RHODE ISLAND SEMINARIAN RECEIVES TACHAU AWARD

Alexandria, VA (April 27, 2009) – The Jean B. Tachau Memorial Biblical Languages Prize for study at St. George’s College in Jerusalem, was awarded today to second-year student, Patrick Greene (Diocese of Rhode Island.) The award is given each year in recognition of academic excellence and proficiency in the study of the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek.

“Virginia Seminary has seen the study of scripture and Biblical languages as central to its mission of raising up leaders for the church to ‘go into all the world and preach the Gospel,’” said the Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, dean and president of Virginia Seminary.

The Jean B. Tachau Memorial Biblical Languages Prize was established 1992 by the Venerable Archdeacon Charles B. Tachau, VTS ’63, in memory of his mother, Jean B. Tachau. At the end of each academic year, the Prize is awarded to second-year students preparing for Holy Orders who have shown the most progress or proficiency in the study of the Biblical languages of Hebrew and/or Greek. The award provides financial support for study at St. George’s College in Jerusalem or for independent travel and study of biblical languages in the Holy Land.

Founded in 1823, Virginia Theological Seminary is the largest of the 11 accredited seminaries of the Episcopal Church. The school prepares men and women for service in the Church worldwide, both as ordained and lay ministers, and offers a number of professional degree programs and diplomas. Currently, the Seminary represents more than 42 different dioceses and 5 different countries, for service in the Church.

Media Contact: Susan Shillinglaw
Tel: 703-461-1764 www.vts.edu

Bishop Wolf on NPR and the evening news

Yesterday, April 2nd 2009, Bishop Wolf Interviewed with NPR as well as Channel 10 and Channel 12 news, regarding the deposition of Ann Holmes Redding. If you missed the broadcasts, watch and listen to them here!

• Listen to NPR's Interview with Ann Holmes Redding and Bishop Wolf http://kuow.org/program.php?id=17255
  
• Watch Channel 10's video of the Bishop http://www.turnto10.com/jar/special_sections/ap_video
  
• Watch Channel 12's video of the Bishop http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_wpri_providence_episcopal_priest_defrocked_practicing_muslim_20090401
  

Also, for a well written article on the issue, read what reporter Janet Tu wrote for the Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008961581_webdefrocked01m.html

Bishop Wolf Deposes Ann Holmes Redding

Effective April 1, 2009, The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, deposed Ann Holmes Redding as a priest in the Episcopal Church. Dr. Redding lives in the Diocese of Olympia Washington, but was canonically resident in the Diocese of Rhode Island, where she was under the authority of Bishop Wolf. The determination came after a process lasting nearly twenty-one months.

In June 2007, the Diocese of Rhode Island learned of a public profession of adherence to the Muslim faith by Dr. Redding. Bishop Wolf conferred with Dr. Redding who acknowledged taking her Shahadah to become a Muslim. Bishop Wolf then issued a Pastoral Direction to Dr. Redding, directing her to undertake a period of one year for discernment of her faith commitment. After the agreed upon period, the status of Dr. Redding was considered by the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Rhode Island.

The Standing Committee determined that Dr. Redding had abandoned the Communion of the Episcopal Church, within the meaning of the Canons of the Church, by her formal admission into a religious body not in Communion with the Episcopal Church. The Bishop affirmed that determination and issued an inhibition prohibiting Dr. Redding from exercising the gifts and spiritual authority conferred on her by Episcopal Ordination, and from public ministry.

The Inhibition continued until March 31, 2009 during which time Dr. Redding had the opportunity to withdraw, or issue a notice of intention to withdraw, from the Muslim faith. Dr. Redding also had the opportunity to renounce her orders. Dr. Redding did neither and, under the Canons of the Church, Bishop Wolf was required to consider deposing Dr. Redding.

Bishop Wolf found Dr. Redding to be a woman of utmost integrity and their conversations over the past two years have been open, honest and respectful. However, Bishop Wolf believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim. Consequently, as a result of the abandonment of the Communion of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Wolf imposed a sentence of deposition in accordance with the Canons of the Church.

Come to the BUDGET BLITZ April 1-4

Have you ever wondered what exactly the Diocese does with your Church's apportionment money? How much of our Diocesan budget is paid for by endowments? Where your church can go for financial advice?

Join the Bishop, Diocesan staff and members of the Diocesan Finance Committee to get some answers to your questions. We will be giving three presentations designed to let you know, transparently, how our Diocesan Finances have been put to work the past few years.

Come to learn about our current budget in preparation for the official hearings on our upcoming budget later this spring.

Wednesday, April 1
7-8pm at Emmanuel, Newport

Friday, April 3
7-8pm at St. Paul's, Wickford

Saturday, April 4
9-10am at the Cathedral of St. John

For more information e-mail Liz@episcopalri.org or call the Diocesan House at 401-274-4500

New "Did You Know" Video

Thanks to everyone who attended Convocation this weekend! As promised, I have posted the video I showed in my workshop here on the blog. You can find it just below the older version of the video, which Bishop Wolf showed at Clericus. click here to see it.

