Cathedral Church of St. Paul Events |
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Justice Speaks - a New eNews Offering
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A note from Deacon Stan Baker:
This article begins a bi-weekly Cathedral eNews offering, Justice Speaks, sponsored by the Cathedral Jubilee Social Justice Committee. Every other week members of the Jubilee Social Justice Committee as well as other Cathedral participants will offer thoughts, articles, links, inspiration, and suggestions for action.
As Cathedral Deacon, I am the liaison from the staff to the Jubilee Committee. Tim and Heidi Parker are the co-conveners of the Committee. We meet once a month, by Zoom. Our responsibility is to coordinate social justice and outreach efforts at the Cathedral, and also to extend our parish mission and ministry in social justice/outreach areas. Please contact me if you would like to join us as part of the Jubilee Committee.
This week's Justice Speaks includes two offerings:
Loving our Neighbor, Food, Justice, and Action – Milk with Dignity
At a recent Jubilee Justice meeting we talked about how we interpret love and what love looks like in regard to several aspects of life in Burlington and Vermont, such as food, education, police, racism, economic development, housing, environment, and health. How do we love our neighbor, and acknowledge our human connection with neighbors who produce our food? How can we change injustice and racism in our food systems? The Milk with Dignity Program with Migrant Justice provides ways to do just that in solidarity with others.
Neighbors like Louisa work hard to help produce our dairy foods. Louisa says, "A lot has changed under the Milk with Dignity Program. Before we didn’t have a day off. Now we get rest days and vacation time and I can spend more time with my baby.”
But other migrant workers like Vidal and Facundo, who work at farms producing dairy foods for grocers like Hannaford’s, which is not part of the Milk with Dignity program, continue to work and live in crowded, and insanitary conditions that violate their human dignity. These conditions include: demeaning language; wages stolen; unhealthy, crowded, vermin-infested living quarters; and long work hours without a meal break. This is still happening right here in Vermont!
Please visit this link to learn more: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/hannaford-join-milk-with-dignity and consider writing a letter to Hannaford’s President Mike Vail urging the New England grocery chain (headquartered in Maine) to join the Milk with Dignity Program. Please tell Mr. Vail that this program benefits workers, farm owners and corporations as well as diary workers.
Stimulus Money Donation Ideas
Vermonters will be receiving additional stimulus checks, and some of us are in a financial position that allows us to use those checks to support needed causes in our community. Here are some suggestions from members of the Jubilee Committee for worthy organizations if you are in a position to donate all or part of your stimulus money. This is obviously a partial list meant to stimulate your thinking. I encourage you to come up with your own ideas for groups and causes that need financial support. To learn more about any of the organizations on this list or to make a donation, click on the titles in blue.
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD): ERD facilitates healthier, more fulfilling lives in communities struggling with hunger, poverty, disaster and disease. For many years during lent St. Paul's has dedicated our fundraising efforts to ERD.
Mercy Connections: Mercy Connections runs three programs: Education and Transition programs, Women’s Small Business, and Justice & Mentoring.
Dismas House Burlington: The mission of Dismas of Vermont, Inc. is to reconcile former prisoners with society and society with former prisoners.
Hunger Free Vermont (HFV): HFV works to end the injustice of hunger & malnutrition for all Vermonters, and address food insecurity, including 3 Squares, school meals, and other essential programs.
Vermont Food Bank: This organization provides local foodbanks and other community agencies addressing hunger with food and connects individuals with those resources.
Habitat for Humanity Vermont: Habitat for Humanity has built simple, decent, and perpetually affordable homes for low-income working families in Chittenden County, Vermont since 1984.
CASAN - Chittenden Asylum Seekers Network: The Chittenden Asylum Seekers Assistance Network (CASAN) is a volunteer group of interfaith individuals and people of good will in Chittenden County who have come together to support a family residing in Burlington.
