The Ordination of Susan M Carpenter

On Saturday, January 17th, at St John’s Barrington, Bishop Wolf ordained the Rev. Susan M Carpenter to the Sacred Order of Priests.

Susan was born in Providence, RI and grew up in Scituate, RI. She earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education from Rhode Island College. She previously worked in the Scituate School system as a sixth grade teacher. Recently, she has graduated from The General Theological Seminary in NYC with her Master of Divinity degree.

Susan is married to her high school sweetheart, Brian Carpenter, and they just celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. He owns Long Realty and is a specialist in selling country farms and acreage. They have two sons, Scott and Peter. Peter is married to Bethany Lawton and they are the parents of Nathan Bradford, born in July.

Susan and Brian lived in Glocester for 30 years on a 50 acre farm, and while the boys were young, she left teaching and opened “Cherry Valley Herb Farm”. She built a retail shop, greenhouse and display gardens where she taught classes and workshops on many herbal topics. She also founded and ran the RI Herb Festival, an annual event from 1998 – 2004.
Susan has been active for many years at her home parish of Trinity, North Scituate in many roles. She has been active in the wider church community in the Central Deanery as well as serving on the Diocesan Council and Executive Council.

Susan's personal interests include creating anything with glass –particularly stained glass— and making copper and glass jewelry. In addition to her fascination with all things herbal, She is interested in cooking amd traveling. Susan is also a voracious reader, as evidenced by her large collection of books and her Amazon.com statements!

Welcome Susan, and may God bless you in this monumental new phase of your ministry.

An Invitation from the Bishop

Come Hear About Our Companions, The Diocese of Ezo

Thank you for your prayers which sustained Tom and I as we journeyed to and from the Sudan. As many of you know we had quite a trip. While the frustration of cancelled flights and the challenges of no electricity or running water, and bumpy dirt roads will be part of our memories for a long time, the beauty of faithfulness offered by the people we met is already providing gifts of spiritual grace far more nourishing and thought provoking than any inconveniences we experienced.

We have many pictures and video images that bring to life the personalities and Christian joy of the people of the Diocese of Ezo, and we created a power point presentation that we wish to share with you, followed by some personal reflections.

Our first presentation will take place at the Church of the Epiphany, East Providence, where the light of Christ’s hospitality is leading so many to a new understanding of the Christian message and its call to faithful response. We will gather there at 4PM on Sunday, January 18th to share some of our experiences, and to suggest some ways that we might offer hope to the people of our new companion diocese.

After the presentation, a sample of typical southern Sudan food will refresh our bodies and give us yet another way of sharing fellowship with each other and with the life of the people of Ezo.

Some offerings may be brought with you. We hope to send the diocese the following:

• Black clergy shirts with tab collars. Some of our priests and deacons must have a few around.
  



• Contributions towards purchasing bicycles for parish priests, who walk many, many miles to make pastoral calls (ten miles is not unusual).




• Stoles and chasubles that you are no longer using, and maybe an alb. At Christmas they wore the two chasubles available; one black and one purple.

And then, looking toward the future, Bishop John Yawo and his assistant expressed a need for special assistance with education and communications. We will share with you some ideas for helping them help themselves in these areas.

Tom and I, and the people of Epiphany are very excited about our afternoon together and hope that you will join us.

--The Rt Rev. Geralyn Wolf, and Tom

Venue Change for the "30 Hour Famine" Planning Meeting for Youth Leaders

When: Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 7pm
Where: The Diocesan Resources Center, 275 N Main St, Providence RI 02903
(NOTE: event is no longer at St John's Barrington RI)

Information: Millenium Development Goal #1 was to eradicate extreme world Hunger and Poverty. What can we do? To start, a group of parish youth leaders will meet to join together in planning a Diocesan participation in World Vision's 30 hour famine for youth. Visit http://www.30hourfamine.org/ for more information on this nationwide fast. If you are a leader of youth in your parish, come to join our effort!

Contact: For more information about the meeting, contact Becky Gettel 245-4065, becky_stjbar@att.net or Mary Ann Kolakowski 274-4500 ext. 247 maryann@episcopalri.org.

Bishop returns from the Sudan

Bishop Wolf has returned safely from Sudan. The Sudan Debriefing will be led by Bishop Wolf and her husband Tom:

Sunday, January 18, 2009, 4:00pm
Church of the Epiphany, 1336 Pawtucket Avenue, Rumford, RI.

All are welcome to come and hear about their trip.