Volume 6, Issue 18
April 30, 2021
THIS SUNDAY: May 2, 2021
Fifth Sunday of Easter


Acts 8:26-40
Philip the Deacon meeting up with the Ethiopian Eunuch, and baptizing him.

Psalm 22:24-30
Extolling the saving deeds of God.

1 John 4:7-21
Let us love each other, because God loved us first.

John 15:1-8
Jesus the Vine, we the branches, and God the vinedresser.
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION

8:00AM
Linda Crocker (EM)*
John Hanaoka (U)
Diane Sato (AG)
Mark Cain (DM)

9:30AM
Dileep Bal (EM)
Mary Margaret Smith (U)
Nelson Secretario (LR)
Faith Shiramizu (AG)
Vikki Secretario, Mabel Antonio (HP)
Muriel Jackson, Jan Hashizume (DM)

Live Stream
9:00AM on our home page, YouTube, or Facebook accounts
@allsaintskauai

* EM - Eucharistic Minister; U - Usher; LR - Lay Reader; AG - Altar Guild; HP - Healing Prayers; DM - Digital Ministry; SS - Sunday School
UPCOMING EVENTS

Ke Akua Youth Group Meeting
Wednesday, May 5th
5:00 - 6:00PM
Zoom
Contact Cami for login information.

Daughters of the King
Thursday, May 13th
7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom
Contact Mable Antonio for login information.

Baptism, Confirmation, and Reception Services
Bishop Bob Fitzpatrick, presiding
Sunday, May 16th
8:00AM and 9:30AM
Church

Commissioning of the Organ
Bishop Bob Fitzpatrick
Sunday, May 16th
9:30AM
Church

Inaugural Organ Concerts
Adam Pajan, organist
Church Members and Donors
Saturday, May 15th
7:00PM
Church
General Public
Sunday, May 16th
2:00PM
Church

Recurring Events
Sunday School
First Sunday of the month, 9:30 - 10:15AM
Memorial Hall

Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under lanai tent

Monday/Friday Crew
Every Monday/Friday, 8:00AM 
Church Office
Ke Akua Youth Group Meeting
1st and 3rd Wednesday, 5:00 - 6:00PM
Zoom

Laundry Love
1st & 3rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat

Daughters of the King
2nd & 4th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom
All Saints' Rosales Opus 41 Pipe Organ
A Day of Celebration

All Saints' Episcopal Church May 16th
Commissioning of Rosales Opus 41 Pipe Organ
On May 16th we will celebrate the commissioning of our newly-rebuilt pipe organ in conjunction with a service that will include Baptisms, Confirmations, and a Reception to the Episcopal Church. It is a day for celebration as the All Saints’ `Ohana grows and develops new ways to serve our community. We are pleased to welcome Bishop Bob for the commissioning of the Rosales Opus 41 as well as the baptisms, confirmations, and reception. Please join us in-person or on-line on May 16, 2021 to celebrate this very special day.

What is happening

"First Look" Organ Concert
(Private Donor and Church Member Event)
Saturday, May 15th at 7:00PM
Limited Seating!
Please RSVP now at:
(808) 822-4267
church@allsaintskauai.org

Sunday Service and Commissioning Ceremony
(Public Event - Blessing of the Organ) 
Sunday, May 16th at 9:30AM

First Public Organ Concert
(Public event - all are welcome)
Sunday, May 16th at 2:00PM
Limited Seating!
Please RSVP now at:
(808) 822-4267
church@allsaintskauai.org
World Renowned Organist Performs at First Rosales Opus 41 Organ Concerts
Welcome Adam Pajan to All Saints'
Adam M. Pajan, organist
Adam Pajan serves on the organ faculty at the University of Oklahoma where he teaches applied organ, church music, and organ technology. He is in his fourth season as Artist in Residence at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Tulsa where he serves as organist and choirmaster for weekly Choral Evensong services. He also assisted in the design of Schoenstein Opus 173 installed at the parish in 2018. He serves as Director of Music at Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman. He received his DMA in 2014 at the University of Oklahoma following studies at Furman University and Yale University, earning the BM and MM degrees respectively. He has been a prize winner in multiple prestigious organ competitions, including the Firmin Swinnen Prize (second place) at the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, and first place awards at the Albert Schweitzer, Poister, Mader, and West Chester University organ competitions. His performing career has taken him across the United States and to five tours of Germany, as well as tours to England and Switzerland. He has performed at conventions of the American Institute of Organbuilders, Organ Historical Society, American Liszt Society, and the American Guild of Organists.
PLEASE JOIN THE "FEED THE ORGAN CREW" VOLUNTEERS
The Organ Crew Needs Your Help!!
The Organ Crew is here to voice (fine-tune) the new organ. They will be working long hours, 6 days a week to complete the voicing of the organ within the next few weeks. Our congregation will be donating meals for the crew while they’re here. You can sign up to donate lunches or dinners by clicking here: Feed the Crew and filling out the meal donation form to select the meal and your preferred date.

Email news@allsaintskauai.org for dietary restrictions for the organ crew.

Meal Instructions:
  • Meals may be dropped off at the Church and placed on the table outside the sanctuary.
  • Meals may be dropped off at the Church earlier than the time slot indicated but packaged so they can be refrigerated and eaten at their leisure.
  • PLEASE DO NOT interact with the organ crew. They need absolute silence to listen for every note. 

