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Read about the season after Pentecost
To see notable days, suggestions for Christian Formation and more, click here.
  
  
  
Celebrity priest's conversion to the Episcopal Church strains ecumenical ties
To view the whole story from Religion News Service, click here.
  
Anglican Covenant Working Group Names announced
From Anglican Communion News Service
May 28, 2009 - The text of the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Covenant received strong support at the recent ACC meeting in Jamaica, however, concern was expressed that Section 4 had not received the same degree of Provincial consideration that Sections 1-3 had. ACC-14 proposed that Provinces be given time to consider Section 4, that a small Working Group be set up to consider adjustment to Section 4 of the text in the light of Provincial responses, and to ask that Group to report to the Standing Committee before the end of the year.
  
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General have now announced the names of the Working Group. They are:
  
The Most Revd Dr John Neill, Archbishop of Dublin (Chair); The Most Revd Dr John Chew, Primate of South East Asia; Dr Eileen Scully, Anglican Church of Canada; The Rt Revd Dr Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph in the Church in Wales and former Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
  
All have been involved in the Covenant Process to date. Staff support will be provided by Neil Vigers (Anglican Communion Office) and the Revd Canon Joanna Udal (Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs).
  
Meanwhile the Ridley Cambridge Draft text of the Covenant has been sent to Provinces seeking their comments on Section 4 of the Covenant. Responses are requested by 13th November this year. The Working Group will meet on 20 - 21 November in London and report to the Standing Committee meeting of 15 - 18 December.
   
For more news from Anglican Communion News Service: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/5/28/ACNS4633

 
 
Available on demand - live webcast for GC09. . .
   
May 13, 2009 - General Convention 2009 was the topic of a live webcast conducted today in Anaheim, California. It is available on-demand; check the Episcopal Church homepage. Participants in the live webcast were: Presiding Bishop the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori; President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson; Executive Officer and Secretary of the General Convention, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Straub; and Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles, the host diocese. 
    
ACC. . .For complete coverage of the recent Anglican Consultative Council meeting check Episcopal Life Online:  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/episcopal_life.htm
    
Innovative Media Hub...You will be able to follow, watch, understand, experience and enjoy General Convention 2009 no matter where you are, thanks to an innovative addition to this year’s event, the Media Hub. Produced and presented by the Office of Communication, the Media Hub will utilize cutting edge technology to deliver the full story of the almost two-week event. Videos, blogging, twitter, flickr, and live webcasting will enable a transparent, round-the-clock look at General Convention. Seven distinct areas will be delineated on the Media Hub: calendar, video stream, flickr photos, activity area, legislative tracker, twitter feed, and resources.  For more info and complete release see News & Notices, http://www.episcopalchurch.org/newsline_107422_ENG_HTM.htm

  
From the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, May 1-13
ACC asks for more work on the Ridley Cambridge draft of an Anglican Covenant
   
The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, is reviewing the proposed Anglican Covenant and will decide the next stops in the covenant process. For more, read on.
The idea for an Anglican Covenant has been before the Communion for the past few years and it was in 2006 the Archbishop of Canterbury established the Covenant Design Group. The process has been one of evolving texts as ideas suggestions hopes and fears from Primates, Provinces and the Lambeth Conference were shared with the Design group. Just before the Anglican Consultative Council began The Covenant Design Group produced The Third (Ridley Cambridge) Draft.
  
The Chair of the Covenant Design Group Archbishop Drexel Gomez presented a history of the process and the current text at ACC-14 on Monday May 4th. His address may be found here:
  
On Tuesday May 5 Archbishop Gomez and Bishop Gregory Cameron held a press briefing reviewing the document and Bishop Gregory explained the process that ACC will follow in considering the text and discussed the kind of resolution that would be needed to forward the Covenant to the provinces for their consideration.
  
