A Letter to Rhode Island from the Presiding Bishop

October 13, 2009

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

Dear brothers and sisters in Rhode Island:

I continue to give thanks for your commitment to mission, and for the faithful leadership and ministry of Bishop Wolf.

I know that economic issues are challenging you, as they are many others, across the United States and the world. Parish and diocesan budgets have been affected both by changed employment and unemployment realities, and even more so by the poor performance of investments in the last two years. The Episcopal Church as a whole is also suffering because of these economic challenges.

I understand from your bishop that the vast majority of your congregations have worked sacrificially to make sure that the work of the larger church goes forward, both through your individual congregations' diocesan giving, and together through your 21% contribution to The Episcopal Church. Your generosity has greatly aided the mission work of the larger church in this country and around the world. Your ability to share what God has given you has helped to provide for Episcopal chaplains for our troops in Iraq, salaries for priests in places like Mexico and Liberia, resettling refugees from war-torn places like Sudan, and the education of children in all parts of our Church. I am deeply grateful for your faithful support of so many ways in which the whole Church serves God's people.

It would be easy in times of economic duress to play it safe, and to think only of our own needs. Yet Jesus calls us to the risk of loving our neighbors, nearby and far away. In times of suffering we must work even harder to put the needs of others before our own, to be the Good Samaritan, to remember that we are our brothers' and sisters' keeper, and that it is always "more blessed to give than to receive." When you gather together in your Diocesan Convention, I pray that you will continue your partnership in God's mission, both locally and throughout the world.

I give thanks for your creative leadership, your sustaining ministry, and your engagement in mission on behalf of "the least of these" (Marthew 25). I remain

Your servant in Christ,