The Southern Cross Jan/Feb 2011

2 The Southern Cross January/February 2011

On the cover:The words are from the col-lect for the first Sunday after Epiphany. Photo by Jim DeLa

The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida is a community of 34,000 Christians in 11 counties serving 77 congregations, 13 schools, two campus ministries and the DaySpring Conference Center. Established in 1969.

BishopThe Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith

Mailing address:7313 Merchant CourtSarasota, FL 34240Phone: (941) 556-0315Fax: (941) 556-0321

Website: www.episcopalswfl.org

In the United States, the Episcopal Church is a community of 2.3 million members in 110 dioceses in the Americas and abroad.

Presiding BishopThe Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori815 Second AvenueNew York, NY 10017(212) 867-8400

The Episcopal Church is part of the Anglican Communion, a global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of CanterburyThe Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan WilliamsLambeth PalaceLondon WE1 7JUUNITED KINGDOM

The Southern Cross is a member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Communicators. The Southern Cross is published six times a year: January, March, May, July, September and No-vember. Copies are shipped to all congregations for free distribution.

Articles, letters, calendar information and photos are welcome. They will be used on a space-avail-able basis and are subject to editing. Send all ma-terial (preferably in electronic form by e-mail) to:

Jim DeLa, editorE-mail: [email protected]

The Southern Cross7313 Merchant CourtSarasota, FL 34240Phone: (941) 556-0315, ext. 268

HigHligHts iN tHis issue

submission deadlines for 2011 issues:

March/April: February 1May/June 2010 April 1July/August 2011 June 1september/October August 1November/December October 1

5 New home for the diocese: Timeline taking shape fora late fall completion date

support forthe jobless:Fort Myers deacons filling a need in Lee County

3 From the Bishop

A Publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida

SouthernCrossThe

6

23 events Calendar

10 ‘Climate justice’:Conference links poverty, climate change

13 innovateor perish? Author says churches must adapt to survive

3The Southern Cross January/February 2011

fulfilling than a simple list of easily forgotten new year’s

resolutions. This covenant has to do with what it means to be marked as Christ’s own forever as we live and wor-ship through and in any of our congregations. We focus on Christ’s baptism because we note that in this historical

event Jesus chose solidarity with humankind and, therefore, in our baptisms, we choose solidarity with him.

We sometimes think that other times and eras were more faithful and spiritually vital and relevant. Author Annie Dillard begs to differ when she writes; “There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less. There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no for-merly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens — and so it has always been.” It is simply up to us to live each day as the baptized people of God, every day and everywhere. Con-gregational vitality and Christian service begin with each baptized person recognizing and re-membering about the baptismal covenant, “this means me!”

I bid you a blessed and holy new year. I also remind you of what the Church reminds you. You are baptized. Perhaps one of the most strik-ing scriptural statements of Jesus is, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Fa-ther (John 14:12.)” The full story of God’s love in the world chooses to be revealed and empow-ered in you. Remember, each baptized one, “this means me!”

(Continued on page 20)

BishoptheFrom

the Rt. Rev. Dabney t. smith

It is instructive to pay atten-tion to what the Church calendar

bids us to focus on throughout the Chris-tian year. I am mind-ful of the fact that the Church bids us to immerse ourselves in the story of the baptism of our Lord every January.

The lectionary observance is rooted in the ancient development of the Epiphany season. That it occurs as we shake off year-end celebrations and redirect our energies into the focus of a new year is serendipi-tous.

We pray annually, “Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made” on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord. As bishop I officiate the renewing of our baptismal covenant with great frequency. (Please refer to page 304 in the Book of Common Prayer to read the cov-enant.) It does not take much reflection to realize how personally challenging the covenant is in terms of our daily decisions, interpersonal rela-tionships, words and deeds.

I serve on the House of Bishops planning committee and have been charged with initiat-ing the development of table group questions that aide in reflecting on serving as bishop in the 21st century. As such, I have been reviewing the ordination service of a bishop that asks, “As a chief priest and pastor, will you encourage and support all baptized people in their gifts and min-istries…?”

Support all baptized people in their gifts and ministries! What a demanding challenge. Yes, so I repeat, it is instructive to pay attention to what the Church calendar bids us to focus on. We in the Church have the great fortune and blessing to inaugurate every new year with a particular renewing focus on what it means to be baptized. This is much more demanding and much more

The gift of baptism also presentsa challenge for each of us


Letters to the editor and Reflections essays to The Southern Cross are ap-preciated and encouraged.

We ask that letters be as concise as possible — with a 300-word suggested limit — and stay on one topic. Authors should include their full name, parish af-filiation or city of residence. Anonymous letters will not be published.

All submissions are subject to editing to improve clarity and to fit in the available space for each issue.

Please send correspondence to:

Letters to the EditorThe Southern CrossDiocese of Southwest Florida7313 Merchant CourtSarasota, FL 34240

Or send letters by fax to (941) 556-0321; or by e-mail to [email protected]

Letters RRReflections

— Keith Axberg worships at St. Mat-thew’s, Brown’s Point in Tacoma, Wash., in the Diocese of Olympia.

By Keith Axberg

One day I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee when I overheard an elderly couple talking about a Christmas

Eve service they had attended at a local mega-church. It had been quite a show: The church had a full orchestra, choir and first-class music; they had produced an event that included live animals, flying angels and a Broadway-worthy light show.

It seemed quite a contrast to our routine small church production. Our costumes were old and drab, youngsters far and few between, and the Lucan nar-rative was delivered with little dramatic flair. “How can we possibly compete with THAT?” I wondered.

Reflecting, I realized: We aren’t limited by the size of the church but the size of our imagination. Our task is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The question isn’t “how do we com-pete” but rather “how do we proclaim?”

Regarding Christmas, we begin by asking key questions: What’s the good news? Why do we tell this story — this way? How might we communicate it more effectively?

In our increasingly secular society, we need to recognize the Nativity is a mystery. In our world, Christmas is a season of parties, gifts, emotional tur-moil and financial shock. We produce Christmas pageants, and people attend largely because kids look cute in their costumes, the carols are familiar and it’s “tradition.”

In a world that is biblically and theologically illiterate, we need to deliver Christmas from schmaltzy in-significance and unveil the marvelous mystery. But how do we do that?

First, we acknowledge and embrace our limitations. We don’t have access to big budgets or skilled actors; people are busy; there is little time for rehearsals. For One born in a barn and not a palace, he ought to feel right at home — thank God!

Second, we inventory our assets. We have wonderful facilities designed for sacred drama. Look at what you have and explore how to use it to share that sacred mystery we call Christmas. How might the altar, windows, candles and liturgical vestments help incarnate the story being told?

Third, we have the word of God from which to tell the story. Read-ers may not be gifted, but they can be trained to read well (pace, pronuncia-tion, enunciation and projection). The Scriptures lend themselves wonderfully well to an antiphonal presentation by two readers, which adds drama to the narrative. I find alternating male and female voices works nicely.

The problem with many pageants is that they are little more than a regurgita-tion of last year’s show. The story does not need to be modernized, but it does need to be fresh.

A solid pageant may be presented in three acts wherein the readers/nar-rators tell the story of creation and the fall; identify failed solutions (the Noah story, the golden calf, the Ten Com-mandments, etc.); and then deliver God’s answer to our need through the Lucan narrative.

Finally, interested participants of any age can create living tableaus dur-ing the narration to help bring life to the story. Favorite carols and hymns can be interspersed with the readings to rein-force the story and to draw the congre-gation into the drama of the pageant.

With inspiration, perspiration and planning, a pageant can be crafted that speaks in the voice of the local congre-gation. The story can be told well and faithfully, and the Christmas nativity can give birth to a whole new genera-tion of believers through the power of God’s word and spirit.

Bringing good news to life


in Brief


Hispanic/latino workshop rescheduled

The Rev. Canon Anthony Guil-len, Hispanic missioner for the Episcopal Church, will facilitate a workshop at DaySpring Conference Center in Ellenton on Wednesday, Feb. 2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Canon Guillen will be present-ing the “How and Why” questions and discussions about parish-based initiatives to establish Hispanic/La-tino new ministries in our diocese.

For further information, contact Canon Dennis McManis at [email protected] or register by contacting Michelle Mercurio at [email protected] or (941) 556-0315.

Pilgrimage to the Holy land in November

You’re invited to join St. John’s Episcopal Church in Naples for a 10-day Holy Land pilgrimage Nov. 7-17, including sites in Jerusalem, Galilee, Bethlehem and Nazareth.

