General Convention: Deputy Reflections on July 4th

By The Rev. Bill Locke, Chair of the Rhode Island Deputation to General Convention

General Convention doesn’t officially start until Thursday, July 5, but the Rhode Island deputation has already been hard at work.  The first task was to have dinner together once all had arrived on the 3^rd. Joining with Bishop Wolf and Tom Bair, Bishop Joslin, the women of the ECW, and Liz Crawley – who keeps us all organized – it was an essential team building exercise. More seriously, it was probably the last leisurely meal for the next ten days.

Those of us who are assigned to committees began the 4^th of July with 8:00 am meetings; others were off tracking issues of interest.  However, we all convened at meeting rooms F and G at 11:30 am for the meeting of Committee #7: Consecration of Bishops. There, Scott Avedesian, RI Standing Committee President, presented our Bishop-elect. Dean Knisely then addressed the Committee, followed by support from Bishop Wolf.  The result? A unanimous vote to recommend approval of Bishop-elect Knisely to be the next Bishop of Rhode Island.  That recommendation will come to the floor of the House of Deputies – perhaps as early as the 5^th – for a final vote.

The rest of the day sped by: addresses from the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies, orientation session, committee hearings until 7:00 pm.

The Episcopal Church has gathered. Even the third time around, it is an impressive and encouraging thing to see the church in its fullness. We so easily spend most of our church lives in our parish settings, not connecting all that well to neighboring congregations, let alone the larger diocese. Now comes General Convention to remind us that the Episcopal Church is Black and Hispanic, Native American, White, Asian, poor, wealthy, old, young (although it’s frightening that I am apparently in the younger group of deputies)...

Encouraging, too, is the commitment to prayer and attentiveness to God.  It can be easy to criticize General Convention, and our structures and patterns will get a tougher than usual examination this time, I think – and rightly so.  But it is also true that this is a group of people seeking to be faithful and to do the best for God’s church. In the midst of the arcane details, the fussiness, the sometimes downright silliness, in the midst of 71 Rules of Order with multiple sub-sections, there stands Rule Number One: “…following the example of primitive Councils,

a copy of the Holy Scriptures shall always be reverently placed in view at the meetings of this House”. Not a bad way to begin.

From Bishop Wolf: RI Free Clinic Needs Bilingual Spanish Volunteers

Bishop Wolf received this urgent email request for bilingual volunteers, and would like to pass the request on to you. This is a chance for you to put your God given gifts and abilities to use, to heal the sick. Just pick up a 3-4 hour clinic shift, and you will help make a difference for uninsured adults in Rhode Island.

Bilingual Spanish/English Volunteers Needed Do you speak Spanish and could spend a few hours helping uninsured adults seeking medical assistance? If yes, then we need your help at the RI Free Clinic. Rhode Island Free Clinic is a community-based non-profit organization located on Broad Street in south Providence offering free medical care, and diagnostic and specialty services to thousands of adults without health insurance. The Clinic relies on volunteer doctors, medical assistants, social workers and patient services translators and receptionists to provide comprehensive health care to uninsured patients five days and two nights a week, year round. Presently, BILINGUAL RECEPTIONISTS and INTERPRETERS are needed for 3 to 4 hour shifts throughout the summer. The majority of the Clinic's adult patients are Spanish speakers and need help communicating with the Clinic's predominately English speaking health care providers. If you speak Spanish and could lend a hand for one or more clinic shifts please click: SIGN UP TO HELP. Your help is vitally important to fulfilling health care services to hundreds of uninsured adults who suffer from poor health. Sincerely, Bernie Beaudreau Executive Director Serve Rhode Island 401.331.2298 P.S. For more info about RI Free Clinic, go to: http://www.rifreeclinic.org/

Reflections and Impressions from our Bishop-Elect

Today’s post is another in a series of reflections and impressions from people who have been participating in our transition, posted at www.episcopalrisearch.org. This post is from the Very Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely, our Bishop-Elect.