Coronavirus Relief Fund, The Vermont Community Foundation: Working with state, federal, municipal, public health, and nonprofit leadership, the Community Foundation provides flexible resources to nonprofits working to address the most immediate public health and economic impacts of the disease, focusing on vulnerable populations and the service providers that support them.
Immigrant Sanctuary Fund: Friends are needed to keep this fund solvent past April 2021, to support Lucio Perez and his family and his legal defense while he remains in sanctuary at the First Congregational Church in Amherst, MA.
The Joint Urban Ministry Project (JUMP): JUMP helps with food, transportation, and utility assistance through vouchers to meet basic needs, and help those living on the edge to preserve key funds for other essentials.
Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA): The St. Paul's Local Organizing Ministry of VIA is currently working on corrections reform, with a focus on the local Women’s Prison.
Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV): AALV helps new Americans from all parts of the world gain independence in their new communities through a range of integration services, including case management, workforce development, behavioral health awareness, navigating the educational system, and interpreter services.
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants - Vermont (USCRI): USCRI Vermont has welcomed over 8,000 individuals fleeing the effects of war or conflict to Vermont since 1980. Newly arrived refugees receive a comprehensive set of services including housing placement, cultural orientation, school enrollment, coordination of initial health appointments, employment preparation and placement, and transitional short-term cash assistance.
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Donations for Easter Flowers |
Honor your loved ones this Easter by giving towards the flowers that will be used to beautify our church for this year's Easter celebration. For many years, the Cathedral has invited parishioners to remember loved ones and give thanks for blessings with Easter flowers donations. Contributions are made to the flower guild for their magnificent display in the Nave celebrating the resurrection, and the names of loved ones are printed in the bulletin.
To contribute, you can use the form attached here, fill it out, and return it to the Cathedral with payment on or before Monday, March 29. You can also donate online using the link here. For those contributing online, please be sure to email us the names you would like listed on or before Monday, March 29 so that we can print them in the bulletin, and let us know whether they are in thanksgiving for or memory of.
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Available Volunteer Positions on Sundays |
Do you have a gift for making others feel welcome? Do you feel passionate about hospitality? If so, St. Paul's is seeking a few volunteers to sign up to be " Digital Welcomers" at our Sunday services. This couldn't be simpler - just say a virtual "hello" to those who are new and may not know the ropes. Sign up for a Sunday per month at your convenience here.
Are you comfortable with Zoom and Microsoft PowerPoint (Or Apple's Keynote) software? Do you crave more of a behind-the-scenes role at church? If so, St. Paul's is seeking a few volunteers to sign up to be " Digital Masters of Ceremony"! Slides will be emailed to you a few days prior to our worship, you advance the slides as we move through the service. It's a simple thing that alleviates a lot of distraction for our clergy! Sign up for as many or as few Sundays per month as your schedule allows. This role requires that participants use a laptop or desktop computer with a relatively recent operating system - it doesn't work as well with tablets and phones.
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Adult Confirmation Classes Offered this Spring |
Open to all adults who are interested in learning more about the Episcopal Church, confirmation instruction centers on exploring different areas of Episcopal life including theology and Scripture, liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer, church history and the Sacraments. Confirmation Classes are open to any adult who wishes to be Confirmed, to Reaffirm their faith, for Reception (if Confirmed in another Christian faith tradition) or for those who simply desire to learn more about Episcopal faith traditions.
Classes are expected to begin mid-April, but in order to get a sense of numbers, please let us know if you are interested by emailing the Cathedral office at admin@stpaulscathedralvt.org.
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Virtual Stations of the Cross |
The Stations of the Cross is a devotion following the events leading to Jesus' crucifixion. Prayers accompanying it allow time to reflect on the mystery of his death. Originally, the Stations was an actual physical journey in and around Jerusalem. Later the series was symbolized in outdoor shrines, and today many churches display artistic representations in their sanctuaries. The Stations of the Cross may be done at any time, but is commonly a part of Lenten spiritual practice, specifically on Good Friday.
