The Diocesan Staff has instituted a new "Team Calendar" that will allow the entire staff to see where each staff person is throughout the weekday. Each staff member will have access to the calendar so that if you call in and the person that you are trying to reach is unavailable, the staff member that you are speaking with will be able to answer your questions or facilitate your request.

We are here to serve all members of the Diocese and this new master calendar will better enable us to facilitate communications between staff and those who need to speak with them. This calendar will provide another way for us to increase our accessibility as a "Come and See" diocese.

Summer with the Saints Ends Strong for City Camp

Our 2016 City Camp season ended on a very high note! We operated our largest summer ever with an estimated 365 campers across 12 day camp partnerships. We are grateful for the continued support we receive for this ministry in the Diocese! Please continue to keep our campers and staff in your prayers as they leave the summer and transition into a new school year.

Choristers at Camp Advent (Church of the Advent, Hatboro) prepare for their end-of-camp sung evening prayer service.

Camp St. Mary (St. Mary's Church, Chester) loves to begin the day with an all-camp game of Sharks and Minnows!

Campers at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Chestnut Hill, show off what they have learned about St. Patrick through sidewalk chalk drawings.

Team Olympians at Camp St. Simon (St. Simon the Cyrenian Church, Point Breeze) feed the lorikeets at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Participants at Camp St. Luke (St. Luke's Church, Germantown) show off what they have learned this summer with a game of Bible Time Jeopardy during their closing program.

More Photos from the Ordination and Consecration of Bishop Gutierrez

Click here to see additional photos of the consecration.

Presiding Bishop Names Rebecca Linder Blachly as Director of Government Relations

"Rebecca Blachly provides the capability and knowledge that the Episcopal Church wants and needs when working with our government leaders," Presiding Bishop Curry said. "Please join me in welcoming Rebecca to her new position, coming at a critical juncture for religion-government relations."

Based in Washington, DC, the Director of Government Relations is a full-time position responsible for representing the public policy positions adopted by the Episcopal Church's General Convention and Executive Council, and the ministry of the Presiding Bishop, to policy makers in Washington, including the White House, the Congress, the Washington, D.C. diplomatic community, the Episcopal institutions and networks, visiting Anglican and Episcopal leaders, the ecumenical community, and public interest organizations so that the Church has a direct presence and ability to advocate its positions to those who make or are concerned about governmental policy.

"I am honored and thrilled to take on this critical role for the Episcopal Church, and I look forward to working for the Presiding Bishop and with his extraordinary team," Blachly said. "My experience in the policy community - both in and out of government - has shown me the crucial role of faith communities in advancing priority issues. I look forward to advancing the presence of the Episcopal Church in Washington."

Most recently Blachly served as the Senior Policy Advisor for Africa for the Office of Religion and Global Affairs in the United States Department of State. As such, she advised the Secretary and State Department on religious dynamics and the role of religious leaders and communities in Africa, and was as an expert and resource for the State Department.

Previously, Blachly was Acting Chief of the Strategic Communication Division at U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany and Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, where she focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster response, and peacekeeping. She has conducted fieldwork and research throughout Africa, including in Sudan and South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Blachly worked as a Research Associate in the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior, she was the Director of International Advancement at the University of Illinois.

A published author, she was awarded the Medal for Exceptional Public Service in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and a Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Travel Grant for research in South Sudan on the peacekeeping mission in 2011.

Blachly holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, MA and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Williams College, MA. While at Harvard, her field education was conducted at Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City.

Blachly's appointment takes effect September 6.

A review committee comprised of an Episcopal Church Executive Council member, senior members of the Presiding Bishop's staff, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) partner in government relations work, and other church leadership officials reviewed the resumes and interviewed candidates for this position.

Applications Accepted for Episcopal Church Digital Evangelist

The Episcopal Church is accepting applications for the new full-time position of Digital Evangelist, a member of the Presiding Bishop's staff.