Crew #2: 4/22/21 - 5/7/21
  • Please prepare and drop off 2 meals per time slot.
Welcome Our New Siblings in Christ
Bishop Bob Fitzpatrick will be here on May 16th for a much anticipated service that will include Baptisms, Confirmations, and a Reception to the Episcopal Church. It is a day for celebration as the All Saints’ `Ohana welcomes our beloved new members in Christ.

Those to be baptized:
 
Neva Leung
Nora Leung
Tony Leung

Those to be confirmed:

Enrico Curtis
Soloman Curtis
Marcus Punua
Herenui Punua
Leimomi Punua
Edward Punua, Jr.
Victoria Punua-Beckett (from O'ahu)
Kamakao Punua-Beckett (from O'ahu)
 
Those to be received:
 
Mark Cain

Please join us in welcoming our sisters and brothers in Christ!
For the sick and suffering in body, mind, and spirit, especially Those affected by the Pandemic, Those affected by the island flooding, Seth, Mickey, Glen, Willy, Donna, Bob, Heather, and those we name silently or aloud, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. 

For those saints who have gone before us in the Grander Life, especially those affected by the COVID-19 virus, Paul, and those we name silently or aloud, in the hope of the resurrection, and for all the departed, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Reflections from Kahu Kawika+
Our Master’s Voice


John 10:11-18
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
Easter 4B
25 April 2021

As dog people, Muriel and I didn’t realize the bevy of cats awaiting us when we first moved here to All Saints. Of course many of you know our main indoor cat CC, aka “the Church Cat,” who by and large now likes to stay indoors at the Rectory with us. A couple of other cats who live outdoors at the Rectory are Jack, a ginger-coated Garfield-looking cat with what seems to be one good eye (hence his name “Jack,” for “one-eyed Jack”) and Hapa, a black-and-white cat who has become Jack’s buddy. As formerly only dog people, we were surprised at how responsive cats can be, even responding to their name and, in the case of CC, showing a remarkable degree of intelligence and personality, seemingly responding to various things we say in English and even indicating when she is hungry by reaching out her paw to her food dish. But all three to various degrees respond to the voice of either Muriel or me. Whether dogs or cats, animals respond well to when people treat them kindly and care for them.

The trademark image of RCA records comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud and titled His Master’s Voice. It was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly formed Gramophone Company and adopted as a trademark by the Gramophone Company's United States affiliate, the Victor Talking Machine Company. According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog had originally belonged to Barraud’s brother, Mark. When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited the dog, along with a cylinder phonograph and recordings of Mark’s voice. Francis noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded voice of his late master emanating from the horn, and conceived the idea of committing the scene to canvas. 

I was thus surprised to learn that sheep also share this same characteristic of loyalty to the humans that care for them. This Sunday, the fourth Sunday in the Easter Season, is “Good Shepherd Sunday” and marks the halfway point between Easter and Pentecost, the great birthday of the worldwide Church. I think this Sunday occurs when it does each year as a reminder to us that even when we celebrate Jesus as conquering the forces of sin and death through his resurrection, we also regard Jesus as the Son of God who cares intimately and deeply for us. This image of the Good Shepherd was one readily identifiable in the agrarian culture of Jesus’ time and place, and shepherding is a big theme throughout the Bible. Our Psalm for today, Psalm 23, the most well-known psalm in the Bible, is entirely situated in a pastoral sheep and shepherd setting, where sheep are loyal to their particular shepherds. But what makes sheep so loyal to their shepherds? I think the following factors play a big role:

  • Personal: In John 10:14 from our Gospel reading today, Jesus demonstrates to the Pharisees, religious leaders of the time, how Jesus cares for his followers: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” So, like cats and dogs in our time and on our island, sheep are also good at hearing their master’s voice and thus putting their trust in the care of their shepherd – sheep know their shepherd’s voice and distinguishes it from that of other people they don’t trust. The shepherd’s voice will cry out if the sheep are getting into any kind of trouble – either due to their wandering around into dangerous places like cliffsides or holes, or danger from predators. When the shepherd calls out, the sheep know to listen and to heed their warning.  In addition, sheep also respond to the names given to them by their shepherd – again like cats and dogs! They have a personal relationship and know that the shepherds are looking out for their good.

So as Jesus’ sheep, how much are we honing our spiritual listening skills to be able to listen to his voice in our everyday lives? Yes, we hear Jesus speaking to us in Scripture, particularly in the Gospels that record his life and ministry 2,000 years ago. But I think part of what Jesus is saying is that he wants a lively, daily kind of relationship with us as well – in the here and now today. Jesus concerns himself with all the things going on in our lives, and wants a deep and intimate relationship. When we pray, we certainly pray up to God for things we need or want, but we also ought to cultivate the skill to be able to listen out for God’s still small voice in our hearts to incline our wills to want to follow God in our lives and to be made more and more into the likeness of our Lord. So one way we stay firm in the Lord is to cultivate that personal relationship with Jesus in our lives.

  • Protective: A second aspect to the tight connection between sheep and their shepherds is that the shepherds backup their concern for their sheep with the ability to protect them. Jesus told the Pharisees this in our Gospel lesson: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.” (John 10:11-13) Jesus’ statement is both promoting how he himself offers his own life on behalf of protecting his sheep, as well as how most of the Pharisees and other religious leaders of the time act instead like “hired hands” who have little vested interest in the sheep in their charge.

