epiScope

St. John's Depot Hill Property Sold for $2.7M

Historic Building Will Become a Private Home
Sold for $2.75 million for use as a private residence.
By Aldwin Fajardo

The picturesque Victorian building on Depot Hill in Capitola, which for more than a century has been home to the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, will soon be a private residence. A family purchased the property for $2.7 million.

The sale paved the road for construction of a new St. John's Church to start on the corner of McGregor Drive and Sea Ridge Road in Aptos, which the congregation bought in 1991. Much of the surrounding acreage is now a community of affordable houses with a planned small park.

St. John's Church set aside some $1.8 million from the sale proceeds of the half-acre Depot Hill property for the Aptos construction project, which will also be partially financed by $3 million from the church's capital fundraising campaign. The multimillion-dollar construction project, which started Apr. 28, will be completed between February and March of 2009, according to Anne Baker, chair of the building committee for St. John's Church.

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Consequences

Will some at church in Vero be forced to leave?
By Elliott Jones
Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches (FL) TCPalm
April 17, 2008

VERO BEACH — Trinity Episcopal Church officials and parishioners who want to break from the national Episcopal denomination have two weeks to leave their church in Vero Beach, the bishop of the Central Florida Diocese said Wednesday.

The parish's multimillion-dollar church will remain in Episcopalian hands, said Bishop John Howe, in announcing his answer to a six-month controversy within the local church.

"It is one of hardest, saddest things I have ever had to deal with," Howe said.

Trinity Episcopal Church's minister, the Rev. Lorne Coyle, and his church leadership have been pushing for disaffiliation with the national church, citing theological differences. Yet they wanted to keep the church property.

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Covenant

Three Episcopal churches sign joint covenant
By John Moss
GateHouse News Service
Apr 06, 2008

Fall River —Three Episcopal churches in the city are in the process of merging into a single parish.

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 160 Rock St., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 125 Mason St., and the St. John’s-St. Stephen’s Episcopal Partnership, 711 Middle St., held a covenant-signing worship service Sunday at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension.

The new Episcopal parish will be named the Church of the Holy Spirit, located at 160 Rock St.

A fourth Episcopal church, St. Luke’s, 315 Warren St., has decided against joining the merger at this time.

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In the Spirit: Church opens doors to yoga

St. Anne's embraces controversial movement
By John Sullivan
Times Herald-Record
April 07, 2008

Washingtonville — The only light inside St. Anne's Episcopal Church this Monday night is that of a small lamp next to a CD player emitting a composition of flute and electronic keyboard music.

Standing next to the lamp on an exercise mat is Linda Dougherty, instructing her students to bend forward with legs apart and arms outstretched.

"Think: 'Oh God, let me bow down in front of you in honor of you,'" she said.

Such pronouncements pepper the entirety of the 45- to 50-minute session of bending, stretching and meditating that Dougherty teaches at the Washingtonville church each week. It's part of a growing Christian yoga movement that has recently entered our region, joining Eastern techniques in health and spiritual fitness with the West's largest religion.

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Comings and goings

Taylor resigns from St. Marks
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)

The very Rev. Robert Taylor announced Friday he is resigning as dean of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle.

Saint Mark's is the Cathedral church of the Diocese of Olympia. The Diocese of Olympia is a part of the Episcopal Church.

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St. Luke’s welcomes Rev. Ann Gaillard to its parish
By HEATHER SACKETT
Adirondack Daily Enterprise
March 28, 2008

SARANAC LAKE — Small-town life agrees with the Rev. Ann Gaillard.

The new rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Saranac Lake, who was formally installed in a ceremony Wednesday night, has been adjusting to life in this Adirondack village.

“I pretty much worked exclusively in metropolitan areas, and so it’s marvelous being in a small town,” she said. “It has not been difficult to connect with people because everybody does know everybody else.”

Gaillard was born and raised in California and comes from a teaching background. After teaching high school English for a few years in many different areas of the country, including Texas and Philadelphia, Gaillard said she felt as if she was being called to a profession other than teaching. She decided to go to seminary in New York City and was ordained into the Episcopal priesthood in 2005.

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Rev. Mark Eldredge: He finds it really is all about God
Florida Times-Union
3/28/2008

Tell us about your family.

I have a great wife, Patsy, who makes me a better pastor than I ever would have been without her. Three beautiful children: two girls and a boy, the oldest 15 and the youngest 5.

How did you find your calling?

Having grown up active in the church, after college I was done with church and religion in general. Then right after college, with no purpose and tired of living life on my own strength, I discovered that it was never about church and religion anyway, but about a relationship with Jesus. I invited him to be my Lord and savior and committed my life to following him. I said to him that I would do whatever and go wherever he wanted. Through prayer, reading the Bible, and counsel from other believers, I heard God say to me to be a priest. I said yes.

What other churches or ministries have you served?

Before starting Christ Church, in 2006, I was the rector of Epiphany Episcopal Church, also on the Westside of Jacksonville. Before that, I served as an associate pastor in Midland, Texas.

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'The man with the plan wins'
By Kendal Egli
Centretown News (Canada)
28 March 2008

When retired Anglican priest Garth Bulmer says goodbye, he doesn’t like to draw things out.

“Once I decided I wanted to go, I wanted to go right away,” he says, referring to his decision to end his tenure as rector of St. John the Evangelist’s church, the historic Centretown congregation, last December.

“(St. John’s) is a wonderful place and such exciting things go on there all the time,” he says, “but I just basically lost my energy and my passion to lead that community. I started having these experiences like I’d be sitting in a meeting and I’d actually grab my chair because I felt like I needed to bolt . . . When that starts happening, you know it’s time to move on.”