Duties for the Digital Evangelist includes strategizing efforts for the building of relationships, creating community, and fostering of an aspirational online social presence by managing and implementing the Episcopal Church's growing digital evangelism ministry. The position works in a team setting, is part of the Office of Communications, and reports to the Presiding Bishop's Canon for Ministry Within The Episcopal Church

Detailed position information and application instructions are available here.

Deadline for applying is August 29.

For more information contact a member of the Episcopal Church Human Resources Team at [email protected].

Education for Ministry

reaffirmation covenants and vows make it part of our duty as Christians to participate in bringing Christ's message to the world, whether by evangelism or a work of mercy.

Winters also had a really profound thought in this paragraph from the same source::

It is equally difficult for many of us to realize that this ministry is not an elective. That is, it is not something that we do now and then. it is not even necessarily the good and redemptive things we do. It is the entire post-baptismal life, good and bad. At our baptisms we were made members of Christ. We are his hands, arms, legs, feet, mouth. Inescapably! At all times! In all places!

It is part of the job of EfM to help people learn what ministry is, how to do it, and to understand that it is part of what we are called to do, whether or not we hear a voice from heaven or just feel some sort of burning passion to help resolve something that is cracked or broken and needs to change. People can find their missions and ministries without EfM. Thousands do it every day, but thousands also have EfM to help with the process. In community we learn to look at life through different lenses than we had before, and also to be more aware of even small things that we can do to make Christ's message known, even, as St. Francis put it, if we sometimes have to use words.

I hope what I've learned from this training seminar will help those in my groups to be able to identify and understand their places in the world, their ministries, and their passions. I think it has helped me to see the things I do in life that I never thought about as ministries in a new way. I'm looking forward to finding out what other things I can learn - with the help of those in my groups for whom I act as both mentor and fellow learner. That's the great thing about EfM. We all learn from each other, and we never have to have all the answers; sometimes ambiguity can be a very good thing. We just learn to trust God to set us straight on the crooked path we call life.

I'm learning to answer the question, "Me? A minister?" in the affirmative. On reflection, it really isn't that hard. Give it a try.

Linda Ryan co-mentors 2 EfM Online groups and keeps the blog Jericho's Daughter. She lives in the Diocese of Arizona and is proud to be part of the Church of the Nativity in North Scottsdale.

------------------

Have you ever considered a formal study of the things which inform your baptismal covenant? Many EfM seminar groups will be reforming or starting in the fall and now is the time for you to consider if this program is for you. The current texts are portrayed in the attached link.

For more information contact:

Alan Lindsay, EfM Coordinator for the Diocese of Pennsylvania
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
3717 Chestnut Street, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-627-6434 x127 or [email protected]

No Act of Kindness, No Matter How Small, Is Ever Wasted

by The Rev. Stacey Gerhart

"The simple act of caring is heroic" , (Edward Albert) and caring is essential for doing the work of a spiritual leader. Sioux City's own Rev. Stacey Gerhart is the fulltime spiritual leader at Calvary Episcopal Church in Sioux City and is also the Manager of Spiritual Care at Unity Point Hospital. Caring for others has become her mission and calling in life and she wouldn't have it any other way. During our interview with Rev. Gerhart we came to realize just how gifted and patient she was at listening and how she was able to "pull our own stories out".

While growing up in Sioux City she felt a very strong "calling" to the ministry at a young age. In the 1970s women could not be ordained and she decided that she really wanted to raise her family first and continue her education. Stacey has always believed that it is important to have women as well as men in the spiritual chaplaincy as some people might be more comfortable sharing with women (or) with men about personal issues. Even early on, she knew that being a woman might make her calling difficult in some ways, but she still was determined to continue.

During her lifetime she has been a band director in high school and middle school settings, an accountant, a Director of Christian Education and a Spiritual Chaplain in San Diego for the elderly. All of her positions have impacted her personally and professionally and led her to becoming a priest and care director. "In all my positions, the job was never to give advice, but to help others hear what their own answers might be." She believed that all of her jobs have helped her to know how to do this and to minister to those in need.

