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Coming up
April 27 Ecumenical Climate Revival: Join Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for this inspirational day of preaching, worship, prayers and music to celebrate creation and advocate its restoration and renewal. |
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Also Coming Up
Mar 20: Open Diocesan Budget Hearing, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 7 p.m.
Mar 20: Contemplative Eucharist, Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington, 7 p.m. Mar 21: Lenten Morning of Prayer, Sisters of St. Margaret, Duxbury, 9:30 a.m.
Mar 21: Diocesan Council, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 6 p.m. Mar 21: Evensong, St. John's Church, Gloucester, 6 p.m.
Mar 22-23: Pre-Confirmation Retreat, Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center, Greenfield, N.H. Mar 23: Congregational Business Practices Workshop, St. Peter's Church, Weston, 9 a.m. Mar 23: Contempative Retreat Day--"Solitudes that Leave an Indelible Mark," Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington, 10 a.m. Mar 24: Liturgy of the Palms and Holy Eucharist, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 10 a.m. Mar 24: North Shore Voices to End Homelessness Forum, First Church of Swampscott, Congregational, 2:30 p.m. Mar 25: Interfaith Prayer Service on Eve of Supreme Court Marriage Equality Cases, Bishop Shaw preaching, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 7 p.m. Mar 26: Holy Tuesday Eucharist with Blessing of Holy Oils, Bishop Shaw preaching, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 11 a.m. Mar 28: Maundy Thursday Silent Eucharist, with foot washing, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 12 p.m. Mar 29: Good Friday Liturgy with Veneration of the Cross, Dr. Shelly Rambo preaching, Bishop Gayle Harris presiding, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 12 p.m. Mar 30: Soulful Easter Vigil, with Baptisms, Confirmations and Receptions, Bishop Shaw presiding, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 7 p.m. Mar 31: Festival Eucharist for Easter Day, Bishop Shaw, celebrant and preacher, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 10 a.m. Apr 3: Friends of Creation Dinner, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:30 p.m. Apr 5-6: Pre-Confirmation Retreat, Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center, Greenfield, N.H. Apr 6: Regional Learning Day, St. Mary's Church, Barnstable, 8:30 a.m. Apr 6: "Building Inspiration: Your Church Property as Mission" Workshop, Parish of the Epiphany, Winchester, 10:30 a.m. Apr 7: Great Paschal Vespers, Sisters of St. Margaret, Duxbury, 4 p.m.
Apr 13: Regional Youth Day, Church of the Holy Spirit, Fall River, 10 a.m. Apr 13: Angelica Center for Spiritual Living 2013 Speakers Series: Barbara Brown Taylor, Church of the Holy Spirit, Orleans, 2 p.m. Apr 14: Lantern Ceremony, Old North Church, Boston, 8 p.m. Apr 17: Contemplative Eucharist, Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington, 7 p.m. Apr 20: Episcopal Church Women Program: Islam 101, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 9 a.m. Apr 20: Parish Historians Society Annual Meeting, St. John's Church, Gloucester, 9:30 a.m. Apr 22-24: Diocesan Clergy Conference, Ocean Edge Resort, Brewster
Apr 25: Diocesan Council, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 6 p.m. Apr 26: Sisters of St. Margaret in Haiti: Prayer, Conversation and Art Tour, Duxbury, 5 p.m. Apr 27: Sisters of St. Margaret in Haiti: Prayer, Conversation and Art Tour, Duxbury, 9 a.m. Apr 27: Climate Revival: Ecumenical Festival for Creation Renewal, Copley Square, Boston, 10 a.m. May 2: Clergy Safe Church Refresher Training, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 8:30 a.m. May 4: Confirmation Service, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 10:30 a.m. May 7: Quiet Day--"Pilgrimage: Journeying with God," Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington, 9 a.m. |
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Bishops invite prayer and participation in Holy Monday public witnesses  Jesus, you spoke with passion. You acted without fear, and we remember. Help us when we have to speak out, to speak the truth and without malice to speak.
(Collect for Holy Monday, New Zealand Book of Common Prayer)
Monday in Holy Week will be a day for making public witness, as the bishops of the Diocese of Massachusetts participate at events devoted to ending gun violence and supporting marriage equality.