The 62-year-old is esteemed both locally and nationwide for his years of vibrant leadership at St. John’s, which has stood on the corner of Elgin and Somerset streets since 1891 and was once the church where Sir John A. Macdonald worshipped.

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Parishoners lament church's closing
BY CLIFF RADEL
Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer
March 28, 2008

NORTH AVONDALE – Say a prayer for St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church. But not inside the 139-year-old landmark. The church closed Easter Sunday.

“We should have been smiling and rejoicing and exclaiming, ‘He hath risen!’ ” said the Rev. Dr. Napoleon Bryant Jr., the church’s ordained deacon.

“Instead,” added the clergyman who has also has been a parishioner at the racially mixed church since 1951, “the service was as solemn as the funeral of a child.”

Officials with the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio attribute the closing to declining attendance.

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Shifting flocks

St. Paul's Episcopal Church not alone in welcoming seekers from other traditions to its pews
By TOM HEINEN
Milwaukee (WI) Journal Sentinel
March 23, 2008

When parishioners gather this morning beneath the timber roof and Tiffany stained-glass windows at St. Paul's Church on Milwaukee's east side, few will reminisce about Episcopal Easter services of their childhood.

Most have come from other Christian denominations.

That was dramatically illustrated at the church's annual meeting a few years ago, when the priest at that time, the Rev. Amy Richter - the daughter of a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor - asked cradle Episcopalians to stand. Only four people out of the 100 or so who were present rose.

More former Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists and others stood as she called out those denominations.

The church's current rector, Father Steve Teague, 57, was ordained a Southern Baptist minister at 23. He decided about 10 years ago with his wife, Karen, that the Episcopal Church was a better fit.

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Online sermons luring people away from computer, into church
By Lindsay Melvin
Memphis (TN) Commercial Appeal
March 24, 2008

Old wood benches quaked under the thunder of the pipe organ at Calvary Episcopal Church, fully awakening the overflowing Easter morning crowd.

As light filtered into the sanctuary through an elaborate stained glass window portraying Jesus on the cross, a traditional service, unyielding to time, unfolded.

But for those who couldn't make it to Easter services, even some of the most traditional churches offered other options.

As more churches are creating an online presence with podcasts, Web streaming and cyber-giving, worshipers don't have to leave the comfort of their homes to get religion.

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Tracking trends

Churches preaching green
Sonja Haller
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 22, 2008

Church leaders and their congregations are increasingly becoming God's green soldiers.

And the Easter season is an appropriate time for churches to marry spirituality and ecology.

"There is something inside us that responds to the Earth coming alive this time of year," said Doug Bland, chairman of the Earth Care Commission with the Arizona Ecumenical Council. "It's also a time when we face our own failings and sins. And as we look around us, we can see our role in the destruction of the planet."

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A busy, Holy Week
Congregations strive to attract faithful for Easter
By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News
March 22, 2008

You'll find them at the sand dunes as well as inside the sanctuary; at sunrise on a mountain peak and at the morning egg hunt behind the church; in the choir seats and the congregation.

Whatever Utahns' personal or family rituals, Easter offers the hope of spring and new life for both body and soul.

The annual Christian celebration of Jesus' final days, his crucifixion and resurrection, Holy Week ranks alongside Christmas as the busiest time of the year for area churches, drawing attendance from some dubbed "CEOs" by one online dictionary, denoting their worship on "Christmas and Easter Only."

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Part 1: Manic Sundays the new routine
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
Mar. 23, 2008

Donna Dukeshire remembers walking to arcades to play a video game, when hanging out at the Mall of New Hampshire was a new thrill and Sundays meant long, leisurely family drives to nowhere.

After church, she and her sister wiled away the hours playing outside, then sat down to Sunday dinner before settling in for the night in front of the television.

"I couldn't wait for Sundays," the 41-year-old Manchester native recalls of growing up in the 1970s and 1980s.

It was the Lord's Day. The Sabbath. A holy day of rest. Nearly all stores were closed back then. And it was virtual blasphemy for organized youth soccer, football or baseball to tread on this sacred time.

That was 25 years ago. It might as well have been the Ice Age.

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Jesus on the mainline

Wichita Protestants reflect national trends
BY JOE RODRIGUEZ
The Wichita Eagle
Mar 3, 2008
...
The Rev. Steven Mues, rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in east Wichita, agreed with Smith that divisiveness has been a factor in mainline Protestant churches' losing members.

For example, many people within the Episcopal Church were split when the church consecrated its first openly gay bishop about five years ago.

"We particularly as Episcopalians have had so much publicity involving internal controversy, and I think no one wants to join a family fight, particularly when they're looking for spiritual guidance," he said.

But the biggest factor for the decline in mainline church affiliation is the church's failure to educate its people about "the strengths and the teachings of our denomination," Mues said.

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Local churches see revival of growth

Nashville area bucks trend of shrinking congregations
By BOB SMIETANA
Nashville (TN) Tennessean
March 1, 2008

…While nationwide, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church USA are in decline, in the Nashville area they are enjoying a quiet but steady revival.
…
Locally, the Episcopal diocese has focused on planting new churches, teaching older congregations how to be hospitable and by having open dialogue over conflict, said Tennessee Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt.

Conflict has its place in a church, but it can't be the main focus, Bauerschmidt said.

"Come fight with us is not a winning strategy," he said.

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Labor for Lent

Churches use the 40 days before Easter to carry on mission projects
By Yonat Shimron
Raleigh (NC) News & Observer
February 29, 2008

Alex Richbourg usually gives up something for Lent -- chocolate or coffee.

But this year, the 41-year-old computer programmer from Apex decided to take something on.

