Quick Links to Diopa Website
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Dedication of "Logan Divinity Way"
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Photo by Henry Carnes
The Vestry and members of Calvary St. Augustine Episcopal Church invites all members of the Diocese of Pennsylvania and larger community to honor the memory and ministry of The Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Logan at the dedication of "Logan Divinity Way" on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. at the church, 814 N. 41st Street in Philadelphia.
In memory of their servant leadership in the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and the west Philadelphia community; The Rev. Canon Thomas W.S. Logan and Mrs. Hermione Hill Logan will be honored with a sign that says "Logan Divinity Way" located on 41st Street between Brown St. and Parrish St. Not only is this sign a memorial to the Logan legacy, it is a sign that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a part of every person and every action in this community.
(Scheduled speakers at the dedication include: The Rev. Isaac Miller, The Rev. Martini Shaw, Senator Vincent Hughes, Council woman Jannie L. Blackwell, Albert Ladson, Dr. James Trotman, The Rev. Renee McKenzie, and a representative from the office of Bishop Daniel Gutierrez.)
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The DIOPA Resource Guide is here!
We have heard your suggestions, compiled them, and we would like to present the DIOPA Resource Guide: a directory of information about the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and how we can best serve you. We encourage you to explore the website at
http://www.dioparesourceguide.com/.
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Website for the Diocanate of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
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Godly Play® Foundation
Commuter Core Godly Play Training: PHILADELPHIA 2016 CC
Dawn Stewart, Godly Play Foundation Trainer
Saint Paul's Episcopal Church
22 E Chestnut Hill Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19118
October 15, 2016
Growing as God's People: Sacred Stories & Supporting the Circle of Children
REGISTRATION -
WWW.PHIL2016CC-SS.EVENTBEE.COM
October 29, 2016
Engaging God's Playful Word: Parables & Honoring the Spirituality of the Child
REGISTRATION -
WWW.PHIL2016CC-P.EVENTBEE.COM
November 12, 2016
Building Holy Rituals & Spaces: Liturgical Action & Creating Sacred Environments
REGISTRATION -
WWW.PHIL2016CC-LA.EVENTBEE.COM
Standard Registration $125 per module Late Registration $155 per module
Standard registrations are those received three or more weeks before training date.
* Modules run from 9:00am - 5:30pm each Saturday; lunch is included in your registration.
* Register for all 3 modules for Core Attendance Completion or for individual modules to accumulate credit toward completion of Core Training. When earning Core Attendance Completion credit, modules may be attended in any order, over time and location.
* You are expected to read Teaching Godly Play: How to Mentor the Spiritual Development of Children by Jerome W. Berryman before training; available in print, discounted 3 copy bundles, or Kindle.
* To support each member of the circle, participants are required to be present the entire training.
* Refunds, discounts, and pro-rates cannot be given for partial or non-attendance, however:
o Paid tuition can be used for a substitute to attend the training.
o With notice to Registration@GodlyPlayFoundation.org 7+ days before the start of training, the original tuition fee can be applied to a future training with a $20 transfer fee.
o If the training does not reach minimum needed for participation, we will work to reschedule the training, with notification by email at least 10 days prior.
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Diocesan Convention Approaches
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As the 233rd Annual Diocesan Convention approaches, there are some simple things to keep in mind.
Committee Reports are due no later than October 17th. All reports submitted after that will not be able to be printed.
If you have any additional questions, please contact Mark Klinger (
markk@diopa.org
) or Linda Hollingsworth (
lindah@diopa.org
) or you can reach Mark or Linda at the Office of the Diocese by calling 215-627-6434 during our regular business hours of Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.
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Rob Rogers Retires as Diocesan Chief Financial Officer
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Photos by Henry Carnes
Rob Rogers, Chief Financial Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania for the last decade, retired last week. He is seen pictured below with the other members of the Finance Department: Earl Irby (left) and Jennie Paddy (center).
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St. John's Compass Celebrates the Blessing of the Animals
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This past Sunday, in honor of the Feast of St. Francis (Oct. 4), we held a Blessing of the Animals service at St. John's, Compass. In attendance were 19 humans, 9 dogs, two cats, and many brought photos of cats, dogs, birds, and fish that could not be there. Our liturgy is adapted from the "Animal Blessing Service" of the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals, UK, and by the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Deinsen for the Episcopal Network of Animal Welfare, USA.
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146 U.S. Congregations Awarded Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Grants
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 Christian Theological Seminary, in its role of administering the Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program, has awarded grants to 146 congregations located in 37 states and the District of Columbia. The 2016 program allows congregations to support their pastors with the gift of extended time away from ministerial duties and responsibilities. Pastors use the respite from congregational leadership for reflection and renewal, which often includes travel, scholarly research and immersive experiences with different cultures and traditions.
