Share the welcome with your friends, neighbors and communities by making our diocesan community's welcome video available via your social media networks and Web sites! 

The diocesan mission strategy listening team will issue its initial report in early April and invites the diocesan community's response.

Four open forums have been scheduled in April at locations around the diocese, at which the team will present its initial findings and invite further conversation. Online and phone response options will also be available during the two-week response period, April 10-23.

Find the schedule and more information at
www.diomass.org/new-mission-strategy.

"As many of you know, our diocese is in the process of creating a new mission strategy. We on the listening team are very excited to see the number and diversity of people who were able to engage during January and February in the listening process that will inform the crafting of our diocese's plan for the future," the listening team said in a March 11 letter to clergy and diocesan and parish leaders. 

Read more. 

Global mission is a decades-long tradition for many churches in the Diocese of Massachusetts, and grants funded by the diocesan Together Now campaign have helped to strengthen and promote this work in recent years. This year, for the first time in recent memory, there will be an opportunity for churches and individuals engaged in global mission to gather together to share what they have learned, and to imagine what global mission can look like in the future. The Global Mission Summit, being held on Saturday, April 9, at St. Peter's Church in Weston, is open to anyone interested in global mission, whether they have a longstanding mission relationship, or are just considering starting one.

"I hope that this day is going to be God's day," said Laura Walta, Project Director for Global Mission. "This is not my summit. I felt called to bring these people together and expose them to each other, but my job has been to create a space for that kind of community."

The day's programming will be led largely by members of the diocese who have done global mission work, and will share what they have learned, what they might have done differently and what they hope for the future. "It's from each other that you're going to learn the most," Walta said. "Every participant is a potential partner or resource." 

The pledge walk is a fundraiser of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, which provides peacemaking education to students of all ages and restorative justice opportunities and support for honoring victims of violence and empowering survivors. The diocesan B-PEACE for Jorge team's organizers hope this year to have 400 walkers and raise at least $2,000 for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.

This year's walk route is still being determined, but will likely step off, as usual, from Town Field Park in Dorchester. Given potential route changes, the logistics for the diocesan team's participation are still being worked out. Meanwhile, walkers can get ready by signing up, seeking pledges and spreading the word.

Register to join the diocesan B-PEACE team here (choose "B-PEACE for Jorge" from the dropdown menu next to the words "Credit this event registration to this team or individual"). 

 
Pledge to support the B-PEACE team here (choose "B-PEACE for Jorge" from the dropdown menu next to the words "Credit this donation to this social fundraiser").

This will be the fourth year that Episcopalians have rallied as a team to walk as a witness for peace and show support for victims, survivors and all who are affected by violence.

Do Not Stand Idly By gun safety campaign update: An interfaith group of about 110 people concerned about gun violence and looking for ways to curb it gathered with Bishop Alan M. Gates at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in late January to learn more about the Do Not Stand Idly By gun safety campaign. The gathering brought parish representatives and participants of the diocese's B-PEACE antiviolence campaign together with organizers and other members of groups affiliated with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO).

Do Not Stand Idly By is a national campaign of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation (of which GBIO is an affiliate). It aims to leverage public-sector gun purchasing power to encourage gun manufacturers to insist on responsible sales practices and to invest in potentially safer "smart gun" technology.

Parishes in Boston and beyond were represented at the January orientation, including St. Mary's Church, Dorchester; Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin, Roxbury; Emmanuel Church, St. Stephen's Church and Trinity Church in Boston; St. John's Church, Beverly Farms; All Saints Parish and St. Paul's Church in Brookline; St. James's Church, Cambridge; St. Luke's Church, Hudson; St. Stephen's Church, Lynn; St. Paul's Church, Newburyport; St. Elizabeth's Church, Sudbury; and the Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

A smaller group of those ready to work together on next steps regathered on March 13 to get practical training and make commitments for meetings with public officials, according to the Rev. Liz Steinhauser, the lead organizer for B-PEACE. "One goal is to increase the number of signatories to the campaign, meaning local mayors and police chiefs," Steinhauser said. Since January, she said, Boston's police commissioner, Bill Evans, has signed on to the Do Not Stand Idly By request for information from gun manufacturers, she said.

Part of the ongoing conversation, she said, is about finding ways to increase the campaign's reach. She noted the participation of bishops from both Massachusetts dioceses in the national Bishops Against Gun Violence organization. "I would ask that we continue to keep all of these efforts in our prayers as we work to make gun safety advocacy a truly statewide effort," Steinhauser said.

Anyone interested in learning more about the campaign is invited to e-mail bpeace@ststephensbos.org for more information.

