In a letter sent to clergy of the diocese on January 4, Bishop Smith clarified some points from the latest set of COVID guidelines, following up on questions he had received. Text from the letter follows:
Dear Colleagues:
Just before Christmas, I sent you an updated set of pastoral guidelines for facing the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. This is a nasty bug, trying to infect everyone in sight and succeeding far too often. I recognize that many locales in our diocese have seen how contagious this disease can be. I have heard such accounts directly from some of you, and via my staff, indirectly from others.
During this continuation of a hard season, I have a few words of pastoral counsel intended to fill in some of the blank spaces within the December guidelines. These words of counsel address some of the questions for clarification that I have heard from some of you.
It is permissible to return to virtual worship. In some places, and for some parishes, the risk of contagion may be so great that this becomes the responsible option. Rectors and priests-in-charge have this decision to make, sensibly in consultation with other leaders. My job is not to second-guess your decision; mine is to have your back.
It is sensible to limit social gatherings. In our meeting last month, our experts on the diocesan Medical Task Force expressed their greatest apprehension about people eating and drinking together. Unmasking during social time to eat and drink by its very nature leaves people vulnerable—and makes anyone with the disease, symptomatic or not, a potential vector for infecting others. Limiting or cancelling coffee hour may be a good choice during this season.
It is reasonable to curtail contact in the workplace. In many places, the only person in the parish workplace during the week is the priest. Others will have a few others around, either occasionally or all the time. In my office there are a dozen-plus people, some full-time, some part-time, some who always work from a remote location. Ministry is by its very nature a collaborative work, and some of that work is difficult to accomplish in the virtual world alone. For the time being, I have asked my staff to work from a remote location and only do what must be done by in-person meetings.
There is no one-size-fits-all. A genius of Christian ministry, maybe especially in its Anglican expression, is that it is always contextual. You know that already, but I want to emphasize that I understand the principle as it works out in our seventy-three parishes.
Self-care. I can’t stress enough the importance of self-care during this ongoing pandemic.
Most of all, know that I pray for all of you. Every day.
Bishop Smith meets regularly with a Task Force of medical professionals from around the diocese to assure that any diocesan guidelines are in line with CDC recommendations and current data. The guidelines are only updated if recommended by the Task Force. Current guidelines can always be found on the diocese’sCOVID resource webpage.
Resources
Looking for forms, policies, all the “stuff” that churches need? Our resources page is a hub that will take you to whatever you are looking for!
Do you have Student Loan debt? The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program may help. Learn how it works on Wednesday, January 26 from 1 to 2 p.m. in a free webinar presented by Church Pension Group.
For the first time, clergy members and others engaged full-time at faith-based entities are now included in a program designed to forgive the federal student debt for public service and many not-for-profit workers. Thanks to new rules that went into effect in July 2021, employees of religious not-for-profit organizations may qualify to have their loans forgiven through the PSLF program.
Join this webinar to learn about who qualifies for the program, the application process, and where to get practical guidance on next steps.
Highlights:
Qualification requirements
How to apply and key dates
What it could mean for including prior years’ payments
Filing of the 2021 Parochial Report opened January 4.
To prepare for the upcoming filing year, downloadable forms and instructions are available on our website and the Episcopal Church website. There you will also find a video tutorial and detailed instructions.
A reminder that reports are filed online at: https://reports.dfms.orgusing your previous login information from the previous year. Administrators should have received an email from the General Convention Office with the login information.
The canonical deadline for filing your 2021 Parochial Report is March 1, 2022.
Becoming Beloved Community
With support from the United Thank Offering, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio has committed to the call of Becoming Beloved Community, with deepening focus on the work of racial healing, reconciliation, and justice-making.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial Board reported on Jan. 9 that the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel calculates that Ohio ratepayers had paid “nearly $172 million by Jan. 7 to subsidize two money-losing coal plants, one of them in Indiana.” This is an ongoing cost of HB 6, passed in 2019 through bribes now the subject of an enormous federal corruption case. The Ohio Consumers’ Council website also shows these plants have emitted almost 21 million tons of CO2 since HB 6 went into effect. You can help repeal the coal subsidies by asking your state senator to pass SB 117 and your state rep to pass HB 351.
Legislature poised to expand gun rights
The Ohio legislature is now working to reconcile bills (HB 227 and SB 215) passed in both houses last year to allow people over the age of 18 to carry a concealed weapon without training or a permit. The bills are opposed by law enforcement leaders and organizations including the Fraternal Order of Police. To express your views, contact your Representative and Senator, and call or write Governor DeWine.
Also advancing is legislation to allow school districts to arm teachers or staff with only 20 hours of safety training, compared to over 700 hours under current state law. The House version, HB 99, was passed by the Ohio House in November. The Statehouse News Bureau reports that Gov. DeWine has been negotiating over the training requirementand is not saying whether he would sign this legislation.
Read more for evidence-based ways to prevent gun violence
Advocacy briefings and updates are compiled by Ariel Miller, a member of Ascension & Holy Trinity, Wyoming, and a member of the diocesan Becoming Beloved Community Leadership Team.
Through a grant from the Faith in Life Commission, The Church of the Advent will offer four workshops related to the application of our Christian faith to ethical living in a crazy and messy world.