CONVOCATION

Thanks to all who came and made Convocation 2009 such a resounding success!

Our keynote speaker, The Rev'd Carol Anderson mentioned several resources which we will be making available.

Currently available is a Lenten Devotional Booklet, written by All Saints parishioners, and available on their website at:

http://www.allsaintsbh.org/lentenbooklet.html


Also, fill out the Convocation 2009 Feedback Form at the link below.
https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=7037b38c-d824-4351-911d-61c67a17ae33

when you are finished filling it out, click the submit button at the top of the form and your comments will be anonymously submitted to us!

Thank you all for a wonderful weekend!

RI in the NY Times: Smallest State Grapples With Oversize Problems

Here is some recommended reading from Bishop Wolf and Dean Krauss of the Cathedral of St John. It is an evocative article, recently published in The New York Times, presenting an outsider's perspective on the past and future of Rhode Island. Is it right on? Way off base? Illuminating? Misleading?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/us/01rhode.html

True or False, this is how Rhode Island is being presented to the world.

How do we as a faith community react?

Comments are welcome.

Nearly 10,000 hits in first day to IamEpiscopalian.org

[February 26, 2009] – In less than 24 hours, www.IamEpiscopalian.org – a website where people to share their stories - experienced nearly 10,000 hits.

“The great response to www.IamEpiscopalian.org shows that people want to share stories of how they have connected to our Church, and others want to hear them,” commented Anne Rudig, director of communication. “Lent is the obvious time to examine one's spiritual life and reconnect.”

IamEpiscopalian.org, which debuted Ash Wednesday, February 25, features dozens of video vignettes from people – representing the vast array of faces from throughout the country – to share the stories of what excites them about being an Episcopalian

“The traffic to IamEpiscopalian.org has been tremendous,” noted Mike Collins, director of digital communication. “It continued to climb throughout the day – so much so that now we are moving the site to a different server to accommodate the heavy load. Please bear with us as we continue to improve the user experience.”

Episcopalians are invited to submit a video to IamEpiscopalian.org, detailing their own faith story, and what excites them about being an Episcopalian. Video vignettes should be less than 90 seconds. To submit a video, follow the “upload” instructions on the right of IamEpiscopalian.org.

Collins added, “We look forward to expanding IamEpiscopalian.org as more videos are added throughout the Lenten season.”

"We also invite comments about IamEpiscopalian.org," Rudig said. "Tell us what you think."

Comments can be submitted to newsline@episcopalchurch.org.

IamEpiscopalian.org was developed by the Communication Office of The Episcopal Church.

"Did You Know?" YouTube Video

At Clericus this Monday, Bishop Wolf showed the following Youtube video about the ways in which the world is shifting, and asked all to think about what this could mean for the Episcopal Church.





The above video was made in 2006. The video below is an updated version made in 2008 by the same people. This video was shown in the Communications workshops at our Diocesan Convocation this year. Notice the colossal change in numbers over only 2 years!

A New Rector for St Peter's-By-the-Sea

On Tuesday January 27th, St Peter’s-By-the-Sea instituted The Rev. Casey Shobe, as Rector. The service was well attended; Casey’s family and friends, the Clergy of our diocese, and the congregants of St Peter’s packed the nave full of hope and excitement for the future of this new ministry. Casey was presented as a vibrant young answer to the prayers of that parish, and what was a rather large service felt as friendly and intimate as the candlelight reception which followed.

Casey Shobe was born in Virginia but was raised in central Texas, where his family still lives. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, he hiked over 1000 miles of the Appalachian Trail before returning to Texas to attend the University of Texas School of Law. A one year stint in law school ended when he recognized God’s call for him to pursue Holy Orders, followed by a year of discernment and three years at Virginia Theological Seminary. There he deepened his love for the church–liturgy, history, Bible, theology–and was also blessed to meet his wife, Melody, who was also a student pursuing Holy Orders from the Diocese of Virginia. They married after their second year in seminary, and following graduation in 2006 returned to Texas, where they have been serving in separate parishes since July of that year.

Casey has served as Priest Associate at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas, with ministry areas ranging from growing the 20/30s population, to directing the Cathedral’s communication department. At the Cathedral, a parish of over 3,000 members, Casey has had opportunities to learn about developing programs, supporting and empowering volunteers, managing staff, as well as preaching, teaching and presiding regularly. Melody has served as Assistant Rector at St. Thomas the Apostle in Nassau Bay, a suburb of Houston, and has been called to serve at Christ Church in Lincoln, Rhode Island, as Priest Associate.

Casey and Melody share a love of the outdoors, claiming cycling, hiking and gardening as favorite pastimes. In addition, Casey is an avid golfer and Melody has a growing list of fabric related hobbies: quilting, stitching and knitting. They love to travel, having made pilgrimages to Ireland, Ethiopia and Israel, and are actively seeking their next destination. They have a small dog named Susie.