One small KY church has survived through pandemics, many crises and today

From Kentucky-

Because of COVID-19, schools and universities are empty. Businesses and restaurants are shuttered. Hospitals face shortages. Churches have closed.

When looking at our history, the story of one Kentucky church reveals that institutions can thrive after enduring tragedy and illnesses. It also reminds us that historic buildings can teach important lessons.

Built in 1830, Trinity Episcopal Church stands on Main Street in downtown Danville. Located across from the county courthouse, its sharp steeple and bright red door make it a visible community landmark.

Calamity soon struck the congregation. In 1833, cholera swept across the commonwealth, killing hundreds. Few communities were immune. Lexington, for example, lost more than 500 people. Smaller towns, including Maysville, Somerset, Paris and more, also suffered.

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article242601111.html#storylink=cpy

More here-

https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article242601111.html

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article242601111.html#storylink=cpy

Diocese of Lexington elects Bishop Mark Van Koevering as bishop diocesan

From ENS-

On Nov. 1, at the Special Convention for the Diocese of Lexington held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Winchester, Kentucky, the first order of business was the election of the eighth bishop of Lexington.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Van Koevering was duly elected and was greeted joyously by the convention. Van Koevering has been serving as the bishop provisional since being appointed by the diocesan convention in February 2018. As such, he continues as the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese, but now also is bishop diocesan-elect.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/11/14/diocese-of-lexington-elects-bishop-mark-van-koevering-as-bishop-diocesan/

He led churches in Africa and West Virginia. Now he’ll lead Lexington’s Episcopal diocese.

From Lexington-

The Episcopal Diocese of Lexington has a new spiritual leader.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Van Koevering was affirmed “bishop provisional” for the diocese at its annual convention Saturday at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Winchester. A bishop provisional serves when a diocese is without a permanent bishop.

Van Koevering, who replaces the Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell, took over leadership after the close of the convention and will be living here by early April.

The goal for the Lexington diocese was to select a bishop provisional who would “serve two to three years with the intent of creating a process that may lead to her or his election as our Bishop Diocesan,” according to information about the process that was posted on the diocese’s website Jan. 30.

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 http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article202023514.html#storylink=cpy

Lexington to Seek 8th Bishop

From The Living Church-

The standing committee of the Diocese of Lexington has announced via email that it is ready to seek the diocese’s eighth bishop.

The Rt. Rev. Douglas Hahn, the seventh bishop of the diocese, resigned in March, in an agreement he reached with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Curry had previously placed Hahn on a one-year suspension for failing to disclose an instance of adultery earlier in his vocation.

The Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell, former Bishop of Wyoming, is serving as Lexington’s bishop provisional.

Announcing their next step in a letter dated July 26, the six members of the committee write:

The standing committee of the Diocese of Lexington has announced via email that it is ready to seek the diocese’s eighth bishop.

We trust and hope that this letter finds you doing well during a season of the year when schedules and vacations provide a more relaxed and slower pace. Know that you have been kept in prayer during this time and that the Standing Committee has continued to desire your prayers.

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/2017/07/26/lexington-to-seek-8th-bishop/

Episcopal Diocese of Lexington wants a new bishop

From Lexington-

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington says it wants a new bishop.

The current bishop, the Very Rev. Douglas Hahn, has been suspended since March, after it was discovered that he had had a previous affair with a parishioner which he did not disclose during his interview process in Lexington.

The six-member standing committee said that in a unanimous vote Oct. 5, the committee agreed that “it desires the dissolution of the pastoral relationship between Bishop Hahn and the Diocese of Lexington,” according to a letter to parishioners.

Hahn, however, “has not accepted our decision; therefore, we are not in agreement,” the letter stated. The presiding bishop of the church has been notified of the situation as called for by church laws, according to the letter.

Read more here:

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article108517647.html#storylink=cpy

Bruce Caldwell to be provisional bishop of Lexington

From ENS-

The Rt. Rev. Bruce Caldwell will serve the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington as its provisional bishop following affirmation from the clergy and laity attending a Special Convention on May 14 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Winchester, Kentucky.

Caldwell served the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming as bishop for 13 years, ending his tenure in 2010. Since then, Caldwell has served as the interim spiritual leader of St. Mark’s Cathedral, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. He currently lives in Minneapolis with his family.