He and 17 other members of Raleigh's Church of the Good Shepherd spent a week in Mexico building a home for a poor family.

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Local woman joins group rebuilding New Orleans
By Janet Redyke
Straus News
February 29, 2008

Vernon - Margaret Fortune, recently returned from a volunteer rebuilding trip to Katrina-devastated New Orleans, is proud to say she is helping people.

Fortune, now retired, had been coordinator of religious education at St. Francis Church in Vernon. She took the trip this winter as one of 15 volunteers who traveled to New Orleans with the help and efforts of Catholic Charities and the Diocese of Paterson. Volunteers paid their own way but were hosted by the diocese.

Working in New Orleans’ lower 9th ward, one of the most destroyed areas, Fortune and her group — who ranged in age from 41 to 74 — had three projects to undertake. Their first was erecting a temporary wall and shaping up a flooded Walgreen’s, after the damaged store was sold for a discounted price to the All Souls Episcopal Church to be used as the new church and meeting area.

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Federal cuts squeezing local food pantries
By Susan Abram
Los Angeles (CA) Daily News
02/29/2008

Federal cuts to pantries have forced some local agencies to turn away needy seniors who want to sign up for government subsidized foods.

At the West Valley Food Pantry in Woodland Hills, where nearly 250 food boxes are distributed the first Wednesday of each month to seniors, no new clients are being accepted.

"We'll continue feeding those that have already signed up, but we can't sign up any new seniors," said Jeanne Bain, co-director of the pantry.

It's gotten to the point that spaces become available only after clients die, she said.

"We can almost tell what's happening with the economy with what's happening here," she said of the new faces coming to the pantry at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church.

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Local church adds sign language to help deliver the word of God
By Amy Jo Johnson
Bay City (MI) Times
March 01, 2008

The Rev. Stacy Walker-Frontjes' first encounter with Jerry Jones stands out in her memory.

It was Pentecost, she said, and she had just preached about sharing the gospel in a language that people can understand.

''And here comes Jerry,'' she said.

Jones, 47, of Bay City, had stopped by St. Alban's Episcopal Church, where Walker-Frontjes is pastor. Jones is deaf and his message was simple: He was looking for a church.

Walker-Frontjes says she knew she must practice what she preaches. The church preaches that it welcomes everyone.

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Silver threads

Graying flocks confront challenges
By Craig Smith
Pittsburgh (PA) TRIBUNE-REVIEW
February 17, 2008

Keith Moore doesn't think the little church he has attended all his life will survive much longer.

Moore, 70, of Rural Valley is among the youngest of 14 members at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in the Armstrong County township of Wayne. The church once had 100 members, mostly farmers and coal miners. It closes each year from Christmas to March.

"The few members who are left have known each other for years. When we decide we can't do it anymore, we'll close," he said.

Moore's church reflects a trend nationwide: Congregations and their leaders are growing older. In a shift of their traditional role, churches, synagogues and religious institutions must confront the needs of graying flocks if they hope to survive, experts say.

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Circuit rider

In the Spirit: Three churches share one priest
By John Sullivan
Times Herald-Record (NY)
February 11, 2008

Highland Mills — Having arrived in southern Orange County last month, the Rev. Alon White faced some considerable challenges, the most pressing of them being how to be present in three places at once.

Before her stood three distinct churches with different worship styles located in three towns within five to 15 miles of each other. The new vicar would have to be present at all three for Lenten services and vestry meetings, as well as for the Holy Eucharist on Sundays.

The predicament, rare but growing among Episcopalian churches, arose with the triple pressures of declining church memberships, a decreasing supply of priests and rising costs in southern Orange County.

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Around the church

Momberg new rector at All Saints Episcopal
Keith L. Martin
Feb. 7, 2008

Not many compare downtown Frederick to Lawrence, Kan., but that is exactly how Tom Momberg sees things in his first two weeks in the city.

‘‘I think they both have an eclectic and funky downtown with an arts scene,” Momberg said. ‘‘I look at Frederick and I think of Lawrence.”

After years of serving communities in Kansas, Missouri and other locales, Momberg, 59 will be spending a lot more time learning about the City of Frederick. He was recently named the 16th rector in the 222-year history of All Saints Episcopal Church on West Church Street.

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Tornadoes inflame scars of '98 storm
By GAIL KERR
Nashville (TN) Tennessean
February 7, 2008

Billy Fields couldn't go to sleep Tuesday night.

"I sat there with the weather radio in one hand and my cell phone in the other," Fields said, cranking up his Jeep in the parking lot of the rebuilt St. Ann's Episcopal Church in east Nashville.

"I am absolutely not afraid of storms, but I didn't get any sleep."

As he watched hour after hour of storm coverage on TV, Fields took inventory of everyone he loves. Where were they? Could he reach them? He thought back 10 years, to the longest, loneliest night of his life. The night the darkness was broken only by a horde of cop cars assigned to leave their rotating blue lights on to protect his storm-ravaged neighborhood.

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Pottersville church arsonist sentenced
By DON LEHMAN
Glens Falls (NY) Post Star
February 6, 2008

The Massachusetts man who pleaded guilty last year to setting fire to a Pottersville church has pleaded guilty to torching a church in his home state as well, and that plea deal has resulted in a delay in his sentencing in Warren County.

Caleb U. Lussier, 21, will likely face a sentence of 13 years and 1 month in federal prison after his guilty plea to two felony charges alleging he attempted to damage or destroy religious property and "willfully used fire to commit an offense" when he set a fire at a Plymouth, Mass., church on Nov. 28, 2005.

He pleaded guilty last month in U.S. District Court in Boston, and is to be sentenced there on April 2.

