Your congregation's website is its presence in the digital world, which is a really big thing right now. Very few people come to a church these days without first checking its website. What happens if your domain name is suddenly not yours anymore? Visit almost any diocese's "Find a Church" page and you will find a number of website links that are no longer correct or that, even worse, now connect to a site that you really don't want to visit.  So what can you do? Nina Nicholson, the Director of Communications & Technology in the Diocese of Newark has written and posted an article that you will find helpful:

Posted by Nina Nicholson on January 04, 2021 in the "Geeks for God" Blog: Evangelism in the Electronic Era. Go to the article >

St. Paul's, Syracuse cares for it's neighbors with groceries, plants, and Christmas cheer - Parishioners from St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Syracuse shopped, donated, packed and delivered 25 bags of groceries and lovely poinsettias to our YMCA resident neighbors.

Thanks to a partnership with Christ Church Greenwich (CCG), San Marcos Parish has a new home in Holguin, Cuba. That relationship began in June, 2019 with a mission trip led by CCG Rector Marek Zabriskie. The goal was to explore a companionship relationship with an Episcopal Church of Cuba parish. Bishop Griselda encouraged the selection of the newly planted San Marcos Church, led by Father Gil Fat Roy, in Holguin. Read more >

Prison Ministry gets creative during COVID pandemic - Like other ministries across the diocese, Prison Ministry spent most of 2020 adapting to the changing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue serving prisoners and their families. The year began with an expansion of the ministry’s decades-old program of bringing children for contact visits with parents jailed at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark. The diocese provides transportation for the children, who eat dinner, play board games and visit with their parents for two hours. Read the story >

Jeremy Cooney is a parishioner at Christ Church, Rochester and has recently been elected to represent the New York 56th Senate District. Jeremy got his start working on Capitol Hill for the late U.S. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and has gone on to work for two New York Governors and the Mayor of Rochester. We congratulate Jeremy as he serves the New York 56th Senate District. With a deep commitment to creating the Rochester of tomorrow, Jeremy is passionate about investing in quality public schools, affordable housing, universal health care, reducing our carbon footprint, and helping families find pathways out of poverty. Jeremy was gracious enough to share a some of his life, his thoughts, and his beliefs HERE.

Local Indigenous History Is Focus of New Book Study - On Monday evenings at 7 p.m. from January 25 to February 15, people from across the partnership will gather online to discuss "The Thomas Indian School and the 'Irredeemable' Children of New York" which examines the history of the school that the State of New York operated on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation from 1875 to 1957, and some of the history of Indigenous people in our region. " Although the school was in New York, the history presented in the book extends beyond state boundaries and offers insight on systemic issues," says Canon Twila Smith, who will lead the discussion.

The book is available in print and e-book formats. To prepare for the discussion, participants can watch the PBS documentary Dawnland, about the removal of Native American children from their families. The documentary was featured in the partnership's Sacred Ground course , which was the inspiration for the book study. To learn more and sign up, email Canon Smith.