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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!!  There aren't any newspapers or newsletters coming in the snail-mail anymore. All that comes are requests for donations. So how are you going to keep up with what is going on in the church? Subscribe to the e-news that comes out!
The Episcopal Youth Event (EYE 2023) will take place July 4-8, 2023 at the University of Maryland. Lauren Alleyne, Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, is the Province II representative to the planning team.
The National Episcopal Church Women has a new website at https://ecwnational.org/. Our Province II representatives are Carolyn Belvin, Diocese of NJ and the Rev. Jennifer Kenna.. The national board is planning to meet sometime in the summer of 2023 and Syracuse, NY is being considered for the meeting site. A Synod meeting will be planned for sometime in April, 2024. It is likey to be a hybrid meeting. Applications are now accepted for the Constable Fund grants, which focus on religious education. Constable grants need to be submitted to the Province for approval, and then onto the DFMS.
All Constable grant applications should be submitted to Province II Coordinator Neva Rae Fox at [email protected] no later than Tuesday, November 1 at noon Eastern. Constable Fund grants support mission initiatives outside the Episcopal Church budget, with a stated preference for religious education work. The grants are named for visionary philanthropist Marie Louise Constable, who established the fund through a gift made to the Episcopal Church in 1935. Application requirements and an application form can be found online in English, Spanish, and French. More info available here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/grant-applications-open-for-episcopal-church-constable-fund-roanridge-trust-2/ Province II had a strong presence at the 80th General Convention in Baltimore.
Thanks to Province II bishops, clergy and lay deputies who tirelessly attended to the work of General Convention. During the four days, many of our Province II folks addressed the House of Bishops and House of Deputies making key points, presenting innovative concepts, and discussing the work of General Convention and the church. Of prominence at GC was the adoption of Resolution C021, calling for the Diocese of Puerto Rico moving to Province II from Province IX. Welcome! Province II dioceses are: Albany, Central New York, Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, Cuba, Haiti, Long Island, New Jersey, New York, Newark, Puerto Rico, Rochester, the Virgin Islands, and Western New York. Province II representatives were elected to many offices. Congratulations to all! Elected were: Executive Council
Interested in learning more about the 80th General Convention? Check out The Living Church https://livingchurch.org/ Episcopal News Service https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/ |
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