This year we are unable to gather in the Nave to contemplate Richard Clark's version of the traditional fourteen Stations of the Cross during Lent. Instead we are presenting the traditional devotion in a less traditional and virtual way to help you reflect on the mystery of Jesus' death and what it still means to us today.
You can access the virtual Stations at any time on the Cathedral YouTube page here. We invite you to join us as we gather virtually for "watch parties," in which we reflect upon Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection, and experience the Stations together. You can also walk the stations by yourself or gather others in person or virtually to watch together.
To participate in the group devotion, join us on Fridays throughout Lent at 4:00 p.m. via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81110055388?pwd=OGE4ay9uYXFIY1VpNklrQUZyMG9Jdz09
Meeting ID: 811 1005 5388
Passcode: 621557
All are welcome.
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Join the Social Justice Bible Challenge During Lent |
Bishop Shannon invites members of the Diocese of Vermont to join her in reading the 40-day Social Justice Bible Challenge throughout the season of Lent. The book provides a reading from scripture, a reflection, discussion questions and prayer for each day.
The Cathedral still has a few remaining copies of the book for those who would like to participate. Contact the office for further details about getting a book.
The group began reading on Ash Wednesday (February 17) and will end on Palm Sunday (March 28). Bishop Shannon will host weekly hour-long Zoom discussions on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.:
· March 10 at 7:00 p.m.
· March 17 at 7:00 p.m.
· March 24 at 7:00 p.m.
During last month's Anti-Racism Action discussion of “A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of Slavery” (1864) by John Henry Hopkins, the first bishop of Vermont, the group agreed one action they will take is to immerse themselves in the Bible.
"It was clear to us that not only was that text evil and wrong, it was also based in white supremacy," says Bishop Shannon. "It was painful to spend six weeks learning about this shameful part of our diocesan history. We will certainly find a truer understanding of God's intention for us by going to the source. After all, Jesus rooted his own ministry in the words of scripture."
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Check out the Children's Corner each week for the latest edition of the Sunday Paper, and any other information relevant to young people and families.
This Sunday is the third Sunday in Lent. Click here to view or download the Sunday Paper for this week.
Children's Chapel This Sunday: Deacon Stan Baker will host the Children's chapel via Zoom on the following Sundays, beginning at 9:15 a.m.:
Sunday March 21
Click on the dates above to access the Zoom link.
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The Sunday Paper [Junior], to which The Cathedral Church of St. Paul has a paid subscription, is posted here with permission of the author/illustrator, Gretchen Wolff Pritchard. © Gretchen Wolff Pritchard, The Sunday Paper, 19 Colony Road, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, www.the-sunday-paper.com. All rights reserved. This is copyright material and should not be further forwarded or distributed.
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Episcopal Relief and Development's One Thousand Days of Love |
During Lent we invite you to bring Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) into your prayer life. Thanks to the compassion and faithful support of our community and others, ERD is able to facilitate healthier, more fulfilling lives in communities struggling with hunger, poverty, disaster and disease. The 1,000 Days of Love campaign is dedicated to expanding the organization's global programs, improving the lives of children up to age six.
Each year St. Paul's has dedicated our fundraising efforts in Lent to support ERD. We hope that you will consider making a contribution, by either mailing a check to the Cathedral with "ERD" in the memo line, or using the ERD line on the donation page of the Cathedral website here. There will be a formal ingathering on the last Sunday in Lent, March 21, 2021. |
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Cathedral Continues Hosting Silent Witness and Prayer Vigil in Response to Racism |
The Cathedral's weekly Silent Witness and Prayerful Vigil continues this Sunday, March 7, at 1:00 p.m., in response to racism in our nation, state, and community.
Please note that in order to comply with the Governor's safety regulations we are asking that participants arrive as close to 1:00 p.m. as possible, to disperse immediately at the end of the vigil, and not to congregate with those from other households.
