A Whole Season's worth

of Epiphany in One Week!

A child of Jeannette, Haiti

 By The Rev. Andy Jones, Rector of St. Andrew's, Madison and reprinted from the February 2012 issue of "Crossroads," the parish newsletter.

It was an amazing week in the season of Epiphany as God was made manifest (from the Greek epiphainein to manifest) here in Madison through the witness, love and work of the Episcopal Church!

Pere Wisnel Dejardin, our friend and partner in ministry from Jeannette Haiti arrived on Saturday night, January 7^th.   In the week that he was here in Wisconsin he Celebrated the Eucharist three times, preached on a Wednesday night, met with representatives, both clergy and lay, from all over the diocese, and spent time with Bishop Steven Miller and Canon David Pfaff, and the Steering Committee of the Diocese of Milwaukee Haiti Project.

The Rev. Andy Jones (L) and Pere Wisnel Dejardin

In the short time that he was here, describing the hardships in Jeannette caused by the two month early onset of the dry season and the loss of a feeding program that was previously underwritten by another NGO, we raised almost $5,000. That $5,000 will feed the students of Saint Marc's School for 6 weeks! Those six weeks will give us time to raise additional monies to continue the school lunch program and wire the finds to Haiti.

The Diocese of Milwaukee Haiti Project has emergency reserve funds and at a meeting with Pere Wisnel at Grace Episcopal Church on Friday evening we committed some of those funds to buy a tanker truck of water to be delivered to Jeannette. That water will fill their cisterns and provide safe, clean drinking water in a place where the land is parched and dry!

Pere Wisnel left for Haiti in the early morning hours of January 14^th with a sense of joy and hope for the people of Jeannette, uplifted by the support and love poured out on him and his parish by the people of the Diocese of Milwaukee.

As this week was wrapping up we read in the news about a fire at the Porchlight Transitional Housing Apartments. On Friday night, a bitterly cold night when the fire trucks froze on the street, all 100 residents of the apartment building at the corner of Brooks and Johnson Streets had to be evacuated. On Saturday afternoon the fire department cleared the building so that all but 16 of those residents could return to their apartments.

As I was reading the article describing the plight of those 16 women I received a call from LZ Ventures, our partners in developing the Saint Francis House Episcopal Student Ministry site. LZ offered to delay the construction process at the Saint Francis House site so that the vacated building could be used as temporary Emergency Housing for our next door neighbors at Porchlight! Within the hour the Saint Francis House Board, the Bishop of the Diocese of Milwaukee and the staff at Porchlight were in conversation, making plans to move the sixteen displaced residents of Porchlight into Saint Francis House. (continued)

Click to read full article

Supper will be served from 5:15-6:45 in the Parish Hall. 

PLEASE BRING SOME FRIENDS!    

Helpers are needed! Call Diane Brown at 444-6707 to volunteer.

Pricing: 16+ = $4.00   Ages 6-15 and over 65 = $3.00   Ages 5-2 = $1.00

St. Luke's Episcopal Church      4011 Major Avenue, Madison, WI 53716

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING

A Note from the Commission on Global Reconciliation

Each year our diocese allocates 0.7% of the diocesan budget to support work done to achieve MDGs by parishes and entities within the diocese.

8 MDG GOALS

1. ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER

2. ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

3. PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

4. REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

5. IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH6.

6. COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES

7. DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

8. ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Last year, contributions from our diocese were sent to 5 projects that are supported by congregations within our diocese:

1)      MDG#6: $1300 to a program at St. Mary's Cathedral in Newala, Tanzania ( our companion diocese) to train church leaders in strategies to prevent the spread of HIV/STDs. Proposed by All Saints Cathedral, Milwaukee.

2)      MDG #1, #3, #7: $1500 to the Diocesan Haiti Project for the purpose of starting a coffee farm and providing classes in agronomy in the area of Jeannette/St, Marc's parish with whom we have been in partnership for 25 years. Proposed by the Haiti Project Steering Committee.

