Jonathan Daniels House Accepted into Episcopal Service Corps

An exciting hurdle has been crossed by the Diocese of Rhode Island’s Jonathan Daniels House (JDH) project, which aims to open a service-oriented intentional community for young adults. After three years of planning and preparing, last week JDH received official membership into the Episcopal Service Corps, a national network of over 25 Episcopal young adult service programs across the United States.

As an Episcopal Service Corps community, Jonathan Daniels House will draw upon a diverse group of young adults from across the country, and plans to welcome four young adults in August of 2014.  Participants will live together, work in service agencies embedded in local communities, and engage in vocational and spiritual discernment for a period of 10 months. They receive a modest stipend and are supported by a program director and mentors.

“We recognize that young people’s lives are formed by their experience in young adulthood – and that the service they provide will change them as well as those around them, said the Rt. Rev. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island. “They will bring energy, vision and ideas to us, and new hope to the people they serve.”

The next step forward for the JDH task force will be to hire a Program Director whose major work this spring will be to make arrangements with prospective service agencies, acquire housing, and prepare to welcome the first class of JDH participants. The JDH Task Force believes the support of the Episcopal Service Corps to be crucial as we work through these last tasks. 

The community is named after Jonathan Daniels, a martyr of the Civil Rights movement who engaged in ministry in Episcopal churches in South Providence. As a seminarian in the 1960s, Jonathan Daniels traveled south to help register African Americans to vote in Selma, Alabama. On that trip, Daniels was shot and killed while pushing a teenage girl out of harm’s way. 


The mission of Jonathan Daniels House is to honor Daniels by continuing the work of service, justice and reconciliation for which he lived and died. In the footsteps of Jonathan Daniels, participants will work with those in the margins for whom justice and access to basic human services is often difficult to achieve. 

By Ruth Meteer
Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island
Communications Director

St. Augustine's Feeds 80 URI Students and Friends, Monthly

Last night at their monthly "Feed a Friend" dinner St. Augustine's Church in Kingston fed 80 people, at least 40 of whom were current URI students. St. Augustine's is located on the URI campus, and started these "feed a friend dinners" last Shrove Tuesday when parishioners volunteered to cook students their favorite home cooked meal if they brought a friend. The first dinner had 5 students.

For St. Augustine's the jump in numbers is a great success. Over the past year they've made it their mission to better reach out to the college students around the church, to provide for their needs both spiritually and physically.

Early on they recognized that two major issues for the students are hunger during breaks (read how they've tackled hunger here) and homesickness. There's nothing like a home cooked meal to help with homesickness right?

At last night's dinner there was even a prospective URI student or two in attendance. Some of those who were visiting the campus that day had been sent to the dinner by the University's LGBTQ group. According to Deacon Jan Grinnell one student even said that he now really wants to come to URI. Knowing there is a loving, supportive Episcopal community on campus seems to have made a big impression.

It isn't just the students who's spirits are lifted by this ministry though. The whole congregation is feeling the joy of sharing and caring. Carol Miro, the parishioner who coordinated this last dinner, said in an email to Deacon Grinnell:

"So many contributed in so many ways and the energy in the room was palpable. Students and others are telling us how much  they feel unconditional love at St. A's.  We are acting on our mission!" 

This was the last "Feed a Friend" for 2013, since the students are moving toward exams and winter break. St. Augustine's says that the next one will be January 28th, and that the students have voted the meal to be "Soup and Stew".

A Homecoming: The Rev. Patrick Greene to be Priest-in-Charge of Sts. Matthew & Mark Church

The Vestry and Search Committee of Saints Matthew and Mark Church is pleased to announce that the Rev. Patrick Greene will join them as priest-in-charge beginning January 1, 2014. 

This will be a homecoming of sorts for Patrick Greene, who is a native Rhode Islander and grew up in Barrington attending St. John's Episcopal Church. In 2002 he graduated from Barrington High School, and in 2006 he received his BA degree, Summa Cum Laude, in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Rhode Island. St. John's sponsored him through the ordination process, and he received his Masters in Divinity from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 2010.

Since his graduation the Rev. Greene has been Assistant to the Rector at St. Paul’s Church in Wickford. He describes his ministry in this way: “As a priest in the Episcopal Church I seek to serve Christ through a sacramental life by sharing God’s love for his creation, so that empowered by these signs of God’s love and grace we may join in bringing about the Kingdom of God in the world around us.” 

Saints Matthew and Mark extensively interviewed Patrick and believes that they have found the perfect candidate for their priest. They announced "Patrick is deeply spiritual, knows Rhode Island and the Barrington community well, is gifted in pastoral care, will be a calming presence and a strong leader, and will be an enthusiastic and welcoming presence in our church and the surrounding community." 

Patrick and his wife of one year, Carmen, are eager to join Saints Matthew and Mark, and delighted with the prospect of living in the beautifully restored rectory. 

Saints Matthew and Mark will formally welcome their new Priest-in-Charge at the 8 am and 10 am Communion services on Sunday January 5, with a welcoming reception after the 10 a.m. service. 

Meanwhile, if you would like to write welcoming Patrick and Carmen to their new Ministry, you may write to them at 47 Church Lane, North Kingstown, RI 02852 or by email. 

Watch Bishop Knisely's 2013 Convention Address

Missed our 2013 Diocesan Convention? Watch the Bishop's Address to catch up on what has happened in our diocese in the last year, and hear where we are headed in the next. This slideshow movie is made from the Keynote presentation Bishop Knisely gave for this year's Bishop's Address.

You can watch the whole movie for the full effect of the presentation,  or dial in to an update on a particular topic at these timestamps:

• Bishop's vision for the Diocese 1:03 
• Presentation of our new diocesan logo 8:26 
• The Cathedral of St. John 11:00 
• Same sex blessings 14:19 
• Changes to the Organization of the Bishop's Office 16:32 
• Episcopal Conference Center 18:32 
• San Jorge's requests Mission status 20:05 
• St. John's on the Point restarts as a Mission 21:19 
• Young Adult Ministry 22:14 
• Ministry to those with Autism 23:28 
• Expanding Hispanic Ministry 24:46 
• Presentation of the 2013 Anchor of Hope Award 25:53