Congregations awarded the National Clergy Renewal Program grants nominated their pastors to receive this honor. Pastors in the 2016 program represent a diverse group that includes Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and nondenominational congregations. In consultation with their congregations, the pastors determine how they will use the grants to replenish, restore and renew their ministries. Travel to domestic and international destinations and journeys into nature are popular activities for grant recipients. One pastor will investigate the origins of the Reformation during the commemoration of its 500
th anniversary, while another pastor will visit his ancestral land of Korea in order to consider how preaching there is affecting the growth of churches.
In addition to travel as a form of renewal, some pastors will use their time away from congregational leadership to engage in new spiritual disciplines, focus on time with loved ones and study topics that renew their excitement for preaching and congregational leadership.
Since Lilly Endowment introduced the National Clergy Renewal Program grants in 2000, more than 2,300 congregations across the nation have participated in the program. Congregations in the 2016 program received grants totaling more than $6 million. The grants recognize the tremendous amount of energy, time and leadership that pastors invest in their congregations.
"Lilly Endowment intends for this program to enable pastors to live for a while at a different pace and in a new environment, in Sabbath time and space," said Dr. Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment's vice president for religion. "We can think of no better way to honor these hardworking, faithful men and women than to help them experience personal growth and spiritual renewal in ways that they themselves design and find meaningful. We regularly hear that these renewal experiences are transformative for pastors, their families and their congregations."
Christian congregations were invited to apply for program grants of up to $50,000. The application process was participatory in nature, involving congregations and their pastors in the design and development of the renewal experience. Up to $15,000 of the grant could be allocated to fund interim pastoral leadership, as well as renewal activities within the congregation. Pastors were encouraged to include their families in the renewal activities.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Saler, director of the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, noted that the National Clergy Renewal Program leverages the reciprocal dynamics of support, trust and encouragement reflective of healthy congregations. "The program is designed to respect the innate human need for times of service and replenishment. It provides a means for congregations to express appreciation for their leaders' service and respect for his or her health and energy for continued ministry," Saler said.
Christian Theological Seminary's Center for Pastoral Excellence was selected in 2012 to administer the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs. "At a time when society is experiencing unprecedented levels of change at ever increasing speeds, it is rewarding to offer programs that recognize the value of retreat and renewal," Saler said. "We are honored and privileged to work with Lilly Endowment in its support of congregational leaders."
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Navajo Mission Finds Fertile Ground for Water Conservation Project
by David Paulsen
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Protecting the Precious' is latest farm-based project in Navajoland
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Waffle beds are among the water-saving techniques Good Shepherd Mission in Fort Defiance, Arizona, is using as it grows its farming ministry with the help of a UTO grant. Photo: Good Shepherd Mission
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Arizona may sound like the last place you'd find a dynamic agricultural enterprise, but the work underway in the Navajoland Area Mission is gathering the seeds of history, culture, tradition, environmental stewardship and spirituality to cultivate a local ministry with sky's-the-limit potential for a small Episcopal congregation here.
Gardening has been alive for decades at Good Shepherd Mission in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Now, local leaders are looking for ways to expand those efforts while emphasizing conservation, particularly of water. Native American traditions and Episcopal teachings overlap on that point - the importance of protecting the Earth and our God-given resources, said the Rev. Cynthia Hizer, Good Shepherd's vicar.
"The indigenous people have been the environmentalists for as long as they've been here," Hizer said. "The way they step out into the world is honoring creation."
The latest initiative to till this fertile ground is the Protecting the Precious water conservation project at Good Shepherd Mission, which this week is installing a rainwater collection system to augment the congregation's farming operation. An additional component of the project will involve teaching water-saving farming techniques to would-be farmers on the Navajo reservation.
"Water is such an issue in the West," Good Shepherd head gardener Margaret Putnam said. The mission's half-acre garden uses a drip irrigation system fed by municipal water, but the congregation hopes to plant a full field of crops on an additional half acre with the rainwater it collects.
Conservation is itself a goal of the project, Putnam added. Using less municipal water is the right thing to do, especially in a dry climate like Arizona's.
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Good Shepherd Mission's has focused on blue corn_ whose pollen also plays in role traditional Navajo ceremonies. Photo:Good Shepherd Mission, Facebook
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Rain collection at Good Shepherd has been backed by a $41,500 grant from the Episcopal Church's United Thank Offering program, or UTO. The grant application noted that the high-desert region has a long history of farming and animal grazing, but those traditions have diminished over the decades, partly because of environmental degradation.
A particularly shocking and devastating recent case was the accidental release of toxic chemicals into the Animas River from a former Colorado mine in August 2015. The waste from that spill made it all the way to the San Juan River, one of the water sources for the Navajoland farm at St. Christopher's in Bluff, Utah, and some of that mission's crops were wiped out.
Since then, St. Christopher's has decided to tap into artesian wells for some of its crop irrigation, so it doesn't have to rely solely on the river anymore, said the Rev. Leon Sampson, a deacon.
The Protecting the Precious grant application also notes that decades of mining has lowered the water table on the reservation and contaminated much of the remaining water. Nutrient depletion, erosion and pesticide use are other factors that pose challenges to Navajo farmers.
The solution proposed by the water conservation project at Good Shepherd starts small but has growth potential as the congregation leads by example and teaches conservation to others.
"It excites us to think that those participating in this initiative will deepen their respect for the land," Navajoland's grant application said. "Protecting the Precious can transform how we interact with the natural world."
Navajoland is a collection of Episcopal missions in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah that serve the 250,000 people on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo reservation. The missions technically don't make up a diocese because they still are working toward becoming financially self-sustaining. An estimated 43 percent of the Navajo population lives under the poverty line, so Episcopal leaders are looking to entrepreneurialism to achieve their goal of self-sustainability and to lift others out of poverty.
There's the beekeeping operation that is taking shape at Good Shepherd and St. Christopher's. The missions are working together to turn blue corn flour production into a cottage industry. And Good Shepherd's hand-made soaps business is taking off.
Hizer has been a big part of that growth since she arrived early last year, and recently she was named to Navajoland Bishop David Bailey's staff as canon for development and social enterprise.
"I came with a passion," said Hizer, who previously served in the Diocese of Atlanta and oversaw a garden there.
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Sunflowers growing in Good Shepherd Mission's garden. Photo: Good Shepherd Mission, Facebook
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Putnam had worked with Hizer as a church gardener in Atlanta, and the two women were recruited for Good Shepherd because of that expertise. Along with a passion for farming, Hizer and Putnam brought with them knowledge of different cultivation techniques, some of which are being put to use at Good Shepherd.
One efficient method for conserving water is planting in waffle beds: A garden plot is crosshatched - like a giant waffle - building up the dirt so that water collects at the bottom of each square and doesn't runoff.
Berms, or raised beds, and swales, shallow depressions used to catch rainwater, also can be used to catch and direct rainwater.
"There is water," Hizer said. "You just have to get it in the right place and not let it go downhill."
But such conservation techniques only collect rainwater that falls on or next to the half-acre garden, squandering plenty of rain that falls elsewhere. With its UTO grant, Good Shepherd will start collecting rain that falls on three of the mission's 12 buildings, especially in the rainy season from late June to early September, and funnel it into tanks holding thousands of gallons of water that then can be used to irrigate the crops.
More water will enable Good Shepherd to double its growing capacity when it adds a half-acre field to its garden plots, Putnam said.
The garden already is a focal point socially for the congregation. The hours following Sunday worship are particularly ripe for members to work the soil, Hizer said. After coffee hour, some head down to the garden plots and plant or pick vegetables, or they may discuss traditional Navajo recipes they will use when cooking up the fresh harvest.
In the past, the garden has grown a wide variety of vegetables for the congregation to prepare and serve, as well as to sell at a local farmer's market. This year, while still growing squash, beans and sunflowers, the primary focus has been blue corn, because Good Shepherd is working with St. Christopher's on a UTO-backed project to brand and market blue corn for sale as flour.
Farming is a pastime that reaches back generations. Maggie Brown, a senior warden at Good Shepherd, grows some corn on her property, just as her father did before her. Some parts of the crops, like blue corn pollen, also play a role in traditional Navajo ceremonies, she said.
Brown sees value in farming as an outreach opportunity for the mission.
"Working on the field gives us a chance to mingle with the congregation and whoever is there to help," she said.
Sampson, the deacon at St. Christopher's, was instrumental in creating and developing what is known as the Homer Dale Community Farm there, first as farm manager and later as a deacon. His farming has a strong spiritual side, incorporating prayer and showing humility, and he saw the mission farm as a way to bridge the gap between elders who grew up with farming and young people who have lost connection to the land.
"We created space for teaching the next generation," Sampson said.
One child told Sampson of his farm back home - he said it had zombies that ate the onions. Sampson realized the child was talking about a video game. "Our zombies are called chipmunks and rabbits," he told the boy, before sharing real-world lessons in gardening and faith.
"Really, the farm grew in spirituality and community," he said.
Good Shepherd Mission is near the tribal seat of government in Window Rock, Arizona, and Hizer envisions partnering with tribal authorities to educate reservation residents on farming techniques. She also has an idea for a Food Network-style cooking show featuring recipes that use ingredients familiar to the Navajo.
For now, she and the rest of the Good Shepherd congregation have plenty to do as their expanded farming ministry takes root.
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Servant Year Survey
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For 15 years the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania has offered the Servant Year Program, inviting young adults to spend one year in service to our diocese.
A willingness to live simply, intentionally and to compassionately serve is the mainstay of Servant Year
. The program is on hiatus as we discern where to make improvements and we need your help! We are surveying our churches to see how many know about the program and how it can better serve the needs of our diocese.
Even if you have never heard of Servant Year,
your input is important to us as we work to keep this program relevant to the needs of our Diocese.
A link to the survey is imbedded below. You are invited to click on the link and take the survey. It will take only 3 minutes we promise! And your input will make a difference. Thank you! If you have any questions please contact Jan Schroeder at 215-313-9151 or email her at jans@diopa.org.
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Education for Ministry
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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 alanl@diopa.org
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