In the event of really bad weather, we will send out a notification by Facebook (please use your own discretion). Be sure to bring a face mask and, if you can, a non-perishable food item - a volunteer will deliver all the donations gathered at the vigil to the Food Shelf. If you have a sign you would like to hold, bring it! This event is open to the community.
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Join Us for Worship: Sunday, March 7 at 10:00 a.m. |
Join us for our upcoming worship services via Zoom, either online or by phone:
Sunday, March 7 at 10:00 a.m., Morning Prayer
To join us online, use the link here. To dial in by phone, call 1-646-558-8656, enter the Meeting ID#: 848 0522 8551
then the Password: 1973
View or download the order of worship here.
Other Regular Services
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For Our Prayers This Week |
We pray for blessings, joy, and peace for those who celebrate birthdays this week: Bethany Blake, Ted Braun.
Let us name before God those for whom we offer our prayers: Ron and Jackie; Michael Fernandez; Lillian Robinson; Stewart McHenry; Lynda Pibus; Daniel McMillan; Emily Harwood; Peter Adams; Sarah Urang; Rachel Kauppila; Gene Grinnell; John Rouleau; Elizabeth Webster; Danielle O'Hallisey; David, Carol and Samantha Simmons; Pat Barra, Leo Harrigan, Rick Watts, Margot (Lisa Schnell's sister), David Glendinning, Debbie Altemus, Vaughn Altemus, Marion Montross, Naomi Hodgett, Helen McGrath, and Mary Carter. For those impacted by the increase in domestic violence. For all those suffering from COVID-19 in our country or around the world, and especially those from our own faith family who have loved ones at risk or are themselves at risk. For those who have died from COVID-19 and for the grief of those who loved them.
We pray for those who are in the discernment process: Susan McMillan; Kenzo An; and for our seminarian, Bram Kranichfeld
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“Just as at sea those who are carried away from the direction of the harbor
bring themselves back on course by a clear sign,
on seeing a tall beacon light or some mountain peak coming into view,
so Scripture may guide those adrift on the sea of the life back into the harbor of the divine will.”
--Gregory of Nyssa
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Lessons for March 7, The Third Sunday in Lent |
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Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Submission Deadline for St. Paul's eNews |
This weekly e-newsletter is circulated on Fridays. Please have your pieces submitted to Jennifer Sumner at admin@stpaulscathedralvt.org by noon on Wednesday. Thank you. |
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The Rev. Walter Brownridge Begins Ministry in Vermont |
Please welcome the Rev. Canon Walter Brownridge, who has begun his ministry in Vermont as canon to the ordinary for cultural transformation. He can be reached at wbrownridge@diovermont.org.
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COVID-19 Vaccine: Appointments to Open for Vermonters 55+ With Chronic Conditions, School Staff |
As of Monday, March 8, Governor Scott expanded COVID-19 vaccine access to all Vermonters 65 and older, as well as individuals aged 55+ with certain chronic health conditions. Additionally, vaccine appointments will be available to teachers and onsite staff, and childcare workers. Go to healthvermont.gov/myvaccine to schedule an appointment.
Vermonters aged 16+ with specific chronic conditions will be the next group eligible, beginning Monday, March 15.
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Everyone Eats Voucher Program Offers Free Meals at Participating Restaurants |
Vermonters affected by COVID-19 can sign up for Everyone Eats voucher program and redeem free meals at participating restaurants across the state. Restaurants are paid to provide the meals, with at least 10% of ingredients made by VT producers. https://everyoneeatsvt.com/
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Contacts:
The Right Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown, Bishop of Vermont
The Very Rev. Greta Getlein, Dean and Rector
The Rev. J. Stannard Baker, Deacon
Mark A. DeW. Howe, Canon Precentor and Director of Music
Jennifer C. Sumner, Office Administrator
Barbara F. Comeau, Financial Administrator
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