After the reality of the news of my election to come and serve among you sunk in, I’ve begun to think hard about what the next few months are going to be like. The immediate tasks – acquiring the necessary documentation for the consent hearings at General Convention, writing thank-you notes, returning phone calls – filled the first two weeks. But now the rush of the urgent is over, and I’m relishing the time I have to think and pray.

Karen and I are starting to plan our move. I think we’re going to be staying in May House in North Kingstown, at least initially, when we arrive in Rhode Island this September. We’ll be keeping our home here in Arizona, both because our daughter is staying here to continue her studies in Digital Design (she’s changed her major from Physics) and in hopes that the market will get back to a point here in Phoenix where we’ll be able to sell the house without having to take a large loss. We’re both grateful that the Diocese is willing to let us live in diocesan property. It makes the transition much easier for all of us.

Speaking of being grateful, let me say how great a debt we all owe to the Search & Nomination Committee members and me in particular to them and the Transition Committee members. Together, these groups, along with the oversight team, have done a wonderful job in helping make this one of the smoothest transitions I’ve ever witnessed. I’m grateful, too, to Bishop Wolf and her staff for working with all of us, and myself in particular in allowing the few months to be what I believe will be an important time of getting to know each other.

My hope is that, when I arrive in Rhode Island, you’ll let me visit you informally on Sundays and weekdays. I’m going to have to learn where all the congregations are, start to create relationships with the clergy and lay leadership, and start listening to what you want to share about your dreams for the future. A few of you have already invited me to participate in some formal events, and I’ve happily accepted. If there are other invitations, it would make life much easier for all of us if you’d be willing to coordinate those through Liz Crawley, the assistant to Bishop Wolf. I know there are some formal meetings that must take place, and I imagine that the office knows when those will be happening and will be able to avoid any calendar conflicts. (I’m still working on getting up to speed on a new calendar.)

Moving has been, in my experience, an excellent time to take stock, to reflect, to make decisions about what to bring and what to leave behind. I think that work, both spiritually and practically speaking, will be my focus these next few months. I’m working on leaving behind some people here in Arizona who are very dear to me and our family. I want to savor those goodbyes so that by leaving well, they are ready for the next phase of their corporate ministry.
I’m very much looking forward to savoring our hellos as well.

Please do keep us in your prayers as this time of transition begins in earnest. You are all daily in my prayers.

Nick +

Learn More About Our Bishop Elect

Originally posted by Dave Seifert at www.episcopalrisearch.org

As you likely know by now, the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island elected the Very Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely, dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, Ariz., as its 13th bishop at a special electing convention June 2. He was elected on the first ballot.

Now you can learn more about our bishop-elect in a special booklet as well as on the bishop-elect page of www.episcopalrisearch.org . It includes information distributed at our walkabout in May as well as the text of a “letter to the people of Rhode Island” that Nick wrote in April. Watch for more information about and from our bishop-elect between now and the November ordination service.

You can read Bishop Elect Knisely's Entangled States blog and can contact him at:

nick@wnknisely.org

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
100 W. Roosevelt St.
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Rhode Island Elects 13th Bishop on First Ballot

Around noon today at St. Paul's Episcopal church in Pawtucket RI, Clergy and elected lay representatives from the 51 churches that make up the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island voted to elect the Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely as the diocese’s 13th bishop.

There was a late start to the balloting process due to technical difficulties setting up the audio visual equipment in the front of the church after the Eucharist, but in the end the delay was of no consequence. Knisely was elected on the very first ballot, from a slate of five nominees.

Knisely, 51, is dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, Ariz. (Diocese of Arizona).  On the first ballot he received 64 votes of 111 cast in the lay order and 47 of 88 cast in the clergy order, which gave him the majority in both orders. Read more below about Bishop-Elect Knisely or go to the transition blog where the Nominee Profile booklet and a letter from Knisely to the diocese are posted.

First-Ballot Results

Nominee	Clergy	Lay
The Rev. Kurt Dunkle	9	15
The Rev. Cathy George	1	6
The Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely	47	64
The Rev. Ledlie Laughlin	27	20
The Rev. Jennifer Pedrick	4	6

There was much joy in the announcement of Knisely's election, the applause and cheering were raucous. Knisely then spoke a few words to RI from a cell phone held to the Honorable Scott Avedesian's microphone, and before he hung up the attendees of the election all sang Knisely's favorite hymn back to him, a joyous congratulation and welcome.