We tend to think of shepherds as these calm guys sitting around looking after their flocks on idyllic grassy fields and under calm blue skies, but the real image of them in biblical times is that they had to be rough-and-ready types living out in the harsh desert, and fairly burly and muscular, in order to be in a position to fend off wild predators and robbers – maybe something like in our time bodyguards to celebrities or the Secret Service to presidents and other politicians. So while Jesus shows his sensitive side with his caring concern for his sheep, he also shows us a tough side who will fight for his own: “No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.” (John 10:18).

And in this Easter Season, we celebrate the fact that Jesus our Good Shepherd has fought against and conquered the imposing forces of sin and death for us, that would otherwise bar us from the love of God and from the gift of eternal life. Jesus has fought the battle for us and won – Praise God!

  • Panoramic: I like this word “panoramic,” though we don’t tend to use it in everyday language so much. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “comprehensive in scope or range of coverage.” This indicates the expansive and inclusive embrace of our God in Heaven for all people in this world. 

This reminds me of Jesus’ “Parable of the Lost Sheep” in Luke 15, in which Jesus says that God’s love is like a shepherd who will leave behind the other 99 sheep in order to go and save the one who is lost and in danger. This gives me great comfort in that none of us is beyond the pale of God’s great love for us – no matter who we are, what we’ve done, or if we have a pedigree or not.

Jesus affirms this in another verse from our Gospel reading from John 10: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16) Jesus means that not only the religious authorities or even the Jewish people are welcome to God’s embracing love, but people beyond them as well. And who are these other people? We get an indication of this from earlier in John’s Gospel, from that famous verse of John 3:16: “God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Here John uses words like “the world” and “everyone,” showing us the full extent of God’s panoramic love for the human race.

While God’s gift of love should be a great comfort for each of us, how well are we doing in extending the same courtesy to folks around us? We as humans put up too many walls to try to distinguish ourselves from people we don’t like or upon whom we look down. We make ourselves feel better by feeling superior to certain other groups of people. But if God, the Maker and Lord of this universe, welcomes us and includes us into God’s love, then who are we not to do the same?

We can learn a lot from Jesus as our Good Shepherd – who is personal, protective, and panoramic with his love and the power to act on it in our lives today as well as back on the Cross 2,000 years ago. We certainly see Jesus’ loving and holy character in the pages of Scripture, but we also can perceive him in the good examples of people we look up to as well as from our own hearts if we listen. And like smart sheep, cats, and dogs, we would do well to listen to “Our Master’s Voice.” Amen.
Vestry Meeting Summary
April 28th
  • Finances to March 2021:
  • Solar Panel & Roof Project: Choice of the asphalt shingle variety of roofing, contractor to be decided shortly. 

  • Sanctuary Door Latches: We have the hardware for this, we are just waiting for the completion of the organ installation.

  • Laundry Love and Women in Need (WIN): Vestry approved the proposal by the  Laundry Love Committee to incorporate serving Women in Need (WIN) once a month at their residence in Lihue. 

OUR MISSION 
Empowering Hawaii's families to lead healthy & full lives.
 
WHO WE ARE
Women In Need (WIN) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers women who have been through domestic violence, homelessness, substance abuse, and incarceration. 

WIN is committed to guiding women and teens towards sobriety, self-esteem and responsibility through our warm, nurturing and holistic approach. 

We help our clients develop positive life skills they need to become independent and productive members of our community. We do everything we can to break the generational cycle of hopelessness and abuse.

Our founder, Mary Scott-Lau continues to teach and counsels women who are currently incarcerated at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua. Families and individuals who turn to WIN for assistance become a part of our family. We are proud to have some of our former clients be part of our WIN staff, as well as continue to volunteer in our community to help give back. 

We currently have two offices; our main office is located in Aiea, Oahu and our second is in Lihue, Kauai. We hope to expand to the other islands to help service more women in need. 

SERVICES WE PROVIDE 
Clean and Sober Housing
Bridge to Success Transitional Housing
Resource Referrals 
Parenting Classes
Life Skills Classes
Substance Abuse Relapse Prevention 
Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment
Re-Entry from Incarceration
Domestic Violence Education 
Employment Services 
Case Management
Happy Anniversary Peter
God's Servent for 30 Years
April 24, 2021 was Peter Pereira's 30th anniversary as the Diocesan Treasurer. We give thanks and praise for his faithful service to our Diocese. Until we can celebrate in person, we send Peter best wishes, virtual hugs and loving prayers!
One in the Spirit, a Way of Love Revival Weekend
May 2, 2021
The Episcopal Church greets Pentecost with One in the Spirit, a Way of Love Revival Weekend designed to fan the flames of hope, celebrate difference, honor creation, foster beloved community, and send people toward Jesus’s Way of Love. The weekend of events includes the following:

  • Saturday, May 22, 6-7:30 p.m. ET: Concert for the Human Family and “From Many, One” Community Conversations
  • Sunday, May 23, 4-5:30 p.m. ET: Churchwide Pentecost Revival Worship from Philadelphia, Navajoland, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.

“Pentecost is the season when we celebrate the birth of the church and the Spirit landing on the glorious diversity of God’s people,” said Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. “Thanks to vaccinations and CDC recommendations, it’s also the moment when lots of our churches can finally open their arms more fully to the public. We want to mark this moment of renewal with a revival and pray that God would rain blessing, guidance and power down on all people.”