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Church of the Holy Communion supports Carpenter's Kids program
By: Eric Gross
Mahopac (NY)
02/06/2008

MAHOPAC-A tiny village in Tanzania ravaged by the AIDS virus will be receiving help this year from congregants at the Church of the Holy Communion in Mahopac.

Seventy boys and girls living in extreme poverty in Itiso will be provided with clothing, shoes, school supplies and breakfast each morning thanks to $50 donations made by the worshippers of the Mahopac parish.

The Rev. Canon Claudia Wilson, pastor of the Church of the Holy Communion who also serves as Canon for Congregational Development for the Episcopal Diocese of New York explained that those attending her church were also donating additional funds so that a companion parish-St. Andrew's in Brewster-will have an accompanying relationship.

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Community Works To Restore Chapel
By:Susan J. Greenberg
Suffolk (NY) Life
02/06/2008

ST. PETER’S CHAPEL, located in East Hampton, was formed as a non-denominational congregation in 1881, attended by fishermen, farmers and their families. Now part of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, the chapel is being repaired by parishioners.    

More than a century old and falling into disrepair, St. Peter's Chapel, located on Old Stone Highway in East Hampton Town, is being rescued by parishioners and neighbors who recognize its importance to local history.

"My wife and I were married there seven years ago last September," said Charles Riggi, who is the chairman of the Chapel Committee of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in East Hampton, which owns the chapel. "It is a very special place for us."

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In the City of Angels

Religious leaders join hands to take on worldwide woes
Los Angeles Times
February 2 2008

…
St. John's Church near downtown L.A. is to be dedicated at a 3 p.m. service today as the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese's "pro-cathedral" -- a parish church functioning as a cathedral.

"One of the exciting things about this day is that it marks a real commitment to downtown," said the Rev. Mark Kowalewski, dean of St. John's at 514 W. Adams Blvd. "We want to be in this new emerging Los Angeles."

He said St. John's will be "a house of prayer for all people," and will continue to be a venue for ecumenical and interfaith activities and the arts.

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New developments

Theology on tap
Gatherings mix spirits, spirituality
By Jennifer Roes
Boston Herald
January 27, 2008

Jesus and the apostles drank wine in their times of fellowship. Is a beer-and-theology pairing really that far off?

At Theology on Tap, a religious lecture series held periodically at bars around Boston, beer and the Good Book are increasingly the norm. First belly up and order a cool draft. Then settle in for an intriguing spiritual discussion.

During a recent evening chat at Cheers, part of the “Portraits of Jesus” series sponsored by the Church of the Advent, an Episcopal church on Beacon Hill, the relaxed atmosphere was a big draw.

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Expansion at St. Matthew's Church to be handled by planning staff
By Brian Shea
Wilton (CT) Acorn
Jan 27, 2008

St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church may be expanding soon, following the Planning and Zoning Commission’s authorization for the church to go ahead with its expansion plan without the formal special permit process.

The church had asked to expand roughly 2,900 square feet in 2002 as part of an application the Wilton Presbyterian Church submitted to build its worship space. After going through public hearings, the application was approved.

But St. Matthew’s didn’t start construction within the five-year period required by the approval, and thus came to the commission to ask for an amendment to the 1969 special permit that initially created the two churches.

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The work of ministry

Beachfront churches rebuild along the Mississippi Coast
By Jean Prescott
McClatchy Newspapers
January 25, 2008

BILOXI, Miss. -- Up, down and around the Mississippi Coast, rebuilding lags, no more certainly than along U.S. 90, aka Beach Boulevard, the scenic drive.

Notably absent are many of the churches that once dotted this thoroughfare. Evidence of them either has been hauled away or is overgrown. Some areas, mostly west of Gulfport, Miss., but a couple of pockets in Biloxi, Miss., too, are so changed as to make locating even the site of a razed church -- or business or historic home -- impossible. On a recent drive the breadth of 90 in Harrison County, we couldn't find where St. Patrick Episcopal Church had stood in Long Beach.

The pastor of that congregation, the Rev. David Knight, was not surprised by that observation. His congregation continues to worship at Camp Coast Care in a community building right behind Coast Episcopal School.

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Children make a prayer quilt
Nogales (AZ) International
January 25, 2008

A colorful prayer quilt adorns the parish hall at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Nogales. It was made by children for children at the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona's annual convention in Phoenix recently.

More than 50 children saw the St. Andrew's Children's Clinic video and decided to send a prayer quilt. It was blessed by the bishop and given to delegates from St. Andrew's Church to present to the clinic's patients.

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Teen elected president of churchwomen's group
By ERIN SMITH
Pueblo (CO) Chieftain - Star Journal
January 26, 2008

ALAMOSA - A 16-year-old Alamosa High School sophomore has been elected president of the Episcopal Churchwomen at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church here.

Samantha Sparrow, daughter of Linda Sparrow, was unanimously elected this month to the post traditionally reserved for the graying set. It is believed she is the youngest woman to be elected to the position in parish's history.

She replaces her grandmother, Mary Sparrow.

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Steps toward the Kingdom

Faith & Ethics: Episcopal diocese enters pact
North Carolina churches will work with congregations in Botswana
By Yonat Shimron
Charlotte (NC) News & Observer
Jan 25, 2008

Episcopal churches in the United States and Anglican churches in Africa have had a frosty relationship since 2003, when the Episcopal Church USA ordained an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire.

More traditional Anglican dioceses in Africa reacted with rage, demanding that the American church stop the practice, apologize and promise never to do it again.

But in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, one of the most liberal in the nation, a new experiment is taking shape. Last week, Bishop Michael Curry and the Anglican bishop of Botswana signed a historic companion partnership agreement.

