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InProv 2 editor
Laurie Wozniak
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Province II: A Taste of General Convention
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 Ever wonder what General Convention is really like? Most of us hear about the legislative issues, but what about the worship, the mission and the many exhibits? And what was Beach Bishop Bingo, anyway?!!!
Province II: A Taste of General Convention captures this more in an upbeat video. It's the next best thing to having been there! View it online now at www.province2.org.
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Bono Joins Province II at GC?
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 More than a few heads turned when the Rev. Dahn Gandell (Diocese of Rochester) walked into the Province II gathering at General Convention last July. The cause of the stir was the gentleman who accompanied Dahn.
"Is that really U2's Bono?" people asked. "He sure looks like Bono!"
Alas, it wasn't Bono. It was Pavel Sfera, the world's foremost Bono look alike. With Dahn's help, arrangements had been made for Sfera to appear at the U2charist being held at General Convention the next day.
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Province II Welcomes New Treasurer
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 The Rev. Gerald Keucher (Diocese of New York) will take office as treasurer for Province II on January 1, 2010.
Keucher is the author of Remember the Future: Financial Leadership and Asset Management for Congregations, published in 2006 by Church Publishing.
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A Story of Mission & Evangelism from the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe
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This past spring, some of the more observant members of All Saints' Church, Waterloo in Belgium likely noticed some extra empty space at the back of their church's sanctuary. The day before Palm Sunday, Stephan, the church's handyman, and lay-leader Felicity Handford loaded a set of 35 chairs that had been stored there into the back of a rented transit van. The van was bound for the Mission Episcopale de Rennes (MER), in the Bretagne region of France. In early 2009, All Saints' outreach committee, with the support of the congregation, had voted to give some of the chairs from their own sanctuary to help furnish the MER's new worship space.
MER, an extraordinary group, was originally founded by a group of Rwandan refugees who resettled in Rennes after the Rwandan genocide. After arriving in Rennes, its leaders created various programs designed to meet the needs of an uprooted community, many of whom were traumatized, suffering from post-traumatic stress. In speaking of this resettlement period, they described themselves as a community of people who had lost all hope, but also as people of God who were called to be witnesses to the life of Jesus.
"Despite our own loss and sadness, we found that we also had much to share with others in need."
In the beginning, they didn't have a master plan; they simply
analyzed the needs of the community and dedicated themselves to creating the necessary structures to meet those needs. For example, to serve people in need of short-term emergency assistance, they created a common micro-loan fund. The group's members -- largely immigrants of modest means themselves - each donated 10 Euro per month to create a pool of funds. Over the years, the fund has grown, allowing them to serve more people. More recently, Emmanuel Church in Geneva, Switzerland, made a contribution in support of this program.
This group has undergone much change since its beginnings. The mission has begun to attract new people to include people of other nationalities, notably even a few French members. Today, they count some 100 members.
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Lobbying Capitol Hill
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Bishop Mark Beckwith (second from right) in Washington, DC with others from Bishops Working for a Just Society last September. (Photo: Episcopal Life/Lynette Wilson)
Bishop Mark Beckwith (Newark) and Bishop Prince Singh (Rochester), members of Bishops Working for a Just Society, traveled to Washington, D.C. in mid-September. There they joined with several of their counterparts from across The Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations briefed the bishops on policy, then accompanied them to Capitol Hill where they met with Senators and members of Congress to lobby for health care and immigration reform, as well as stricter environmental protection laws.
In conversations with Democratic Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (New Jersey) and Republican
Senator Susan M. Collins (Maine) each voiced concerns about the misinformation and fear-based exaggeration that have often taken center stage in the health care reform debate.
Blogging about his time in Washington, Bishop Beckwith wrote:
 As people of faith, we have the opportunity to reframe the conversation
- by welcoming the hope. We welcome hope through the discipline of
seeing Christ in the face of the stranger, acknowledging the presence
of Christ in the heart of the person with whom we strongly disagree; by
giving from a place of gratitude and abundance. It is hard work. It is
holy work. This welcome is radical hospitality in its purest form - and
it can move us down through the confining and confounding arena of fear
to a deep and liberating place of hope. Read the entire blog post here.