In light of swine flue outbreak, churches consider procedures (from Episcopal News Service).
The Swine Flu - Information from the Medical Trust on April 29, 2009.
For the article, click here.
For a pew insert, click here.  
(Pew insert was created by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas)
A letter from Bishop Lillibridge and the Standing Committee regarding their decision to withhold consent to the Diocese of Northern Michigan's Bishop election.
To view the letter sent to the clergy and churches in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas on April 22, 2009, click here.
   
   
 
News from the Anglican Communion:
Anglican Consultative Council to meet May 1-13
By Matthew Davies, Episcopal Life Online
  
The Anglican Communion’s most representative legislative body — the Anglican Consultative Council — will meet May 1-13 in Kingston, Jamaica. The ACC’s purpose is to provide consultation and guidance on policy issues, including mission and ecumenism, for the Anglican Communion. Formed in 1969, the council includes clergy and lay people, as well as bishops, among its delegates.
  
Two key documents to be discussed by the ACC are the proposed Anglican covenant and the Windsor Continuation Group’s final report that was made public during the early February meeting of Anglican primates.
  
The Windsor Continuation Group was charged with addressing questions arising from the 2004 Windsor Report, a document that recommended ways in which the Anglican Communion can maintain unity amid diversity of opinions, especially relating to human sexuality issues and theological interpretations.
The ACC membership includes from one to three persons from each of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces. Where there are three members, there is a bishop, a priest and a lay person. Where fewer members are appointed, preference is given to lay membership.
  
The Episcopal Church is represented on the ACC by Josephine Hicks of North Carolina; the Rev. Ian Douglas of Massachusetts; and Bishop Catherine Roskam of New York.
  
Hicks is a member of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council and serves as chair of its Administration and Finance committee. Douglas, also a member of Executive Council and its International Concerns committee, is Angus Dun professor of World Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Roskam is bishop suffragan of the Diocese of New York.
Further information about the ACC meeting is available at www.anglican communion.org/communion/acc.
 News from the Anglican Communion:
Anglican Covenant Design Group releases “Ridley Cambridge” draft
  
The Covenant Design Group (CDG) met under the chairmanship of the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, former Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies, between 29th March and 2nd April, 2009, in Ridley Hall, Cambridge, at the invitation of the Principal, the Revd Canon Andrew Norman, former Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Covenant Design Group. We are grateful for the warm welcome received.
   
The main work of the group was to prepare a revised draft for the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant which could be presented to the fourteenth Meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, (May 1-13 in Kingston, Jamaica) and commended to the Provinces for adoption. The CDG now presents the third "Ridley Cambridge" draft for the Anglican Communion Covenant.
    
For the full story, go to:
News from the Episcopal Church:
Live webcast to preview General Convention 2009 Presiding Officers, others will field questions from audience, online. General Convention 2009 of the Episcopal Church will be the topic of a live webcast on Wednesday, May 13 at 8 am Pacific (9 am Mountain, 10 am Central, 11 am Eastern). The webcast will originate from Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, where General Convention 2009 (GC09) will be held July 8 – 17.
  
 
Learn about the Season of Easter

Did you know that the season of Easter lasts 50 days? Read about the symbols, traditions, weekly readings and even make Easter cookies, click here.

 

Congregations Growing Together ~ June 6, 2009
In this day-long conference, our congregations will be the presenters for many of the workshops, bringing and sharing their ideas that are working. We’re also calling on some experts in their fields – both lay people and clergy.
The day will include three workshop sessions, so participants will have three opportunities to learn from folks just like them. We’ll start at 9 a.m. and conclude by 3 p.m.
  
Congregations will want to bring ministry teams so they can cover as much ground as possible.
  
For all the details, to register, to see workshops, go to the Congregations Growing Together Conference page.

 
Did you miss Council? Read, listen and watch 
February 19-21
Council LIVE
Read the bishop's address, eucharist sermon, watch ministry moment videos and ballots as they happen, click on the Council LIVE page.
   
Help Wanted Page:

A listing of job openings throughout the diocese. Jobs will be removed after a month unless notified by the particular parish. Go to the Help Wanted page.


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