It will enable members of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, stretching across 39 Piedmont counties, to work with their Anglican counterparts in Botswana on youth programs, medical missions, day-care centers, schools and university chaplaincy programs.

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Building a New America
Biloxi group seeks a 'rainbow church' to build diversity
By JEAN PRESCOTT
Gulfport (MS) Sun-Herald
Jan. 25, 2008

BILOXI --
It's easy to talk about the brotherhood of man and woman. It's quite another thing to live it.

Just ask the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. The Rev. Harold Roberts isn't shy about admitting that he and his congregation hadn't realized one of the visions they had for their church, the need to impact the black, Vietnamese and Hispanic communities in Biloxi. It isn't that they didn't want to do it. They just had some trouble figuring out how to make it happen. And that was before Hurricane Katrina pummeled much of East Biloxi to rubble.

"Jane did it," Roberts said with a nod to his associate, the Rev. Jane Bearden, on loan from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts at least for another year. "Jane has special gifts and skills within that area."

"We can't fix East Biloxi," said Bearden, who's a Louisiana native, "but we can provide hospitality and warmth," not to mention a place to meet (in DeMiller Hall, all that remains of the Redeemer complex just off East Beach). "Jesus' compassion for the poor calls us all to action."

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Interim ministry

Interim ministers ease transition at island churches
New clergy search underway at Episcopal, Congregational churches
BY MARY LANCASTER
Nantucket Independent
January 23, 2008

There are similarities in the search processes to find new clergy at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and the First Congregational Church; the primary difference being that one search may be finalized by the end of the summer, while the other is just beginning.

The Rev. Joy Baumgartner arrived on Nantucket from Marco Island, Fla. in September to serve as interim minister at the First Congregational Church following the June departure of Rev. Mark Bruce. Although she is enjoying her experience here, she explained that interim ministers are not considered for the permanent positions. Instead, they maintain a church's schedule of regular weekly worship while assisting the church membership in analyzing and composing elements desired in a new pastor for the formal search procedure. Interim ministers continue their presence until the permanent role is filled.

"I love the church and I love the people," Rev. Baumgartner said. "I love it here and I love this congregation, but I am getting close to retirement age and I think the church needs a younger minister."

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Ministries in profile

BRIGHT PROMISE
Rev. Mark Pruitt starts with paint, continues by bringing new energy and warmth in his role as leader of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
By Colette M. Jenkins
Akron (OH) Beacon Journal
Jan 19, 2008

It’s all here… sorry we can’t give you a preview, though…

All Saints Church selects new rector
By Bronislaus B. Kush
WORCESTER (MA) TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
January 19, 2008

WORCESTER— Members of All Saints Church knew they had some big shoes to fill when their rector, the Rev. Mark Beckwith, left last January to become the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, N.J.

But they believe they have their man.

The church’s vestry recently voted the Rev. Kevin D. Bean, the vicar and senior associate for mission and outreach at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan, as the parish’s new spiritual leader.

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IN SEARCH OF HARMONY: SINGING, LEARNING AND RAISING EXPECTATIONS
By Nancy Shields
Asbury Park (NJ) Press
January 19, 2008

ASBURY PARK — It was raining outside the century-old Trinity Church building Thursday night, but you only noticed it when the 17 children, their backs straight and eyes watchful, finished rehearsing a song or stopped to listen to their teacher.

"What does poco rit mean?" music director Diane Caruso asked the choristers, her eyes kind, her voice professional.

"Slow down a little," they answered.

"Did you slow down a little?" she asked.

"No," they answered.

Caruso was given a mandate when Trinity, an Episcopal church, hired her as its full-time director of music in the summer of 2005.

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Teaching self-sufficiency
Friday, January 19, 2008
DENISE FORD-MITCHELL
SAGINAW (MI) NEWS

There's a big difference between lending a helping hand and taking people by the hand to lead them, a Saginaw church leader says.

''I know times are hard, but there're too many people relying on others for their survival,'' said Grady Holmes Jr., 51, outreach ministry director for St. Paul Episcopal Church at 720 Tuscola in Saginaw.

''I don't think anyone grows up saying, 'I'm going to live on welfare and let someone else take care of me while I sit around and do nothing,' and yet, there's a growing number of folks who aren't trying to help themselves,'' he said.

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Ministry roundup

Parishioners embrace Burmese baby in need of care
St. Paul Pioneer Press
January 16, 2008

She's little and cute, and at 1-week-old, Angela Say Kyi is already one of the most popular girls in Rogers Park.

Embraced by the parishioners of St. Paul's Church By the Lake, at 7100 N. Ashland Ave., little Angela, born on Dec. 30, is need of baby items. Angela's parents, father, Thaw Kyi, and mother, Say Htoo, both arrived in Rogers Park last August from a Thailand refugee camp, where the family spent seven years after fleeing Burma.

It’s all here … http://www.pioneerlocal.com/newsstar/news/741702,SN-BurmeseBaby-011608-s1.article

Healing languages comfort clinic's patients
Refugees, immigrants find lack of English isn't a barrier
By Deborah Yetter
The Courier-Journal
January 18, 2008

"Como te llama?" the receptionist asked.

The simple question -- "What is your name?" -- was enough to light up Eliza Mejia's face as she approached the counter at a Louisville medical clinic to register as a new patient.

Recently arrived from Mexico, Mejia knows little English, so she decided to visit the new Family Health Center Americana in the Southside neighborhood, where services are available in multiple languages.
…
Karen Hill, a volunteer from St. Matthew's Episcopal Church who accompanied Ah Mu to the clinic, said access to health care and interpreters has been an enormous help to the family, who came to the United States from a refugee camp in Thailand.