 Bishop Singh spoke at a prayer vigil that called for an end to hateful rhetoric in immigration debate. The vigil was organized by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, of which the Episcopal Church is a member, in response to the Federation for American Immigration Reform's (FAIR) annual talk radio rally and lobby days. FAIR has been labeled a hate group by The Southern Poverty Law Center, an international civil rights organization.
General Convention adopted resolutions calling for comprehensive health care and immigration reform, as well as stricter environmental protection last July.
Beckwith and Singh were joined by Bishops Marc Andrus (CA), John Chane (DC), James Curry (CT), Stephen Lane (ME), and Eugene Sutton (MD).
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Long Island Welcomes Bishop Provenzano
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The Rt. Rev. Lawrence Provenzano with his wife Jeanne and their
children, Katy, Mary Beth, and Christopher at his consecration on September 19. (Photo by © Kara Flannery)
The Rt. Rev. Lawrence Provenzano was consecrated as bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Long Island on September 19.
At the diocese's annual convention in mid-November he will become Long Island's eighth bishop, succeeding the retiring Rt. Rev. Orris J. Walker Jr., who has been on medical leave since June.
The Rev. Mpho Tutu, founder and executive director of the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage,
preached the sermon during Provenzano's ordination and consecration. She said, in part:
 From what I have read I understand that tending sheep is more than
merely finding good pasture. Sheep tending is demanding work. It
requires that the shepherd knows his flock. He rises early to see how
they have passed the night. From time to time throughout the day he
will look again to ensure that all is well. The shepherd will know in
an instant if something is amiss with his flock. He will know if the
sheep are healthy or ill. He can tell if they have been troubled by
predators or infected by parasites. He will find them shelter from the
storms, ample food in the winter months and clean water all year. The
metaphor is apt. "Tend my sheep" the Lord tells Peter. Tend my sheep
Christ says to the bishops of the church. Know your flock. Feed those
in your charge with word and sacrament. Minister to their needs. Care
about their concerns. Pray with them in joy, challenge, and sorrow.
Guard them against the enemies of faith. Draw back those who are
drifting away (That's why you have the hook at the end of your crozier).
Show compassion to those who suffer. And defend those who have no
helper. There was a special collection of non-perishable food items that will
be distributed by the diocese's Episcopal Community Services agency. The diocese's clergy continued their tradition of purchasing the bishop's ring, which was presented during the service. Read the full sermon here.
Ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1984, Bishop Provenzano, previously served St. Andrew's Church, Longmeadow and St. John's,
North Adams, both in Western Massachusettes and Christ Church, Westerly
in Rhode Island. He was elected March 21.
Welcome to Province II, Bishop Provenzano!
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| Around the Province
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Albany
Bishop Love's annual Christmas Message can be found here.
New York
After
defeat of a bill that would have granted marriage equality for same sex
couples in New York State, the diocese's LGBT Committee issued this statement.
Central New York
Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori was present for the 141st Diocesan Convention on November 21. Read her sermon, as well as Bishop Adams' "Back to Basics" Convention address, in which he states, the church's servant ministry as incarnated in the role of the deacon, is best personified as the church faces and engages the world in which God has placed us. here.
 Long Island
In mid-November, Bishop Provenzano attended the first meeting of TEC's Standing Commission on Stewardship & Development since General Convention last summer. He and others on the commission give their views on stewardship in this serious, yet humorous YouTube video created by Bishop Greg Rickel.
 Newark
Last October, the Rev. Walter Brueggemann keynoted a diocesan-wide conference. His topic: Becoming Disciples - How Will We Create a Culture of Call? Listen to his hour-long presentation her.
Rochester
On
the occasion of the city of Rochester's 175th Anniversary last fall,
Bishop Prince Singh delivered a keynote address entitled "One City,
Many Faiths, One Hope" at an interfaith luncheon. Read his words here.
 New Jersey
As New Jersey, the second oldest diocese in the United States, celebrates 225 years of ministry, Bishop George Councel availed himself of video technology in order to address wardens and vestries at 165 churches. See the video here.
 Western New York
A collection of video interviews with WNY clergy regarding their thoughts on liturgy compliment the Advent issue of Journeys, the diocesan magazine. The videos may be viewed online here.
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