News sundries

I've had a whole list of updates sitting in my proverbial inbox for several weeks. Frankly, I have trouble motivating myself to post about the (alternately tedious and frustrating) developments in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church. You, dear reader, might like to know this stuff if you haven't followed it, so here goes...

• Ruth Gledhill, of the Times of London, has written An innocent's guide to things Anglican in the US, in which she describes the many and varied conservative groups at work in the US.
• There is progress in the development of a Covenant for the Anglican Communion. Lots of divergent view on this. Many people say that a Covenant is antithetical to Anglicanism, and others wish we had one now. Archbishop Rowan Williams says the Covenant, if one is developed, will take 5-10 years. +Rowan has announced the design group that will work on this Covenant. In England, an Evangelical group issued a proposed Covenant, and Inclusive Church issued a harsh response.
• David Roseberry, rector of Christ Church, Plano, which was one of the largest congregations in the Episcopal Church before it left the church, has written a letter about his experience at Lambeth Palace and cultural differences between the Church of England and the Episcopal Church. It's a helpful perspective, especially as some push for things to be done quickly and others say things are already going too fast.
• Our Presiding Bishop continues to gladden my heart. Here's the latest -- she prefers to be called Katharine, rather than a title laden with honorifics. Here's why.
• This is getting pretty old, but the BBC Thought for the Day on 21 November was by the Bishop of Southwark. He writes that we need to view gay people "as a blessing, not a problem." Amen.
• Meanwhile, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria won't even shake the hands of gay people.
• Speaking of less-than-ideal behavior, the churches in Virginia which are leaving have been trumpeting their ancient roots. Nearly every press release points out that George Washington was a member, etc. Turns it it might not be that simple -- they are old parishes, but not that old.
• Tired of "bad news" about our church? Here's a video of some good news.
  

Crunching the numbers

Sometimes it's interesting to look at how our church is doing. Spiritual condition is impossible to measure with spreadsheets and calculators, but we can learn quite a bit about our health by looking at some data. Here is some info.

Here is a PDF with average pledge per diocese. This one shows average Sunday attendance by diocese for the last 10 years. Want to see how your parish (or a particular diocese) is doing? Look it up here. Thanks to Ty Creason for sending out these links.

Congratulations Bishop Wolf

The news has spread like wildfire throughout the diocese - Bishop Wolf is getting married! Letters were mailed to clergy on Friday and an article was featured in the Providence Journal on Sunday.

Bishop Wolf and Thomas Charles Bair, Jr. are planning to be wed at the Cathedral of St. John on April 21st. Former presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, is slated to officiate.

To read the article from last Sunday's PROJO, click here.

New Year, New Roles

As of the New Year, I am the new Diocesan Communications Officer and Editor of RISEN. The Rev. Scott Gunn has done a wonderful job coaching me over the last year. His guidance has been greatly appreciated (and I will continue to keep him on speed-dial until he tells me to leave him alone).

Scott remains the "blogfather" - we all hope to see continued postings, commentary, photos and other insight as long as he is interested in providing it.

I will attempt to post more frequently as I run across bits of information that may be of interest to our community.

Dee is a greatly appreciated contributor to the blog. Her level of involvement in the church, her energy and perspective all make for a great voice that is much needed. I hope we see more from Dee is 2007.

Happy New Year to all -

New bulletin series to highlight MDGs

This past Diocesan Convention we voted to endorse the Millennium Development Goals. Some people may however not know anything about the Millennium Development Goals. The National Church is putting out a series of bulletins set to begin this Sunday - Jan 7 - highlighting the MDGs. The following is a section from the email that ENS (Episcopal News Service) sent out this morning regarding the series. The series has installments for the Sundays from January 7 to March 11.

The inserts, available in either English
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_11775_ENG_HTM.htm) or Spanish
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_80604_ENG_HTM.htm)

First among the mission priorities that the Episcopal Church adopted
(http://gc2006.org/legislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=261&type=CURRENT)
at its General Convention in June 2006 is justice and peace work,
framed by the MDGs -- an eight-prong declaration that has at its core
the eradication of extreme poverty by the target date of 2015.

"This church has said that our larger vision will be framed and shaped
in the coming years by the vision of shalom embedded in the Millennium
Development Goals -- a world where the hungry are fed, the ill are
healed, the young educated, women and men treated equally, and where
all have access to clean water and adequate sanitation, basic health
care, and the promise of development that does not endanger the rest
of creation," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said during
her November 4 investiture sermon
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_79214_ENG_HTM.htm). "That vision
of abundant life is achievable in our own day, but only with the
passionate commitment of each and every one of us."