The cost of the trip is $2,975, which includes round-trip airfare, de-luxe hotels and motor coaches, with a buffet breakfast and dinner daily.

For more information, please contact the church office at (239) 261-2355 or e-mail Cathy Latimer at [email protected].

‘Miracle’ set forFeb. 5 in Punta gorda

Women are invited to attend a day of inspiration, the 2011 Believe in a Miracle, at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center in Punta Gorda, on Feb. 5 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with lunch included.

Guest speaker will be the Very Rev. Marilyn Engstrom, with music by Elizabeth von Trapp.

For more information, contact Zandy Jordan at [email protected] or (727) 738-5049; or Esther Miseroy at [email protected] or (727) 781-5761. Registra-tion is required. Download the form

Diocesan office timeline sets move-in date in November

An architect’s rendering of the front entrance of the new diocesan office building.

Bringing good news to life

Work on the diocese’s new office building at DaySpring Conference Center continues to progress, with the selection of a contractor and a projected move-in date shortly after diocesan convention in October.

After reviewing seven companies, the architect, Apex-Studio, and a subcom-mittee of the DaySpring Steering Com-mittee announced that Peter R. Brown Construction of Clearwater was selected as the project’s construction management company. The architect and contractor then established a preliminary project budget, which was presented to and ap-proved by Diocesan Council at its Nov. 20 meeting.

In early December, mettings were held to begin the collaborative design process, refining the building’s systems and materials to jointly control the proj-

ect’s budget.This team approach offers the dio-

cese good control and oversight between design development and building costs, ensuring a good cost/value building that fits the diocesan needs today and for the future.

The project team estimates that con-struction documents will be completed by Feb. 22, with the project’s guaranteed maximum price with the contractor set by March 15.

Building permits from Manatee County are expected to be approved by April 5 and construction beginning im-mediately for a project completion of September.

Allowing for unknown factors, such as weather delays, the new diocesan of-fice should be ready for occupancy after Diocesan Convention, set for Oct. 21–22.


By Jim DelaEditor, The Southern Cross

Lee County has had its share of tough times. Having gained notori-ety in 2009 as the foreclosure capital of the nation, its unemploy-ment rate continues to hover around 13 percent, far above the national average.

As the ranks of the unemployed struggle to make ends meet, two Fort Myers churches are offering spiritual comfort — as well as some practical advice — to some of the nearly 35,000 people in the area looking for a job.

The Unemployed Support Group meets twice a month at St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church, where Deacon Diane Millott and her husband, Bob, who is a deacon at nearby St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, run the program that offers scriptural relevance and prayer support along with a practical presen-tation at each meeting.

Pat Magee came to his first meeting in early December. He lost his job as a high school history teacher more than a year ago. He says he was let

As jobless rates hover, the need for ministry

to the unemployed growsSign

of thetimes

Participants of the unemployed support group listen to a presentation at St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church in Fort Myers. Photos by Jim DeLa


go after two hip replacements slowed him down to the point that the school district told him he could no longer keep up with his students. He’s now preparing for a position in the insurance field but will need additional training. “I’ve been studying for my license.”

The first few months without work were tough. “It was like 90 days in the desert. I felt alone, bewildered,” he said. “You really find out who your friends are.”

Magee says his faith has been tested and strengthened. “It’s all going to be all right. It’s just going to be in His time,” Magee said.

His wife works in health care and has picked up extra work, but money is tight, particularly as the holidays ap-proached. “How do you tell your 6-year-old that Santa Claus won’t come?”

A need fulfilledThe Millotts say a workshop at the 2009 diocesan con-

vention convinced them to start this ministry in Lee County. Diane said she had just been assigned to St. Hilary’s and was looking for a service project. After the workshop, they both knew it was a perfect fit. “I said, man, that’s it,” Diane re-called. “It just hit us,” Bob added.

“We devised a plan to do a joint parish [project] so we’d have the people resources to do it,” Diane said.

When they approached the Rev. Phillip Read at St. Luke’s and the Rev. Bob Hennagin at St. Hilary’s, both rec-tors insisted that it be unique, offering the spiritual support that secular groups could not.

Each meeting at St. Hilary’s begins with prayer. “We try to make something in the Bible relevant to what they’re going through,” Diane said, adding that a member of the congrega-tion prays for each attendee by name, every day.

The Millotts say so far, peo-ple’s backgrounds run the gamut, from laid-off CPAs to plumbers to dishwashers. On one recent eve-ning in December, about a dozen people showed up to the meeting at St. Hilary’s. Most were referred by Hanna House, an emergency and transitional shelter for the homeless in Fort Myers. While all were eager to add their names to a prayer list, few wanted to be named for this article.

One woman was working part-time as a dishwasher but was looking for more. Another, with her 1-month-old daughter in her arms, said she quit her office job when she was pregnant but now needs to go back to work. She’d like to do pool cleaning work. “Or waitress-ing. Anything, really,” she said.

Several were living on Social Security disability payments and expressed fears their possibilities were limited. One man with con-struction experience told the group

he had just found part-time work at a home improvement store. “I’d rather be swinging a hammer to tell you the truth, but there’s nothing out there.”

Adding skillsPeople from both parishes and the community at large

have become involved in the group by sharing their own expertise during the meetings. Retired teacher Sally Jane from St. Hilary’s offers to help anyone create or polish their resume and also does a formal presentation on resumes for the group every other month or so. Diane Millott leads presentations on how to do well during job interviews. The Millotts also draw from the community, finding entrepreneurs and businessmen to speak to the group. Bob Millott also sends out a weekly e-mail filled with job leads to participants.

On this evening in early December, Betsy Hopkins, a former missionary who has started her own consulting and life-coaching business in Fort Myers called Global SKILLs, give a short presentation on setting goals and creating a vision to attain them.

She told participants not to limit themselves to jobs or careers they’ve already had, but to think about how the skills they have can be applied in new career fields.

Diane Millott said the group has already had a few suc-cess stories and is hoping to keep in touch with attendees who have found jobs.

Magee says he think the group will be very helpful to him as he continues to search for full-time work. “It keeps you accountable,” he said.”It keeps you on task.”

—For more information on this ministry, contact Deacon Bob Millott at [email protected], or call St. Hilary’s Epis-copal Church at (239) 936-1000.

Betsy Hopkins, right, talks about vision at the unemployed support group while group leader Deacon Diane Millott listens at St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church in Fort Myers.


By Mary W. Cox

Bishop Dabney Smith was the guest preacher for the convention Eucharist at the 41st Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Stuart, Nov. 12-13.

The convention theme was Global Partnership in Mission. In addition to Smith, Bishops Laish Boyd of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos; Todd McGregor, area bishop of Toliara in the Diocese of Antananarivo, Madagascar; and Jean Zaché Duracin of Haiti were also guests at the convention.

Southeast Florida has companion relationships with the Bahamas, Anta-nanarivo and Dominican Republic, and the convention approved a resolution calling for a new companion relationship with the Diocese of Haiti.

In his sermon Smith spoke of the his-tory shared by the Dioceses of Southeast and Southwest Florida, which both have many congregations planted by Bishop William Crane Gray a century ago, and the differences between his experience of mission and ours.

at http://images.acswebnetworks.com/1/371/2011BIAMRegistration.pdf

Community computer classses available

Calvary Episcopal Church in Indian Rocks Beach will once again be offering basic computing classes to the community in January.

The class is designed to help a basic computer user work with their computer or laptop. Participants will look at the fundamentals of using the computer such as: the keyboard, the monitor (do you leave it on or turn it off?) and webcams.

The nominal fee of $20 for the class (two 90-minute sessions per class) is designed to make it possible for anyone to attend. Each student will be given a folder with informa-tion covered in the class in order to take the newly learned skills with them.

To register or for more infroma-tion, call the parish office at (727) 595-2374.

Monthly AA meetings available for clergy

A meeting of Alcoholics Anony-mous just for clergy is held monthly in the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

For details contact the Rev. David Danner at (941) 383-8161 or [email protected].

“In Bishop Gray’s day, mission was something we exported,” he said. “Now it’s no longer helpful to think of going to the nations to take something.”

Now it’s much more about “our col-lective relationship with Jesus Christ.”

The Great Commission text “is not best understood as a slogan,” Smith said, noting that Matthew 28 tells us that when the disciples saw Jesus on the mountain-top, “some doubted.”

“This world mission to the nations is entrusted to a group of wavering, hesitant — but worshiping — disciples, and I think that’s good news…All authority is given to Him, not to you and me, thank God!”