Before Bishop Elect Knisely officially becomes the Bishop of Rhode Island, he must receive consent from representatives of other dioceses in the wider church and must be ordained by the presiding bishop. Because the election occurred close in time to the 77th meeting of the General Convention in July, Episcopal Church canons provide for the required consents to be sought from the bishops and deputies at that convention.

Assuming that consent is received, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is scheduled to ordain Knisely as bishop Nov. 17 at St. George’s School in Middletown. The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, will retire at that time.

Prior to becoming dean of the cathedral in Phoenix, Knisely was rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, PA. During his tenure there, he also served as an adjunct instructor in physics and astronomy at Lehigh University. Knisely had previously served as rector of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Brackenridge, PA, and curate at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Wilmington, DE.

Knisely is a 1982 graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Physics with an emphasis in Astronomy. In 1987, he earned a Master of Science in Theoretical Physics from the University of Delaware; he has completed “all but dissertation” for a doctoral degree in Experimental Chemical Physics from that same institution. He completed a Certificate of Anglican Studies at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and a Master of Divinity degree in 1991 from Yale Divinity School.

He is married to Karen McTigue Knisely, who works as a database manager for a non-profit Hospice. They have a daughter who is 18 and one who died at the age of two. He enjoys spending as much time as possible outdoors, walking and hiking, bicycling, playing golf and occasionally cross-country skiing or sailing. He is an avid reader.

Electing Convention: Bishop Wolf's Sermon

June 2nd, 2012

In the fullness of God’s grace, we gather together this first Saturday in June, to elect the thirteenth bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island.

With sincere and deep gratitude to the untiring efforts of the Search Committee, and the ongoing work of the Transition Committee, we have five highly capable and well-qualified nominees. There is a wonderful sense of energy

of excitement and expectation in the air, and I pray that you will vote with confidence for the person you believe will best lead our diocese in the years ahead.  I know that Jesus is with us now, praying for us, and deeply present in the heart of each of our nominees.

As stated in the profile, the challenges to this diocese demand visionary leadership. However, visionary leadership demands a visionary community, filled with people willing to answer with boldness Jesus’ enduring invitation: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Visionary leadership requires passionate, committed, and Spirit-filled followers willing to let go of self-interest in the service of the Good News.

Indeed, all of our nominees possess the gifts to grow into Episcopal ministry, but they will need the support of everyone in the diocese. Today’s election is only the beginning, for it us up to every person to take part in the development and implementation of the mission and ministry that you claim together.

The Church is at a wonderful crossroads:  just enough tension to inspire taking some risks; just enough financial insecurity to be creative; just enough healthy anxiety for something new and unexpected to emerge.

Within the wider Church the Diocese of Rhode Island is on the threshold of an exciting future. Why? Because we are well on our way to right-sizing, and we have a wonderful cadre of younger priests who with our more seasoned clergy bring the vitality and creative imagination that are the ingredients for new life. I am equally convinced that many of our church members are read to discover and live out their Christian calling with greater intensity and commitment. The next bishop will share with you in the challenges, and rejoice with you in the new life that is sure to come.

In a few hours, we will know the name of the bishop-elect. He or she will need a generous amount of time to get to know you, our churches, and the workings and ministry of our diocese.

The bishop-elect, will be ordained to the Episcopate on November 17^th of this year. In the course of the liturgy, I will place in his or her hands the crozier, one of the great symbols of the Episcopal office, and we will have a new diocesan bishop.

Take a few deep breaths, my friends, surrender to the power of God’s Holy Wisdom guiding your hearts and minds for the good of the diocese and the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Let the Holy Spirit reveal to you your bishop and companion in Christ’s ministry, someone with whom you will grow in trust, someone you are willing to make a great bishop and an even stronger diocese.