Curry has led revivals across the church since early in his term. With the advent of pandemic, he and his team have partnered with groups like Washington National Cathedral, the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast, and the Union of Black Episcopalians to host virtual revivals and prayer services.

The Pentecost Way of Love Revival Weekend begins Saturday, May 22, at 6 p.m. ET with the first in a series of virtual Concerts for the Human Family and Conversations Across Difference. Filmed at Philadelphia Cathedral in compliance with COVID protocols, the May concert features a diverse team – including Nashville pianist and composer Kory Caudill and Baltimore-based hip- hop artist Wordsmith – offering original music inspired by the Prayer for the Human Family.

The concert is framed by the From Many, One: Conversations Across Difference effort, with a pair of musicians sharing their stories at the opening of the concert. Bishop Curry will host further conversation after the concert and then invite the entire audience to share in small group Conversations Across Difference. Register for the free concert and conversations
at https://events.episcopalchurch.org/concert-series/.

Most churches will have their local Pentecost celebrations Sunday morning. All are invited to a virtual Pentecost Way of Love Revival Worship Service on Sunday, May 23, at 4 p.m. ET. The spirit-filled celebration will draw on the gifts, testimonies, songs and voices of Episcopalians in cathedrals and communities across the church including St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, indigenous churches in Navajoland and South Dakota, Christ Church Cathedral in Philadelphia, St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, Washington National Cathedral, and Christ Church in St. Louis, Mo.

“We’ll pray next to bee colonies on Seattle’s cathedral roof and chant and give thanks for the earth with Navajo leaders. We’re going to celebrate our diversity, bless God’s creation, and receive the gifts of the Spirit for all that’s ahead,” said Jerusalem Greer, the church’s staff officer for evangelism. “It’s time for us to live the Way of Love out in the world in a new way.”

The Pentecost Way of Love Revival Worship Service will be aired on the Episcopal Church’s various web channels, including Facebook and www.episcopalchurch.org.

Published by the Office of Formation of The Episcopal Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017
© 2021 The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. All rights reserved.
Annual Spiritual Check-Up

By David Paulsen
April 20, 2021
Annual Spiritual Check-up

“Your view of money is the chief spiritual issue of your life,” says Bruce Rockwell, former Assistant to the Bishop for Stewardship, Diocese of Western Massachusetts.  Has your relationship with money turned toxic?  Take the “7 Questions” quiz and find out.
Washington National Cathedral Adds Stone Carving of Elie Wiesel to Human Rights Porch

April 28, 2021
[Washington National Cathedral] Washington National Cathedral on April 28 announced that the cathedral has added a stone carving of Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to its Human Rights Porch, honoring Wiesel’s legacy as a lifelong human rights defender dedicated to combating indifference and intolerance. A survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps, Wiesel told his story to millions through his autobiographical novel “Night,” bringing the horrors of the Holocaust into stark focus for the world. The carving was done in place by the cathedral’s stonemasons and has been conceived with the involvement of the Wiesel family.

Wiesel joins the likenesses of, among others, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Jonathan Daniels and Eleanor Roosevelt on the cathedral’s Human Rights Porch, which is dedicated to individuals who have taken significant, profound and life-changing actions in the fight for human rights, social justice, civil rights, and the welfare of other human beings. Throughout his life, Wiesel used his voice to try to confront gross human rights abuses and prevent genocide, understanding that taking action early could prevent others from suffering the same fate that befell millions of Jews during the Holocaust.

“Elie Wiesel’s life is an extraordinary testimony to the indomitable human spirit and the triumph of love of thy neighbor over hatred and fear, even amidst the darkest and most devastating periods of human history,” said the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral. “From the depths of cruelty inflicted on him, his family and so many millions of Jews and others during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel went on to dedicate his life to the pursuit of human rights, and to heed the lessons of history. We are humbled to welcome his likeness to the cathedral and pray that his example and legacy will be a blessing and an inspiration to all who enter.”

The announcement of Wiesel’s inclusion in the cathedral’s Human Rights Porch comes during a time of rising antisemitism in the United States and around the world. The presence of Wiesel’s likeness alongside other prominent human rights defenders from multiple faith traditions underscores the cathedral’s commitment to standing up against hatred, bigotry and antisemitism. Inspired by Wiesel’s life’s work and legacy, the cathedral is committed to sustained interfaith dialogue and action to ensure the progress that he fought for in life is protected.

“Throughout his life, Elie devoted himself tirelessly to preserving the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and working to ensure that other communities do not suffer the same fate,” said Marion Wiesel, widow of Elie Wiesel and vice president of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. “Not only does his presence in the National Cathedral memorialize his life and honor his commitment to human rights; it also ensures that new generations will learn from his teachings and carry the lessons of his life forward into the future.”

The dedication of the bust will take place in fall 2021. In conjunction with the dedication, the cathedral, in cooperation with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, will present a program celebrating Elie Wiesel’s enduring legacy. More details on this event will be shared in the months to come.

“Like millions of European Jews, Elie suffered unimaginable horrors. But he responded to that suffering by devoting his life to writing, teaching, and above all as a moral leader and tireless advocate for our common humanity,” said Sara Bloomfield, director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “That his likeness is now included with others, from many backgrounds, who share these ideals is a fitting tribute to his lasting legacy.”