A missionary community is one committed to changing its surroundings wherever it may be, he said. Our mission may look different from that of the church in Bishop Gray’s time, “but it’s the same mission.”

“God chooses to work in the world through you — and Jesus is with us wher-ever we are.”

—Mary W. Cox is director of commu-nications for the Diocese of Southeast Florida.

Bishop Smith talks missionto neighbors to the east

Bishop Dabney Smith preaches at the convention of the Diocese of Southeast Florida in Stuart, Nov. 12-13.

Photo by Thomas Winter

in Brief(Continued from page 5)


By Dr. Robert stevensDirector, Domincan Development Group

Bishop Julio Holguín is an entrepre-neur out to build the church. From that perspective and over the last few years the Dominican Church and the Domini-can Development Group have worked in tandem to create an endowment for the church, thus providing an economic basis to sustain the church into the future.

On the D.R. front, there is always the desire to be financially self-sustaining within the broader companionship of the wider Episcopal Church. Furthermore, there is concern that the financial struggles of the American Episcopal Church put in jeopardy its longer-term support of the overseas diocese.

To that end the D.R. and the DDG have worked together to build the DR Endowment. In the last few years Bishop Holguín has used some funds invested by the Episcopal Church Center for the Dominican diocese.

Adding to the DR Endowment, Bish-op Holguín has sold the diocesan-owned bishop’s residence and with the earnings has purchased a new bishop’s residence

In the chart, diocesan support is divided into gray bars for support that comes from the Episcopal Church, black for the Endowment, and white for all local sources of financial support for the Dominican Episcopal Church, including pledges and offerings, apportionments from schools and other investments.

Endowment strengthing Dominican Republic

and put some $400,000 into the DR Endowment. This was possible because the $35,000 residence purchased in 1965 by the American missionary bishop sold for $1 million in 2009. It was located in the most exclusive neighborhood in the Dominican Republic.

Additionally, in a major fundrais-ing effort over the last couple of years, the Dominican Development Group has raised some $1.9 million towards the DR Endowment. For 2010 the combined earnings on these funds invested in the

Dominican Republic are in the neigh-borhood of 15 percent. A minimum of 20 percent of the earnings must go back into the endowment to continue building its corpus.

Thus, the Dominican Episcopal Church and the DDG, in cooperation for the good of the diocese, have built a significant endowment that contributes a substantial portion to diocesan needs allowing the church to continues its multiple mission and ministry in the D.R.

The DDG and companion diocesesThe Diocese of Southwest Florida is one of several that maintain a companion diocese relationship with the church in the Dominican Republic. The others include the dioceses of Georgia, Southeast Florida, Western Louisiana, South Carolina, Central Gulf Coast, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Quincy, Southern Virginia and Virginia.

In Southwest Florida, our DDG representative is the Rev. Al Chapman at (831) 935-6075 or [email protected].

For more information on the Dominican Development Group, contact Bob Stevens at P.O. Box 661, Ellenton, FL 34222 or (941) 776-1018 or [email protected], or visit www.dominicandevelopmentgroup.org.



By lynette WilsonEpiscopal News Service

San Pedro, Dominican Republic — It is estimated that by 2050, 80 percent of the rivers in the Dominican Republic will have dried up unless something is done to stop deforestation and develop a strategy to slow climate change, said Silvio Minier of Oxfam.

Minier, a former Jesuit priest who now works in advocacy and programs for Oxfam based in Santo Domingo, addressed the Episcopal Climate Justice Gathering Dec. 8, giving an overview of the local effects of climate change.

More than 30 people — mostly Anglicans and Episcopalians and a few ecumenical seminarians — from Cuba, the United States, Ecuador, Panama, Co-lombia, Haiti, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic met Dec. 7-10 at the Bishop Kellogg Center to explore teh intersection between poverty

By lynette WilsonEpiscopal News Service

W h a t s t a r t e d i n 2 0 0 4 a s a 2,000-square-foot organic garden behind La Iglesia Santa Maria Virgen in Itabo, Cuba, grew to a communitywide project that empowered people and spread to va-cant lots, yards and other dioceses.

“A small group of people, in small places, doing small things, can change the face of the earth,” is a popular saying in Cuba, said Bishop Griselda Delgado Del Carpio of the Episcopal Church of Cuba.

Delgado, formerly the rector of Santa Maria Virgen, shared the story of her par-ish’s garden during a presentation Dec. 7, the first day of the inaugural Episcopal Climate Justice Gathering.

More than 30 people — mostly Anglicans and Episcopalians and a few ecumenical seminarians — from Cuba, the United States, Ecuador, Panama, Colom-bia, Haiti, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic met Dec. 7-10 at the Bishop Kellogg Center for the gather-ing, convened by Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California and Bishop Naudal Gomes, Diocese of Curitiba, Brazil.

Three important things began to hap-pen as the garden grew, Delgado explained through a translator following the day’s formal discussion: the people discovered they could make money by cultivating and preserving food; people learned how to work as a team and discovered they had previously undiscovered talents and the potential to create a new life; and, most importantly, the people grew spiritually, found faith and discovered God in life, she said.

Delgado was one of four presenters, including the Rev. Christopher Morck, environmental program officer for the Latin America Council of Churches; the Rev. Pedro Ivo Batista of the Episcopal Anglican Province of Brazil; and the Rev.

The Rev. Soner Alexander of Haiti, Bishop Griselda Delgado Del Carpio of the Episcopal Church of Cuba, and the Rev. P. Joshua “Griff” Griffin, environmental justice missioner in the Diocese of California, talk before the Eucharist on the first day of the Episcopal Climate Justice Gathering taking place in the Dominican Republic Dec. 7-10.

and climate change, and perhaps frame the conversation in terms of “climate justice.” The meeting was convened by Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California and Bishop Naudal Gomes, Diocese of Curitiba, Brazil.

The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and is crisscrossed by three mountain ranges. In the 1980s, Dominicans migrated to cities from rural areas; 50 percent of the popula-tion now lives in cities and surrounding areas, Minier explained, as translated from Spanish.

Some cause and effect can be quanti-fied, Minier continued.

Forest areas surrounding cities have been clear-cut to make way for agricul-ture. Over the last 10 years both the dry season and the rainy season have length-ened. Desertification and deforestation have increased the danger and severity of

Gathering links climate and povertyChurch conferencesupports idea of ‘climate justice’

Photo by Lynette Wilson

Evidence of climate changeseen in Dominican Republic



Diego Fernando Sabogal of Colombia, who each spoke during the session aimed at framing the gathering’s conversation on climate justice.

The purpose of the meeting was to explore the intersection between poverty and climate change, and perhaps begin to change the conversation in the church from one of “climate change” to “climate justice.”

The gathering convened as world leaders met for a second week of climate talks in Cancún, Mexico, to attempt to hammer out the details of an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

At the 2009 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, negotiators failed to reach a binding deal to replace the protocol. Developing na-tions are pushing for a second phase of Kyoto, including deeper emissions cuts.

The Episcopal gathering’s pres-ence “signifies the desire to envision together what justice means in the face of climate-induced suffering and continued environmental destruction,” Morck said during his presentation, which focused on the general themes of the climate justice movement.

Climate justice needs to be consid-ered in context of broader questions, he said, including how people relate to each other and the earth, and what Christian witness and practice mean in an “unprec-edented crisis caused by specific human groups, ideologies and actions.”

“The intimate connection between wealth and economic growth to poverty and environmental crisis is both our past and our present, and many of the ‘solu-tions’ to the climate crisis threaten to repeat once more the way the overde-veloped have impoverished others as their enslaved labor pool, their amoral superstore of raw materials, their waste dump, their theater of war,” said Morck.

Early on in the gathering, particular themes began to emerge, including the consensus that now is the time for the church to reclaim and fortify its prophetic voice.

Solidarity is the thing that makes the prophetic voice strong, said Andrus dur-ing the discussion.

floods — rivers crest their banks, destroy-ing crops and livelihoods. Water levels in Lake Enriquillo, the country’s largest, along with Lake Sumatra in Haiti, have risen more in the last five years than in the previous 200. Hurricanes and tropical storms have strengthened and wrought havoc, Minier said.

As an example of flood severity, Minier shared a photo from a storm in 2007 that showed flood waters at rooftop levels, adding that the photo was taken in a flat area and that in mountainous regions, floods are even more severe.

