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August 4, 2021
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Volume 11, No. 48
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Celebrate with the Diocese at Honey Creek
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| | The procession of clergy for the outdoor Eucharist at Honey Creek in 2014. |
This year during Diocesan Convention at Jekyll Island, as we did in 2014, we will have our Friday evening Eucharist at Honey Creek, and end the evening with a celebration! Last May the Diocese had planned a weekend extravaganza for Bishop Logue's ordination and consecration as the 11th Bishop of Georgia. Our gathering at Honey Creek will give us the opportunity to finally celebrate together as Diocese and new Bishop.
We're also looking for your input. The Diocese provided shuttles to Honey Creek during the Revival with Presiding Bishop Curry, and we'd like to know if there would be interest in a shuttle from Jekyll Island to Honey Creek. To vote in the poll, click here. There will be a separate registration for the evening at Honey Creek, outside of registration for convention. Both registrations will be live soon.
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2021 Full-Time Priests' Salary Survey
A survey of the compensation for priests serving in full-time positions in a single parish is posted at right  and on the diocesan website to assist vestries as we enter the time of year to plan congregational budgets. This is the eleventh year that the salary survey has been published by the Diocese.
The 29 priests on the two charts are only a portion of those serving our 69 congregations. These are the priests working full time in a single parish. Many of our congregations are served by part-time priests, who are often bi-vocational or retired. For comparison purposes, the archived surveys from 2011-2020 each remain online in the Reference Library at the diocesan website.
A Note on Priest's Compensation
The salary listed will appear 15% higher than pay for most other individuals as priests must pay that amount for SECA (the self-employment version of FICA or Social Security) out of the listed compensation in addition to state and federal taxes. The compensation data in the chart reflects the combined total of salary, housing, and an offset for half of SECA. For clergy in a rectory or vicarage, the value of that provided housing is included in the compensation figure and can lead to a compensation figure that seems out of line with other priests in similar calls. To assist in setting salaries, the diocesan staff works with vestries in a new call to consider salaries in neighboring dioceses around the Diocese of Georgia. We also consider other salaries in the town by comparing to salaries in the school system (available at www.open.georgia.gov). Depending on the complexity of the congregation, the salaries of teachers, assistant principals, and principals with a master's degree is instructive as these are local salaries with similar benefits.
A Note on Benefits
A large factor in determining a congregation's ability to pay a full-time priest is the cost of health insurance and other benefits. The clergy salary survey does not reflect the great range from a priest whose insurance is covered fully by the spouse's employer to those receiving full family coverage through the congregation. The Diocese moved to a standard of a high deductible insurance plan with a Health Savings Account to contain costs as much as possible.
Here are the charts showing this year's survey:
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The Rev. Freeman Grant Cross, Jr. (1935-2021)
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| | The Rev. Freeman Cross with his late wife, Emilie. |
The people of the Diocese of Georgia mourn the loss of the Rev. Freeman Cross, who died on July 27.
Cross was a retired priest of the Diocese who last served at Holy Spirit, Dawson.
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Cross was a 1957 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He went on to receive a Masters from the University of Illinois, where he met his future wife, Emilie. The two were married on December 6, 1961. After a career of service as an Army officer, Freeman answered the call God placed on him to the priesthood as he continued his life of service to others in a new vocation. He earned a Master of Divinity from the School of Theology of the University of the South (Sewanee) in 1989 and was ordained a deacon that summer and a priest on March 1, 1990, by Bishop Harry Shipps. Cross served his entire ministry in the Diocese of Georgia. Prior to serving in Dawson, he was the Vicar of several congregations - St. Matthew's, Fitzgerald; St. Francis, Camilla; and St. Margaret of Scotland, Moultrie. "Freeman and Emilie were such a gift to this Diocese with their loving care for the people of Southwest Georgia," Bishop Logue said. "Freeman was a priest who embodied a generosity of spirit and while maintaining strong opinions and deep, abiding faith. We were blessed by his ministry." Emilie died this past March. The Crosses are survived by their children Alexander and Theresa; and grandchildren, Kayla, Stephen, and Kathryn.
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The Rev. Adna R. "Chad" Chaffee IV (1939-2021)
The people of the Diocese of Georgia mourn the Rev. Chad Chaffee, a retired deacon of the Diocese who died at his home in Hinesville on July 26. Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, to a storied line of soldiers, he served in the Army for 30 years. Chaffee rose to the highest enlisted rank, Sergeant Major, before retiring from the Army in 1989.