All workshops will be in person and held at the Church of the Advent, Walnut Hills, on Saturdays from 9:30am-2:30pm. Space will be limited to 30 participants.
Originally scheduled to begin February 6, you may still register for these sessions and will be contacted when they have been rescheduled.
Gather with us VIRTUALLY for the FORMA Conference for Ministry, Jan 18-20
For the 2022 FORMA conference (January 18-20), DSO's Formation team has signed up for a package which allows us to share registrations across the diocese! Participants will have access to the FORMA Conference as well as a Door Dash gift card, and will gather to share their formation goals with the Formation team over Zoom for a check-in or debrief.
We wish we could gather together for a retreat, but we know that participating over Zoom is the safest option at this time.
If you are leading formation opportunities in your community and parish, we invite you to register and we will be in touch!
This includes paid and volunteer positions and lay leaders as well as clergy!
Christian teaching about the resurrection is at the bedrock of our faith and our hope and yet is often poorly understood.
Join Father Dan McClain, Priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s, Dayton, and Affiliate Professor of Theology at the General Theological Seminary, for a five-session series, beginning February 3 at 3 p.m. (through June 2), on the Resurrection, using Archbishop Rowan Williams’ book, Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel (Dartman, Longman, & Todd: 1982).
Copies of Resurrection will be provided for participants.
Procter Center is a mid-sized retreat and event facility located in London, Ohio, that serves spiritual, community, business and youth organizations. Procter is also available to families and individuals who seek inspiration, reflection, education, team building and togetherness in a simple, peaceful and secluded setting.
Soaps, candles, sweet treats, teas, coffee, syrups, jams, honey, home décor, Procter apparel, holiday decorations, ornaments, jewelry, spices and spice blends, salsas, dips, dressings, art pieces, and more!
In the past, we have always closed for the months of January, February and March. Not this year! In 2022 the store will hold winter hours, open each Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon.
In April 2022 the store will have our Spring Plant Sale, and go back to our Thursday, Friday and Saturday operating hours.
Stay up to date on store events by following us on Facebook!
News from our Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral is located at 318 E. 4th Street in downtown Cincinnati.
For the health and safety of all, the cathedral has reinstated its policy requiring the wearing of masks by all who attend its worship services or events.
Music Live at Lunch
Music Live at Lunch, Christ Church Cathedral's weekly concert series, is celebrating its 50th year! These free concerts are presented on Tuesdays at 12:10 p.m. Patrons may bring their own lunch or purchase one at the cathedral.
January schedule
Jan 18: Queen City Klezmorim – Klezmer music
Jan 25: The Faux Frenchmen – Hot Club-driven jazz
February
Feb 1: Heri et Hodie – A Viking-inspired program
Feb 8: The Matt Tolentino Band – Jazz
Feb 15: Cantata Chamber Ensemble – Bach cantatas
Feb 22: Wayside Winds – Classical & contemporary music
Organ Recital: A Cosmopolitan Extravaganza
Sunday, January 16
3 p.m.
Organist Kola Owolabi performs a program of music by Frescobaldi, Kerll, Bruna, Scarlatti, Soler, and J. S. Bach on C. B. Fisk Opus 148 in Centennial Chapel.
No admission charge.
Choral Evensong
Sunday, February 6
5 p.m.
The Christ Church Cathedral Choir
Canticles: The Chichester Service – Malcolm Archer
Anthem: All Wisdom Cometh from the Lord – Philip Moore
News from The Episcopal Church
Follow the latest news from The Episcopal Church by subscribing to the Episcopal News Service newsletter
Province Vof the Episcopal Church is a wonderful networking resource to connect with Episcopalians from the Midwest who share interest in a same ministry area. Province V Newsalso has information about webinars and other events of interest.
In Epiphany service and Lincoln Memorial speech, presiding bishop calls nation to wake from ‘the nightmare of Jan. 6’
[Episcopal News Service] In a livestreamed Jan. 6 worship service from Washington, D.C., that marked both the Feast of the Epiphany and the first anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and later in an address to the nation from the Lincoln Memorial, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry called on Christians to reclaim the spiritual light that the holiday celebrates and reject the “deeper darkness” shown in the attack.
“Epiphany, at its deepest roots, is about the light and life and love of God,” Curry preached in his sermon at the Church of the Epiphany, just east of the White House. “And what happened here in this country that we love a year ago was not about light and love and life. And we are better than that. And we must declare it.”
Standing near the monument to President Abraham Lincoln, who led the U.S. through the Civil War, Curry spoke about the “peril and promise” of this moment. The “nightmare of Jan. 6” was “a revelation that there are forces intentionally seeking and working to divide us,” he said in a video recording. “Left unchecked, unaddressed, and unhealed, this can lead to the decline and deconstruction of our nation.
“Such a moment demands moral vision that sees beyond mere self-interest and beholds the common good — a spiritual strength stronger than any sword.”
A church focused outside our doors, loving and serving Jesus Christ in our beloved communities in relevant ways, both new and traditional.
OUR MISSION
Christ is calling us into meaningful connections with each other that transcend all boundaries, and to act on those connections for the benefit of all. By these connections we are made whole.