Since March 9, the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington has been under the ecclesiastical authority of the Standing Committee, an elected body of clergy and lay leaders, following the suspension of Doug Hahn as the bishop of Lexington. Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry, working through the canonical disciplinary and pastoral processes of the church, took this action after learning that Hahn had a sexual relationship with an adult female parishioner and intentionally withheld this information when seeking the position of bishop.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/05/20/bruce-caldwell-to-be-provisional-bishop-of-lexington/

Presiding bishop of Episcopal Church preaching in Lexington Sunday

From Lexington-

The Most Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, will preach at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington on Sunday, as Christ Church celebrates its 220th anniversary.

“It’s going to be a great day of celebration,” said the Very Rev. Carol Wade, dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral.

Curry will preach at the 8:45 and 11 a.m. services. A brunch will be served between services, and a reception will follow the second service.

In a written statement, Curry said, “I am looking forward to meeting and greeting and praying with the people in the Diocese of Lexington during their convention on Saturday and at the cathedral on Sunday. This weekend will mark my first visit to the Diocese of Lexington as Presiding Bishop, but not my first visit with the good people there. So it is great to return.”
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http://www.kentucky.com/living/article77357862.html#storylink=cpy

Lexington’s Episcopal bishop, Douglas Hahn, suspended for a year

From Lexington-

Douglas Hahn has been suspended from his position as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington for a year.

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of the national Episcopal Church, imposed the suspension effective March 9, after Hahn admitted that he had had a sexual relationship with an adult female parishioner, and that he “intentionally withheld” that information while seeking to become Lexington’s bishop, according to a news release from the diocese.

Hahn said in a letter dated March 14 that he was sorry for the hurt his behavior had caused and that the suspension was part of an agreement reached between himself and Curry.

“We have agreed that this should be a time of repentance, retreat and reflection. It will be a time of healing of hurts. I will spend this time doing whatever is possible to make this right with the Church,” Hahn wrote, adding later that “We agree that this will allow me to return to my ministry as a stronger, healthier Bishop.”

Hahn said the diocese would not be asked to support him financially during the suspension.
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http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article70969547.html#storylink=cpy

From Paris, a call for us to be beacon

From Lexington-

By last Sunday, a letter from Paris was read in our Lexington church and the focus of a sermon that made much more sense to me than the political pandering of some 30 or more American governors who say they will resist the resettlement of Syrian nationals in our county.

The letter, addressed to U.S. Episcopalians from a woman priest with many friends in Kentucky, asked for prayers for victims of the horrific slaughter in Paris and for the terrorists “whose anger, fear and hatred lead them to commit such acts.”

The writer was Lucinda Laird, dean of the American Cathedral in Paris, the famed mother church of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.

Laird became the dean after 15 years as rector of St. Matthews Episcopal Church in Louisville. In Kentucky, she served on the board of Berea College and was the priest for my Louisville family and for the late Phillip Ardery, the war hero who led 200 pilots in the skies over Normandy in D-Day in 1944.

Read more here:

http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article45677007.html#storylink=cpy

Churches work together on downtown Habitat house

From Lexington-

Alimata Kumbakisaka decided to make Lexington her home in 2010, and construction has begun to make it official.

Members from seven downtown churches have collaborated to sponsor a home for Kumbakisaka and her family through Lexington's Habitat for Humanity. The build began July 10.

This is the first time seven downtown churches have sponsored a Habitat build of a house downtown, explained Dana Stefaniak, Lexington Habitat for Humanity resource development director.

"Since the churches worship downtown it seemed like a neat opportunity to do a service project there, too," she said, adding that all the churches have committed financial aid and labor for the building of the house. The Kumbakisaka home is on Second Street.

Read more here:

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/07/26/2734474/downtown-churches-work-together.html#storylink=cpy

Artist uses church bells, Nirvana song to bring awareness about suicide

From Lexington KY-

The bells at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church have been ringing notes of a song every afternoon this week that may not be familiar to many churchgoers.

Steven Sewell, a local artist and University of Kentucky professor in the School of Art and Visual Studies, has been playing the last line of the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit, in remembrance of Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the group who committed suicide on April 5, 1994.

The tribute is part of offSITE, a series of mini art installations around Lexington, and is Sewell's effort to raise awareness of suicide.

"So often when we encounter art we do so individually, but hopefully good art creates a desire for conversation," said Brian Cole, rector at Good Shepherd.

Cole hopes that conversations will begin, especially for some Christians who consider suicide the "unpardonable sin."

Read more here:

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/07/10/2710526/artist-uses-church-bells-to-bring.html#storylink=cpy