Bishop Gayle E. Harris will travel to Washington, D.C., for a March 25 witness against gun violence organized by the Diocese of Connecticut; she invites others to join her, in person and in prayer. The group will walk the Way of the Cross liturgy, making 14 prayer stops, beginning at 10:30 a.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square and ending at the Capitol's west steps. The group will then gather at the Madison Building of the Library of Congress to hear from church and government leaders in support of gun reform legislation. More information, including bus arrangements from three locations in Connecticut, is available here. Saying the "carnage" of gun violence "must stop," the bishops of the Episcopal Church issued this " Word to the Church" from their March 8-12 meeting in North Carolina. It follows a letter on gun violence issued Feb. 28 by the president of the House of Deputies, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, and vice president Byron Rushing of Massachusetts. In Boston, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE will preach at an ecumenical prayer service on March 25, the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court's hearing of marriage equality cases, one on California's Proposition 8 and another on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the latter of which prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex civil marriages in states where it is legal. The service begins at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont Street). All are welcome. Shaw and Harris were among the more than two dozen bishops of the Episcopal Church filing two Supreme Court briefs in February supporting civil marriage equality for same-sex couples. Read more at Episcopal News Service, here. |
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MA pilgrims get firsthand look at ministry and politics in the Holy Land
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The Rev. Thomas Brown of the Parish of the Epiphany, Winchester, who co-led the trip, celebrated the Eucharist on the Mt. of Beatitudes. |
Episcopalians from the Diocese of Massachusetts had both "an enlightening spiritual experience" and a taste of political reality during their Jan. 14-25 trip to Israel and Palestine. The group visited one of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem's hospitals, St. Luke's in Nablus in the West Bank, and toured its neonatal intensive care unit where incubators purchased with the help of donations from the Diocese of Massachusetts are in use. The old incubators they were meant to replace, ones being held together with tape, were still in use, Bishop Gayle E. Harris noted, demonstrating both continuing resourcefulness and need. An emerging area of health care need that the group heard about is for breast cancer awareness and treatment programs for Palestinian women. The Rev. Holly Hartman, a deacon and coordinator of diocesan global mission projects, said it was "a wonderful and complex trip in every way" with "so many unexpected moments of wonder, learning and struggle over the complicated political situation." Israeli parliamentary elections took place during the Massachusetts group's visit. A strong centrist-party showing weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right position and would require the formation of a new coalition government, raising hopes for some that peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine might have a new chance. Harris said the Massachusetts group encountered "some limited optimism" in that direction, but also fear and impatience among the Palestinians they visited and a desire for more unity among Palestinian governing factions. Read more. |
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Together Now mission projects begin as fundraising enters final phase  As the fundraising effort of the diocese's $20-million Together Now campaign enters its final phase--with $19,088,142 raised as of Feb. 25 and $1,086,150 anticipated from parish collaborative campaigns still in progress--the implementation of the campaign's initiatives is beginning to take off. "Like the fundraising aspects of the campaign, much of this implementation is being driven by the faithfulness, skill, expertise and experience of countless volunteers and donors who have been inspired to offer themselves and to join in this work," the Rev. Sam Rodman, Project Manager for Campaign Initiatives, said in the March Campaign Update, where he gives a progress report on the grant programs and mission projects already underway. The newsletter also shares fundraising success stories from Grace Church in Everett and St. John's Church in Gloucester, and it reviews the series of Regional Learning Days that have been helping congregations access and use new leadership, mission and grant resources made possible by the campaign. "We've said since the beginning that this campaign is about all of us, answering God's urgent call and answering it together, not for our own sake but for the sake of the world. It's time now to go deeper with this good work that God has given us to do. Please continue in your prayers, your generous giving and your active participation in our diocese community's efforts to build, grow and serve in Christ's name," Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE said in the newsletter. Read the March Campaign Update here. |
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Talking God in a coffee shop  Bishop Tom Shaw in his latest video strikes up a conversation in a coffee shop with a man calling himself "Lucky" who talks about who God is for him and what he gets out of a local chapel service. Watch the video here. Subscribe to the Monk in the Midst blog here. |
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NewsNotes
 Prayer and committee nominationg process announced for bishop election: The diocese's 12 deaneries are in the process of determining their nominations to the two committees that the Standing Committee will appoint in April to carry out the nomination, election and transition process for a bishop coadjutor to succeed Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE when he retires.
Each deanery is to nominate, by April 6, two lay and two ordained people to a pool from which the Standing Committee will make its selections. The Standing Committee will appoint additional members, as necessary, to insure diverse representation and skills needed to do the work.
The Standing Committee has distributed a prayer, in English and Spanish, for use by all as the process moves forward.
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"Good Samaritan" lauds cathedral's transformation 
Dean Jep Streit honored Friends of the Public Garden president emeritus Henry Lee with a Good Samaritan Award for his championing of Boston's green spaces, presented him with a pottery bowl made by Bishop Tom Shaw. The presentation was part of a March 13 program on architectural transformation at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.
Lee talked about the importance of the Boston Common, the country's oldest public park, as both an oasis and center of activity over the course of its nearly 400-year history. "It is where our civic life is acted out. If you want to know about Boston, just come to the Common and look," he said.