“The Dominican Republic is the eighth country in the world that will be most affected by climate change,” Minier said, adding that governments are not doing anything, and that the local envi-ronmental council has studied climate change’s effects on the coast and tourism, but not on poor people and agriculture.

The Episcopal-Anglican gathering coincided with the U.N. Climate Change Conference of world leaders who were nearing the end of a second week of cli-mate talks in Cancún, Mexico, to attempt to hammer out the details of an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

“In our [church] language, we think of the prophetic voice as one,” he said. “People need to speak in solidarity with one another.”

Andrus used the example of abolish-ing apartheid in South Africa. It wasn’t until South Africa’s problem became the world’s problem, he said, that the country was able to rid itself of its racial-social ideology of separation.

During his talk about social move-ments and climate change, Batista, who has for more than 20 years been involved in social justice movements, talked about the threat of disappearance now affect-ing island nations and other vulnerable populations.

“People who live on the river banks, coasts, mountains are already being af-fected by climate change, and all gov-ernments of the world know that this is happening,” said Batista, as translated from Portuguese. “There has never been so much talk about climate change as

evidence(Continued from page 10)

Climate justice(Continued from page 10)

there has been in the last 20 years … Why are they speaking so much about it and still some haven’t signed on to Kyoto? … Not because of lack of technology or sci-ence or spiritual contentions, it’s because of a lack of political will.”

In addition to the church finding its prophetic voice once again, other themes that began to emerge from the gathering included the need to translate theology into action, developing a catechism of redemption based on peoples’ relationship to nature, engaging children and youth, and creating community awareness.

In regard to the latter, Delgado said, Santa Maria Virgen’s garden said it all.

“Once they started doing the work, we didn’t have to tell anybody — people caught on to what was happening, the university came, the media came, the minister of agriculture came because it was something that was happening and people could see it,” she said.

At the 2009 U.N. conference in Co-penhagen, Denmark, negotiators failed to reach a binding deal to replace the protocol. Developing nations are pushing for a second phase of the Kyoto agree-ment, including deeper emissions cuts. Developed countries, including Japan, Russia and Canada, have said they will not accept further cuts.

In Cancún, nations had been unable to agree on key issues, such as reducing emissions and monitoring other nations’ adherence to reducing emissions, and the specifics on a disaster fund for developing countries, could potentially mean another Copenhagen-style failure to come to an accord, according to news reports.

Oxfam works with partners in the Dominican Republic to mitigate the ef-fects of disaster before disaster happens, but so far the government, Minier said, only responds to disasters and has not made progress towards prevention.

When asked what the church can do to help, Minier explained that people need to be made to realize their role in what is happening and that the government, which is doing some things, needs to be pushed to do more.

And he stressed, “You can’t have plans for climate change reduction with-out including women and food security.”


Advent celebrationsat the Cathedral

St. Peter’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, like most parishes in the diocese, held special services during Advent like this Choral Evensong on Dec. 19.

The cathedral’s director of music ministries, Dwight Thomas, directs the choir during the service.

Torch bearers Molly Goodwill and Courtney Crosby wait for the signal to begin the closing procession.

The choir goes through a last-minute rehearsal before the 5 p.m. Evensong.

Photos by Jim DeLa


By sharon YoungsPresbyterian News Service

“Don’t bring folks to where you are. Don’t leave them where they are. Go with them to a place neither of you has been,” said Brian McLaren to a group of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national staff members in Louisville, Ky., Dec. 3.

McLaren, a noted author whose most recent books include Everything Must Change and Finding Our Way Again, spoke to some 50 staff from all six agen-cies of the PC(USA) on the topic of the future of the church.

“We’re part of a huge cultural shift,” McLaren told the Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, in a video podcast the two recorded the same day.

He encouraged those in mainline denominations to “wake up” each morn-ing and say, “If we want our tradition to continue in the future, we have to give permission and encouragement for creative innovation and creative explo-ration, which will require us to go back and rediscover what it is about the gospel that’s precious. What does it really mean to be a Christian? What is our identity and mission in the world?”

McLaren proposed to the group of staff several steps mainline denominations like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can take to help foster “fresh expressions of church.” Among the steps are:

l Having creative marginal zones for far-reaching experimentation and providing support for leaders of those zones to have the freedom and entrepreneurship needed to be creative.

l Sequestering funds for new lines of ministry.

l Attracting new people in new ways to new zones.

l Thinking in terms of a garden (di-versity) instead of a tree (a single trunk with branches).

l Thinking in terms of “refounding” instead of preserving or renewing or restoring. “Existing churches imitate,” McLaren said. “New churches innovate.”

l Trusting the Holy Spirit.

McLaren also challenged mainline denominations to think differently about denominational identity and ethos. For Presbyterians, he said this would mean regarding John Calvin as “radical,” given that he wrote the Institutes between the ages of 19 and 26, and approaching the Reformed tradition as “edgy, not stodgy.”

He encouraged Presbyterians to remember their roots in Geneva, where energy was directed toward addressing community concerns and the laity was empowered to put their faith into action. “Move from embodying ethos to evolv-ing ethos and expanding relationships,” he said.

Those relationships extend to the “nones” — those who regard themselves as spiritual rather than religious — which is the fastest growing religious group in the United States. McLaren said that these

folks are asking, “Can you accept me where I am and lead me gently and wisely to a better way of life so that I can play my part in bettering the world?”

He said, “We need to encourage the development of new congregations that are focused not on competing for a share of the religious market, but focused of helping the “nones” rediscover a vibrant faith in Christ and a life-transforming community of faith.”

When it comes to the world, McLar-en identified four “absolutely terrifying emergencies on our doorsteps” — the planet, poverty, peace and religion.

“If you want to change a society,” he said, “you have to tell an alternative story … and religion provides us the framing story to go into the world to tackle these problems.”

“Could it be that the Presbyterian church is worth saving and leveraging what it has to address these emergencies?” he asked.

“As you think of your future,” said McLaren, “think about not saving the church, but saving the world.”

Churches must innovateto survive, author says

Author Brian McLaren preached at the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Anahiem, Calif.

Photo by Jim DeLa


offers the following sug-gestions:

1. If you are buying a copier ask your represen-tative if it comes with an encryption or overwrite security feature.

2. If you are giving the copier back at the end of the lease and an encryption or overwrite feature is not available, there is software that you can purchase to perform this function.

3. If the vendor says they have the software and can do it back at their office, have them provide you with a “certificate of destruction” that includes the model number and serial number of the hard drive before allowing the copier to be

ResourcesNora Ortiz

Do you have a copier that was manufactured in

2002 or earlier? You might be amazed to know that copiers manufactured in 2002 or earlier have an in-ternal hard drive that stores images of everything ever copied on the machine.

When that machine is given back to the vendor at the end of the lease, or if you decide to sell it, all those images go along with it. Used copiers are constantly traded, sold and even shipped to other countries.

Just like a computer, the contents on a copier’s hard drive can be easily extracted and the contents exploited.

So what can you do to eliminate or reduce this risk? A recent article in the November 2010 issue of Church Finance

Copiers can remember, so guard your dataremoved from the premises. The certificate states that the hard drive or its contents will be destroyed.

4. Before you enter into any contract, require that the vendor offer you the hard drive for purchase at the end of the lease. You can also ask that they send a technician to remove it.

Don’t let confidential information fall into the wrong hands.

— Nora Ortiz is the diocese’s parish administration resource, a specialist in parish administration, serving parish and diocesan leadership with expertise in parish financial management, including financial reporting, parochial reports, audits, benefits administration, account-ing systems and internal controls. Contact Nora at [email protected].

A women’s leadership conference is scheduled March 18–20 at the Duncan Conference and Retreat Center in Delray Beach, Fla.

Titled “Leading Transformation in our Church and the World,” the gather-ing is designed to support individual and collective leadership in bringing positive change on local, national and international levels, according to a news release.

“Uniting positive energies to trans-form ourselves, families, churches, com-munities and the world ... remembering our past, celebrating our spirit-filled community of women, and co-creating a life-giving and hope-filled future.”

Conveners of the conference include: l The Rev. Canon Ginny Doctor, edu-

cator of leadership development for the Diocese of Alaska, Episcopal indigenous people and Episcopal women, co-creator of Indigenous

Women’s Pathways program and Episcopal Native Alaskan women’s leadership program. Read more about her at www.episcopalak.org.

l The Rev. Joy Mills, feminist lit-urgist, pastoral psychotherapist, writer, educator, priest, steering committee of Diocese of Pennsyl-vania’s conference called “Chang-ing the World for Women and Girls: a Faithful Response to the Millennium Development Goal,” and a member Anglican Women’s Empowerment.

l Katherine Tyler Scott, manag-ing partner of Ki ThoughtBridge, board member of the International Leadership Association, author of Transforming Leadership, an im-portant book for Episcopal leaders.

l Ann Smith, co-director of www.

circleconnections.com, past di-rector of Women in Mission and Ministry of Episcopal Church, co-creator with Scott, Doctor and others of four Episcopal women’s leadership programs and the Indig-enous Women’s Pathways.

