June 2021
A Prayer For Our Work Together:
Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lies and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Saint Barnabas, June 11, pg 241)
A Brief Word:
Greetings companions in Christ,

How are you doing? I've been spending time getting to know folks across the NC Region. I'm pleased to say that a NC Region Clergy group will begin this month, and your NC Region Leadership Team is beginning to plan for a Fall Convocation. So please stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to enage with the Region.

Also, your NC Region Leadership Team could really use your help! At the top of this newsletter, and further down, you'll see a link to a Google Doc that your RLT hopes you will use to tell them what is happening in your parishes and communities. We can help each other, and serve each other better, when we get to know each other more. Help us celebrate what is happening in your communities by sharing with us! Your events and stories will be shared in the NC Region newsletter, as well as the calendar so that other folks may join in.

Enjoy the summer my friends! Stay safe and healthy.

photo by Maggie Breen
Happenings Around the Region:
The Curve, a live streamed concert: 6 June
Iraqi composer and multi-instrumentalist Ameen Mokdad was trapped in hiding by ISIS for two years in his hometown of Mosul. During that time he wrote an extraordinary repertoire of powerful and emotional music. He arranged it later for string quartet, while he himself plays violin, various middle eastern percussion instruments, recites poetry, and sings. At this concert Cuatro Puntos Ensemble will perform the 19 songs on this album, forming a soundscape that transverses a range of emotions: fear, defeat, hope, and rebirth. 
Movements in Faith, St. James, Farmington: 20 June
Movements in Faith was developed last year but had to go on hiatus because of COVID-19. Movements is a worshipful time intended to serve people with special needs and their families, playing simple but fun and worshipful music, playing a game to open, hearing a reading from scripture, and all can join in with special instruments that anyone can use! All are welcome and invited, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey, no matter your need, no matter your tradition. We will have our service outside on the front lawn of St. James Parish, 3 Mountain Road, in Farmington, CT, on the 3rd Sunday of every month at 2pm. Many families with a member who has special needs have felt unwelcome in church settings in the past. Again, all are welcome. Bring your own lawn chairs, if you would like but chairs will be available for all. 

Please contact Rev. George Roberts for more information.
Ministry Network Corner:
Swords to Plowshares
On Wednesday June 2, Retired Bishop Suffragan Jim Curry will join with us from the Northeast and North Central Regions of ECCT to make a presentation about the work of Swords to Plowshares which is a ministry of converting the metal of guns which have been turned in to police, and heating them in a forge, and converting them into gardening tools. We’ll hear him tell us his story about this work, and we’ll set a time and a place for him and his friends the “Gun Beaters” to come to our area, and give a demonstration. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday June 2 at 7 PM on Zoom.

LOOKING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE RESOURCES?
• Every week new resources are being shared in the ECCT Weekly eNewsletter
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• JOIN the Racial Healing Justice and Reconciliation Ministry Network Here.
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ECCT Reparations Task Force

Did you know? Work on reparations is not new. The first demands for reparations were made by enslaved people before the Civil War. Several Episcopal Dioceses have already taken up the work of reparations: Maryland, New York, and Massachusetts. Below is the Diocese of New York’s definition for reparations.
 
Reparations is the process to remember, repair, restore, reconcile, and make amends for wrongs that can never be singularly reducible to monetary terms. The process of reparations is “a historical reckoning involving acknowledgement that an offense against humanity was committed and that the victims have not received justice.*”
 
*Passage in quotes offered by Bernice Powell Jackson, Executive Minister for Justice Ministry, The United Church of Christ.
 
What do you notice in this definition of Reparations? Click here to respond.
Meet Your NC Region Leadership Team: Deacon Félix Rivera, Mabel Maynard, & Rev. Loyda Morales
I was born in NYC and grew up in The Bronx. I am of Puerto Rican ancestry and my parents only had one child. I attended public school in NYC until 10th grade and finished high school in Long Island. I am a retired electrical/manufacturing engineer after 40 years in the profession. I have a BSEE from Pratt Institute, and a MSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

I have been married for almost 50 years to Carmen Rodriguez-Rivera. We have two grown children, Carlos David and Arnaldo Felix. We are also grandparents of three wonderful grandchildren in David Joseph, Logan Patrick and Leahy Emma.
I married into a clergy family. My father-in-law was a Lutheran Theologian. Carmen has five siblings. Two of her siblings are Lutheran pastors and the youngest a Lutheran deacon. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be an ordained deacon serving at ECCT. I was ordained in 2019 after doing my CPE at Yale-New Haven Hospital and doing my parish internship at Christ Church in Guilford. I currently serve as a deacon at Grace Church in Hartford.

I am bilingual in English and Spanish. My passion is to serve in Latino communities where I can enter into a relationship with the people with the goal of empowering the community to resolve social issues. I am truly blessed and I ask for prayers as I continue in my life’s journey to serve through Christ.
I moved to CT in March of 1965 from New Orleans, LA. What a difference in everything, a real experience.  I have a son & two daughters. I became a member of St Stephen’s Episcopal Church, East Haddam, in 1985 after being part of other Protestant religions in New England and New Orleans, LA. I moved to Newington in October 2001 have been at Grace Newington since then and have been active as a lector, choir member, Vestry member and Eucharistic Minister at both churches in CT.