Rowan's Christmas message: "The poorest deserve the best"

In his Christmas message this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, speaks of his recent visit to Palestine:

And what stuck in my mind and I’m sure the minds of my colleagues was a remark made by Dr Robert Tabash, the medical director as we stood over an incubator in the intensive ward. All of this was important, he said, simply because ‘the poorest deserve the best’ (I promised I would quote him today by name; it’s the least I can do to give him the honour he merits). ‘The poorest deserve the best’: when you hear that, I wonder if you can take in just how revolutionary it is. They do not deserve what’s left over when the more prosperous have had their fill, or what can be patched together on a minimal budget as some sort of damage limitation. And they don’t ‘deserve’ the best because they’ve worked for it and everyone agrees they’ve earned it. They deserve it simply because their need is what it is and because where human dignity is least obvious it’s most important to make a fuss about it. And – to put it as plainly as possible – this is probably the most radically unique and new thing in Christmas itself brings into the world.

Read the complete sermon for a brilliant reminder that Christmas is about more than presents or even remembering an ancient birth. It is about transforming our lives and our world today.

Susan Wrathall's Ordination

Last Saturday, Decemeber 16th, Susan Wrathall was Ordained a preist. The service was held at St. Paul's Pawtucket - where Susan serves as assistant to the rector - and was one of, if not the, coolest service I have ever been to. It was the first ordiantion that I have ever been to, and it was so cool and fun. Even almost a week later I am still having trouble artiulating the emotions felt. Regardless we are all very proud of Mother Susan, and wish her the best in her new ministry. Below are some of the pictures form the service. Other pictures can be found at http://web.mac.com/dtavolaro/iWeb/Site/Susan%27s%20Ordination.html

"The family is splitting up"

Once a week I drive down Mendon Road towards Nate Whipple Highway to go to my saxophone lesson. As I turn onto Nate Whipple Highway there is a white and blue sign with the Episcopal sheild on it, and under the sheild it says "The Episcopl Church Welcomes You". I personally believe that that saying is our greatest gift. Despite our differences we still gather once a week to recieve communion as a family. We respect each others difference, put our arguements aside and answer our weekly altar call. Recently, when I have been asked what I think about the Episcopal Church, I tell them the above story. I tell them that we are a church of no fine print and when we say "we welcome you" we mean it. I do not think that on these controversial issues we will ever all agree. We are human, adn we all see carrying out Christ's message in various ways. Lately we have begun to focused too much on our differences, and not enough on our similarities. We have lost sight on our common mission of loving our neighbor and working to bring Christ's light into this very dark world. When I tell people what the greatest thing about my church is, I tell them that despite our political and theological differences we all still share together in the Lord's table. Yet, those who have decided to leave have - in my opinion - decided that they can no longer put their differences aside and join us at the altar. I can't say if they are right or wrong, but I can say I feel that they are breaking our greatest tradition of all. So if those who left, those who are leaving, and those who will leave ever want to come back we will welcome them.

Some good humor

Over the past two days, it seems all people want to talk about is the split in the Episcopal Church. As we are all aware this is an extremely painful subject, that is difficult but necessary to tackle. This evening as I do every evening I got into bed to watch "The Daily Show With Jon Steward" This show is a moch news show that airs every night at 11pm on Comedy Central. Well this evening Jon Steward started his show by talking about the Episcopal Church and what is going on with the parishes in Virginia, and also U2charists. After having to listen to comments all day at school it was nice to get a good chuckle. Anyone interested in seeing this short segment title "Episcolypse Now" can do so by watching the Daily Show tomorrow (Decemeber 19th) at 8pm on Comedy Central. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to publish my actual thoughts on the current situation in the church. I also have some wonderful pictures form Susan Wrathall's ordination this past Saturday.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the video.

ONE Campaign

I have been meaning to post this for a while. A few weeks back, we were contacted by a staffer on the ONE Campaign (www.one.org) who asked if we would allow them to post our blog as one of the "Blogs Supporting ONE."

Allow them? What an honor!

So now the Blog of the Episcopal Diocese of RI is listed here: http://action.one.org/blog/

The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, volunteers, members and coalition partners.