Registrants will have access to the LightPages online community where they may begin sharing gifts, talents, skills and passions for making a positive difference.

For more information about the conference, contact Ann Smith at (239) 596-2881 or (239) 248-2250 or at [email protected].

The Duncan Center is at 15820 S. Military Trail, Delray Beach, FL 33484. Visit www.duncancenter.org for more information.

Women to gather to ‘transform the world’


Episcopal Relief & Development is an effective, reliable and vital ministry of the Episcopal Church in communities around the world. Episcopal Relief & Development provides emergency assistance in times of disaster, rebuilds devastated communities after the immediate crisis is over and offers long-term solutions to help people sustain safer, healthier and more productive lives.

To make a contribution, donate to the Di-saster Relief Fund online at www.er-d.org or call (800) 334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief & Development, c/o Disaster Relief Fund, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Diocesan ERD Coordinators: Northern Deaneries: Maureen Belote (727) [email protected] Deaneries: Jody Tiffany (239) [email protected]

In support of Sierra Leone’s national effort to combat malaria, NetsforLife® joined forces with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to hang nearly 330,000 long-lasting insecticide-treated nets in the highly-populated south-ern district of Bo. Over the course of two weeks, 3,000 trained volunteers installed nets in homes and helped families learn how to use them to prevent malaria.

This accelerated initiative, which launched nationally on Nov. 25, aims to achieve universal coverage (defined as one net for every two people) in net distri-bution, with an 80 percent usage rate to be maintained over time through the engage-ment of local leadership and follow-up by volunteers. International organizations including the World Health Organiza-tion, the Red Cross of Sierra Leone and UNICEF are working in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Health, local chiefs and religious leaders to carry out this program.

The NetsforLife/UMCOR distribu-tion coincided with the national Mater-nal and Child Health Week, in order to emphasize the importance of net usage for pregnant women and children under the age of five, who are particularly vul-nerable to malaria. Because malnutrition worsens the impact of malaria, Vitamin A supplements and Albendazole (a de-worming treatment) were also adminis-tered to children under five.

“The partnership with UMCOR and the Methodists in Sierra Leone is an ex-ample of what can be achieved when two denominations work together to solve a common problem,” stated Shaun Walsh, Executive Director of NetsforLife. “With a shared vision of serving the people of Sierra Leone, the Methodist and Angli-can teams combined skills, strengths and resources, traveling the road together in dealing with local challenges, overcoming obstacles and learning valuable lessons.”

This is the second time NetsforLife has partnered with UMCOR to amplify the work of both Methodist and Anglican efforts on the ground in Africa. The first joint distribution launched last April on World Malaria Day in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Building on the foun-dation of these two joint efforts, Netsfor-Life will continue to pursue partnerships

with UMCOR, other faith groups and local civil society to maximize and leverage resources to ensure the greatest impact.

“I am thrilled by the impact of the UMCOR-NetsforLife partnership so far, and energized by the possibilities that lie ahead for our organizations and the churches and communities we serve,” said Shannon Trilli, the Director of UMCOR’s Malaria Initiative.

The success of NetsforLife is a direct result of its partnerships with a network of faith-based organizations, especially Anglican churches, working on the ground in Africa. As an integral part of local communities, churches have helped the program distribute more than ver 4.7 million nets and educate five mil-lion people about malaria prevention, as well as recruit and train more than 20,000 malaria control agents.

The overall goal of the NetsforLife program is to distribute seven million nets in sub-Saharan Africa by 2013.

Please visit www.netsforlifeafrica.org for more information about the Nets-forLife, Episcopal Relief and Develop-ment’s program partnership.

NetsforLife succeding in Sierra Leone

Workers demonstrate how to use mosquito nets.


Photo by Leslie Jones

At each Rhythms of Grace worship service, children participate in a variety of therapeutic sensory activities, from gardening to creating Joseph’s coat of many colors out of a paper bag and fabric swatches to burying creche figures in shredded wheat “hay,” according to the day’s theme.

By sharon sheridanEpiscopal News Service

Crucifer Scott Collins stood at the front of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Harrington Park, N.J., and lifted high his cross. “Who’s ready for a cross parade?” he asked.

About a dozen children and adults holding small wooden crosses lined up behind him, waving blue pom-poms and shaking noisemakers as they marched twice around the nave before returning to their seats.

A few minutes and a brief Scripture lesson later, they left the pews again, gath-ering in the center aisle to grasp a “prayer rope” and recite, or listen to, the Lord’s Prayer. After a gluten-free Communion, congregants ended the 30-minute service as they began, parading behind the cross before turning in their bells and plastic clackers and heading to the parish hall for snacks, children’s videos and adult conversation.

It’s not your typical Episcopal Eu-charist. But it is part of a growing trend of alternative worship services geared to special-needs, and particularly autistic, children.

Several formats in use The Harrington Park service, held

every other week since October, follows a liturgy called “All God’s Children” launched at Christ Episcopal Church in Budd Lake, N.J., three years ago.

The Rev. Audrey Scanlan, a Connect-icut Episcopal priest, and Linda Snyder, missioner for children and adults in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, devel-oped another model called “Rhythms of Grace” that has been replicated in several states and is starting in the United King-dom. Last summer, Morehouse Education Resources published the first volume of their three-year curriculum.

Monthly Rhythms of Grace services last longer, from an hour to an hour and 45 minutes, and employ a “gathering

activity” such as placing paper-doll cut-outs on a mural of a church, plus sensory art activities based on each day’s theme, Scanlan said.

The biblical storytelling time might employ play-acting, call-and-refrain or a felt board. The congregation might play “Red Rover” or dance the Hokey-Pokey before sharing Communion.

Worship and acceptanceBoth liturgical models strive for the

same goal: to offer worship, acceptance and community to special-needs children and parents who often feel unwelcome in traditional church services.

“I’ve been looking for a church home,” said David M. Rice, attending his second service at St. Andrew’s with his 5 1/2-year-old autistic son David Jr. “We’ve been kicked out of church a few times because he’s kind of rambunctious and a little loud.”

Baptized in a Baptist church and raised Presbyterian, Rice said he’d found a home with All God’s Children. “I will be a devoted parishioner.”

In Connecticut, Scanlan was a newly ordained curate at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington with a background in special education when a parishioner

with an autistic son e-mailed the rector saying, “I can’t come to church any-more because my son is too disruptive in our Sunday school class and in church, and he’s too old to hang around in the nursery.”

“I said, ‘Let’s see what we can do for them,’” recalled Scanlan, now rector at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, Plainville.

“To this day, the format is really the same. It combines biblical storytelling with what we call therapeutic crafts and then a time of Communion, which is extremely informal. We sit on the ground around an apple crate covered with a fair linen and share Communion.”

Toddlers to teensThe program is in its eighth year,

drawing everyone from toddlers to teens to a boy with Asperger’s syndrome who’s “got the Gospel of Luke memorized” and likes to recite parts of the service to children who are mostly nonverbal and some with significant mental retardation, she said.

All God’s Children evolved after Bishop Mark Beckwith of the Episcopal

Special services for special needsParishes adapting for families with autistic children



special needs(Continued from page 16)

Diocese of Newark visited Christ Church and spoke to the vestry about identifying the church’s need for a unique ministry.

When he mentioned seeing a bill-board about Autism Awareness Month during his drive to Budd Lake, “the room went dead silent,” parishioner Ray Bonker recounted. “The Holy Spirit filled the room. … Everybody else in the room knew I had two au-tistic kids.”

Bonker spoke up, describing how he’d ended up spending Sundays in the church basement with his children instead of participating in the services and how he had been dissatisfied with worship that didn’t speak a “language” they understood.

The bishop’s offhand comment proved a catalyst, as Bonker spent the next few months trying to see church through his children’s eyes and design a service that would “let them know that they are as much members of the church or as much God’s children as anybody else.”

“What we’re doing,” Scanlan said, “is really responding to a pastoral need that was identified, not by us, but by the parent. We also have found this to be really a program of evangelism. We’re finding parents who have been disaffected or feeling uncomfortable or in some cases unwelcome in other churches … who are still hungry for a church community.”

episcopal News service

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mish-awaka in the Diocese of Northern Indiana gave new meaning to the incarnation this Advent when members created “Stations of the Nativity” as a collective meditative exercise for the season.

The series of 14 18-by-24-inch im-ages begins with the explosive cosmic spark of creation depicted in John’s gospel (John 1:1-18) and concludes with the visit of the magi, represented by an imposing image of Herod against a backdrop of the skulls of the innocents slaughtered during his search to find and kill the infant Jesus.

The stations connected a strong parish tradition of meditating with the Stations of the Cross and an effort to incorporate members’ voices, including graduate art students from the nearby University of Notre Dame in South Bend, said senior warden Jon Adamson.

“We tapped new members and younger members on the shoulder, and people who haven’t necessarily had ways to contribute to the parish in the past. We are finding ways to have them enter into the life of the community,” Adamson said during a telephone interview from the diocesan offices in South Bend where he is secretary to Bishop Ed Little II.

The resulting charcoal sketches, pho-tos, collages, and acrylic and oil paintings depicting the familiar Scripture stories invited “a fresh meeting with Jesus” during Advent, said Adamson, 35, who coordinated the project along with artist and parishioner Jonathan Grant.

“To have the sanctuary change so much with these vibrant works … made it a very rich Advent,” Adamson said.

If the images pushed the envelope, so did the meditations, written by other members to accompany the images. “I really enjoyed the epilogue, especially the phrase ‘before the incarnate word ever spoke a mortal word he was calling people to himself.’ That floored me,” he said.

The Rev. Susan Haynes, St. Paul’s rector, said the project released “creative energy” among not just the congrega-tion, but also the diocesan and wider community.

“So very often we as small parishes are a little preoccupied with our ability to survive” but the project created a buzz, Haynes said during a Dec. 14 telephone interview from her church office.

“It’s poured new life into our con-gregation,” which has an average Sunday attendance of about 80, about 40 percent of whom are younger than 40, she said. “We’re already thinking of other projects to integrate art and spirituality.”

During Advent, a Stations of the Nativity meditation replaced the usual weekly Wednesday night Eucharist.

“We do a weekly walk-through, where others would be more familiar walking through Stations of the Cross during Lent. We read the meditations, say additional prayers and sing an occasional Advent carol,” Haynes said. “Others take the booklet [of the meditations] home and use it for their personal devotions.”

The booklet of mediations calls the stations project a “celebration of the incarnation.”

Haynes’ personal favorite is the second station, where the angel Gabriel visits Zechariah because her 15-year-old daughter Sarah is the artist. “I love how she chose to portray Zechariah being muted. She seems to have captured a lot of the mood,” Haynes said. “It was interesting to watch how invested she got in this process as it went along. It’s very exciting.”

The incarnation images will come down on Dec. 19 for the traditional green-ing of the church, but the congregation is already considering an upcoming summer art project to incorporate young people us-ing Jesus’ agricultural parables, she said.

For artist Joanne Thompson, using an acrylic medium to depict three of the images — the Magnificat (fifth station), the journey to Bethlehem (ninth) and the Nativity (tenth) — became a very per-sonal meditative practice.

The meditations may be viewed on-line at www.stpaulsmishawaka.org/html/stations/stations.html.

Creating ‘fresh meeting with Jesus’ in Stations of the Nativity



episcopal News service

Clergy and laypeople attending a CREDO confernce in Haiti in December were forced to hunker down in their hotel after post-election violence closed air-ports and made travel dangerous.

The conference faculty made the risky decision to drive from Port-au-Prince across the border to the Dominican Republic in order to get back to the U.S., despite a U.S. State Department warn-ing it was not safe to travel, a CREDO spokeman said.

The capital’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport was closed due to

the violence, and commercial airlines had canceled flights in and out of Port-au-Prince.

Violence broke out in the country’s earthquake-ravaged capital late on Dec. 8 shortly after Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council announced the results of the Nov. 28 presidential election.

Supporters of popular musician Mi-chel “Sweet Micky’’ Martelly took to the streets after they learned he would not be in a Jan. 16 runoff election between Jude Celestin, the candidate backed by current president René Préval’s party, and former first lady Mirlande Manigat.

Mobs burned Préval’s party head-quarters, set fire to vehicles and hundreds of tires, threw rocks and prompted United Nations peacekeeping forces to fire rubber bullets, tear gas and flash-bang grenades.

There have been widespread allega-tions of vote-rigging and fraud. Observ-ers from the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community said shortly after the election, however, that the process was fundamentally sound.

The New York Times reported Dec. 9 that the election council had agreed to rapidly recount the election results and would invite the top three vote-getters, as well as national and international election observers, to oversee the process.

Many Haitians, along with foreign nationals, reportedly barricaded them-

Associated Press photo by Guillermo Arias

Supporters of presidential candidate Michel Martelly protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday Dec. 9. Supporters of eliminated presidential candidates are protesting the announcement that only government protégé Jude Celestin and former first lady Mirlande Manigat will advance to the presidential election runoff. Haiti's electoral council announced it will recount the ballots in the country's disputed presidential election.

Violence strands CREDO conferenceFaculty elect to take risky drive to D.R. despite State Department warnings


Violence(Continued from page 18)

selves indoors to avoid the protests. Angela Galbreath, Episcopal Church-appointed missionary to the Haitian diocese, told Episcopal News Service by telephone Dec. 9 that friends in Port-au-Prince told her of being attacked by a mob while trying to clear their street of the rocks that protestors found tempting to use as missiles.

Galbreath was in Montrouis, about two hours north and west of Port-au-Prince, where many of the lay leaders and the clergy of the diocese who had gathered Dec. 5 for a four-day Episcopal CREDO conference.

She and CREDO Managing Director William Craddock reported that many of Haiti’s already nearly impassable roads were blocked by protestors, making travel unsafe.

The violence is “just depressing,” she said, adding that the protestors “are so stressed; it’s not just about the elections. It’s about cholera and it’s about Christmas this year and they can’t celebrate that the way that they would like to celebrate.”

After his return, Craddock said on the last day of the conference, 30 clergy and lay leaders decided to “chance it” and return home, some to Port-au-Prince. “On Thursday afternoon, everyone seemed quietly to be browsing the Internet for more news or talking to one another and their families on mobile phones sorting

out options to return home,” he wrote in an article posted on the CREDO website.

Craddock says the conference faculty had three choices: wait until road were deemed safe to travel, make their way to a guesthouse in Port-au-Prince near the UN base and wait, or drive to the Dominican border.

“After lengthy discussion, prayers, and continued monitoring of the Internet, the 10 of us agreed to move early Friday morning and try to make it across the Dominican Republic border to fly out of Santo Domingo back to the United States. This decision was made with the full knowledge at the time the U.S. State Department had issued a “no travel” status for all U.S. citizens in Haiti unless they were equipped with armed security and travel in an armored vehicle,” he later wrote.

The group made it to the border without incident and were met by people from the local Episcopal parish on the Dominican side of the border, who helped them get to Santo Domingo.

“Days after our cautious exodus from the island of Hispaniola, the news was still not good — more unrest, more violence, more suffering in Haiti,” Craddock wrote. “At the same time, I am really proud of this CREDO team that rose to the chal-lenges and gave the clergy and lay leaders the opportunity to regain their sense of identity, their sense of hope, and perhaps a way to lead others through the “barri-cades” of poverty, disease, and suffering.”

Photo courtesy of CREDO

Lay and clergy leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti met Dec. 5-9 for the latest of four Episcopal Church CREDO conference held since the Jan. 12 earthquake. Post-election violence left some of them stranded at the Montrouis hotel that hosted the gathering.

The conference was the fourth one CREDO has offered to the leaders of the Haitian diocese since the Jan. 12 earthquake, and Craddock said he and faculty hope that after the participants leave Montrouis “they will leave not only with some resiliency and hope but also with some skills sets” that they can use back in their communities.

He added that the participants asked how the wider church might help them continue to recover and further develop their leadership skills. Craddock said that such future efforts, which are being explored, need to “embrace these people, their habits, their way of being here.”

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was due to spend Dec. 10–13 with the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, but cancelled her trip at the request of Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin.

Jefferts Schori assured that country of the Episcopal Church’s concern for its citizens.