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Wind-power goal in reach, group says
BY STACEY ROBERTS
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
January 18, 2008

FORT SMITH — Arkansas has a chance to help move America toward a goal of generating 20 percent of available energy from wind by 2030, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Wind Energy Association.

That goal was part of the challenge presented to more than 220 people gathered for a Wind Energy Conference at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith on Thursday. Gov. Mike Beebe opened the conference by voicing his support for renewable energy sources.

Larry Flowers, the laboratory’s director, said the group has set a challenge for the country to meet that will benefit the economy and the environment. Currently, the United States produces less than 1 percent of its energy using wind power, according to the laboratory’s tracking.

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Richmond-area plan to end homelessness
Nonprofit outlines five goals to prevent people from living on streets
By WILL JONES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
January 18, 2008

A new plan aims to end homelessness in the Richmond area in 10 years.

But Ronald White can't see life beyond the streets anytime soon.

"I'm not going to worry about myself," White, 53, said yesterday before a lunch for Richmond's homeless at St. Paul's Episcopal Church downtown. "I'm accustomed to the street. I got two pair of pants and take off one when it gets hot."

Homeward, a nonprofit coordinating agency for homeless services in the Richmond area, yesterday released its 10-year plan to end homelessness following 18 months of work.

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Coat donations a warm gesture
By BOB VOSSELLER
Asbury Park (NJ) Press
January 17, 2008

WARETOWN — Lin Murdoch was afraid that due to the unusually warm winter weather last week that people donating coats for her church's ongoing coat drive would forget about the need and not come out. She shouldn't have worried — parishioners of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and residents turned out in droves to provide hundreds of coats for the needy on Friday.

Murdoch is the coordinator of the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church coat drive and was among six volunteers who worked in the parish hall to organize the donated coats.

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Zoning issues ruffle residents, commissioner
By MARY MARAGHY
Clay County (FL) Sun
January 18, 2008
…
In April, Waste Not will be forced out of its home at Grace Episcopal Church because the day school is expanding.

"If you turn us down, we'll cease to exist," said Sandra Staudt-Killea, Waste Not's board chairwoman.

Bush, who lives at the opposite end of Carnes Street, rallied his neighbors and other residents to speak out in opposition Tuesday calling it bad practice to spot zone to accommodate one group.

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New sites, new rites

RETURNING TO BEACHFRONT SITES CAN BE DIFFICULT FOR MANY CHURCHES
By JEAN PRESCOTT
Gulfport (MS) Sun Herald
Jan. 11, 2008

Up, down and around the Mississippi Coast rebuilding lags, no more certainly than along U.S. 90, aka Beach Boulevard, the scenic drive.

Notably absent are many of the churches that once dotted this thoroughfare. Evidence of them either has been hauled away or is overgrown. Some areas, mostly west of Gulfport but a couple of pockets in Biloxi, too, are so changed as to make locating even the site of a razed church - or business or historic home - impossible. On a recent drive the breadth of 90 in Harrison County, we couldn't find where St. Patrick Episcopal Church had stood in Long Beach.

The pastor of that congregation, the Rev. David Knight, was not surprised by that observation. His congregation continues to worship at Camp Coast Care in a community building right behind Coast Episcopal School.

And St. Patrick will not be one of the churches returning to the beachfront. "We were meticulous, careful and prayerful about where to go," he said earlier in the week, "and the people of our parish decided they didn't want to have to rebuild again," having lost the church twice - to Camille in 1969 and to Katrina.

What of the others?

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New Light Service focuses on family
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church service is popular
By HARRY WILLIAMSON
Houston Chronicle
Jan. 7, 2008, 2:15PM

The family-oriented New Light Service, started several months ago at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Kingwood, has proven to be highly popular, especially among the kids.

"We now have some children who are waking up their parents on Sunday morning just to go to church," said the Rev. Bob Goolsby, assistant pastor, who conducts the services.

The service is definitely user-friendly for young people.

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Sanctuary

Home for sinner and saint alike
Greensboro (NC) News Record
Jan. 6, 2008

Forgiveness.

If words were gold, that one would be 14 karat. It rolls off the tongue, like milk and honey, heaven-sent.

But here on earth, words are just words, 50 cents on the dollar, and nobody gets forgiven. At least, nobody who falls from a lofty place, in public, the way Chip Bristol did.

An Episcopal priest and high-powered headmaster at Canterbury School — a respectable altitude, as Greensboro society goes — he engineered his own ruin a few years back.

He drank a lot, had an affair, wrecked his marriage, lost his school, gave up his collar. This was no fall from grace. This was a swan dive.

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Holy Rovers

Church opens its doors to 4-legged congregants
By William Hageman
Chicago Tribune
January 6, 2008

It was the first time that Nellie, 2, and Otto, 3, had attended a worship service.

And they behaved like 2- and 3-year-olds who had never been in church before, looking at the ceiling, then the floor; fidgeting and wandering from their pews into the aisle. Unlike most 2- and 3-year-olds, though, they also sniffed their fellow worshipers.

Nellie and Otto, a pair of golden retriever-poodle mixes, were participating (in their own way) in a Logan Square church's Sunday morning prayer service that caters to dogs. And their people, of course.

"It came out of this observation that we have so many people in the neighborhood who are dog owners," says Rev. Sandra Castillo, rector at the Episcopal Church of the Advent and La Iglesia Episcopal de Nuestra Senora de las Americas. "We thought this might be a good way to reach out."

It’s all here …and folks, don't even start with the comments about the Connecticut Episcopal congregation that supposedly served Fido Communion a couple of years ago: That urban legend was thoroughly discredited as a misunderstanding of terminology by the reporter in question.