He noted current renewal efforts underway along the northeast corner of the Common that the cathedral church fronts, including the new sculpture under construction for the cathedral's pediment, which Lee said "is absolutely stunning. It's going to be a beautiful accent to our city." Lee said the park and the cathedral church are joined in a common mission of "caring for the spirit of the residents of our city."
The gathering also heard from Sally Zimmerman of Historic New England about what Boston was like at the time the cathedral church was built, and from Ed Zimmer, an expert on the cathedral church's architect, Alexander Parris, about the architectural development and historical importance of the building itself. |
LDI-trained team helps students march for jobs: Using skills learned through the Leadership Development Initiative (LDI), a team from the Life Together young adult intern program in the diocese helped high school students march for jobs at a Feb. 21 rally in Boston organized by the Youth Jobs Coalition. Bishop Gayle E. Harris spoke at the rally, which was covered by the Boston Globe here.
LDI hosts free webinars on leadership practices, with the next ones coming up on April 23 and May 21 (find log-in information here). Churches interested in having an LDI staff person or alum speak after a Sunday service or at a vestry meeting can visit www.diomassleads.org for information or contact program director Duncan Hilton at duncan@diomassleads.org. |
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ParishCircuit
Grace Church, New Bedford opens doors during factory raid commemoration: When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford on March 6, 2007, arresting some 360 illegal immigrant workers there, Grace Church was among the local churches that rallied to assist the families left broken and traumatized by the mass arrests.
At the six-year anniversary of the raid, Grace Church again opened its doors, this time to host a three-day vigil leading up to an ecumenical service on March 9 at the Our Lady of Guadalupe-St. James Roman Catholic Church. There, advocates from New Bedford congregations and community organizations gathered to make a witness for immigration reform and worker justice.
Though stormy weather affected attendance, the Rev. Christopher Morck, Rector of Grace Church, said the events "helped to continue to call attention to an essential human rights issue happening right in our community. The church will continue to need to be involved in this as long as a segment of our population, and our city, are systematically exploited for their labor."
The vigil itself was three days of prayer and fasting; two people fasted for the whole time and others for shorter periods. People came and went, with others who couldn't be present offering prayer from wherever they were. There were also two bilingual evening services. "It was a beautiful thing to come together like that, across distinctions in language, context, culture, denomination," Morck said.
"Not everyone at Grace agreed with our hosting the vigil, but I think that many of us feel that all of this was both a privilege and a blessing for Grace Church," Morck said.
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Mass. Episcopalians join "Forward on Climate" rally:  Retired bishop suffragan Bud Cederholm, Faith and Jason Salter and their children, Owen and Keziah (pictured with Cederholm, left, and an unidentified man) and David Outman from St. Andrew's Church in Ayer were among the estimated 35,000-plus who gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17 for a rally against construction of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Proponents say the pipeline would alleviate U.S. reliance on Middle Eastern oil and create jobs. Opponents say that the carbon-intensive tar sands refinement process accelerates climate change and that the pipeline poses risk to the terrain it traverses without guarantee of domestic use of the oil it would transport.
Cederholm noted the intergenerational nature of the rally: "Lots of young adults and children as well as old folks like me," he said, including a woman carrying a "For My Grandchildren" sign whose motive matched his own. |
Two if by sea:  Dr. Jill Lapore, professor of American history at Harvard and a contributing writer at The New Yorker, will speak at this year's Lantern Ceremony at Old North Church in Boston on Sunday, April 14 at 8 p.m. This unique ceremony is an annual event featuring the USS Color Guard and representatives from local colonial militia, a performance by the First Michigan Fife and Drum Corps, a recitation of Paul Revere's account of his historic ride, a reading of Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride" and the commemorative hanging of two lanterns in the Old North steeple. Find ticket information here. |
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NewsLinks
Episcopal News Service rounded up prayers and proclamations abounding for Pope Francis in this March 14 story.
The Rev. Tim Schenck, Rector of the Parish of St. John the Evangelist in Hingham, took WGBH Radio's Margery Eagan and Jim Braude behind the Lent Madness bracket in this March 13 Boston Public Radio broadcast (the segment begins at about 1:35 into the show). Ugandan Diaspora posted many photos from Bishop Tom Shaw's March 3 visit with the St. Peter's Anglican congregation which worships at Christ Church in Waltham.
The Rev. Noah Evans, Rector of Grace Church in Medford, and the Rev. Cameron Partridge, Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University, spoke in favor of school guidelines regarding transgender students during a Medford City Council meeting, covered in the Globe's Our Town on March 2, here. The March issue of " Vestry Papers" included the Rev. Lori Mills-Curran's essay "Reclaiming Relevance" on how St. Andrew's Church in Framingham has used faith-based community organizing practices to serve a community in the midst of demographic change. |
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E-News
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