relationships within the Anglican Communion. The hope of these bishops is that such conversation and work will continue and have a positive impact on the work of the House of Bishops, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

Participants:

• The Right Reverend James M. Adams, Diocese of Western Kansas
• The Right Reverend John B. Chane, Diocese of Washington
• The Right Reverend Robert W. Duncan, Diocese of Pittsburgh
• The Right Reverend Mark Hollingsworth, Diocese of Ohio
• The Right Reverend Don E. Johnson, Diocese of West Tennessee
• The Right Reverend W. Mitchie Klusmeyer, Diocese of West Virginia
• The Right Reverend John B. Lipscomb, Diocese of Southwest Florida
• The Right Reverend Edward S. Little, Diocese of Northern Indiana
• The Right Reverend Bruce MacPherson, Diocese of Western Louisiana
• The Right Reverend Robert J. O'Neill, Diocese of Colorado
• The Right Reverend Edward L. Salmon, Diocese of South Carolina
• The Right Reverend Stacey F. Sauls Diocese of Lexington
• The Right Reverend Geralyn Wolf, Diocese of Rhode Island

Jim Naughton / Director of Communications
Episcopal Diocese of Washington / 202-537-7162

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Save the Date for Youth: August 1-6, 2007

The Province 2 Youth workers are working on a Province Episcopal Youth Event for August 1-6, 2007. More information will follow. Contact leaders are Don Carlson from Central New York @ dcarlson@cny.anglican.org or Kep Short from New Jersey at kshort@newjersey.anglican.org .

Don Carlson
Canon for Youth and Family Ministries
Episcopal Diocese of Central New York
310 Montgomery Street, Suite 200
Syracuse, NY 13202
315-882-3432 – Cell
315-478-1632 – Fax
315-474-6596 - Diocese

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Listening: Honduras diocese welcomes United Thank Offering committee

Episcopal News Service
By: Matthew Davies
Monday, February 06, 2006

All twelve committee members and coordinator of the United Thank Offering (UTO), a financial and spiritual partner in the mission work of the Episcopal Church since 1889, traveled to Honduras January 18-26 to conduct a regular business meeting and to visit local grant sites at the invitation of the diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. Lloyd Emmanuel Allen.

The Diocese of Honduras is one of the fastest growing dioceses within the Episcopal Church, with more than 80,000 people attending 146 parishes and missions. The diocese works primarily in poor and marginalized communities, and focuses on economic development, food security, education and health.

Since 1974, the diocese has received 27 UTO grants totaling $1,172,825.

"The UTO committee is committed to the Episcopal Church's overseas dioceses," UTO coordinator JoAnne Chapman said. "It's really important that we are able to support them with various projects in order to assist the growth of the church."

In San Pedro Sula , where the diocesan offices are located, the committee visited the Cathedral El Buen Pastor (Good Shepherd Cathedral) and the adjacent school. UTO grants totaling $125,000 have assisted the diocesan complex of offices, school, and church between 1983 and 1990.

A visit was also made to the diocesan seminary, which received a UTO grant for $60,000 in 2000 to build a dormitory to enable seminarians to live on campus.

Accompanied by the Rev. Albert Brooks, Bishop Allen's Canon to the Ordinary, and Suyapa Saldivar, diocesan project director, committee members traveled to Puerto Cortes on the North Coast of Honduras, January 20, to visit San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist) church and school, built with the assistance of a 1979 UTO grant for $49,000.

On January 21, the committee traveled for four hours across the country to Tegucigalpa where UTO has given several grants, the most recent being in 2005 for $40,000 to help relocate and expand the diocese's El Hogar St. Mary's Technical Institute in Amarateca.

"This vocational school offers education and employment training skills to teenage boys so that they can go out as young men and earn a living," Chapman said.

In Tela, the committee attended the national meeting of Episcopal Church Women (ECW) and UTO ingathering January 21-22, as well as the consecration and dedication of Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit), which received a UTO grant in 2004 for $120,000 to rebuild a badly decaying building.

Bishop Allen's strong leadership and the progress the diocese is making towards increasing its own stewardship and becoming self-sustaining "is very impressive," Chapman said. "They are also very dedicated to primary and secondary education and providing help to abandoned children."

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras and lost property, crops and wages added an extra burden to what was already one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere . Honduras is also at the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Central America .

UTO Committee members who traveled to Honduras are:

Joy Tway, Dottie Leland, Patricia Tourangeau, Thelma Hutton, Muriel Sobers, Wilma Johnson, Regina Ratterree, Gurtie Berkner, Nilah Tripp, Claudia Pistek, Peggy Ann Wilds. JoAnne Chapman, staff.

Committee member Connie Coindet Segura is from the Diocese of Honduras and Muriel Sobers is the representative from Province II.

Further information about the United Thank Offering can be found online at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/uto.htm

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Editor's Note

It is hard to believe that three years have gone by so quickly and that we're coming up on another General Convention already! In May we will be gathering to elect new Provincial officers and representatives. The Synod meeting will also be an opportunity for all of the diocesan delegations to spend time together and to discuss the issues that will be before the General Convention in June.

Information about the 75 th General Convention, June 13-21, 2006, is available on the Episcopal Church web site at < http://www.episcopalchurch.org/53785_ENG_HTM.htm >. At this General Convention we will elect a new Presiding Bishop. The information on the nominated candidates is at < http://www.episcopalchurch.org/53785_71139_ENG_HTM.htm >. I hope you will all keep our church and its deliberations in your prayers.

Jan

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