Deliver us from allergens

Allergies lead churches to new practices
By Jill Rosen
Baltimore Sun
January 6, 2008
…
When Bruce Watson told the leaders at Baltimore's Cathedral of the Incarnation, which is Episcopal, that his daughter, Rosemary, will swell up and wheeze if she eats wheat, they had no problem allowing her to take a rice wafer for communion. The church, which notes the availability of the alternative wafers in its bulletin, has since discovered other parishioners with the same problem.

"We're trying to figure out what would make sense for her, to make sure she's fully included," said Jan Hamill, who is canon for Christian formation at the cathedral.

The Cathedral of the Incarnation has also all but eliminated incense from services - only bringing it out for major holidays. And then, she says, the sensitive worshipers know better than to sit anywhere near the center aisle.

In some churches, the institutional memory is scented with candles, oils and the heady aromas of frankincense and myrrh. But they're having to make changes because the heavy scents can cause people with perfume allergies to sneeze, itch and even experience trouble breathing.

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Bearing gifts

These church visitors respond when welcomed with gifts
By Mary Meehan
Morning Call (PA)
January 5, 2008

…Visitors to Lexington's Good Shepherd Episcopal Church who fill out visitor cards get what Joyce Roth, who organizes the greeters, calls ''the royal treatment.''

After Sunday school classes are over, Roth and sometimes other volunteers deliver a jar of chocolate sauce with a card that reads ''I hope this tops off your Sunday'' and encourages the visitor to make a return visit.

''I lot of people are a little bit ambivalent about going into a church,'' she said. ''They aren't sure they've picked the right place or how to go about it,'' she said.

Although she can't say the sugary treat is responsible, Roth said people do notice when a congregation makes an extra effort to connect.

''We've been inundated with new people. We just have people swarming in the doors. There are some 85 new people on the rolls,'' she said.

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Mind your manners

Local religious leaders opine about jeans, cellphones in church
By Jennifer Crossley,
Times Daily (AL)
January 05. 2008

…The Rev. Dr. Sarah Gaede, of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Florence, said her church's services tend to be somewhat laid back, with children freely roaming the aisles and even caged animals sitting in pews during the annual Blessing of the Animals service.

But Gaede likes it that way and has a sense of humor about church behavior. She playfully teases her choir about talking during her sermons. "Martin Luther said when the devil wants to come in the church, he comes in through the choir," she said. "That's one reason my choir sits in the back."

Gaede counts note passing as one of her pet peeves and said some of the worst manners she's ever observed are from wedding guests at a church she formerly pastored. "We were at the point that before a wedding, we would have to announce 'this is a worship service,' " she said.

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Episcopal church closing its doors

Steady decline in attendance cited
December 27, 2007
BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH
Chicago Sun-Times

A 129-year-old Episcopal congregation on the South Side will be disbanded after worship Sunday.

Attendance at the Episcopal Church of the Mediator, which is in the Beverly/Morgan Park area, has declined to about 30 people. At its peak, it had 250 members, church leaders said.

"It's been coming," said Mary Reich, a parish leader. "You can't run a parish on 30 people. Most of our members are over age 55."

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Episcopal congregations joining together

Membership decline led to the decision to merge into one church on West Side
by Charlotte Ferrell Smith
Charleston (WV) Daily Mail
December 20, 2007

Four local Episcopal churches are merging into one congregation.

The churches include All Saints Episcopal in South Charleston, St. James Episcopal in North Charleston, St. Luke's Episcopal on the West Side, and Church of the Good Shepherd in Kanawha City.

The newly formed church will be called St. Christopher Episcopal and will be housed in the St. Luke's building, 821 Somerset Drive on Charleston's West Side.

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Preservation

Seeking $30 Million to Renovate, Church Finds Help in Neighbors
David W. Dunlap
The New York Times
December 18, 2007

Foiled long ago in its plan to raise money by replacing its landmark community house with a 59-story office tower, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Park Avenue is now passing the plate among the very neighbors whose views would have been sliced by the skyscraper.

New lighting is part of the plan in the $30 million capital campaign undertaken by St. Bartholomew’s Church, on Park Avenue.

And the plate is coming back with hundreds of thousands of dollars in it.

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Partners for Sacred Places to give $400,000 to Phila.-area congregations
Philadelphia Business Journal
December 17, 2007

Partners for Sacred Places said Monday its Philadelphia Regional Fund for Sacred Places is granting five awards totaling $400,000 to enable congregations in the Philadelphia area to renovate their buildings.

Each congregation must raise a matching amount of money to receive its grant.

Grants from the fund go to renovate buildings of historical significance that are used by their community as well as their congregation.

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Church receives development grant
The $5,000 will go toward facade improvements on St. John's Episcopal downtown property.
Newport News (VA) Daily Press
December 20, 2007

The Downtown Hampton Development Partnership awarded a Property Improvement Grant in the amount $5,000 to St. John's Episcopal Church on Dec. 7, according to Perry Pilgrim, president of the partnership.

"The grant will be used for façade improvements at the church's commercial property, located at 120 W. Queens Way," said Pilgrim.

The church is investing $25,905 for the improvement project that includes exterior repairs, installation of new windows and painting. The commercial tenants located in the building are Books Ahoy, Jan Peters Realty, Hudson + Associates and Ovusoft.

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Making Historical Progress
By JANIS D. FROELICH
Tampa (FL) Tribune
December 19, 2007

DOWNTOWN - During the recent approval process for historic preservation status for St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, city Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena said what she likes best is that the 1904-built church "has changed very little."