While there are many representations of biblical figures from the Hebrew scriptures represented in the cathedral, Wiesel is the first person from the modern-day Jewish community to be added. His inclusion represents the cathedral’s mission to be a house of prayer for all people and a sacred space for the nation to gather. And his place on the cathedral’s Human Rights Porch will serve as an indelible reminder of the necessity of speaking out against hatred in all its forms—the same cause that Wiesel dedicated his life to.

Wiesel was born in Romania in 1928, and in 1944 his family was sent by the Nazis to the Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps, where his father, mother and sister were killed. After the camps were liberated, Wiesel went on to a prolific career as a writer, ultimately authoring 57 books, including “Night,” about his experiences during the Holocaust. He was a vocal advocate for human rights causes around the world and served as a professor at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was the founding chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and won numerous awards throughout his life, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal. Wiesel died in 2016 of natural causes.

Using medieval techniques, the depiction of Wiesel was hand-carved by cathedral stone carver Sean Callahan, who also carved the depictions of Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Jonathan Daniels and other sculptures throughout the cathedral. The Wiesel model was sculpted by North Carolina artist Chas Fagan, a member of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts whose other works include several carvings at the cathedral, as well as the official White House portrait of First Lady Barbara Bush; statues of Ronald Reagan and Billy Graham at the U.S. Capitol; and a statue of Pope John Paul II at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington.
Episcopal Delegation Gathers Online for UN Conference on Indigenous Issues

David Paulsen
April 27, 2021
[Episcopal News Service] An Episcopal delegation is participating this month in the annual United Nations conference on Indigenous issues, and because the two-week conference is limited mostly to online meetings during the pandemic, this year’s delegation is the church’s largest yet, spanning a wide geographic range.

The 20th meeting of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues runs from April 19 to 30. The 12-person Episcopal delegation to the conference is led by the Rev. Brad Hauff, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Indigenous ministries, and joined by Lynnaia Main, the church’s representative to the United Nations.
The Rev. Brad Hauff, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Indigenous ministries, leads a presentation on the Doctrine of Discovery offered April 26 on Zoom by the Episcopal delegation to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Hauff, a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe, is participating from his home base in Minnesota, while the rest of the delegation is joining from across the United States, including from Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota and Tennessee. They are the Rev. Robert Two Bulls, Oglala Sioux; the Rev. Jasmine Bostock, Kanaka Maoli; Ronald Braman, Eastern Shoshone; the Rev. Tina Campbell, Navajo; Forrest Cuch, Ute; the Rev. Debbie Royals, Pascua Yaqui; Melissa Chapman Skinner, Standing Rock Sioux; the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, Shackan Band; the Rev. Bude VanDyke, Cherokee; and Caressa James, Cheyenne.
The purpose of the Permanent Forum is to allow Indigenous people to provide expert advice to global leaders through the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council, or ECOSOC, and to inform U.N. agencies working on a variety of international issues, from human rights to the environment. Participants have much to share and to learn, even in an online setting, Hauff told Episcopal News Service by phone.

“What has always struck me is the similarities or the commonalities that Indigenous peoples and communities have among each other,” Hauff said, “regardless of where they are in the world, whatever continent they’re living on, the issues are very similar if not practically identical to one another.”

After centuries of European colonization and subjugation of Indigenous peoples around the world, the commonalities, Hauff said, typically center around the economic hardships and public health deficiencies: Indigenous communities face high mortality rates, low life expectancy, inadequate medical care, poor access to clean water, low food security, high unemployment, limited economic development, inadequate education, and high rates of substance abuse and suicide.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was formed by U.N. resolution in 2000 to focus on Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. Its first meeting was held in 2002.

The theme of this year’s meeting is “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions,” emphasizing Indigenous peoples role in implementing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal No. 16.

U.N. member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. They were intended as “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet,” with a target of achieving the 17 goals by 2030. The Episcopal Church’s General Convention voted in 2018 to endorse the goals and to use them as “the basis of development policy and action of the Episcopal Church in its institutions, dioceses, and congregations.”

Goal No. 16 is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

Because The Episcopal Church is an ECOSOC-accredited nongovernmental organization, the Episcopal delegation was able to submit an official statement to this year’s Permanent Forum, as it has at past meetings.

“For Indigenous people, it is impossible to talk about sustainable development without acknowledging the sacred spiritual connection between our Creator and all that is created,” the delegation said in its written statement in support of the Sustainable Development Goal. “When we honor this connection there is peace and harmony. When this connection is dishonored, we see all of humanity’s eventual destruction through abuse of the land, air, water.”

Before the pandemic, the Permanent Forum meetings were held at the U.N. headquarters in New York with full-day sessions in addition to side events, some organized by the Episcopal delegations. This year, the primary daily sessions have been limited to two hours and livestreamed on the United Nation’s website.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres alluded to the pandemic’s impact in his opening remarks on April 19. “Indigenous peoples have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Guterres said. “An already vulnerable group risks being left even further behind. The lack of participation of Indigenous peoples in decision-making has often meant their specific needs are overlooked or ignored. As we work to recover from the pandemic, we must prioritize inclusion and sustainable development that protects and benefits all people.”
After each morning session, side events are held throughout the day, often via Zoom. Episcopal delegates are attending separate events, and at the end of each day, they come together for a debriefing about what they heard, learned and shared.

