This year's Stewardship University workshop will be taking place on Friday, August 5 (for clergy) and on Saturday, August 6 (for both clergy and lay persons). This event will take place at The Parish of St. Clement's Parish Hall in Honolulu, from 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM on both days.

To register, click HERE. Deadline is July 27, 2016, or when the maximum number of attendees has been reached.  If you have any questions, e-mail Charmaine Ito.

St. Jude's 1st Annual Ocean View Spaghetti Dinner

St. Jude's Episcopal Church in Ocean View on the Big Island of Hawai'i, will be holding their first annual Spaghetti Dinner on Friday, July 15, 2016. Doors open at 6:00 PM, and dinner will be served from 6:30 - 9:00 PM.  Tickets are available at the door for $8 per person, $15 for two, or $20 for family, but tickets will be available for purchase before the event date at Sunday services or by calling (808) 939-7555.  

Proceeds from this event helps cover operating expenses for St. Jude's community service programs such as free hot showers, free hot lunches and free wifi!  St. Jude's is located at 92-0606 Paradise Circle in Ocean View.

St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Waianae is undergoing major renovations to repair their worship and outreach center. Pictured above, volunteer Contractor, John Gunderson (who is the son of a Lutheran Minister), has already begun the extensive work to expand the current conference room in the office center that will allow for a chapel setting for Morning Prayer and worship.  The chapel will seat 35 to 40 persons.

They will also be converting an existing workroom into a new food bank pantry. The overall project will also include floor, ceiling and wall repairs, new carpet, doors, painting, minor electrical work, shelving, tables and chairs. 

To help with the costs for the renovations and expansion, they will be holding a special online Tupperware fundraiser where 40% of all purchases will go directly to the church. This fundraiser will run through July 28. To learn more about this great fundraising program, you can view the promotional flyer HERE.  To be taken directly to the St. John the Baptist ordering page and show your support, click HERE.

There will be a Godly Play Core Training at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Kailua, August 12-14, 2016, led by Godly Play Foundation Trainer, Jenny Wallace.  It is open to all those interested in Godly Play, first-time storytellers, and as a refresher for those who have taken a training in the past. This will be the last training in 2016. For more information and to register, download the Godly Play flyer HERE. 

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Convoy of Hope, a community outreach event that brings local churches, business organizations and government agencies together to honor, help and give hope to those in need, will be holding an event on the Big Island of Hawai'i, on Saturday, July 9, at the County Fairgrounds in Hilo.  Gates will open at 10:00 AM.

The focus of this event will be to provide groceries, health services, haircuts and job and career services to those in need.  St. James' Episcopal Church in Waimea has partnered up with Living Waters Church to man the Kid Zone.  For more information about this event, contact the church office at (808) 855-4923, or visit the event website HERE.

Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:

We all know that some things in holy Scripture can be confusing, hard to understand, or open to various ways of understanding. But some essential teachings are clear and incontrovertible. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, and he tells us over and over again not to be afraid (Matthew 10:31, Mark 5:36, Luke 8:50, John 14:27).

There's no confusion about what Jesus is telling us, but it often requires courage to embody it in the real world. Again and again, we become afraid, and mired in that fear, we turn against Jesus and one another.

This age-old cycle of fear and hatred plays out again and again in our broken world, in sickening and shocking events like the massacre targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Orlando, but also in the rules we make and the laws we pass. Most recently, we've seen fear at work in North Carolina, a state dear to both of our hearts, where a law called the "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act" has decimated the civil rights and God-given dignity of transgender people and, by extension, drastically curtailed protections against discrimination for women, people of color, and many others. We are thankful for the prayerful and pastoral public leadership of the North Carolina bishops on this law, which is known as House Bill 2. 

This year's annual Clergy Retreat will be held on August 28 - 30, 2016, at Camp Mokule'ia. Unfortunately, the scheduled special guest speaker, the Rev. Justin Lewis-Anthony, has had to cancel, and we are currently making arrangements for a replacement. 

Cost for the retreat is $80 resident (staying at the Camp), or, $50 commuter (driving there each day). Scholarship assistance is available upon request to the Bishop. Credit cards are being accepted online.

The 48th Annual Meeting of Convention of the Episcopal Church in Hawai'i, will be taking place on Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29, at The Cathedral of St. Andrew in Honolulu.  

An Education Day open to all in the Diocese will take place on Friday, October 28, followed by the Convention Opening Eucharist at 4:00 PM, and celebratory pupu hour.  Registration is required for these events.

Then on Saturday, October 29, the Annual Meeting will begin promptly at 8:45 AM.  More information will be coming out soon.  In the meantime, you may visit the Convention webpage HERE.

During the month of July, The St. Andrew's Schools will be offering a variety of free summer sessions open to the public. Detailed information can be found on their website HERE.  Offerings include: