 October 31, 2024 To Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado and the People of Puerto Rico, We, the Episcopal Bishops of Province II, greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the maker of all and redeemer of all. On behalf of your siblings in our dioceses, from across New York and New Jersey, Haiti, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, and the convocation in Europe, we send you our love and prayers. On Sunday, October 27, at a major partisan event in New York City, offensive and false statements were made, about your beautiful island and the good people of Puerto Rico. While these statements were made under the pretense of humor, this is no laughing matter. The dehumanization expressed reflects the worst of our national story and is shameful to us as followers of Jesus Christ. We renounce the statements made at Madison Square Garden, and we renew our dedication to repent of the evils of racism and bigotry. We take seriously our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our baptismal vows to honor the dignity of all persons. We are writing to offer our love and support and to express our gratitude for your diocese, and the faithful people of Puerto Rico. We celebrate with you the opening of your new hospital, the expansion of your seminary, and your continued faithfulness in your ministry. We are inspired by the strength of your community and your support of one another in both good and challenging times. May God continue to bless you, and together, may we share a message of love, dignity, and hope that will help to heal our hurting nation and world. Your siblings in Christ: The Rt. Rev. DeDe Duncan-Probe, Province II President Diocese of Central New York The Rt. Rev.R. William Franklin, Diocese of Long Island The Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano, Diocese of Long Island The Rt. Rev. Daniel Allotey, Diocese of Long Island The Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd, Diocese of New York The Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool, Diocese of New York The Rt. Rev. Allen K. Shin, Diocese of New York The Rt. Rev. Carlye Hughes, Diocese of Newark The Rt. Rev. Sally French, Diocese of New Jersey The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah D. Williamson, Diocese of Albany The Rt. Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer, Diocese of Rochester The Rt. Rev. Mark Edington, Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe Al Obispo Rafael Morales Maldonado y al Pueblo de Puerto Rico,
Nosotros, los Obispos Episcopales de la Provincia II, los saludamos en el nombre de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, creador de todo y redentor de todos. En nombre de sus hermanos y hermanas en nuestras diócesis, desde Nueva York y Nueva Jersey, Haití, Cuba, las Islas Vírgenes y la Convocatoria en Europa, les enviamos nuestro amor y nuestras oraciones. El domingo 27 de octubre, en un importante evento partidista en la ciudad de Nueva York, se hicieron declaraciones ofensivas y falsas sobre su hermosa isla y el noble pueblo de Puerto Rico. Aunque dichas afirmaciones se hicieron bajo el pretexto de ser humorísticas, esto no es motivo de risa. La deshumanización expresada refleja lo peor de nuestra historia nacional y nos avergüenza como seguidores de Jesucristo. Rechazamos las declaraciones hechas en el Madison Square Garden y renovamos nuestro compromiso de deplorar los males del racismo y la intolerancia. Tomamos en serio nuestro compromiso con el Evangelio de Jesucristo y con nuestros votos bautismales de honrar la dignidad de todas las personas. Les escribimos para ofrecerles nuestro amor y apoyo, y para expresar nuestra gratitud por su diócesis y el fiel pueblo de Puerto Rico. Celebramos con ustedes la apertura de su nuevo hospital, la expansión de su seminario y su continua fidelidad en el ministerio. Nos inspira la fortaleza de su comunidad y el apoyo que se brindan mutuamente tanto en los momentos buenos como en los desafiantes. Que Dios los bendiga siempre, y que juntos podamos compartir un mensaje de amor, dignidad y esperanza que ayude a sanar a nuestra nación y a nuestro mundo heridos. Sus hermanos en Cristo: La Reverendísima DeDe Duncan-Probe, Presidenta de la Provincia II Diócesis de Nueva York Central El Reverendísimo Lawrence C. Provenzano, Diócesis de Long Island El Reverendísimo R. William Franklin, Diócesis de Long Island El Reverendísimo Daniel Allotey, Diócesis de Long Island El Reverendísimo Matthew Heyd, Diócesis de Nueva York La Reverendísima Mary Glasspool, Diócesis de Nueva York El Reverendísimo Allen K. Shin, Diócesis de Nueva York La Reverendísima Carlye Hughes, Diócesis de Newark La Reverendísima Sally French, Diócesis de Nueva Jersey El Reverendísimo Jeremiah D. Williamson, Diócesis de Albany La Reverendísima Kara Wagner Sherer, Diócesis de Rochester El Reverendísimo Mark Edington, Convocatoria de Iglesias Episcopales en Europa The recent Province II Special Synod on September 19 focused on one topic – the Provincial budget. The Synod approved a provisional budget and recommended the appointment of a Finance Committee.
In addition to Province II Treasurer Elisabeth Jacobs as chair, Province II President Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe has appointed the following to the Finance Committee. · Archdeacon Walter Baer, Europe; Province II Vice President · The Rev. Theodora Brooks, New York; Province II Council member · The Rev. Jimmie Sue Deppe, Long Island; Province II Secretary · The Rev. Anne Kitch, Newark · The Rev. Emily Mellot, New Jersey · Dr. Arnaldo Rodríguez Sanchez, Puerto Rico · The Rev. Marshall Shelley, New Jersey If you are interested in serving on the Finance Committee, contact Neva Rae Fox at [email protected].  Province II is seeking a volunteer to serve as the Provincial Liaison to Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), the refugee resettlement ministry of The Episcopal Church. Through the dedicated efforts of affiliates, community partners, dioceses, congregations, and volunteers, EMM has successfully resettled more than 105,000 refugees in the past 36 years. The Province II – EMM liaison would serve as a community partner: working with Province II leadership on EMM efforts; distributing information to the 13 diocese of Province II; offering resources and ideas to congregations; assisting EMM in its important ministry throughout Province II. For more info on EMM, look here: Episcopal Migration Ministries  Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe addresses deputies and bishops in the House of Deputies after his election and confirmation June 26. Photo by Randall Gornowich Were you wondering what happens to the Diocese of Western New York now that Bishop Rowe has been elected Presiding Bishop? The Partnership has that covered! Find answers to some frequently asked questions on the website, and if your question hasn't yet been answered, email it to [email protected]. Read the FAQs. Since Bishop Sean was elected presiding bishop on Wednesday, many media outlets have covered the story. Here's a selection:
Scaled-down installation planned for Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe, together with the planning committees for his transition and installation, announced today that they will forego the traditional installation service in Washington National Cathedral in favor of a smaller, simpler ceremony in the chapel at the church’s New York headquarters. This service will be livestreamed, and simultaneous interpretation will be available in multiple languages to ensure churchwide access. “With gratitude to all involved, I have decided to begin this ministry in a new way,” Rowe said. “With a simple service at the Church Center that will include everyone via livestream, we can care for God’s creation by reducing our collective carbon footprint. I have great respect and admiration for the ministry of Washington National Cathedral. My seating will take place in the following months, and I am grateful to Dean Hollerith and the cathedral staff as we plan for that event.” The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, offered her remarks on this decision: “We in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and Washington National Cathedral wholeheartedly support Presiding Bishop-elect Rowe in his desire for an installation experience that is accessible to all and wisely stewards technologies that are available to us. We look forward to the day of his seating at the cathedral, and we will celebrate that occasion with great joy.” “God is calling The Episcopal Church into a new future, and this service will mark the beginning of that journey,” Rowe said. Further details on the installation will be provided as they become available. We are St. Mary Recycle Mission Group and we have been working with Episcopal churches, Catholic churches, Convents, Schools, The Knights of Columbus, and other organizations, as well as with Parishioners who have things at home in helping rescue and recycle used Religious items that are no longer needed. Over the last 30 years, we have helped recycle items from Churches that have items from former Clergy that are no longer being used, or from Churches that unfortunately closed, as well as from Parishioners who need to place their personal religious items from home that they don't know what to do with. Over the years, we have found many of these items in the trash so we came up with a recycling program. We offer a monetary donation to you for your recycle efforts if you wish to put towards your needs, just let us know when contacting us. Our recycling program was developed to help parishes both in need of items that they cannot afford, as well as with their financial needs, and also to help the community. We originally got started after finding several items cleared out from a church basement in the dumpster of a local church all in perfectly usable condition. We later found that there is a need for these unwanted items. Our first large effort was following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans as we sent hundreds of recycled items to a parish there that was more than happy to accept items for both the parish and parishioners that we had gathered. We can take in or give just about anything of Religious nature that can be used by other churches, convents or religious organizations such as:
(Please No Religious Books/Reading Books/Story Books, Hymnals, Pamphlets/Magazines/DVD', VHS Tapes or Wax Candles) Please do not throw anything out that may be questionable as we take items in any condition. No reading Books or large furniture type items at this time, if in question, please contact us. If you have larger furniture items that we cannot personally pick up, we will take measures to help place them for you. We do have people on our waiting list waiting for items that we cannot personally take. Whatever your situation may be, we are here to help. In many cases, we are able to travel to your location to pick up larger accumulations or any amount with no minimum if we are in your area. If you have any items that can be mailed and are out of our reach, we are accepting items via mail and will be more than happy to return the postage, and also send a donation in return if requested as mentioned above. We ask that you please be sure place a note inside of the shipment stating that you would like postage and/or a donation, with your return address, all payments are sent back as soon as the shipment arrives so there is no waiting period. We can use anything that you may not need or have no use for. Please see address below for shipments.