3)      MDG#6: $2000 to a program at St. Francis Anglican Church, Johannesburg, South Africa to develop a strategy to target HIV prevention and TB screening at a parish level in the Johannesburg Diocese. Proposed by St. Dunstan's/Madison.

4)      MDG#2, #3, #7, #8: $1000 toward funding for a Literacy and Financial Education Program focused on women in the Malakai Diocese, southern Sudan. Proposed by St. Mark's/Milwaukee.

5)      MDG#1, #2, #7: $834 to World Bicycle Relief to provide bicycles (at $134 each) for daily transportation for youth and adults. Proposed by St. Andrew's/Madison.

It's time again to consider distribution of the 0.7% to projects that work toward the achievement of the MDGs.

For more information, please see our Letter to Parishes on the Diocesan website or contact:

Deacon Carol Smith csmith@carthage.edu   (608) 230-6888

Advance Tickets: $15 adult / $10 senior / $5 student

Tickets at the door: $20 adult / $15 senior / $10 student

To purchase tickets call 262-547-4838 (church office)

http://stmatthiasonline.org for online ticket sales

Post concert reception included in admission

St. Matthias Episcopal Church

(corner of Main Stree & East Avenue in Waukesha, WI 53186)

Presented in collaboration with Early Music Now

This concert is a fund raiser for St. Matthias music department.

Diocese reclaims Elm Grove property on January 31

Bishop Miller to celebrate at service there

on February 5 at 10:00 a.m.

Over the next three months the diocesan website will be undergoing a thorough review and appraisal of its effectiveness as a communication channel and mission resource, and of how it can be redeveloped to better serve the mission and ministries of the Diocese of Milwaukee.

David Skidmore, former communication director for the Diocese of Chicago, has been retained as a consultant to lead this project which will be conducted in three phases: research and review of the present website and user experience, analysis of the research and planning solutions, and report and recommendations to the diocesan office for implementation.

The first phase will include interviews with diocesan staff, officers, and leaders of congregations, ministries and organizations; and a survey of user experiences and expectations. The second phase will deal with analysis of the research, and exploration of various hosting and design solutions by the consultant and a small task force. The project will wrap up soon after Easter with a report to Bishop Millerand the Executive Council detailing the specific solution that supports the purpose and vision for web communication in the Diocese of Milwaukee, and how the website can be best managed and maintained going forward.

The input of all interested members of the diocese is important to the successful outcome of this effort. All members of the diocese are invited to complete an online survey which can be accessed from the diocesan website    here or at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BVQSRBF . The survey may also be printed out for completion by those without internet access by downloading the  pdf file at

https://www.diomil.org/home/forms-and documents/DOMWebsiteReviewSurveyforprinting.pdf?

Website Review Survey

Diocese of Milwaukee

804 E. Juneau Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202-2798

To enable this project to stay on schedule, those interested in completing the survey should do so by Valentines Day, February 14.

During his 18 years as communication director for the Diocese of Chicago, Mr. Skidmore led the development of the diocese's first website, first blog, first podcast site and first streaming video site; and created its first social media presence. In addition to web development consultation, he creates visual essays at WordwithImage, and serves as chair of communication for Province V and as Province V representative on the Episcopal News Service advisory committee.

The Story of Ruth and Naomi   

A Women's Retreat

6 PM Friday, March 16 thru

4 PM Saturday, March 17      

at the Redemptorist 

Retreat Center

1800 North Timber Trail Lane, Oconomowoc, WI 53066-4897

Join us for a weekend for reflection, study and prayer together as women, discovering how we can create and build healthy, vibrant and spiritual relationships as women. Space is limited so register early.   

Registration Form is available on our diocesan website on the Christian Formation webpage at www.diomil.org or by clicking here .

Hosted by St. Mary's, Dousman and the Diocesan Office of Christian Formation.

Retreat Leaders: Rev. Carla McCook, Bishop's Assistant for Christian Formation,Sandi Smith, Masters of Theology, Sacred Heart Theological Seminary,Meredyth Albright, Senior Seminarian at Nashotah House.