Your regular eNews editor Joshua Bruner is on pilgrimage in Rome, then Canterbury, with his Berkeley Divinity School class. He returns March 27.
|
New staff at The Commons
Administrator for Transitions & Clergy Support
Amber Page Gehr started work March 1 for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut as Administrator for Transitions & Clergy Support, at The Commons in Meriden. She'll be working with the Rev. Lee Ann Tolzmann, Canon for Mission Leadership, and for the office of the episcopate. Amber has a B.A. from Central Connecticut State University in political science, with a concentration in public administration. For the past five years she has been a Political Compliance and Development Consultant. Prior to that she was employed by the Democratic Party in several capacities, including as Finance and Compliance Director for Connecticut Democrats. She also has experience in development, having served as Director of Development for the Boys & Girls Club and Family Center of Bristol, CT and as Senior Campaign Manager for the Leukemia & Lympohoma Society. She is an active member of St. Paul's in Southington. Amber and her husband Craig have a two-year-old, Zachary. Amber's outside interests include continued involvement in politics because, in her words, "I'm trying to save the world." She's also interested in road tripping, books, and live music.
|
Faithful futures
New ECCT missional experiment to foster collaborative conversations among parishes and worshiping communities
Seeking ways of responding to parishes in ways that are proactive and missional, the bishops and canons of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut have launched a missional experiment titled, "Faithful Futures."
The idea is to gather parishes together that are facing similar challenges and/or opportunities, and provide a collegial learning space to meet, share conversation and wisdom, collaborate, and receive hands-on tools and ideas about next steps.
Meetings will be held monthly at The Commons, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., on a rotating schedule of topics, including:
- Effective use of resources (especially buildings)
- Capacity-building around financial challenges and management
- Resourcing leaders in parishes in transition to help them think more missionally and multi-culturally
The initial "Faithful Futures" gathering is scheduled for March 22 and will focus on resourcing leaders of parishes in transition. Participation in the sessions is by invitation and limited. Parishes are welcome to email the Rev. Tim Hodapp, Canon for Mission Collaboration, if they would like to be considered for any of the sessions.
|
Brief announcements and reminders
 PARISH NURSES:
Saturday, April 16, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. a the Griffin Hospital Dining Room, "Aging with Grace," and informational workshop for parish nurses and more. Topics include caregiving, resources, elder abuse, more. Contact Ginny Wagenseller, parish nurse at Christ & Holy Trinity, Westport and Province I rep to Episcopal Health Ministries.
IN THE NEWS: ST. MATTHEW'S, WILTON
St. Matthew's (in partnership with Wilton Interfaith Action Committee) is helping to settle a sponsored Syrian refugee family. The Hour newspaper ran an article about it. An excerpt:
"Syrian refugee family resettles in Wilton
WILTON - The Wilton Interfaith Action Committee decided in December to renew its commitment to refugee settlement work, and that effort resulted in last week's decision to accept a Syrian refugee family to the area. A 33-year-old widow and her five children - aged 12, 11, 9, 5 and 2 - arrived at JFK International Airport on Thursday, March 10 ... " Continue reading here.
AT CAMP WASHINGTON: Cl ergy Sabbath Day with Renewal of Vows, March 22; Spirituality for Leadership Retreat with the Most Rev. Frank Griswold, April 15; Middle School Retreat, April 22-24.Second Sundays, guest preacher, conversation, and dinner, on the second Sunday of each month. Summer camp info is already up. And LOOK! Camp Washington has a new website!! With a new tagline, "Faith. Reflection. Education."
|
Keeping up with the Bishops #hobspring16
Daily reports from their spring retreat - ECCT's bishops are there
The bishops of The Episcopal Church generally meet as a "House of Bishops" (HOB) twice a year, spring and fall, in addition to meeting every three years at the General Convention. This spring they're meeting March 11-15 in Texas. You can follow the HOB on twitter, #hobspring16, or read daily reports from the Office of Public Affairs of The Episcopal Church, or, this year, watch videos posted on Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Facebook page. Both ECCT bishops are at the retreat.
|
Positions Open
- St. Peter's, Cheshire is seeking a part-time communications coordinator, and a part time parish office administrator.
- St. Stephen's, Ridgefield is seeking a full time associate rector for youth and family ministry.
- St. Andrew's, Milford (Devon) is seeking a part-time associate for parish communications.
- St. Mark's, New Canaan is seeking a pat-time director of children's ministries, and a full-time associate for digital and family ministry.
- St. Ann's, Old Lyme is seeking a half-time organist and choir director.
- Saint Luke's, Darien, is seeking a full- or part-time associate rector.
To submit a job opening to be included here, please fill out this form. Jobs will be reviewed and then posted in the weekly enews and posted on the website.
|
Region Convocations 
Locations and details are TBD by the T3 transition team (TREC-CT 3.0) working with people within each region, and will be included here when set. A map of Regions is here.
Region Convocation Date
Northeast April 22-23
South Central May 6-7
Southwest May 13-14
Southeast May 20-21
North Central June 10-11
Northwest June 24-25
A Convocation for Ministry Networks is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening May 30, more information to come soon.
|
Coming up soon
REGIONAL & DIOCESAN OFFERINGS, MARCH
The ECCT calendar is located here. It allows you to filter events by category and includes a subscribe link at the bottom of the page. Events at The Commons in Meriden unless otherwise noted.
- March 16, COM Meeting, 5:30 p.m., The Commons
- March 17, HolyLanders Meeting, 10 a.m. The Commons
- March 17, Retired Clergy Steering Network, noon, The Commons
- March 17, Higher Education Network, 1:30 p.m., The Commons
- March 19, Faith Behind Bars and Beyond Annual Forum, Hamden, details here
- March 22, Renewal of Vows, Camp Washington
BISHOPS' SCHEDULE, MARCH
- Both bishops are at the House of Bishops Spring Retreat March 9-16
- March 20 - Bishop Ahrens - St. Paul's, Southington
- March 24 - Bishop Douglas, Maundy Thursday on New Haven Green
- March 25, Good Friday, Bishop Douglas, St. Paul & St. James, New Haven; Bishop Ahrens, Old St. Andrew's, Bloomfield
- March 26, Easter Eve, Bishop Douglas Easter Vigil and Confirmations, Cathedral; Bishop Ahrens, Easter Vigil and Confirmations, St. Paul's, Fairfield
- March 27 (Easter) Bishop Ahrens, Regional confirmations, Cathedral
complete list of events is available on the website, for your consideration.
Please review event details on this calendar, or the individual parish/worshiping community, for more specific locations and times. Please reach out to the specific parish for event updates and further details.
March 16, Mid-day Music, St. Paul's, Norwalk
March 17, Lenten Compline, St. James', Glastonbury
March 18, St. Patrick's Corned Beef Dinner, Grace, Stafford Springs
March 18, Lenten/Easter Study Group, Christ Church Quaker Farms, Oxford
March 19, Polish Dinner, St. Peter's, Hebron
2016 SPRING CLERICUS MEETINGS
Clergy are invited to attend whichever of these meetings that best fits their schedule and location. Each line provides a link to the respective Eventbrite page. From there, you can find more details and register for the event. Each event is scheduled from 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., and you are invited to bring your own lunch.
SAFE CHURCH RECERTIFICATION FOR CLERGY IN 2016 (Link here)
SAFE CHURCH TRAINING FOR LAITY
- Apr. 16, 2016, 9 a.m., Trinity, Collinsville
- Apr. 30, 2016, 9 a.m., St. Peter's, Cheshire
- May 7, 2016, 9 a.m., St. John's, Vernon
- May 14, 2016, 9 a.m, St. Paul's, Brookfield
- June 4, 2016, 9 a.m., Christ Church, East Norwalk
- June 25, 2016, 9 a.m , St. John's, Niantic
Safe Church Recertification - for Laity
- April 9, 2016, 9 a.m. St. Mark's, New Canaan
- April 12, 2016, 6:30 p.m., Trinity, Tariffville
- May 21, 2016, 9 a.m., St. Paul's, Shelton
REGIONAL CONFIRMATIONS
- Saturday, March 27, Easter Vigil at Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford at 7:30pm (Bishop Douglas) (currently participating Christ Church Cathedral; St John's North Haven 3C, 2R)
- Saturday, March 27, Easter Vigil at St. Paul's, Fairfield 8pm (Bishop Ahrens) (currently participating St. Paul's, Southport; Trinity Southport; St. Timothy's, Fairfield; Trinity/St. Michael's, Fairfield)
- Tuesday, May 3 Bishops and Confirmands Dinner at The Commons Register here
- Thursday May 5, at St. John's Vernon at 7pm (Bishop Ahrens)
- Saturday, May 7, at St. Luke's, Darien at 10am (Bishop Douglas) (currently participating St. Luke's 40C; Christ Church Redding)
- Saturday, May 14, at Christ Church, Greenwich at 10am (Bishop Ahrens) (currently participating Christ Church Greenwich; St. Paul's Norwalk 12C)
- Saturday, June 4, 2016 at St. John's, Essex at 10am (Retired Bishop Folts of West Texas) (currently participating: St. John's Essex; Christ Church Guilford 9C)
- Saturday, June 11, 2016 at St. Michael's, Litchfield at 10am (Bishop Ahrens)
|
|
|
|
|