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| | | The Rev. Chad Chaffee with generations of those who served in the military. | |
Deacon Chad's full name was Adna Romanza Chaffee IV, which is well known in Army history. The senior Chaffee joined the Army 161 years ago and would rise to the rank of a lieutenant general and chief of staff of the Army. The junior Chaffee, a major general, is known as the "Father of the U.S. Armored Forces" and the soldier for whom Fort Chaffee in Arizona is named. Deacon Chad's own service began in the Reserves at the age of 16 as the Korean War was ending. Called to active duty, he arrived in Vietnam on January 30, 1968, at the launch of the Tet Offensive, one of the largest military campaigns of the war which was launched in a surprise attack. Chaffee and those arriving with him had to seek shelter with no firearms yet issued to them as the war raged. But it was not his arrival in Vietnam that Shaped Chafee's ministry, but his return home from each tour. Chaffee would later say, "You were often blamed for a war you didn't start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor." "Deacon Chad's concern for those who might have been forgotten went well beyond his fellow Vietnam Veterans," Bishop Logue said, "I have in my office a small, folded American flag that he gave me after it was retired from standing watch on the Warrior's Walk at Fort Stewart, where a red bud tree stands for each soldier from the Third Infantry Division who died since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003." Bishop Logue added, "He turned the hurt of a country that did not welcome back those who served in combat into a passion for any whom others might overlook, and he did so out of a steady faith in Jesus Christ who was the deacon's model of servant ministry." Chaffee is survived by his wife of 45 years, Gabriele Chaffee, with whom he raised eight children - four from his previous marriage, two from her previous marriage, and two they had while together. They have 12 grandchildren. Chaffee was interred in the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Glennville, Georgia on July 30 with full military honors. Bishop Logue will officiate a memorial Eucharist at St. Philip's, Hinesville, on September 12 at 10 am.
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Lay Leader Memorials
The people of the Diocese of Georgia mourn the recent deaths of two lay leaders who served for years in Diocesan leadership, Col. Edgar Duskin and Roy Lilly. Duskin was the longterm Chair of our Constitution and Canons Committee among other diocesan leadership roles and a founder of Holy Spirit, Dawson. Lilly was a multi-term member of the Standing Committee and a dedicated parishioner of All Saints, Thomasville.
Full memorials will be in next week's edition of From the Field.
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Safeguarding Online Updates, New Modules Now Available
Safeguarding God's People is the training that offers child and vulnerable adult abuse awareness and prevention education in The Episcopal Church, also known as "Safe Church." This training is required by those who work with children, and must be updated every three years. The company that provides this online training has recently conducted a major update to its systems, including a rebranding of its online training portal. The new name is Praesidium Academy, located online at https://www.praesidiumacademy.com/. Previous participants who provided a current email address should have received an email with instructions on how to log in to the new site.
Thanks to the work of the Task Force for Safe Church Training, created by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, there are also newly updated training modules available. Three have been released, and seven more will become available this fall. The Diocesan Staff is in the process of completing these new modules now, and encourages everyone who works with children or vulnerable adults to complete them, even if it has not yet been three years since their last training. For more information on the module updates, please view this press release from The Episcopal Church.
Self-enrollment for new participants in the training is still available; however, each congregation now has an individual self-enrollment code. To receive your congregation code, contact Canon Joshua Varner at [email protected]. Once you have the correct code, you may sign yourself up at https://www.praesidiumacademy.com/redeem.
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A Word About Deacons
Each week we will have a submission from a deacon that will explore topics like what a deacon is, what they do, their history, and other stories.
 A deacon is a member of one of three orders of ordained ministry, dating back to the earliest days of the church, as recorded in Acts 6. The word deacon derives from the Greek diakonos, meaning servant or minister. The deacon's charge is to bring to the church the needs, hopes and concerns of the world, and to lead the church into the world. The call is distinctive in nature because the deacon acts as a publicly accountable servant of the church whose charge is to model, encourage and coordinate acts of service. Thus, the distinguishing characteristics of the deacon's ministry are service to those in need outside the congregation, encouragement and empowerment of those in the church to respond to the needy, and service in worship which mirrors the deacon's servant role in the church and the world. The ministry of deacons varies widely, and may take such forms as hospital or nursing home chaplaincy, ministry to those with AIDS, the poor, the homeless, and those in prison. The deacon, as an emissary of the Bishop, is accountable to the Bishop for that ministry and may exercise it on a voluntary or paid basis. Deacons are not salaried by the church but are expected to be self-supporting. Those who are interested in becoming deacons complete the same discernment program as those exploring the priesthood, participate in parish and ministry internships, and complete approximately two years of study in the canonical areas in the Deacon School for Ministry, with competencies from the Examining Chaplains.
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Celebration of New Ministry at St. Athanasius
Last week Bishop Logue traveled to Brunswick for the Celebration of New Ministry of the Rev. DeWayne Cope at
St. Athanasius Episcopal Church.
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Audits Due September 1st
Audits are due to the Diocese by September 1st. For more information or assistance, contact Canon Katie Easterlin at [email protected].
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Diocesan Council - Task Force on Constitution and Canons
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| | Task force members the Rev. Nick Roosevelt, the Rev. David Lemburg, Nancy Moak, Cuffy Sullivan, and Pat Burau |
At the start of 2021, Bishop Logue asked the Diocesan Council to break into four working groups as he began his Episcopate. One of these four groups was the Task Force on Constitution and Canons, to which he appointed Pat Burau, Nancy Moak, Cuffy Sullivan, The Rev. David Lemburg, and The Rev. Nick Roosevelt (chair).