Meeting online “makes it easier for more people to attend,” Hauff said. “It’s less time consuming. It’s more convenient. There’s zero expense.” Even so, online conversations can’t fully replicate the benefit of personal interactions over two weeks at the in-person meetings. “That’s always something that’s wonderful to see, and that was sorely missed this time.”
The Episcopal Church has made a deliberate effort in recent decades to welcome Native Episcopalians into fuller participation in the church and to atone for its role in past injustices. In the 1800s, Episcopal missionaries ministered to American Indian tribes, but conversion to Christianity typically required leaving Native spirituality behind.

General Convention resolutions at least since the 1970s sought to support Native American land claims and human rights. And in 2009, General Convention repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, rooted in documents dating to the 15th century that purported to give Christian explorers the right to claim lands they “discovered” and to oppress and convert the people they encountered.

The Episcopal delegation organized a presentation April 26 about the Doctrine of Discovery that was open to all participants in the Permanent Forum. About three dozen people attended the presentation on Zoom, with Hauff offering an introduction about The Episcopal Church’s history of complicity with systems of oppression against Native Americans.

At one point, he showed a photo of Native American children attending boarding schools where they were “forcibly assimilated into the American culture of the dominant society,” Hauff said. Some such schools were run by Episcopal leaders, including the school attended by Hauff’s own mother. The schools have since been condemned for their role in eroding Native cultural traditions.

“It was an act of colonization,” he said.

VanDyke, one of the other members of the Episcopal delegation, is a priest based in Sewanee, Tennessee. “Every time I get into a conversation about the Doctrine of Discovery, it hurts my heart,” he told the group gathered on Zoom. “It hurts my heart because the church I love not only historically participated in it, but in its own ways, known and maybe unknown, it still does.”

Taber-Hamilton, who serves as rector at Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, Washington, spoke of the Doctrine of Discovery being a factor in how Indigenous peoples are treated in every province of the Anglican Communion.

“Wherever there are Indigenous people, there is the experience of culture loss, of identity loss, of challenges constantly to even being federally recognized,” Taber-Hamilton said. “So when communities of faith are committed to doing the work of reconciliation … to appreciate the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery on those relationships requires a tremendous sensitivity.”

– David Paulsen is an editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
The Rev. Jasmine Bostock

The Rev. Jasmine "Jazzy" Bostock was ordained to the Presbyterate on December 22, 2018, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Honolulu, where she is currently serving as the Curate.

Although Bostock's home church has been St. James' Episcopal Church on the Big Island, she attended Punahou School on O'ahu, and in 2012, graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. It wasn't long before she began her seminary studies at Yale Divinity School in Connecticut in 2014.  

To most who know her, it is no surprise that she has followed this path. In 2010, as an intern at the World Council of Churches, she wrote, "I have felt called to ordination since I was seven years old. I have always been really involved in the church and felt really called to church work."

She has remained very active in The Episcopal Church. In 2013, as chair of the Executive Council Committee on Indigenous Ministry, she was part of the delegation to the WCC General Assembly in South Korea (view a video clip HERE) and in 2015, testified at a United Nations Forum on Indigenous issues. (You can view an article in the Anglican Communion News Service HERE.)

The day I was ordained to the priesthood was a gift. It was full of people who have walked with me, cried with me, made me laugh, and prayed for me along my journey. The day marked a joyful beginning of vocational life I was stepping into. Since the day of ordination, the joy has remained - I feel lucky to be able to serve the people in my parish, and incredibly gifted by their compassionate, kind, thoughtful, and loving souls. I have felt the power and the movement of the Holy Spirit in this parish, in this Diocese, and among the people I serve. I hope to continue to live into this vocation, and gift back to others all that I have been given. ---

-The Rev. Jasmine Bostock
In Middle East, Anglican Ministries Respond to Pandemic Needs that Vary Widely Country to Country

David Paulsen
April 27, 2021
[Episcopal News Service] Anglican congregations and ministries in the Middle East have taken a range of approaches to responding to the public health crises and economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, as the coronavirus continues to spread across the region.
Syrian refugee children find a safe and caring home environment at Schneller School in Marka, Jordan. Photo: AFEDJ

The scale and nature of the crisis varies by country, based on its economy, politics and civil conflict. In some countries, Anglican hospitals and clinics have struggled to meet patients’ needs. Leaders at Anglican schools spoke of the online educational challenges they face. And while worship services remain mostly online, demand for church-based food security and other relief ministries has increased.

“The overall economic impact has been pretty devastating, whether it’s Jordan or Palestine or Israel,” said John Lent, executive director of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, or AFEDJ. “And now you’ve got the challenge of getting people vaccinated.”

The Diocese of Jerusalem includes Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and is one of three dioceses in the Anglican province in the Middle East. The pandemic’s biggest economic disruption has been to the pilgrimage industry, which ground to a halt a year ago, Lent told Episcopal News Service.

The loss of Holy Land tourism has hit the Palestinian territories particularly hard, Lent said, and it has had a direct impact on revenues of the diocese, which operates guest houses that have remained vacant. The diocese’s schools have stayed open through remote learning, and its hospitals and clinics have continued to treat patients. AFEDJ has devoted much of its fundraising efforts to helping medical centers respond to the pandemic, by providing personal protective equipment, renovating indoor spaces to facilitate social distancing, and preparing the facilities in other ways for an increase in patients.