References available upon request. May God Bless! Kimberly Walters St. Mary Recycle Mission Group 2505 Nolt Road Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 381-5816 [email protected] See us at www.StMaryRecycleMissionGroup.com (Not part of St. Mary's Church or the Harrisburg Diocese)  This year's Episcopal Communicators Annual Conference is now in the books, at least the in-person version. The online version, Publish Glad Tidings, is still to come on May 2, 9, 17, & 23, 2024.  I was fortunate to attend the conference April 16-18, 2024 in Portland, ME. What a great time to spend learning new things, connecting with other communicators, and sharing our work! Episcopal Communicators is open to everyone working in the ministry of communcation in the Episcopal Church. That means everyone from the volunteers doing the e-newsletters in tiny congregations to the people who are paid to manage communications of all kinds for a diocese. The theme across all of this is "You are not alone". We're all in this together and we work to lift each other up. Check out becoming a member if you are doing communications ministry and are not a member > I attended the Learning Lab session on video by Canon Craig Wirth, Communications Director, The Episcopal Diocese of Utah. He helped us learn how to tell stories through maximizing every shot. I am not a videographer, but even I learned something! I also attended workshops on Intergenerational Communications and on Social Media. The Polly Bond Awards were, as always, inspiring. It is so good to view an awards ceremony as an occasion for lifting up good work. In Province II, Kirk Peterson (The Living Church) won an award for news writing: Award of Excellence: Presiding Bishop's Health Looms Over Election of Successor. Chris Whitaker (Diocese of Newark) won an award for a digital magazine: Honorable Mention: 2023 Lenten Devotional, one for communications accessibility: Award of Excellence: Live from Christ Church in Short Hills: The Webcast, and another with Libby Clarke for layout: Award of Excellence: Faure Requiem: A Concert of Remembrance. Mary Grace Puszka (Diocese of Long Island) won an award for commentary: Award of Excellence: Opening the Door to Women’s Ordination, two for a booklet: Award of Excellence: 2023 Episcopal Ministries Annual Appeal Report & Honorable Mention: Episcopal Ministries of Long Island's 2023 End of Year Report, and one for graphic design: Honorable Mention: Pride Prayer. Sonja Slother (Diocese of Rochester) won an award for graphic design: Award of Merit: St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rochester, NY Logo. Denise Fillion (Diocese of Long Island) won an award with Mary Grace Puszka for a social media post: Award of Excellence: Find a church that...(Advent Campaign). Congratulations to all!! Mark your calendars for EPISCOMM25,which will grace Oklahoma City from May 12-16, 2025! Jan Paxton Province II Webeditor Ash Wednesday February 14, 2024 Province II Slave Trade Lament and Repentance Available on-line beginning at 10 am Eastern https://www.province2.org/ Introduction by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry Reflections, Laments, Prayers modeled on the Stations of the Cross in the Book of Occasional Services  Each station of the cross is presented by a different diocese of Province II: Albany, Central New York, Cuba, Convocation of Churches in Europe, Haiti, Long Island, New Jersey, New York, Newark, Puerto Rico, Rochester, Virgin Islands, Western New York On Ash Wednesday, February 14, Province II of The Episcopal Church will present a Slave Trade Lament and Repentance online featuring prayers, collects, and reflections.
The Slave Trade Lament and Repentance will begin with an introduction by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. In his moving address, Presiding Bishop Curry calls on us to recognize the sin of slavery and to lament its aftermath. The event will be available on-line beginning at 10 am Eastern at https://www.province2.org/. “The Slave Trade Lament and Repentance is an acknowledgement of the sin of slavery, from Province II which was the nexus for the slave trade,” commented Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe, bishop of the diocese of Central New York and President of Province II. Each station will be presented by a different member diocese of Province II and will include a reflection, a lament, and prayers. The dioceses of Province II are: Albany, Central New York, Cuba, Convocation of Churches in Europe, Haiti, Long Island, New Jersey, New York, Newark, Puerto Rico, Rochester, Virgin Islands, Western New York. The Slave Trade Lament and Repentance is based on the Stations of the Cross from the Book of Occasional Services. The video will be available for all dioceses to post on websites. Materials will be available for downloading. “The program is ideal for a Lenten program for a group or an individual,” Bishop Duncan-Probe noted. Help Strengthen Sacred Ground Help build capacity and community among Sacred Ground facilitators Download the flyer > We estimate over 37,000 people have walked the path of Sacred Ground toward racial reconciliation and justice. We want to grow our capacity to train and support facilitators, and we don't want to re-invent the wheel. So, if you (or someone you know) has developed training and support for Sacred Ground facilitators in your area, we'd like to hear from you. Help form a church-wide community of peer-to-peer support. Please circulate this invitation widely! Contact: [email protected]  EpisComm23