I retired from State of CT as a secretary in 2013. I have been on NC Region Leadership team for 3 years now. I was an EMT in East Haddam for 6 years. I enjoy gardening of vegetable plants in container; flowers and started a pollinator garden which expands regularly.

I have been active with Newington’s Senior & Disabled Center since my retirement, where I am part of the Singing Seniors, who perform at nursing homes throughout the area to entertain the residents, as wells as at Newington’s Memorial & Veterans Day Celebrations. I volunteer with CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) since it began in 2013. We set up shelters when needed and work flu clinics in the fall for the Central Health District covering 3 or 4 towns. We have worked the aCovid-19 vaccinating clinics in those towns also.

For hobbies, I knit & crochet hats, scarves, mittens, prayer shawls, afghans & lap robes for Human Services in town & veterans, as well as individuals if asked. I have also knit knee socks & sweaters.
Greetings to all from our Lord Jesus Christ!

I’m The Rev. Loyda Morales. I was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. I’m the Rector at The Church of the Good Shepherd/Iglesia de El Buen Pastor in Hartford. My father, The Rev. Roberto Morales, worked with the Episcopal church and later was ordained to the priesthood with the Diocese of Puerto Rico and our family became part of the Episcopal Church. 
 
A few of weeks after I arrived in CT, I attended the NCR Spring Convocation in 2019. The Rev. Erin Flynn invited newcomers to attend one of their meetings, and here I am! This has been a wonderful experience to share, learn, and get to know our fellow Episcopalians. It has benefitted me in making connections, working together for our common spiritual formation, and share in serving our neighborhoods. For me, just as the Good Shepherd/El Buen Pastor, the NCRLT is family!
Opportunities to Learn & Grow:
Hybrid Church Masterclass
Being a Top-Notch Hybrid Church Masterclass
 
The "Being a Top-Notch Hybrid Church" masterclass is a six-hour online course with a practical application project. Held over two three-hour days, one week apart, the class provides the research, tools, and customized training to meet the immediate need of church leaders to become a hybrid congregation offering in-person and online worship and missional experiences. Learn more and register.

Wed., June 9 and 16 from 12-3 PM
4 June 2021 - Ekklesia Ballet presents: Body & Land

Come celebrate your incarnation within The Incarnation of the beauty of God's Creation! Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet, a Christian dance company, working in partnership with Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown, will be presenting BODY and LAND, a new work exploring the connection of our vulnerable bodies to the vulnerable body of the earth. Learn more and purchase tickets.
18-20 June 2021 - Writer's Workshop @ Camp

Many of us have gained new insights about ourselves, our country, and the world this past year. Some of us have felt broken in places, in our country and in the world. In this workshop we will Revisit, Repair, Renew, and find our Resilience in words and silence through writing and discovering My Mind Is In The Ink. Learn more and register online.
Region Resource Reminders:
  • AVAILABLE NOW: Many thanks to Melien Lavoie of the NC Region Leadership Team, who created THIS LOVELY GOOGLE DOCUMENT to capture all the great things that are happening across the NC Region. Please complete it if you have an event you want to share.
  • Looking for a place to try online worship? For an ongoing list of ECCT Parishes hosting livestream services click here
  • 2-1-1 is a one-stop connection to the local services folks in your community may need, from utility assistance, food, housing, child care, after school programs, elder care, crisis intervention and much more. For more info click here. 
  • 3-1-1 It is similar to 2-1-1 but region specific to the city of Hartford. More info here.
ECCT Resources
ECCT Resource for COVID-19 are continually being updated, including:
• Messages from our Bishops • Financial Resources • Self-Care Resources • Digital Communications Resources • Worship Opportunities • And More...
Safe Church Training 2021: Be sure to check out the ECCT calendar for training date! More info & registration here.
Racial Justice Audit of Episcopal Leadership Report Released
 
[From Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church publicly released a report on April 19 that assesses the racial makeup and perceptions of a broad sampling of the church’s leadership and summarizes how race influences internal church culture. The release of the 72-page report, nearly three years in the making, also sheds light on nine dominant patterns of racism that were identified during interviews with dozens of church leaders. Read the full article.
 
Communications for the North Central Region
* Subscribe to this Newsletter to have stories from the Region delivered straight to your inbox at www.episcopalct.org/enewsletters

* Join the NC Region Facebook Group, a community bulletin board for the region. This is your place to share parish/community events, photos, videos and more.

* Like and follow the NC Region Facebook Page. This is where the Leadership Team will post news of upcoming Region events, gatherings, conversations, resources, etc.

* Check out the Region Calendar on the ECCT website.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Get in touch with your NC Region Leadership Team here or email Maggie Breen, NE Region Missionary & NC Region helper at mbreen@episcopalct.org