“Our prayers continue for the people of Haiti, particularly at this time of increased anxiety, uncertainty, and out-breaks of violence,” Jefferts Schori said in a Dec. 9 statement to Episcopal News Service. “May the Prince of Peace come speedily,” she added, echoing the season of Advent.



in Brief From Episcopal News Service

seeking applicants to serve the wider church

Nominations for membership on seven bodies or positions to be elected at the 2012 General Convention, July 5-12 in Indianapolis, are now being accepted. Bishops, priests, deacons and lay persons may be nominated to the various bodies or positions. Nominees need not be a convention deputy. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 22, 2011.

The committees include the Disci-plinary Board for Bishops, Executive Council, the General Board of Examin-ing Chaplains, secretary of the House of Deputies, treasurer of the General Con-vention, trustees of the Church Pension Fund and trustee of General Theological Seminary.

For the specific service criteria of each office as well as meeting commit-ments, visit http://generalconvention.org/gc/gc2012-nominations

Nomination forms are available at http://generalconvention.org/gc/gc2012-nominations.

Episcopal Journal to launch in February

Episcopal Journal, a new indepen-dent publication serving Episcopalians throughout the country and abroad, will launch its first issue in February.

Initially, it will be available as a printing partner with more than a dozen diocesan and parish publications that reach over 50,000 households. A cam-paign for individual and small group subscriptions will follow.

Editorial director Jerry Hames says the Journal’s mission is “to inform, involve and inspire Episcopalians in the United States and abroad by sharing the good news of our church’s life and ministry.”

Episcopal Journal will offer timely and accurate reporting, drawing its news articles from Episcopal News Service and other Episcopal, Anglican and ecu-menical news services, he said.

“It will also invite contributions from recognized names in the fields of religion, science and the arts, and offer

columns and meditations appropriate for the church seasons.”

Hames, editor of Episcopal Life from 1990 to 2007, said the new pub-lication will fill a vacuum caused by the decision to terminate national print publications from the Episcopal Church Center in New York.

The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church voted in October to approve a budget that cut all funding for print publications. Episcopal News Monthly, which succeeded Episcopal Life a year ago, will cease publication with the January 2011 issue.

At this time, Hames said, editorial inquiries and submissions may be sent to [email protected] or Box 308, Cranbury, NJ 08512. Adver-tising inquiries should be addressed to [email protected], or to Box 106, Fort Washington, PA 19034.

survey seeks input about possible hymnal revision

The Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music is inviting input and comments about a pos-sible revision of The Hymnal 1982.

An online survey is now available to engage the entire church in a discussion of whether the church’s main hymnal needs revision, the Rev. Ruth Meyers, commis-sion chair, said.

The survey, coordinated by the Church Pension Fund’s Office of Re-search, will be available online until January 31.

Responses from both the initial phase and the survey responses will be col-lated and reviewed under the leadership of Jeannine Otis, a musician from the Diocese of New York and commission member.

Photo by John Mark Parker

Confirmations top 1,000 in AtlantaA crowded Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta was the scene for a diocesan confirmation service Dec. 12 as more than 200 new Episcopalians were confirmed or received by Bishop J. Neil Alexander and Assisitng Bishop Keith B. Whitmore. An unoffical tally shows that close to 1,000 new Episcopalians have been confirmed or received during 2010 in the Diocese of Atlanta.


in Brief(Continued from page 20)

That review, along with recommen-dations for next steps, will be presented as part of the SCLM report to the 77th General Convention, which meets July 5-12, 2012, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

See the survey at www.cpg.org/hymnalstudy2.

Oldest episcopal camp marks anniversary

An Episcopal Church-affiliated camp that began as a way to offer rural respite to poor immigrants on the lower east side of New York is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

Of the 9,000 summer camps in the United States, about 60 are Episcopal-owned and operated and the oldest of those is Incarnation Camp in southeast-ern Connecticut.

Church of the Incarnation, Manhat-tan, began its camp in 1886 as a way to provide a “fresh air” respite for the city’s immigrants, many of them Arme-nian.

Capping its 125th year, Incarnation has broken ground on an outdoor cha-pel, designed by Duo Dickinson, a camp alumnus, board member and parishioner of Trinity on the Green, New Haven. The design incorporates both worship space for more than 300 campers and counselors, as well as performance space for dance and drama.

Ray elected bishopof Northern Michigan

The Rev. Rayford Ray was elected Dec. 4 as the 11th bishop of the Epis-copal Diocese of Northern Michigan, pending required consents from a ma-jority of bishops with jurisdiction and standing committees of the Episcopal Church.

Ray, 54, a member of the Episcopal Ministry Support Team in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, was elected on the second ballot of a special conven-tion from a field of three nominees.

Ray received 59 delegate votes and 16 congregational votes. With 88 del-egates from 25 congregations present, 59 delegate votes and 13 congregational votes were required to elect at the spe-cial convention held at St. Stephen’s Church in Escanaba in the state’s Upper

Peninsula.Ray, a four-time deputy to General

Convention, has served in Northern Michigan for more than 20 years, work-ing as ministry development coordi-nator, and collaborated with parishes across the Upper Peninsula of Michi-gan. He was recently an adjunct instruc-tor at Episcopal Divinity School.

In July 2009, the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester was elected bishop but did not receive the required consents from diocesan bishops and standing commit-tees from the wider church.

According to the canons, a major-ity of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect’s ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election.

sudan summit strengthens partners in ministry

One month before the historic Jan. 9 referendum in which the people of southern Sudan are expected to vote for independence from the north, the Epis-copal Diocese of Arizona hosted the fifth annual Sudanese Leadership Sum-mit aimed at strengthening Sudanese ministry in the United States.

“I think what was most enlighten-ing for me about being here is being able to learn from other Sudanese com-munities across the country … and I have many ideas now about how we need to strengthen our own commu-nity in Roanoke,” said the Rev. Susan Bentley, rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Va.

“I feel like we have partners in ministry across the country, and we are going to be able to strengthen our own community, I think, to be a stronger faith community, as well as a stronger community for the Sudanese here in the U.S., to help them with concerns and issues here,” she added.

More than 50 people of all ages, races and nationalities attended the Dec. 10–14 summit at the Lexington Hotel Central in Phoenix. At least 15 dioceses were represented.

The five-day conference, sponsored by the Episcopal Church Office of Black Ministries, the Episcopal Church Partnership Office for Africa, and Vir-ginia Theological Seminary, focused on the theme “Considering the Past; Con-

templating the Present; Collaborating for the Future.”

Browning celebrates publication of biography

Former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning’s six decades of ministry in the church are the topic of a new biog-raphy, The Heart of a Pastor: A Life of Edmond Lee Browning, by Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, professor of theol-ogy and religious education at Clare-mont School of Theology and professor of Anglican studies at the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont, and published by Forward Movement Press.

On Dec. 3, a crowd of 100 or so well-wishers attended a launch party for the book at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Portland, Ore. Browning, his wife, Patti, and the author were present.

Kujawa-Holbrook recounts the story of a child who knew first-hand the despair of dysfunction that so often leads to marginalization. Browning’s father was an alcoholic who was in and out of his son’s life. To help the fam-ily survive, Browning, who was born on March 11, 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, worked a variety of odd jobs: delivery boy, soda jerk, used shoe sales-man and drive-in laundry clerk.

“I am very aware of the potent ef-fect that early experience [his father’s alcoholism] had on me,” said Browning, quoted in the biography. “I know my scars. I remember them all, and I burn with a longing for the healing of others’ pain.”

During his term as presiding bish-op, Browning visited AIDS wards in San Francisco at the height of the epi-demic, El Salvador, East Asia, Burma, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba, and was the first Anglican primate to visit China. He met with Yassar Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Or-ganization, and was at the White House in 1993 when the Oslo Accord, the first ever face-to-face meetings between Israel and the PLO, was signed.

Browning was chief consecrator of Barbara Harris as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts — the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church — on Feb. 11, 1989.

The Brownings are now retired and living in Dee, Ore.


BBooksBeyond Accessibility — Toward Full Inclusion of People with Disabilities, by Brett Webb-Mitchell. List price: $18; paperback, 160 pages, 6 x 9 in., c. 2010, Church Publishing.

A church has built an accessibility ramp and perhaps refitted its restrooms to accommodate a wheelchair. Now what? This new resource by a noted author of several books on people with disabilities offers a theological and practical approach for congregations, with clear, targeted strategies for full inclusion of all mem-bers, recognizing and using the gifts that each member brings to the congregation’s life together.

