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.

The Ordination of Susan M Carpenter

On Saturday, January 17th, at St John’s Barrington, Bishop Wolf ordained the Rev. Susan M Carpenter to the Sacred Order of Priests.

Susan was born in Providence, RI and grew up in Scituate, RI. She earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education from Rhode Island College. She previously worked in the Scituate School system as a sixth grade teacher. Recently, she has graduated from The General Theological Seminary in NYC with her Master of Divinity degree.

Susan is married to her high school sweetheart, Brian Carpenter, and they just celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. He owns Long Realty and is a specialist in selling country farms and acreage. They have two sons, Scott and Peter. Peter is married to Bethany Lawton and they are the parents of Nathan Bradford, born in July.

Susan and Brian lived in Glocester for 30 years on a 50 acre farm, and while the boys were young, she left teaching and opened “Cherry Valley Herb Farm”. She built a retail shop, greenhouse and display gardens where she taught classes and workshops on many herbal topics. She also founded and ran the RI Herb Festival, an annual event from 1998 – 2004.
Susan has been active for many years at her home parish of Trinity, North Scituate in many roles. She has been active in the wider church community in the Central Deanery as well as serving on the Diocesan Council and Executive Council.

Susan's personal interests include creating anything with glass –particularly stained glass— and making copper and glass jewelry. In addition to her fascination with all things herbal, She is interested in cooking amd traveling. Susan is also a voracious reader, as evidenced by her large collection of books and her Amazon.com statements!

Welcome Susan, and may God bless you in this monumental new phase of your ministry.

An Invitation from the Bishop

Come Hear About Our Companions, The Diocese of Ezo

Thank you for your prayers which sustained Tom and I as we journeyed to and from the Sudan. As many of you know we had quite a trip. While the frustration of cancelled flights and the challenges of no electricity or running water, and bumpy dirt roads will be part of our memories for a long time, the beauty of faithfulness offered by the people we met is already providing gifts of spiritual grace far more nourishing and thought provoking than any inconveniences we experienced.

We have many pictures and video images that bring to life the personalities and Christian joy of the people of the Diocese of Ezo, and we created a power point presentation that we wish to share with you, followed by some personal reflections.

Our first presentation will take place at the Church of the Epiphany, East Providence, where the light of Christ’s hospitality is leading so many to a new understanding of the Christian message and its call to faithful response. We will gather there at 4PM on Sunday, January 18th to share some of our experiences, and to suggest some ways that we might offer hope to the people of our new companion diocese.

After the presentation, a sample of typical southern Sudan food will refresh our bodies and give us yet another way of sharing fellowship with each other and with the life of the people of Ezo.

Some offerings may be brought with you. We hope to send the diocese the following:

• Black clergy shirts with tab collars. Some of our priests and deacons must have a few around.
  



• Contributions towards purchasing bicycles for parish priests, who walk many, many miles to make pastoral calls (ten miles is not unusual).




• Stoles and chasubles that you are no longer using, and maybe an alb. At Christmas they wore the two chasubles available; one black and one purple.

And then, looking toward the future, Bishop John Yawo and his assistant expressed a need for special assistance with education and communications. We will share with you some ideas for helping them help themselves in these areas.

Tom and I, and the people of Epiphany are very excited about our afternoon together and hope that you will join us.

--The Rt Rev. Geralyn Wolf, and Tom

Venue Change for the "30 Hour Famine" Planning Meeting for Youth Leaders

When: Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 7pm
Where: The Diocesan Resources Center, 275 N Main St, Providence RI 02903
(NOTE: event is no longer at St John's Barrington RI)

Information: Millenium Development Goal #1 was to eradicate extreme world Hunger and Poverty. What can we do? To start, a group of parish youth leaders will meet to join together in planning a Diocesan participation in World Vision's 30 hour famine for youth. Visit http://www.30hourfamine.org/ for more information on this nationwide fast. If you are a leader of youth in your parish, come to join our effort!

Contact: For more information about the meeting, contact Becky Gettel 245-4065, becky_stjbar@att.net or Mary Ann Kolakowski 274-4500 ext. 247 maryann@episcopalri.org.

Bishop returns from the Sudan

Bishop Wolf has returned safely from Sudan. The Sudan Debriefing will be led by Bishop Wolf and her husband Tom:

Sunday, January 18, 2009, 4:00pm
Church of the Epiphany, 1336 Pawtucket Avenue, Rumford, RI.

All are welcome to come and hear about their trip.