In setting our goals, we asked "How might the Constitution and Canons..." - read more consistently and flow more easily (more user friendly);
- better define the organization of the Diocese;
- better align Constitution and Canon with practice (and vice versa);
- clarify election powers of Convention as well as vacancies;
- allow for more flexibility to ministries in their governance;
- increase representation from the different convocations;
- be generally cleaned up and made more efficient in language.
The ministry of governance is largely a task of honoring an inherited past and anticipating a yet foreseen future. Our hope was to get this balance right in offering the amendments before you. To review the Constitution and Canons, as proposed (along with other helpful documents), go to bit.ly/2021GACanonsNC or copy that link in a browser.
Notice and Comment Period As you review these proposed amendments, we ask that you, as a stakeholder in this Convention and in our shared governance, offer comment on some or all of our work thus far. We commit to continue in prayer as we receive these comments and apply them to our final offering submitted to the Committee on Constitution and Canons. Thank you so much for your comments and feedback! Comments will be received for 30 days, beginning Wednesday, July 28 and continuing through Saturday, August 28. Please have your comments submitted to the following form by 11:59 PM EDT, Saturday, August 28.
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Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2022
 Join the Rev. Cindy Taylor for a trip of a life time to a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The pilgrimage is not limited to members of Church of the Holy Comforter but to all who want to have a deeper experience of God by walking in the footsteps of Jesus. It is a spiritually life changing experience.
The trip will be from May 11, 2022 to May 20, 2022.
Click here for more information and to download the brochure.
This is Rev. Taylor's second time leading a pilgrimage and her third trip to Israel. If you have questions, contact her at [email protected].
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St. Patrick's, Pooler looking for LEVAS
St. Patrick's, Pooler, is looking for some copies of Lift Every Voice and Sing, Vol II if your congregation has some copies you no longer use. St. Patrick's currently has about 20 folks gathering on Sunday mornings.
Please contact Karen Barfield at [email protected] if you have some copies to donate. Thank you!
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Open job positions across the diocese
St. Patrick's in Albany is hiring for multiple positions:
- Part-time Organist/Choirmaster (can be split into two roles)
- Part-time Parish Administrator
- Part-Time Nursery Staff
Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta is seeking to employ a Nursery Caregiver for the infant nursery Sundays, 8:30 am - 12:30 pm. The ideal candidate has experience working with infants and/or young children. Applicants should possess a love for working with children, be dependable and flexible and willing to follow all guidelines of the Church of the Good Shepherd. Applicants will be required to complete an application, interview, provide references, and submit to a background check. Send your resume to [email protected] .
St. Augustine of Canterbury in Augusta is looking for a new Campus Missioner. As missioner to Augusta University, and in their capacity as religious community advisor to The Canterbury Club, this individual should strive to always hold a safe space for students to explore and experience our loving God. By providing this space in which to be authentically themselves, young adults are able to discover and grow in their understanding of their place within the living body of Christ and the mission of The Episcopal Church in the world. Please contact the Rev. Jim Said (317) 409-6676 if you are interested or would like further information. To view the job description, click here.
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Across the Diocese
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| | The Rev. Aaron Brewer at King of Peace in Kingsland gave a special blessing for children, teachers, school staff, and families as they begin the new school year. |
Volunteers from Our Savior in Martinez gathered together to prepare bagged meals for the homeless in Harrisburg, GA. Our Savior participates in the food ministry every 5th Saturday of the month. This month's menu included BBQ sandwiches, snacks, and water.
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| | Volunteers from Holy Nativity in St. Simons Island served over 335 lunch to patrons of Manna House, a local feeding organization. |
  Members of St. Augustine's of Canterbury in Augusta met up at the Augusta Green Jackets game, the local baseball team.
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Prayers for Weekly Liturgies
Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic.
August 8 - 14
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Sandersville, Grace Church. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Sandersville, especially St. William Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for Divine Providence (Divina Providencia) in San Antonio de Guerra.
August 15 - 21
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregations in Savannah, especially Christ Church, the Mother Church of Georgia. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Savannah, especially the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and Ascension Lutheran Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for St. Barthlomew (San Bartolomé) in San Cristobal.
Additional Prayer Cycles
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Diocesan Office Update and News
Canon Lasch will serve as celebrant and preacher at St. Patrick's in Pooler on Sunday.
Bishop Logue will serve as celebrant and preacher at Holy Comforter in Martinez this Sunday. To view Bishop Logue's full visitation calendar, click here. (Updated 7/21/21)
Communications Manager Liz Williams will be attending the online Episcopal Communicators Conference Tuesday through Thursday.
You may reach diocesan staff by phone at (912) 236-4279. Given staff schedules of meetings and travel, the best way to reach a staff member is via email as we will always get back with you promptly in many cases and in 24-72 hours when working on more pressing matters.
Staff e-mails can be found here with a list of responsibilities so you know who to contact for what.
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Let Us Know!
What are you doing to keep community right now? Send any updates or photos to our Communications Manager Liz Williams at [email protected]. We want to hear from you!
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You lead, I'll follow
The Rev. Guillermo Arboleda and the crucifer and acolytes of the Blue-Jones Family represented the Rev. DeWayne Cope's home parish of St. Matthew's in Savannah for his Celebration of New Ministry.
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