Episcopal Charities is Now Taking Online Donations

The Episcopal Charities Fund of Rhode Island has moved into the 21st Century this week, to help you help others as quickly as possible when the need arises! Online donations are now live at www.episcopalri.org/charities.

Whether you want to help Rhode Islanders who struggle daily to make ends meet, or to contribute towards saving lives and healing in the wake of a disaster such as the recent earthquake in Haiti, you can now put your dollars to work for a higher cause in an instant.

Visit www.episcopalri.org/charities for more information about Episcopal Charities, and keep an eye out for the donate button which appears on the lefthand side of each page. Or, if you are feeling generous at the moment you can simply click the button here and now. Thanks and God bless.

eRISEN, The Latest Issue

You can view the latest issue of eRISEN, our biweekly email events calendar, at the link below:
eRISEN February 8th 2010 issue
 
Want to sign up to the eRISEN mailing list? Want to submit your event? Just visit our website

REGISTER NOW for Diocesan Convocation 2010; A Day with Reggie McNeal

Saturday, Feb. 27th, 9AM-3PM

The Marriott Hotel, One Orms Street, Providence, RI

All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Use the form at the bottom of this page to Register Online by February 19th! Buffet lunch is included in the registration fee.

Reggie McNeal is an acclaimed author and lecturer who challenges Christian leaders to re-think the way we live into our missions and congregational development.

At this year's Diocesan Convocation, Reggie will be spending the entire day with us discussing his latest two books. The Present Future: Six tough Questions for the Church raises questions about why we do church the way we do and whether or not it works. Missonial Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church follows up on the questions raised in "The Present Future", and details the three shifts that church leaders must make to engage the missional movement. It offers suggestions for a different scorecard to reflect missional ministry. Follow the above links to read googlebooks' extensive excerpts, for a taste of what Reggie will be speaking about. Googlebooks will also give you links to buy Reggie's books from your favorite online retail store.

Reggie received his M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees both from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has over a decade of experience as a Church leadership development coach, has himself served in congregational leadership for more than twenty years, and has lectured or taught as adjunct faculty for multiple seminaries, including Fuller Theological Seminary.

Come prepared for a revolutiounary outlook on our future as a church. This is a day not to be missed! Register online using the widget below, or by clicking here.

Benefit Concert: Music and Prayers for Haiti

Come hear powerful music performed by the Choirs of Grace Church, Providence, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pawtucket and St Paul's Episcopal Church in Wickford. The evening will also feature the prayers and comments of Sister Marie-Claire, a Hatian member of the Sisters of St. Margaret. The Sisters lost their convent building in the earthquake, but are alive and pressing on with their ministry in this especially difficult time.

All are invited to Attend, and all donations are welcome.

Proceeds will benefit the earthquake relief initiatives of Episcopal Relief & Development and The Society of St. Margaret In Haiti.

Checks should be made payable to "The Episcopal Charities Fund of Rhode Island", Noting “Haiti relief” on the memo line.

Visit www.facebook.com/episcopalri  to RSVP for the event and see more details

Meningitis Outbreak in Ezo

Friends,

This week we received an email from Levi, the person with whom we have regular contact for messages, mail and planning with our brothers and sisters in Ezo. It was a difficult email to read, because he told us of a medical crisis and illness in the area which is killing and frightening many people. Our hearts are deeply saddened by this news. In response to this email, Tom Bair, co-chair of the Companion Diocese Committee quickly contacted Janette O’Neill from Episcopal Relief and Development. This is what he informed Committee Members after that conversation.

Dear Fellow Committee Members

I spoke today to Janette O'Neill of ERD. They are aware of the crisis medical situation in Ezo. Her sources have told her that the medical condition that is causing these deaths is meningitis. She explains that there is nothing that anyone can do, save flying to Ezo with bales of penicillin.

I am afraid that there is little that we can offer beyond prayer on this one.


I have communicated to Levi our concern and that we are doing what we can. I will inform him also that Janette O'Neill is aware of the situation.

Thanks
Tom Bair


Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Ezo.
-The Companion Diocese Committee

Episcopal Church in Haiti: Your Prayers and Aid Needed

[1.15.2010]

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti who now need our aid more than ever, in the wake of Tuesday’s 7.0 magnitude quake.

Recent estimates indicate that the quake has affected one in three Haitians, or about three million people. Casualties are expected to reach the tens of thousands, possibly even the hundreds of thousands. Roads and other infrastructure of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, including the cathedral and Diocesan offices, are in ruins and the situation on the ground is dire.

As Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement Wednesday morning, “Even under ‘normal’ circumstances Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development”.

Haiti is also the largest and fastest-growing diocese in The Episcopal Church. There are over 83,000 Episcopalians, over 100 Episcopal Churches, and over 200 Episcopal schools in Haiti.

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has a long-standing partnership with the growing Episcopal Church there, and is committed to providing care to the Haitian people under normal circumstances, as well as in this new wave of devastation.

ERD has already disbursed emergency funding to help the diocese of Haiti meet immediate needs for shelter, food and water, and “stands ready to support their ongoing recovery as they rebuild their ministries" according to Rob Radtke, President of ERD. "As communication improves and recovery plans develop, Episcopal Relief & Development will continue to provide updates."

So far we know the Episcopal Church in Haiti has lost a cathedral, the Society of St. Margaret Convent, Holy Trinity Complex, College St. Pierre, and a Jubilee Center. The Bishop is alive, but has no place to live. The four missionaries are all accounted for - Mallory Holding, Jude Harmon, Oge Beauvoir and his wife Serette. The three sisters of St. Margaret who were at the convent are also alive, unhurt, and doing what they can to help in the football field of what used to be College St. Pierre.