Brett Webb-Mitchell is an author, educator and Presbyterian minister. His Seabury books include Follow Me: Christian Growth on the Pilgrim’s Way and On Being a Gay Parent: Making a Future Together. He leads pilgrimages in the U.S. and abroad and is the founder and director of the School of the Pilgrim.

40 Days: The Daily Office for Lent, Frank Tedeschi, editor. List price: $25, paperback, 432 pages, 6 x 9 in., c. 2006, Church Publishing.

Many people want to “take on” a discipline for Lent rather than “give up” something. One of the disciplines that many Episcopalians — and other Chris-tians — wistfully think about taking on is the regimen of structured daily prayer that includes the course-reading of Scripture. Forty Days: The Daily Office for Lent offers an accessible, doable, toe-in-the-water introduction to the private recitation of Morning and/or Evening Prayer.

Contents include Rite II morning and evening prayer from The Book of Com-mon Prayer, the collects, and all Bible readings for both lectionary years, from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, the Psalter as prescribed and edited for each day in Lent, and an office proper for St. Joseph and the Annunciation.

Frank L. Tedeschi is the executive editor at Church Publishing Inc. and the publisher’s representative with the Stand-ing Commission on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church.

Going Global with God — Reconciling Mission in a World of Difference, by Titus Leonard Presler. List price: $20, paperback, 208 pages, 6 x 9, c. 2010. Church Publishing.

From Haiti mission teams to com-panion churches in Kenya, congregations everywhere are breaking through walls of difference and engaging in mission that transforms lives around the world, around the corner and in the pews. And they’re not waiting for a national church body to lead the movement. In this stimulat-ing new work, Titus Presler has listened closely to church leaders and activists within and beyond the Anglican fold, and then mined his own rich experience as a scholar, priest and leader in global mission efforts. The result is a book that equips congregations with theological background for building mutual relation-ships across borders of difference, even as it explores fresh models and practical tools for joining and participating in God’s mission.

Canon Titus Presler, Th.D., is a mis-siologist focusing on mission theology, gospel-culture interactions and church mission practice. With focused experience in Zimbabwe and India, he has taught mis-sion at Seminary of the Southwest, where he was president, and General Seminary, where he was academic dean.

The Hip Hop Prayer Book: The Remix, by Timothy Holder. List price: $17, pa-perback, 184 pages, 5 x 7.5 in. c. 2009, Seabury Books

A powerful evangelism tool devel-oped at Trinity Church of Morrisania in the South Bronx, the birthplace of hip hop. The Hip Hop Prayer Book offers a means of worship that draws in the young and speaks to those not generally spoken to by the church. Contains Bible stories, psalms, daily prayers, a variety of services (including a Eucharist, a marriage service, and burial rites), and a selection of power-ful prayers from rappers and urban youth.

Designed with the enlivening power of hip hop in mind, The Hip Hop Prayer Book is ideal both for personal worship and for use by church leaders looking for ways in which to broaden the reach of their congregations. It includes a wealth of contextualizing and instructive materials. Currently used in worship by a

growing number of churches, it is acces-sible for those just learning about liturgy or about hip hop.

Timothy Holder is the rector of Church of the Ascension in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the founding priest and pastor of the HipHopEmass. He lives in Atlantic City, N.J.

2010/11 Christian Planning Calendar16 months: September 2010 - December 2011. List price: $12, Spiral bound, 2010, Church Publishing.

A unique two-year planning tool citing religious observances and seasons for Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Islamic and Jewish faiths, as well as secular holidays. Ample space for writing daily notes. Spiral bound and triple-hole punched. Features artwork and Bible verses related to the parables of Jesus. Artwork by Dorothy Thompson Perez.

Starting from Zero with $0: Building Mission-Shaped Ministries on a Shoe-string, by Becky Garrison. List price: $18, paperback, 168 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 in., c. 2010. Church Publishing.

Churches everywhere are suffering from draconian funding cuts, so how do leaders with a heart for alternative min-istries fund their passion and build com-munities that will last? Journalist Becky Garrison looks deep into the experience of nearly a dozen ministries in the United States and United Kingdom — all of them geared to the growing spiritual-but-not-religious demographic, and all of them highly creative ventures doing a lot with a little money. How did these ministries start from zero with $0? And how could you?

Becky Garrison is a prolific com-mentator on contemporary religious life and missional forms of church. She is a contributing editor for Sojourners maga-zine and The Wittenburg Door.


training/Workshops/Retreats

CCalendarspecial events

If your group or congregation is planning an upcoming event of interest to the rest of the diocese, please send the information to:

The Southern Cross Calendar7313 Merchant CourtSarasota, FL 34240 or e-mail it to jdela@

episcopalswfl.orgThe diocesan events calendar

is also available on our website:

www.episcopalswfl.org

Jan. 21-22 — A Vision for Life Men’s Conference: at Church of the Nativity, 5900 N. Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota. A retreat opportunity for the men of your church that is affordable, accessible and compelling, hosted by Church of the Nativity in Sarasota. Speakers will include the Rev. Michael Durning, the diocesan canon to the ordinary; the Rev. Jim Hedman of St. Mary Magdalene, Sarasota; and the Rev. Jon Roberts of Good Shepherd, Venice. Cost is $25, which includes three meals, ma-terials and small-group follow-up study. To register, call (941) 957-1271 or visit disciplemakingswfl.com.

Feb. 8 — Transforming Grief into Joyful Living: St. John’s, Tampa, will offer a new session of Walking the Mourner’s Path. This eight-week bereavement support program is open to anyone who experienced the death of a loved one at least six months ago. It is a small-group experience limited to 10 participants designed to transform grief into joyful living. Weekly group meetings are 90 minutes long; a workbook provides questions for reflection as well as exercises to help participants define a new relationship with their loved ones through Christ. Two trained facilitators, in consultation with a clergy person, guide the group. For more information or to register, contact Jan El-liott at (813) 243-0700, Kathleen Moore at (813) 221-6253, or the Rev. Randall Hehr at (813) 259-1570.

April 2 — Deacons Retreat: The spring daylong deacon’s retreat with Bishop Smith. Information about the program will be announced soon. For further information, contact Canon Dennis McManis at [email protected] or register by contacting Michelle Mercurio at [email protected] or (941) 556-0315.

Meetings

Jan. 14-16 — YOUTHQUAKE in N.C.: An evangelical event for middle- and high-school youth is planned in Ridgecrest, N.C. Cost of the event is $160. The diocesan Evangelism Committee is providing buses to transport youth groups wishing to attend. For details on transportation, contact Candis Stott at (941) 538-0027 or fax at (941) 896-7488. Go to http://youthquake.a29.com/youthquake/details for information on the event.

Feb. 5 — Believe in a Miracle: Women are invited to attend a day of inspiration at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Confer-ence Center in Punta Gorda, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with lunch included. Guest speaker will be the Very Rev. Marilyn Engstrom, with music by Elizabeth von Trapp. For more information, con-tact Zandy Jordan at [email protected] or (727) 738-5049; or Esther Miseroy at [email protected] or (727) 781-5761. Registration is required. Download the form at http://images.acswebnetworks.com/1/371/2011BIAMRegistration.pdf Feb. 26 — Lincoln Douglass Ball: 7 p.m. to midnight, at Hig-gins Hall, 5225 N. Himes Ave. in Tampa. The annual multicul-tural event sponsored by St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church to benefit Cornerstone Kids, an after-school program for children of Tampa Heights. The evening includes dancing, din-ing, silent auction and photography. For tickets or information, contact Leila Mizer at (813) 962-0390 or [email protected]

May 6-17 — Pilgrimage to England: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Bonita Springs is planning a trip to England to visit historic and spiritual sites, led by the Rev. Michael Rowe. Sites will include Ely and its great cathedral, the historic university town of Cambridge, Canterbury Cathedral, the town of Dover and London, with tours of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, with an evening concert at St. Martin’s in the Fields. Price is $2,669 per person, based on 25 participants, double occupancy. $200 deposit is due with application. Group airfare can be arranged. For a brochure, contact Cherrill Cregar at (239) 498-1925 or visit www.worldwidepilgrimage.com/itineraries/DT11004.html

Jan. 11 — Finance Committee: 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Day-Spring Conference Center.

Jan. 11 — Commission on Ministry: 5–8 p.m. at Diocesan House, 7313 Merchant Court, Sarasota.

Jan. 29 — Diocesan Council: 9 a.m. to noon at Christ Episcopal Church, 4030 Manatee Ave. West, Bradenton.

Documents

The Southern Cross Jan/Feb 2011