The words sabbatical and sabbath share the same root: a time to rest and re-create, a time to study and grow, a time set apart from everyday roles and responsibilities in order to be with God. Most clergy in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut serving in full time ministry, including your bishops, are blessed with the privilege of going on a three month sabbatical after five years of continuous service. Last April marked my sixth anniversary as your Bishop Diocesan. I would have taken my sabbatical last summer except that the General Convention precluded my time away. As a result I will be taking my sabbatical this summer from July 1 through September 30, 2016. I am writing to share my sabbatical plans with you and to outline episcopal care and authority for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut while I am away.
The common unifying theme of my sabbatical is: "Activities that will be life-giving and fun."
In mid-July I will participate in the study course: "Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management" at Harvard Business School. In this course I hope to learn up-to-date management theory and practice as well as build a network of relationship with colleague CEO's in other non-profit organizations.
In July and August, I will also be a Fellow at The Criterion Institute, a think-tank located in Haddam, CT dedicated to understanding how economic decisions intersect with matters of gender, and how the Church is an economic entity. (see www.criterioninstitute.org) At Criterion I will focus on how we as the Episcopal Church in Connecticut can more effectively use our economic resources to advance God's mission of reconciliation and restoration in new ways. In addition, I have been asked to be a Visiting Professor at Yale/Berkeley Divinity School for the fall 2016 semester teaching a course on the history, polity and canon law of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. As I have not been in a seminary classroom since becoming your bishop, I plan to spend part of my sabbatical bringing my syllabus and reading in the field up-to date.
Finally, while I have been blessed to travel extensively across the Anglican Communion, I have not yet been on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. From September 15 to 27 I will travel to the Holy Land with Ms. Anne Lynn, President of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (www.afedj.org) located in Darien, and with Rev. Canon Nicholas T. Porter, Executive Director of Jerusalem Peacebuilders (www.jerusalempeacebuilders.org). It will be a pleasure to travel with these two dear colleagues from the Episcopal Church in Connecticut who have dedicated their lives and ministry to fostering peace and reconciliation in that blessed and troubled land.
My sabbatical will not only be study and travel as I will also spend significant time in recreational activities and with my family. On Tuesday and Thursday nights I hope to sail in the community racing series in Essex where Kristin and I live. In addition to my regular crossfit fitness regime (www.shorlinecrossfit.com), I have engaged a personal coach to help me improve my Olympic-style weight lifting technique. And in mid-September, Kristin's and my son and daughter-in-law-to-be will celebrate their wedding. It will be a joy spending time with them and our extending family as we celebrate the joy of their marriage.
In order to live fully into my sabbath time, I will not be responding to email, phone calls, or correspondence related to the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, nor will I participate in any meetings or visitations, or be present at The Commons during my sabbatical.
While I am away, the Episcopal Church in Connecticut will be in the most able and caring hands of the Rt. Rev. Laura, J. Ahrens, Suffragan Bishop. Article III, Section 1 of the "Constitution of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut" stipulates that in the absence of the Bishop Diocesan, the Bishop Suffragan shall be the Ecclesiastical Authority. Bishop Laura will thus be the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut from June 1 through September 30, 2016. As such she will have full responsibility and authority for the exercise of the office of the episcopate including Title IV Clergy Discipline matters. Bishop Laura has plans to be on vacation from August 11-19, during which the Rt. Rev. Gordon Scruton, retired Bishop of Western Massachusetts who lives in Connecticut, will be available for consultation on Title IV matters and in emergencies.
The last six years of ministry with you in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut have been some of the most wonderful and blessed years of my life. I thank God everyday for our companionship as disciples of Jesus Christ and apostles of God's mission through the power of the Holy Spirit. I am tremendously excited about how we are participating in the mission of God in new ways in our neighborhoods, across Connecticut, and beyond. I thus depart for sabbatical filled with enthusiasm and energy for what God is up to in our midst.
In closing I want to express my profound gratitude to all of you for making my sabbatical possible. Thank you. Thank you.
"Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever." (Ephesians 3:20,21)
Faithfully,
Ian
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Ph.D.
Bishop Diocesan