Bishop Search: Walkabout Videos

Approximately 400 Episcopalians attended the Walkabout on Saturday May 12th, to meet our nominees for Bishop in preparation for the June 2nd election.  It was a bright sunny day at beautiful St. Andrew's school, and there was much excitement in the air about all five of our nominees.
At lunch we all sat around tables or on the plush lawn chatting about the day, and the concensus seemed to be that Rhode Island will have an exciting future, whichever candidate wins. It will be a very hard choice, and that is a wonderfully hopeful problem to have.

If you couln't attend the Walkabout or just want to review what was said, here are some videos from the day:
Plenary session
The Rev. Kurt Dunkle
The Rev. Cathy George
The Rev. Ledlie Laughlin
The Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely
The Rev. Jennifer Pedrick

Breakout sessions
The Rev. Kurt Dunkle
The Rev. Cathy George
The Rev. Ledlie Laughlin
The Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely
The Rev. Jennifer Pedrick

Providence Preservation Society to announce the 2012 Endangered Property list at the Cathedral of St. John

On Tuesday, May 8 at 11:30 a.m., The Providence Preservation Society (PPS) will hold a press conference to announce its 2012 Ten Most Endangered Properties List. The event will take place inside the 1810 Episcopal Cathedral of St. John at 271 North Main Street in Providence. Built by architect John Holden Greene to replace an earlier wood-frame structure, the building was designated as the episcopal seat in 1929. In late April, the Episcopal diocese suspended services at the Cathedral due, in part, to the high cost of maintaining the building. The Cathedral has been on the Most Endangered Properties List every year since 2007.

Significant historic properties can become endangered for various reasons, including deterioration, neglect, insufficient funds for maintenance, adverse public policy, and inappropriate development, which are just some of the threats to our architectural heritage. Since 1994, PPS has sought to bring attention to threatened structures through its Ten Most Endangered Properties List.  Recent Lists have reflected the additional threats of continuing recession: foreclosure, low occupancy, and a lagging market.

Each year, PPS compiles a list of the Ten Most Endangered Properties in Providence from nominations made by community members. Most buildings on the annual Lists represent notable aspects of local community life and character. The List’s purpose is to generate interest in, and support for, the preservation of these significant structures; to educate the public about the benefits of historic preservation and the unique architectural resources in our city; and to foster creative collaboration among property owners, developers and other interested parties to bring about positive changes in each property.

The Ten Most Endangered Properties is one of the Providence Preservation Society’s best-known programs. This year’s list is varied, including early twentieth-century commercial buildings, neighborhood landmarks, reminders of industrial heritage, and publicly and privately owned buildings. The listings represent diverse architectural typologies, styles, and periods of history. All of the listed properties offer opportunities for rehabilitation to help preserve the historic fabric of the city.

The press conference will be open to the public, and all are welcome. Please respond to Paul Wackrow at (401) 831-7440 or pwackrow@ppsri.org

The mission of the Providence Preservation Society, founded in 1956, is to improve the quality of life in the city of Providence through historic preservation and enhancement of the built environment.

Letters From the Bishop Nominees: The Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely

Today’s post is the fifth of five this week (one each day, in no particular order) that are “letters to the people of Rhode Island” from the nominees for bishop. Today’s letter is from the Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, Ariz. Keep an eye on www.episcopalrisearch.org for more information.

Dear friends,

 When I read your profile, the most exciting part was the description of the people of the diocese as being “dedicated, big-hearted and fun.” For me, ministry is accomplished fundamentally in community and undergirded by strong, vibrant relationships. A group of Christian people who describe themselves as you do, gives me great hope for the future. My delight was that in meeting the Search & Nomination Committee, the description of you as a talented people was not only not an exaggeration, it didn’t go far enough!

The challenges facing the diocese, the Episcopal Church and all faith communities right now are enormous. What worked well for us 50 years ago is no longer effective. We’re not exactly sure what we’re to do as we move into a new era that many of us were not expecting. The basic models we’ve used to create church communities are financially strained, some of the language we use no longer makes sense and structures that have worked for hundreds of years are failing us. We seem to be living in a moment when a new paradigm for ministry and diocesan life is emerging.

The leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island whom I have met, lay and ordained, have been bright, dedicated, thoughtful and wise. I know that if there were simple answers to the challenges facing the church they would have found them. But there are no simple answers. This is a difficult and sometimes bleak moment in our journey toward the fullness of the reign of God.

If I didn’t believe in the creativity of the Holy Spirit and power of the gathered Christian community to respond, I would lose hope. But I have personally seen again and again the ability of a broad, diverse community of servant leaders to create new wineskins for new times. Our denomination’s history is full of stories of people who have shared the timeless truth of the gospel in new ways and by so doing have reinvigorated the church’s witness.

The church is in a moment its life when I believe we have to commit to “talking with each other for as long as it takes for the ‘real talking’ to begin.” That’s going to require patience. and it’s going to require endurance, tolerance and humor. Those qualities are all present in your voices within the bishop search profile and among the people I have met from the Diocese of Rhode Island.

The physical size of Rhode Island is both its greatest asset and its greatest challenge. By focusing positively on your ability to create a genuine, inclusive and broad Jesus-centered community, I believe you have the best chance of anywhere in the church to find a way forward together. My sense of call to Rhode Island is deeply connected to my desire to help make that happen, and to see where God would lead.

You are daily in my prayers as you discern your own call to your common ministry.

 Nick

Letters from the Bishop Nominees: The Rev. Kurt Dunkle

Today’s post is the fourth of five this week (one each day, in no particular order) that are “letters to the people of Rhode Island” from the nominees for bishop. Today’s letter is from the Rev. Kurt Dunkle, rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Orange Park, Fla. (near Jacksonville).

To the faithful in Rhode Island:
A week or so ago, we spoke powerful words for the first time in months:

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

It was a joyful reminder of the reality of resurrection after a long, somber season of Lent. Remembering the reality of then; proclaiming the reality of now.

Jesus tried to tell his disciples about this reality many times. But again and again, they did not understand. Even when the faithful women told of the empty tomb, most had to see to be convinced. Resurrection became real only when they saw Jesus. Touched him. Ate with him. Words had to become flesh to be real.

Your profile described the diocese well: roots … tradition … history … richness … decline … concern … transition on all levels. That truth-telling was so appealing. It sparked my interest: Your needs and what I have already done in our diocese and at my parish seem to meet. Yet, I yearned for your words to take on flesh. As with the disciples, only the human touch made that rumor of resurrection live. Meeting with your Search & Nomination Committee members was the start of transforming those words into voices.

Now, as I have gotten to know you, my hunch is being confirmed and something new is coming to light.

First, it is becoming clear that there are real solutions to every one of Rhode Island’s challenges. Really. I know because I have been a part of it happening in my own ordained life. Twice!

For you, a closing cathedral opens the door to the newly imagined. What Christians wouldn’t want a prominent platform for transformational ministry already in place smack in the middle of a capital city? Around the state, available pews mean ready space for the thousands just waiting for the Good News as only the Episcopal Church can engage all our senses to make the story come alive. Moving from “tipping” to tithing becomes real when dry bones take on flesh, and flesh takes on breath, and that breath breathes vision. Remember: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Managing decline in a healthy and positive way may be a valuable and desirable skill, but not for me. I’m not interested in managing decline, however executed. Rather, by getting to know you, I see growth in fallow fields. New people where the emptiness of silence now resides. I see the diocesan seal come alive: the anchor of Christ blooming forth in hope. Hope unfolding in Rhode Island.

But, something new is emerging alongside my hunch of fix-ability; there are many things in the diocese that simply need support and love to continue to bloom. From a few days spent touring your diocese “under the radar,” so to speak, it is also clear that so much is well and beautiful. For that, the fertilizer of episcopal love and support is what is needed. It will be exciting to see those flowers continue to bloom, too.

You said in your profile “we are Easter people.” Alleluia! Meeting you furthers my conviction that resurrection is real and ready to be embraced. But, because words can only go so far, I so look forward to meeting more of you. Heck, I want to meet all of you! I hope you are looking forward to meeting me and Cathleen, too.

See you on May 12 at the walkabout!

Blessings,
Kurt+