In the hospital setting, the chaplains are of many different faiths...at times a patient will prefer someone of their own faith, and at other times, any of the spiritual leaders may be called in. There is a staff of eight chaplains and they visit with families and patients in times of crisis, perhaps before or after surgery, and the chaplains provide a listening ear, compassion, and thoughtful reflection about the needs of their patients. We see this as a difficult job, but a rewarding one. Rev. Gerhart realized that, "You have no idea the impact you may make on another person." Your care that day may impact someone throughout their lives.

Rev. Gerhart's mother was a deacon in their church and went through training at the age of 65 to become one. She lived every day to the fullest and even when approaching her last days, she was positive and believed that life should be approached this way. Her mother was Sioux City's own Dorothy Pecaut and the Stone Park Nature Center was named after her. It isn't any wonder that Rev. Gerhart in very connected to nature, on a spiritual level and enjoys time outside.

There can be very difficult times at the hospital...the single hardest for her is when there is a death of a child. Any time there is a death in the family, there is sadness and grief but when a child passes away it is very hard for everyone, including the staff. "There is a lot of hand-holding and that human contact is very important." Rev. Gerhart explained to us. "Families need time and understanding when making decisions about the care of a family member." When a death occurs, Rev. Gerhart turns everything back to God. This gives her Rev. Gerhart said that it is empathy that brings an understanding to this situation and when an event makes a personal connection, you understand how someone may feel. Rev. Gerhart taught us a little lesson about empathy and the difference between sympathy and empathy....which seems to us a very important difference.

"It is a blessing, to me, to be with people in their most vulnerable times. It is amazing the strength they have, and the life stories are incredible." Rev. Gerhart reflected on many occasions she was with patients and families. We came to understand how difficult it must be, but also how much the chaplains are needed at the hospital and in life. We all need supportive people in our lives and we can only hope we have someone around like Rev. Gerhart.

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others." - Albert Schweitzer

Anti-Racism Training September 17, 2016

The Anti-Racism Commission of the Diocese of Pennsylvania invites you to join us for a day-long training on September 17, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Grace Epiphany Church, Gowen and Ardleigh Avenues. This is phase two (from April 9) but anyone can come. Cost is $25 and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Come prepared to learn more about racism and its impact on the institutions in our society, including the church. For more information or to register, contact Jane Cosby at 215.848.1760.

St. Luke's Germantown History Event

Signs of the Times: Discovering the Present in What Remains of the Past at

St. Luke's Germantown

October 22, 2016

9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

9:00- 9:30 a.m. - Registration and Refreshments

9:30 - 9:45 - Welcome: Fr. David Morris and Rt. Rev. Daniel Gutierrez

Ongoing: Mike Krasulski - "Stations of the Archives" - select items from the parish archives will be placed around the chancel and nave whereby the archival items would correspond with an object or place in the church

9:45-10:15 - Keynote Speaker: Erika Kitzmiller, Post-doctoral fellow, Hutchins Center, W. E. B. DuBois Institute, Harvard University. Introduction by Dr. William Cutler

"Germantown in the Twentieth Century"

10:15-10:45 Architectural and Campus History of St. Luke's

Joshua T. Castano, Senior Program Manager, Partners for Sacred Places. Introduction by Michael Krasulski

10:45 - 11:00 Break: Coffee and Conversation

11:00-12:30 Parish History Panel - speakers to cover the following topics

Mark Frazier Lloyd, Director of the University Archives and Records Center of the University of Pennsylvania - 19^th Century Germantown
Jane Cosby (Most Likely) - 20^th Century St. Barnabas and Post Merger St. Luke's
Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold

The objective is not to single out St. Luke's as exceptional but to use its history as a case study of an historic Episcopal church in Philadelphia. Like many Episcopal churches, St. Luke's and St. Barnabas' had to adapt to changing circumstances. How they did so and what this might mean for other congregations in the Diocese of Pennsylvania today will be among the topics covered.

#diopacomeandsee
#diopalove