The church's surroundings, however, will undergo major changes next year.

With $2.5 million raised, the project will see the bulldozing of a two-story building and construction of a children's chapel in the northeast corner of the church complex, which occupies a city block between Twiggs and Madison streets.

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Change

RETIRED BISHOP EXPLAINS HIS RADICAL VIEWS
Retired theologian rattles roots of religion
By DAVID YONKE
TOLEDO (OH) BLADE
December 16, 2007

For a genteel, erudite, and personable cleric, Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong sure has a way of getting under people's skin.

The 76-year-old retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark is a theologian who believes the Bible is "time-bound and time-warped" by the first-century Jewish culture in which it was written. He is on a mission to change the way people look at the Bible and at Jesus, stating that he wants to "break Jesus out of the boundaries of antiquity and explain it in the 21st century."

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New age: Aging congregations, clergy driving change
Appeal of revitalized churches spans generations
Kathleen Lavey
Lansing (MI) State Journal
December 16, 2007

Aging is an issue that many traditional Christian churches cannot ignore.

And the issue is twofold:

» There are more gray-haired people in the pews and congregations are dwindling.

» Clergy are aging, too.

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Remember the Sabbath day...?

Churches forced to deal with Sunday conflicts
By Molly Rossiter
The Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette
December 14. 2007
…
Alternative services during the week or on Saturdays have given Christians prime opportunities for worship and fellowship while school and club commitments, weekend work schedules and other things pull them away on Sundays. Despite the fourth commandment to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," churches have had to provide the other services to reach out to members who want to keep a faith foundation but can't attend Sunday services.

It doesn't necessarily mean Sunday is any less sacred than before the alternative service times, area pastors said.

"I think with people of faith, Sunday never loses its sanctity," said the Rev. William J. Pugliese, 65, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church, 220 40th St. NE, in Cedar Rapids. "We're in a world where we're competing. And if you have children and they're doing soccer and football and baseball and everything else on Sunday morning, this is a secular world, and if you want to be a part of it you have to make some decisions. I think offering other times for worship helps families accommodate what else is going on in their lives."

Pastors point to the loss of "blue laws" that prohibited conducting business — and thereby working — on Sundays and also the greater pull on American families for their time by employers, sports, clubs and events.

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Diversity of ministries

Ministry on the river
The Rev. Jim Wilkinson provides spiritual service for isolated towboat crews
By Katya Cengel
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal
Sunday, December 2, 2007   

…
The Rev. Jim Wilkinson sits down next to Andrews, a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Where's home for you?" Wilkinson asks.

"West Point, Tenn.," Andrews answers.

The conversation continues in short bursts -- during which Wilkinson learns that Andrews is 28, a bricklayer by trade and a deckhand for just two months -- followed by lazy silences.

There isn't much for Wilkinson to do except listen. But his black clergy shirt and the bookmarks and the Bible he leaves behind say what he doesn't -- that he is a chaplain with Seamen's Church Institute's Ministry on the River, an ecumenical agency affiliated with the Episcopal Church, and he is there should the crew need him.

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Christ Church Parish 275th: Let the celebration begin!
by CATHERINE KEATING
Redding (CT) Pilot
Dec 2, 2007

Celebrating the Eucharist at the 275th anniversary service at Christ Church Parish are from left, the Rev. Kent Smith, retired church rector, Bishop Andrew Smith, and the Rev. Marilyn Anderson, current rector.

Christ Church Parish kicked off a year-long celebration of its 275th anniversary with a special Eucharist service on Nov. 11. The Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith, Episcopal bishop of Connecticut, and the Rev. Marilyn Anderson, rector, presided over the service. Special guests included Christ Church Parish’s former rector, the Rev. Kent Smith and Mrs. Margaret Smith.

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Six win outreach grant funds
By JOCELYN ALLISON
Northwest Herald (IL)
December 03, 2007

McHENRY – As a child, longtime Johnsburg art teacher Edna Robel always had been fascinated with American Indian culture.

But it wasn’t until well into adulthood that she had the opportunity to experience it firsthand, after she responded to a notice in a church bulletin 18 years ago announcing a trip to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Ethete, Wyo.

“They invited me to go, so I did,” said Robel, referring to trip organizers at Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest. “I’ve gone every year since.”

Robel, 82, was one of six recipients to win grant funds Sunday from St. Paul Episcopal Church in McHenry through the church’s new community outreach grant program.

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Past, present, future

Churches merge to find strength
By Ron Cammel
The Grand Rapids Press
November 24, 2007

KENTWOOD -- Sadness might have accompanied the closing of St. Michael's Episcopal Church this fall, but joy sprang from its merger with Holy Cross Episcopal.

"It's wonderful; it's joyous -- you can feel it," said Jan Springer, Holy Cross secretary. "I don't know how else to describe it. You can just feel the joy in the services."

"People are feeling it's not 'we-them,'" said Ross Mast, vestry chairman for the former St. Michael's in Cascade Township. "Holy Cross made an effort in that. It's 'us' now."

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Our houses of worship: Trinity Episcopal Church
The Virginian-Pilot
November 24, 2007

DEAN BURGESS STEPPED into the shadow of 246-year-old Trinity Episcopal Church near Portsmouth's historic Olde Towne.

"This brick wall surrounding the churchyard is thought to be the oldest structure in the city," Burgess said, patting the worn, curved bricks that undulate along its top. He walked through the wall's cast iron gate, into a dark garden dotted with obelisks, flat markers and tombs, where headstones lean and list and lichen lies like velvet over the chiseled names.

There, he pointed, was Caty Webb, the wife of the first grocer in town. She died in childbirth with her 14th child in 1820.

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