Members of the Diocese of Massachusetts will be joining the party in style at the Boston Pride Parade on Saturday, June 13. All are welcome to join Bishop Alan M. Gates and members of The Crossing, the young adult worshiping community of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, for this joyful celebration of equality and inclusivity. 

Episcopalians at Pride 2014

"Pride is a reason to get together and celebrate, to be together as a diocese," said Isaac Everett, liturgist for The Crossing. "It's getting warmer and many program years are winding to a close...I think we're ready for a big fat celebration." 

The Diocese of Massachusetts will have a float in the parade, featuring The Crossing's band. Many participants will be wearing cassocks or clerical garb. There will also be a crucifer (carrying a cross made of cardboard, per parade regulations) and people carrying thuribles of incense.

Incorporating the traditional liturgical garments and items of the church into the parade presence is a very deliberate choice, said Matt Gesicki, a Life Together intern working with The Crossing and the primary organizer of the diocese's Pride Parade presence.

"If we consider it to be an act of faith to march in this parade, why not embody that in the fullest way possible, in terms of what we wear and what we bring with us?" he asked.   "The parade, in our experience, could be considered a [liturgical] procession, so why not make it as much like that as possible?"  

Read more and find out how to participate here. 

The diocese's B-PEACE for Jorge campaign and more than 400 Episcopalians were among the 15,000 people who witnessed for peace in the 19th annual Louis D. Brown Peace Institute's Mother's Day Walk for Peace in Dorchester on Sunday, May 10.  

Tina Chery, the founder of the Peace Institute, stood alongside fellow survivors, including Ursula Ward, member of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan and mother of murder victim Odin Lloyd.  Denise Richard, mother of Martin Richard, who was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing, also spoke. 

Boston's mayor, Marty Walsh, several Boston city councilors and other elected officials were among the civic and faith community participants who walked to show their support, as were Bishop Alan M. Gates and Bishop Gayle E. Harris.  

Sandra Duggan, first-time walk participant from Sudbury, was very moved by the experience. "It was so powerful to listen to and walk with so many mothers who have lost children. It was a new way for me to experience church."

After the walk, the bishops and B-PEACE led an outdoor liturgy with Communion.

Bishop Alan M. Gates and Bishop Gayle E. Harris issued the following statement on May 15 regarding the sentencing of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:

We are grieved at the death sentence rendered today by the jury in the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  Our church's teaching insists that institutionalized violence neither answers nor prevents other forms of violence, and that execution is an unjustified violation of the prohibition against taking a human life--even in a case such as this where the wanton disregard for life displayed by the Marathon bombing is repugnant and morally inexcusable.

In the immediate aftermath of this sentencing decision, when our reactions are, naturally, emotional and visceral ones, words from the prayer attributed to St. Francis may help us in our own prayers and response: 

"Lord, make us instruments of your peace; 
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon; 
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy..."

As a community of faith, let us rededicate ourselves to peace in every context. 

The bishops' earlier statement against the death penalty, issued April 23 with Bishop Douglas J. Fisher of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, is available here.

Bishop Alan M. Gates announced on May 13 that the Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd, who has served as canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Massachusetts since December 2008, will be stepping down in mid-September. 

"Mally's ministry of leadership over these nearly seven years has been one of counsel and connection to so many, through her oversight of operations and staff and through her expertise in numerous areas critical to our shared organizational life, from congregational development to the pastoral, canonical and financial processes of the church at all levels.  Her skills and devotion have been in particular evidence during these past two years of intense transition, including the time of Bishop Shaw's illness and these first months of my episcopate," Gates wrote in a letter announcing the impending transition.  An acting chief of staff is to be named soon.  Read more. 

Kelsey Rice-Bogdan

Kelsey Rice Bogdan, a Life Together Fellow from 2009-2010, returns to the community as the director of operations and external partnerships after more than four years as director of stewardship at Trinity Church in Boston.  In addition to her Life Together and stewardship work, she has served as a coaching coordinator for the Leadership Development Initiative and was one of the founding board members of the Boston Food Justice Young Adult Volunteer program in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Bogdan's commitment to young adult ministry began as an intern with the National Network of Presbyterian College Women in Louisville, Ky.

Rebecca Behizadeh

Life Together has also promoted Rebecca Behizadeh to director of hiring and development. Behizadeh has been working with Life Together for the past two years in fundraising, operations and hiring.  As director of hiring, Behizadeh will recruit, interview and hire each year's cohort of fellows. As director of development, she will manage all levels of fundraising within Life Together, including its annual gala, Love Matters.

Behizadeh has worked in the nonprofit world for the past 10 years, in both program support and development, including a year of service in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest. She is a graduate of Davidson College and received her Master of Divinity degree from Harvard in 2011.  

Boston Globe: Boston religious leaders mark anniversary of Armenian genocide:  Christian leaders from various traditions led a vespers service April 23 at Trinity Church in Boston to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Local Christian leaders gathered at Trinity Church, including  Bishop Gayle Harris (center, holding crosier).   Photo: Leo Gozbekian

The service--whose leaders included Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Armenian church leaders, and whose speakers included representatives of the Jewish and Muslim communities and Governor Charlie Baker--underscored widespread solidarity in Boston with the Armenian community in its long quest to gain recognition of the massacres as a genocide.  Read more.  

Sun Chronicle: The Rev. Elibariki Phillip Kutta "home at last" at Grace Church, North Attleboro : The Rev. Elibariki Phillip Kutta came to Grace Church in North Attleboro through a series of unexpected events that brought him from Tanzania to the Boston area. Kutta became the parish's supply priest last July, and took on the role of priest-in-charge on Jan. 1.  Kutta was born in Springfield, Ohio, to parents who left Tanzania to serve at a Lutheran church. "I grew up having that desire (to be a priest) because my dad was a priest," said Kutta in a recent interview. Read more.

Wicked Local: Grace Church, Medford pipe organ dismantled for restoration: For 130 years, Grace Church in Medford has been honorably served by its 1885 Hook and Hastings pipe organ.  In April, for the first time since its installation, the organ was completely dismantled, piece by piece, and sent to David E. Wallace and Co. organ builders in Gorham, Maine, for a complete restoration.

"In 1875, the parish proudly chose a premier company to design and build an instrument for the accoustics of this sanctuary," said Allison Andrews, Grace Church parish historian. Read more.  

The Daily Item: St. Stephen's, Lynn, focuses on jobs, not jail: 

"That's a huge group," he said, "not just those close to us. You and I are familiar with the people in our community, but we must also include the wounded and unwounded as well as the included and the outcast. We must seek Christ in all persons." Read more.