Convention Delegates, thank you for your service! You have been receiving this email as it has contained important information pertaining to Diocesan Convention.

This will be the last edition with convention information.

When late last week the Episcopal Church released the 2019 parochial report results (below), my first reaction was, “Really? Every faith community is paddling in uncharted waters, and we are reminded that the statistics of attendance and membership are ‘dire’?”

I am greatly encouraged that the President of the House of Deputies, the Reverend Gay Jennings, appointed a group to address the anachronistic limitations and complications of the current parochial report. Just two weeks ago this committee recommended a special edition of the parochial report to address this year as a statistical anomaly.

The Right Reverend Thomas J. Brown

Click the image above to explore the parochial report data for churches in

the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Thank you to all who attended the 201st Convention of the Diocese of Maine last Saturday online!

Diocesan Council Finance Committee is charged with evaluating the financial health of churches and Diocese-related organizations as we head into 2021. Given the stress the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on finances throughout the Diocese, the Committee would like to "take the financial pulse" of churches within the Diocese. Specifically, the Committee requests that each church submit, by November 14, 2020, information on 2019 and 2020 income for the first nine months of each year. This information should be formatted in MS Excel and address the following categories of income:

This information should be sent to Canon Terry Reimer,

Since 2007, the Diocese of Maine has made a percentage of its income available to support international efforts and ministries that help to alleviate poverty. Any Maine congregation or program group may offer a proposal to Diocesan Council for consideration to fund an international outreach or development effort. Past grants have awarded funds to the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, midwife education support in Haiti, teachers’ salaries in the Diocese of Liberia, and support for the ministry of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad. In addition, this grant program has also supported school projects in Kenya and South Sudan. Last year, Diocesan Council granted $10,000 to the Diocese of Jerusalem for use at the Mother Empowerment Program at Jerusalem’s Princess Basma Center.

In 2015,an additional $5,000 was included in the diocesan budget to fund ministry that serves those living in poverty in Maine. The first year's recipients were Church at 209in Augusta to support the settlement Iraqi refugees and the "Dinner is Served" community meal program out of St. Brendan's, Deer Isle. Grant monies also have supported the Compassionate Housing Initiative, founded by churches in Yarmouth to offer emergency housing for newly-arrived refugee families, for Loaves and Fishes at St. Peter’s in Rockland, and the Food Pantry at Paris Elementary School.

Diocesan Council will meet on December 12, 2020 to consider proposals for both the domestic and international poverty grant programs. If you would like to apply for an international or domestic poverty grant, please submit a letter outlining your proposal by Friday, November 27th, 2020. The letter should be addressed to Bishop Brown and the Diocesan Council and submitted to Canon Barbara Martin.

In your letter, please include:

We have recently added to the Trustees of Diocesan Funds section of the diocesan website the September 2020 Investment Managers' Performance Report. 

This report introduces a new and much more detailed report of the three investment managers' performance for the month of September 2020 and year to date 2020. The three investment managers, HM Payson, Welch & Forbes, and AllianceBernstein, are presented individually and combined in both tabular and graphic form. 

The new report format is compiled by the investment statistics firm Addepar and will be a continuing part of the Trustees' review and evaluation process of investment performance. 

For more information, please contact Canon Terry Reimer, Canon for Finance and Stewardship. 

Webinar offered by St. Chrysostom's Church, Chicago and Bexley-Seabury Seminary

Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7:00 p.m. ET

“What is our vocation as a Christian community to ‘seek and serve Christ’ in the black communities disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and the virus of racism?”

and

“How might we break out of the historically entrenched role our church and denomination have played in sustaining the racist structures which contribute to death rather than life?

In partnership with Bexley-Seabury Seminary and the Rev. Dr. Reggie Williams, professor at McCormick Theological Seminary, these are the questions we seek to answer at this moment.

This webinar explores the connection between Christian discipleship and the problem of racism with an eye toward how we commit to changing these structures by aligning them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Click here to register for this webinar.

Offered by Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary

Friday, November 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm ET via Zoom

Early bird tickets for $60; General admission tickets for $70.

Gather online via Zoom with fellow preachers for a day of renewal and engagement with scripture. The day will begin with online worship and will include the hallmarks of the seminary’s Deep Calls to Deep program: spirituality, imagination, embodiment, and community. Deep Calls to Deep staff – Professors Ruthanna Hooke and Mark Jefferson, as well as Program Coordinator Anne Turner – will lead online sessions exploring the readings for Advent and Christmas. Between sessions, participants are invited to spend time working independently. Preachers will leave with significant preparatory work done towards their sermons for one of the busiest months of the church year.

This is a call for volunteers to participate in the November and December diocese-wide online worship services, to be broadcast on Sunday, November 22 and Sunday, December 27 on YouTube and Facebook. 

If you or your church have not yet participated in a diocese-wide online worship service, this is a wonderful time to do so. Participating is easy: attend a volunteer meeting to learn more about the process and the liturgy, and then record your part (on your webcam or smartphone) and send it in.

If you are interested in participating in either service, please email Director of Communications Katie Clark. Priority will be given to new participants!

This is a non-mandatory, come-if-you'd-like open discussion session.