An Update from Bishop Howard:
Delta Variant Considerations
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As the Delta variant spreads, we are all encountering emotions of sadness, frustration and concern. Let us remain hopeful, patient and cautious. The Diocese of Florida supports each parish in determining how best to proceed safely depending on its unique characteristics.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:5
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Episcopal Relief & Development |
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SUPPORTING PARTNERS IN HAITI AFTER THE AUGUST 2021 EARTHQUAKE
Episcopal Relief & Development is supporting the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and other partners in response to the devastating earthquake that struck on Saturday, August 14, 2021. The organization's first grant is through the diocese and will support 400 vulnerable households in 2 isolated communities.
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SUPPORTING PARTNERS IN RESPONSE TO HURRICANE IDA
Episcopal Relief & Development is supporting the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and other regional partners in the path of Hurricane Ida. Please pray for everyone impacted by Hurricane Ida.
Donations to Episcopal Relief & Development's Hurricane Relief Fund will support the organization’s response to Hurricane Ida and other storms.
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St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church |
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SUPPORTING OUR HEALTHCARE WORKERS
St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church delivered boxed meals to healthcare workers assigned to the COVID units at Mayo Clinic and Baptist Medical Center Beaches - a show of support and love for healthcare workers on all COVID wards.
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9/11 INTERFAITH SERVICE FOR UNITY AND REMEMBRANCE
St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Parish is hosting a community-wide prayer service commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Shepherding the commemoration is the Rector, Reverend Louanne Loch. Participants include leaders of local religious communities and their congregants. The mayors of the beaches communities, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach, and Kyle Reese, Executive Director of One Jax, will also be in attendance.
The interfaith service with Muslim, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs among others will take place at 11:00 am on Saturday, September 11th, at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 465 11th Avenue, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250. Music director and UNF adjunct Faculty member, Lynn Radcliffe will provide special music by a string quartet, and Hand Pan musicians from non-profit Streams of Sound.
We will come together to acknowledge God’s love for all God’s people. We welcome all interfaith communities.
Please wear your mask.
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Racial Reconciliation Begins with Recognition |
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Byron Greene, Chair – Diocesan Anti-Racism and Reconciliation Commission; Member St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church – Tallahassee, FL |
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The Tallahassee Community Remembrance (CRP) began its march to recognize the recorded victims of lynching atrocities in the Tallahassee/Leon County area of Florida. What started out with an initial meeting of 3 local area churches: St. John’s Episcopal Church; St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, and First Presbyterian Church, has now developed into a coalition of more than 45 faith-based and community organizations. Over almost 4 years the CRP has engaged in research, community education and awareness, collaborating with the Equal Justice Initiative (Montgomery, AL), and locating a place for erecting a historical memorial marker to commemorate the African American lives lost to extrajudicial vigilante violence.
This tremendous effort came to fruition on July 17, 2021 at the CRP marker - dedication followed by a service of remembrance. The event was attended by more than 400 people. This gathering of people from various cross-sections of the Tallahassee community represented the spirit of the Tallahassee CRP to truly be a community effort to seek justice or at least some form of closure through the acknowledgement of this horrible act. According to records within the State Archives of Florida indicate that Florida was the site of at least 331 lynchings in the years between 1877 and 1950 and that four of those lynchings took place in Leon County: Pierce Taylor (1897), Mick Morris (1909), Richard Hawkins (1937), and Ernest Ponder (1937).
As a Co-convener of the Tallahassee CRP, an African American man and a Christian of the Episcopal tradition, this four years of work was a small price to pay for these men whose lives were taken by mob violence. Over the last few years our nation has been forced to recognize the mistreatment of Black people in America. It is an indelible stain upon our national narrative, one that is too often willfully omitted, yet for our country to heal and move forward we must recognize the racial atrocities and find ways to dialogue with one another to “set the table” for healing and reconciliation. As evidenced and acknowledged, the Episcopal church too carries stain of racial injustice and degradation through its participation in the American slavery system.
In the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer, it seems like the worst of times, however, I proclaim this to also be the best of times. Now is the time that so many public and private conversations are being had about racial injustice (past and present). Now is the time that descendants of white perpetrators and black victims can come together for civil and productive engagement. Now is the time that the winds of change are blowing and the historical injustices against Black people in America weave the Black American experience into our national fabric.
I am, however, hopeful for the future of race in Tallahassee, in that the Tallahassee Community Remembrance project was led in-part by 2 Episcopal parishes within the Dioceses of Florida, St. John’s a historically white parish and St. Michael and All Angels. St. Michael and All Angels parish was borne out of St. John’s parish as Black Tallahasseeans were not wanted, welcomed to worship with/at St. John’s. First Presbyterian church also has a legacy with slavery with a visible slave gallery within its confines. With a collaboration of this dynamic, I indeed believe, now is the time to truly move toward racial healing.
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St. Mary's Episcopal Church Match Challenge |
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Currently, St. Mary's Episcopal Church has a $50,000 match challenge --all unrestricted and capital restoration gifts will be matched up to a total of $50,000!
If you would like to make a gift online, click here to donate by PayPal, or send checks payable to: St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1924 N. Laura St., Jacksonville, FL. 32206. Contact admin@stmarysjax.org with any questions.
Thank you for your interest and support!
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Coming Up:
Wednesday, September 8, 2021 - Bishop Howard's 70th Birthday
Saturday, September 11, 2021 - 9/11 Interfaith Service for Unity and Remembrance at St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Parish
Sunday, September 12, 2021 - Bishop Howard to Visit Trinity, Melrose
Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - Institution of Lisa Meirow as Rector, St. Andrew’s, Jacksonville
Sunday, September 26, 2021 - Sunday Evenings at Holy Trinity - A Service of Compline
Sunday, October 3, 2021 - Confirmations & Bishop Howard to Visit St. Catherine’s, Jacksonville
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Diocesan Website Updates: Please email communications@diocesefl.org with any updates and include the URL of the page where the changes are needed.
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Looking for a job? Visit the employment page on our website for some of the current opportunities. Click here
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Listing a job? Email communications@diocesefl.org with the job description and position contact information to be posted on the employment page.
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Diocese of Florida | 325 N. Market Street | Jacksonville, FL 32202 | 904.356.1328
www.diocesefl.org
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