This year's Episcopal Communicators' Conference was held at Camp Allen, TX. The Key Note speakers, The Rev. Charles Graves IV and The Rev. Callie Swanlund, were both outstanding, as were all of the workshops. Episcopal Communicators is a self-supporting organization of communication professionals working in the Episcopal Church for dioceses, congregations and organizations. Its mission is to foster community that inspires and supports excellence in church communications. If you are engaged in a ministry of communications with a full-communion partner of the Episcopal Church (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or the Moravian Church), you are also eligible for membership in Episcopal Communicators. More information on membership is available on the website at https://episcopal-communicators.wildapricot.org/ This year, as always, a highlight of the conference was the Polly Bond Awards ceremony. The Polly Bond Awards recognize excellence in church communications, across a variety of categories. Independently judged by well-respected and experienced communications professionals outside of the membership, the best submissions on each category receive awards. A number of communcators from Province II won awards. Congratulations for: Best Website Award of Merit: Episcopal Ministries of Long Island's Website | Episcopal Ministries of Long Island/Episcopal Diocese of Long Island | Mary Grace Puszka, Denise Fillion, DNL OmniMedia Best Campaign Award of Excellence: Episcopal Ministries of Long Island's 2022 "Celebration of Ministry" | Episcopal Ministries of Long Island/Episcopal Diocese of Long Island | Mary Grace Puszka Honorable Mention: Deeply Rooted, Branching Out - Celebrating 140 Years of Christ Church in Short Hills | Christ Church, Short Hills, NJ | Chris Whitaker, Libby Clarke Writing - News Award of Excellence: Want More Pandemic Money? It’s Complicated | The Living Church | Kirk Petersen Writing - Feature Award of Merit: "A string of miracles" - Second house renovated to host Afghan refugees | Diocese of Newark | Nina Nicholson Graphic Design Honorable Mention: Rally Day Rack Card Series | St. Paul's, Rochester, NY | Sonja Slother Honorable Mention: The True Light - Christmas Card 2022 | St. Paul's, Rochester, NY | Sonja Slother Layout (poster, one-page spread, etc.) Honorable Mention: Episcopal Ministries of Long Island Ministry Focus Area Sticker | Episcopal Ministries of Long Island/Episcopal Diocese of Long Island | Mary Grace Puszka Booklet Honorable Mention: Christ Church in Short Hills: A 140th Anniversary Commemorative Guide | Christ Church, Short Hills, NJ | Chris Whitaker, Libby Clarke, Cathy Fernandez  A celebration message from the Friends of the Episcopal Church in Cuba
jeremy cage, Mar 23 Today marks an important date in the history of the Episcopal Church in Cuba – with the retirement of Bishop Griselda after 12 transformative years as the Bishop of Cuba. Born in 1955 in La Paz, Bolivia, Bishop Griselda graduated from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz in 1981 with a degree in sociology. In 1982, she moved to Cuba to enter the Evangelical Seminary of Theology in Matanzas, Cuba. Bishop Griselda remained in Cuba after seminary and was ordained as a Deacon in 1986. Shortly thereafter, she arrived in Itabo, Cuba, a small town with little knowledge of Jesus Christ, to serve at a church property with crumbling walls and no roof, known as Santa Maria Virgen. She served as Rector there for the next 20 years, was consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor for the Diocese of Cuba in 2010 and installed later that year as Diocesan Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Havana. She was the first woman to serve in the role of Diocesan Bishop both in Cuba and in Latin America. As Bishop, Griselda launched a 'radical' agenda—transforming the Church from a focus within its four walls to a community-based approach for the benefit of all, regardless of religion. Over the years, Bishop Griselda has led the cultivation of lands around the churches to provide supplies of crops and animals to feed communities and provide them seeds to plant at each harvest. She began the installation of water purification systems and today, there are 38 churches that have these systems - providing safe water for hundreds of thousands of Cubans each year. During her tenure, and through the work of her Missionary Development Program, she has also led the transformation of churches into vibrant community centers for everyone in the village – especially the weak and vulnerable. In 2018, Bishop Griselda successfully led the reunification and reconciliation of The Episcopal Church in Cuba with the US Episcopal Church – after almost 60 years of isolation. The reunification ceremonies held in March of 2020 will forever be remembered as a pivotal event in the history of both the Cuban and US churches. Bishop Griselda has been a tireless leader, traveling many miles across Cuba, managing a team of 20 or more clergy, 51 communities, and continuing to serve as parish priest whenever the need arose. In addition, she has been a strong voice for the Cuban church in the US, seeking out new partners and supporters. Following the process established by the Episcopal Church, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church in Cuba will oversee the Diocese of Cuba until an Interim Bishop is appointed in the coming months. The Interim Bishop will lead the Diocese through the election of a permanent Bishop – who will clearly have very big shoes to fill!! |
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