How can Rhode Island help?

• Join us for “Music and Prayers for Haiti; A Benefit for Earthquake Relief” at 4pm on Sunday January 24th at the Cathedral of St. John, 271 North Main Street, Providence, RI. The evening will include music from a variety of Episcopal Choirs and brief comments from two Haitian speakers. Donation offerings will be collected, make all checks out to Episcopal Charities, with “Haiti” noted on the Memo line. Email liz@episcopalri.org for more information. All proceeds will go to the earthquake relief initiatives of Episcopal Relief & Development and the Society of St. Margaret in Haiti.

Recommended Places to Donate:

• Donate to Episcopal Relief & Development online at https://www.er-d.org/donate-select.php  or by calling 800-334-7626 ext 5129. ERD has a four star rating on Charity Navigator and meets all 20 standards of the Better Business Bureau.

• Donate to The Episcopal Charities of Rhode Island’s Haiti Fund by calling (401)-274-4500 x234 peggy@episcopalri.org

• Donate to the Sisters of St. Margaret, http://www.ssmbos.com/Pages/Haiti.html  or mail a check to The Society of St. Margaret, 17 Highland Park Street, Boston, MA 02119

Raise Awareness in your parish and beyond:

• Place a link to Episcopal Relief & Development on your congregation's home page. http://www.er-d.org/

• Check for updates on the Haiti page on Episcopal Relief & Development website http://www.er-d.org/HaitiEarthquakeResponse  and our Diocesan blog www.episcopalri.blogspot.com

• Share this information on Sunday and in your bulletin inserts. Bulletin inserts from Episcopal Relief & Development are available in both Spanish and English. http://www.er-d.org/BulletinInsertsCT/

• Please do not encourage anyone to travel to Haiti, as priority must be given to first responders and a few relief agencies so as not to over-burden the already compromised infrastructure.

Thank you for all that you do in our Church.

Peace,
Ruth Meteer
Communications Officer
The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island

The Latest eRISEN: December 21st

You can view the latest issue of eRISEN, our biweekly email events calendar, at the link below:
eRISEN December 21st 2009 issue
 
Want to sign up to the eRISEN mailing list? Want to submit your event? Just visit our website

Photos From This Year's Advent Confirmations

Visit the link below to view an online photo album from this year's Advent Confirmation at the Cathedral of St. John on December 5th.

www.facebook.com/episcopalri
(don't worry, you can view them even if you aren't a facebook member!)

The Importance of Youth Services, by Ian Holliday

Back in my freshman year of high school, my parish youth group received a flyer not unlike this one, advertising something called a "diocesan youth service" at St. John's in Barrington. We weren't entirely sure what a "diocesan youth service" was, but we had been looking for more things to do as a group, and this sounded like it was our kind of scene, so we decided to check it out. There were easily 50 people there, most of them teenagers, and they had come from all over the diocese. We sang "Pharaoh Pharaoh," to the tune of "Louie Louie," listened to a sermon delivered by a copiously pierced and tattooed young man, and we ate actual bread for communion. It still stands out in my mind as one of the best formal church services I've ever been to.

Though this was the only youth service my youth group attended, they were actually a regular occurrence in this diocese in the late 90's and early 2000's, and I have many friends who remember them fondly and wonder why they stopped happening. That's not to say people stopped organizing youth events in the diocese. There have always been young people getting together around Rhode Island to do cool Episcopal things, and there probably always will be. But there's a difference between a youth event and a youth service.

I've always perceived a divide between parish-level youth activities and diocese-wide events, and when I was in high school, it seemed like neither had much to do with the other. The youth group centered around the shared experience of going to church together, and while we certainly did other things, we all approached the group from that common background. What was so interesting and important about the concept of a diocesan youth Eucharist is that it extended that familiar experience of going to church together into the larger youth community. It bridged the gap between going to your own church on Sundays and going to ECC or Happening a couple of times each year, and did so in a friendly, relatable way.

Well, at least for the night of December 20, they're back! Happening of Rhode Island is organizing a youth service for 5 p.m. at St. Matthews in Barrington. The goal is to create another opportunity for the Happening community to meet outside of the two Happening weekends each year, but Mark Sidla, one of the event's organizers, said they could be seen as a continuation of the youth service tradition he used to be a part of.

"In high school ... they were another event in which we were able to meet and enjoy our christian family. Another network in which we could share God's love through each other as well as an
oppurtunity for us to choose litergy and music etc."

In that vein, the service on the 20th is open to everyone, including Happeners, non-Happeners, and even parents. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Sidla (401-636-1946, mark.sidla@gmail.com ) or Harold Guise (401-481-9642, hguise@mail.uri.edu ).

Visit our  facebook event page to see who is coming and let your friends know you are!

Projo article on Bishop John's visit

Providence Journal Staff writer Richard Dujardin wrote an article for the December 5th issue, about Bishop John's visit to RI. It was titled "In R.I., bishop tells of Ugandan guerillas’ reign of terror in Southern Sudan" and you can read the full story as well as leave your comments here:

http://www.projo.com/news/content/sudan_bishop_12-05-09_USGMJ60_v8.398ba38.html

CORRECTION NOTE: Mr. Dujardin interviewed Bishop Zawo on the fourth day of his LAST week here, not his only week here. Bishop Zawo was actually in RI from November 8th until December 7th 2009, nearly one month.