“I think they’ve done a really good job of keeping people safe and responding to the needs,” Lent said.

In the Palestinian territories, the tourism industry mainly is centered in Bethlehem, while the city of Ramallah, as the seat of the Palestinian National Authority, is more focused on political activity as an economic driver. In the past, some travelers to Ramallah have stayed at a guest house run by the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center, where the school’s hospitality and culinary arts students, 11th- and 12th-graders, were able to gain real-world experience. The income and job-training opportunities evaporated when travel restrictions were imposed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

“As Palestinians, we are used to catastrophe,” Giovanni Anbar, the vocational school’s director, told ENS in a Zoom interview. He and the school’s teachers and staff members were forced to rethink their education program, moving much of it online, while following guidelines to slow the pandemic’s spread.

The students finished the previous school year with online lessons, and the experience helped educators plan for a successful new school year in the fall, he said. “We learned a lot, I would say.”

The school, though supported financially by the diocese, also draws some of its revenue from fees paid by families, some of whom were unable to pay after parents lost jobs during the initial shutdown. The school was committed to paying its teachers and staff members through the crisis, while cutting other parts of its budget, Anbar said.

The vocational school has gone into and out of distance learning over the past year. When Anbar spoke with ENS in mid-April, it was closed to in-person lessons again because of a new surge in COVID-19 cases. “It doesn’t look good in Ramallah,” he said.
A patient is checked for fever at a triage tent at the Diocese of Jerusalem’s Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City in March 2020. Photo: AFEDJ

In late March, the U.S. announced it would give $15 million in COVID-19 aid to Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza. Earlier this month, the Biden administration restored $235 million in aid for Palestinian refugees, reversing a Trump administration policy. The Episcopal Public Policy Network was among the groups advocating for that policy shift.

In Zarqa, Jordan, Saviour’s Episcopal School also has dealt with financial challenges during the pandemic. The commitment to school’s students, however, hasn’t wavered, Dua’a Bisharat, the school’s director, told ENS by Zoom. “We are a family,” she said.
After the government ordered a shutdown of the country in March 2020, Bisharat and the school’s teachers had to figure out how to continue providing lessons to students. They turned to a range of platforms for communicating, including a YouTube channel, Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp.

They were able to resume in-classroom learning for three weeks early this year when the government temporarily lifted restrictions – only to reimpose them when positive cases surged again. That upheaval has made it difficult to plan for the future, Bisharat said, “as if you are walking on the snow or in the mud.”

Some students and parents have died after contracting the coronavirus, she said. Vaccination efforts, however, are ramping up in Jordan. Bisharat said she received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccination and was scheduled for the second dose, and she is encouraging teachers to schedule their vaccinations. School officials are hopeful but can’t commit to a full reopening in the fall until the infection rates come down, she said.

Vaccination rollout so far has tended to favor Middle Easterners living in wealthier societies, with Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reporting some of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Israel is now recording only about a hundred new COVID-19 infections each day, and with more than 60% of Israelis vaccinated, businesses and schools have reopened.

The outlook is much different in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, where vaccinations are underway but not as readily available or widespread. “Most predictions are Palestinians are going to be some of the last people on the planet to get vaccinated in large enough numbers to restore something close to normal economic activity,” Lent, the AFEDJ executive director, said. “The situation there is really not encouraging.”

In oil-rich Persian Gulf countries like Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, much of the labor force is made up of foreign workers drawn to the countries by the availability of employment in commercial development, according to the Ven. Bill Schwartz, an archdeacon in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. When those economies shut down early in the pandemic and travel was restricted, many of those workers were suddenly unemployed and unable to return to their home countries.

“Obviously, a lot of people dropped through the cracks,” Schwartz told ENS in a Zoom interview from Bahrain, though Anglican churches in the region have tried to help with food drives and other relief ministries.

Those efforts have continued despite the inability to hold in-person worship services. “Most of our churches have been on lockdown pretty much the whole year,” said Schwartz, who also serves as dean of St. Christopher’s Anglican Cathedral in Bahrain.

Different challenges face Iraq and Yemen, Schwartz said. Iraq’s economy is not as strong and lacks the development drive seen in other parts of the Gulf. Its history of political corruption has fueled large anti-government protests in recent years, with the pandemic only exacerbating the challenges facing the nation, he said.

And Yemen is a country torn apart by civil war since 2014. The pandemic is a crisis on top of an existing crisis, and the public health challenge is “mostly related to the infrastructure that’s been destroyed in the war,” Schwartz said. The conflict has devastated the health care system and has caused sporadic power outages. Clean, safe drinking water is only available every few days, he explained, asking, “How do you wash your hands if you don’t have water?”

Since there is no functioning government to lead a public health response to the pandemic in Yemen, Schwartz said, nongovernmental organizations have looked for ways to fill those needs.

The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf maintains the only functioning Christian church in Yemen, in the coastal city of Aden, and church leaders have offered the facility for use as a medical and eye clinic. When patients arrive, they are advised on precautions to minimize the spread of COVID-19, and the diocese received money from Episcopal Relief & Development to provide face masks and other protective equipment to Yemenis, Schwartz said.

The Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East receives financial support each year from The Episcopal Church through the church’s annual Good Friday Offering. In recent years, the offering has topped $400,000, but proceeds were sharply diminished in 2020 because of pandemic restrictions on gathering in churches for worship, including during Holy Week.