Winter Camp 2016:  The third year of Winter Camp ran during February school vacation (Feb. 15 - 20), with 30 campers in 7th - 11th grades. The director of youth ministry on the diocesan staff, the Rev. H. Mark Smith, led the faith formation program whose theme was "Fire and Ice." Activities included sledding, skiing at Crotched Mountain, hiking through the snowy trails, climbing on the high ropes course, knitting, yoga, making pizza with camp chefs, swimming at Crotched Mountain Rehab's indoor pool, playing human Hungry Hungry Hippos, having a lip sync battle, a talent show and a movie night. 

Summer Camp registration now open: Registration opened on Feb. 1, and camp director Alessia Doss reports that as of March 1 the camp has double the number of registrations over last year at that date. "We are anticipating a large increase in camper numbers as lots of new campers will be joining us this summer. We encourage all parents to register online as soon as possible, as we want all families to have their first choice in sessions," Doss wrote in an email. "So far we have hired 42 staff members which include 11 new staff members from Scotland and England. Summer is just a short four months away and we are busy gearing up for another incredible season!"  

Good Friday Offering: "Our journey as Episcopalians also includes remembering our sister and brother Christians in the Holy Land who maintain the faith which we hold so dear," Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry said in the annual letter encouraging assistance for the church in Jerusalem and the Middle East through the Good Friday Offering. "This tradition is decades old and is an important statement of our solidarity with the members of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. We have a Gospel imperative to be sure they know they are not forgotten behind the headlines or because of the distractions of our own lives," Curry said. Learn more about the Good Friday Offering here.

Successful challenge supports refugee resettlement: Thanks to the generosity of the hundreds who contributed to a United Thank Offering challenge during Advent, nearly $90,000 will be dedicated to the work of welcoming refugees coming to the United States, according to a release from the Episcopal Church's Office for Public Affairs. In December, the United Thank Offering issued a matching challenge of $30,000 to assist Episcopal Migration Ministries. Donations totaled $59,054.20. As a result, $89,054.20 will support the efforts of the Episcopal Church's refugee resettlement program. Learn more here. 

Church leaders call for collective prayer and action toward racial reconciliation: The leaders of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops and House of Deputies issued a March 12 letter inviting all Episcopalians to join them in the ministry of racial justice and reconciliation, as called for last summer by General Convention. "The pain of racial injustice and division has wracked our church and the many communities where we both proclaim and embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ," they wrote. "Our collective prayer and action can begin to heal what is broken and nurture the beloved community that is God's dream for all." The letter is available in English and Spanish here.

Work to determine the shape, scope and structure of the Episcopal Church's pledge to address racism, practice reconciliation and become a church of evangelists has begun, with the church's Executive Council putting some pieces into place at its Feb. 26-28 meeting, according to Episcopal News Service's report.

The General Convention in July adopted a 2016-2018 triennial budget that included $3 million for starting new congregations with an emphasis on assisting populations, including Hispanic communities, $2.8 million for evangelism work and a major new $2-million initiative on racial justice and reconciliation.

ACC-2016 to meet in Zambia: Anglican bishops, priests and lay people from across the world will gather in Lusaka, Zambia, for the April 8-19 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC). The participants are to discuss a range of issues around the theme "Intentional discipleship in a world of difference," including environmental concerns, ecumenical relationships and a report on the primates' January meeting--a result of which was the primates' call for a temporary restriction of the Episcopal Church's participation in certain decision-making bodies as a consequence for the Episcopal Church's General Convention votes in 2015 to make its marriage canon gender neutral and to approve marriage rites for use by all couples. The Episcopal Church's representatives at the ACC meeting are Bishop Ian Douglas of the Diocese of Connecticut, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, and Rosalie Ballentine of the Diocese of the Virgin Islands. Read more here.

New York Times: Heroin epidemic increasingly in public view: With heroin cheap and widely available on city streets throughout the country, users are making their buys and shooting up as soon as they can, often in public places. Police officers are routinely finding drug users--unconscious or dead--in cars, in the bathrooms of fast-food restaurants, on mass transit and in parks, hospitals and libraries.  After several drug overdose situations caused Christ Church in Cambridge to close its bathrooms to the public, members joined other community activists in a successful campaign to secure a public toilet kiosk in Harvard Square. Read more.

WCVB Chronicle: Making chocolate the old-fashioned way at Old North: Old North Church and its Captain Jackson Chocolate Shop is featured in this "Chronicle" segment on the history of chocolate. Watch here. 

 Read more.