An official total for the 2020 Good Friday Offering has not yet been released, but the Rev. Robert Edmunds, The Episcopal Church’s Middle East partnership officer, estimated it was about a quarter of the total from previous years. This year’s Good Friday Offering came as some dioceses and congregations were resuming in-person worship services.

“It’s never too late to contribute to this church-wide effort as a source of solidarity and support of our sisters and brothers of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East,” Edmunds said by email.

AFEDJ’s fundraising for the Diocese of Jerusalem has remained strong over the past year, Lent said. Donations from congregations were down somewhat, but individual giving was at an all-time high, he said. The organization launched another campaign in February, nearly a year after the start of the pandemic, as a reminder that help is still needed.

“We wanted to put the news out there that the region’s still really struggling,” he said. “While things are looking up here in the United States … in that part of the world, it is still a huge struggle and the financial impact of the pandemic is not over.”

– David Paulsen is an editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
Anglican Communion Prays for the Catholic Community of South Sudan After Shooting of Bishop

April 28, 2021
Bishop-elect Christian Carlassare

Anglican Communion Office] The Anglican Communion has responded to Sunday night’s attack at the Catholic diocesan offices in Rumbek, South Sudan, in which the Catholic bishop-elect of Rumbek, Christian Carlassare, was shot.

The primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Archbishop Justin Badi Arama, said that the Anglican church in the country was saddened to learn of the shooting. He said: “As people of God, we are called to live in peace with each other and those around us – ‘if one member suffers, all suffer together’ (1 Corinthians 12:26).

“We share in the pain of our brother, Bishop-elect Christian Carlassare, and we pray for his quick recovery and healing and that all involved find forgiveness and reconciliation to move forward and shine as an example of God in Rumbek Diocese and throughout South Sudan.”

The secretary general of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, said: “In my visits to South Sudan I have seen how close Catholics, Anglicans and other Christians are. The shooting of Bishop-elect Christian Carlassare will have sent shockwaves through all the churches of South Sudan, as it has amongst Christian communities outside the country.

“I join with Archbishop Justin Badi Arama in praying for Bishop Christian and urge Anglicans and other Christians around the world to do the same.”

A Lambeth Palace spokesperson added: “We pray with our brothers and sisters in South Sudan for the recovery of the Catholic bishop-elect of Rumbek Diocese. We support Archbishop Justin Badi’s call for us to remember that ‘as people of God we are called to live in peace with each other and those around us.’

“We share the pain of this violence against the bishop-elect and the pain of all who suffer in South Sudan. May South Sudanese leaders re-double efforts to implement R-ARCSS and bring peace to the nation.”

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
A Light to Me

April 28, 2021
Karla Koon
At the summit of Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains, there are some decommissioned railroad tunnels. With relocation of more modern and functional railroad tracks nearby, these tunnels have become a popular hiking spot for locals and tourists. They are accessible, the tunnels themselves being long and flat. On a hot summer day, they are delightfully cool. 

On my first visit to these tunnels, I was struck with how dark they get once you wander any distance away from an opening. On one stretch, I really had focus carefully on what was in front of me. Although my eyes had adjusted and I could make my way without a flashlight, I had to take great care to look straight down at each foot placement to avoid obstacles like rocks, wood, or water-filled holes with depths unknown. 

At one point, I stopped to look up and consider my surroundings. In the distance I could see a small circle of light, the tunnel’s end. I also looked behind me to the start of my journey, and could see the tunnel’s opening was just as small. But somehow, there was enough light to see the contours within the tunnel, pickax marks on the walls and the features of fellow hikers. I carefully continued walking with the available light.

As I drew closer to the end of the tunnel, I noticed my chin lifting. No longer was I looking at my feet to avoid hazards, but I was gazing out a few feet in front of me. The tunnel opening was becoming larger and larger. Almost without perception, I began staring straight ahead into the bright afternoon sunlight waiting for me to emerge. 

I have been reflecting on this hike as of late, with so many similarities to the past year. I have heard it reflected, “there is light at the end of the tunnel”. We have all had different experiences this past year with COVID, racial injustice, trauma, loss, and grief. In my own darkness, I looked down just to take each next step. In this past year of tunnel, it did not take me long to adopt the practice of just doing what God put in front of me. Each time, God would provide the light needed.

I am not sure we are out of the dark tunnel of this year, but I feel our collective chins lifting. We continue to walk together. The circle of light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger with springtime, vaccinations, and accountability. The darkness is yielding, and the shadows are lifting. The light of the resurrected Christ swells and spills forth, welcoming us to newness. We emerge anew changed by the journey, squinting as our eyes adjust. 

Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

Karla Koon is a Worship Leader and Eucharistic Minister at St, Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle. When not serving at church or working as the Director of HR Operations and Administration for Catholic Community Services of Western Washington (Catholic Charities), you can find Karla, reading, quilting, golfing, hiking, kayaking, and (safely) gathering with friends and family..
IN BRIEF . . .

These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"

Please submit your story ideas to the Epistle Staff at news@allsaintskauai.org.
HALE HO`OMALU ACCEPTING DONATIONS
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KUPUNA SHOPPING ASSISTANCE MINISTRY
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If any ministry has an unmet need, reach out to put it in the All Saints' Virtual Swap Meet and it will be published in the Epistle. Contact Bill Caldwell at news@allsaintskauai.org.

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