First Woman To Lead The Episcopal Diocese Of Alabama

From Alabama-

The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama will consecrate a new bishop on Saturday, and for the first time that bishop is a woman. Rev. Glenda Curry will serve beside the current bishop until becoming the sole leader of the diocese in January. In an interview with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager, Curry said it’s an important step for women in the church.

Using her experience as the first woman president of an Alabama four-year university:

I have the experience of being the first woman in a room that’s usually occupied by men. I imagine [there will be] some of the same challenges, but at the same time it’s been a number of years, so I think our culture has become more accepting of women in leadership roles. I’m looking forward to it and I’m not anxious.

More here-

https://wbhm.org/feature/2020/first-woman-to-lead-the-episcopal-diocese-of-alabama/

Homewood rector to become 1st female bishop in Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

From Alabama-

The Rev. Glenda Curry didn’t set out to pursue becoming the first female bishop-elect for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama — but through the years, people persistently told her to think about it.

At first she dismissed these comments, she said. Then, out of the blue, she decided to pursue it.

She had already hit a “first female” mile-stone earlier in her life when she became the first female in Alabama history to lead a four-year university. She was president of Troy University in Montgomery for more than eight years. She then became a rector leading one of the larger parishes in the diocese — there are about 1,800 people at All Saints Episcopal Church in Homewood, she said.

“I had a lot of administrative experience and had led a big parish,” she said. “I think that’s what motivated a lot of people to say, ‘Hey, you’d be a natural at this.’”

She prayed about it, she said, and decided to let the church nominate her. She would just see how it goes, she said — she would need a majority vote from both the clergy and lay delegates to be elected.
When she received the majority vote, she said she was shocked and humbled.

More here-

https://www.villagelivingonline.com/people/metro-roundup-homewood-rector-to-become-1st-female-bishop/

Embracing her call to lead: Homewood rector to become 1st female bishop in Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

From Alabama-

The Rev. Glenda Curry didn’t set out to pursue becoming the first female bishop-elect for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama — but through the years, people persistently told her to think about it.

At first she dismissed these comments, she said. Then, out of the blue, she decided to pursue it.

She had already hit a “first female” mile-stone earlier in her life when she became the first female in Alabama history to lead a four-year university. She was president of Troy University in Montgomery for more than eight years. She then became a rector leading one of the larger parishes in the diocese — there are about 1,800 people at All Saints Episcopal Church in Homewood, she said.

“I had a lot of administrative experience and had led a big parish,” she said. “I think that’s what motivated a lot of people to say, ‘Hey, you’d be a natural at this.’”

She prayed about it, she said, and decided to let the church nominate her. She would just see how it goes, she said — she would need a majority vote from both the clergy and lay delegates to be elected.

More here-

https://thehomewoodstar.com/peopleplaces/homewood-rector-to-become-1st-female-bishop-in-episcopal-diocese-of-alabama/

Episcopal bishop extends suspension of in-person group worship through May 17

From Alabama-

The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama has extended its suspension of in-person group worship services through Sunday, May 17.

Bishop Kee Sloan made the announcement today in a letter to Episcopalians.

Sloan said that date may need to be extended again. “I also recognize that civil authorities may be setting an earlier date, and that other churches of other denominations may reopen sooner than we do,” Sloan said. “I would rather we be too cautious than not cautious enough.”

On Tuesday, Bishop Robert J. Baker, pastoral administrator for the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, extended the ban on public gatherings for Mass at least through Thursday, April 30. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of the Archdiocese of Mobile said on Tuesday that although his current suspension of group worship extends through April 18, that’s now viewed as indefinite. He did not give a possible date for return. “Although the suspension of public Masses had been extended through this week, it must again be extended indefinitely," Rodi said. "Let us pray that public Masses will resume soon. This will depend upon medical advice and civil authorities.”

More here-

https://www.al.com/coronavirus/2020/04/episcopal-bishop-extends-suspension-of-in-person-worship-through-may-17.html

Episcopal bishop extends service suspension

From Alabama-

Retiring Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama Kee Sloan announced on Tuesday that face-to-face services at all Episcopal parishes and worshiping communities within the state will extend the suspension of services through the month of April.

“Obviously, and regrettably, this includes our normal schedules for Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter. It is inconceivable to me that we would be able to come back together in person by then,” Sloan said in a statement on the diocese’s website.

The announcement comes on the heels of the recent increased number of reported COVID-19 cases within the state. As of Tuesday morning, 215 cases have been reported.

More here-

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/news/20200324/episcopal-bishop-extends-service-suspension

ALABAMA CHURCHES ALTERING WORSHIP PLANS AMID VIRUS OUTBREAK

From Alabama-

Some Alabama churches are canceling services and moving worship online after confirmation of the first case of the new coronavirus in the state.

The Episcopal bishop for Alabama has told all the denomination’s churches to cancel their usual services, meetings and even postpone funerals for the rest of March.

The church has about 32,000 members and nearly 90 parishes in the state.

Several large Baptist and Methodist churches also canceled in-person services and plan to livestream worship online beginning Sunday.

The state health department is advising organizations to cancel any gatherings of 500 people or more.

More here-

https://wvua23.com/alabama-churches-altering-worship-plans-amid-virus-outbreak/

Rector 'delighted' to stay: Evan Garner looks forward to serving St. Paul's

From Arkansas-

Evan Garner didn't get the job -- and, he says, he is "more than OK with it. I am delighted."

The Rev. Glenda Curry, rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Homewood and former president of Troy University in Montgomery, was recently elected to succeed the current bishop of Alabama, who is retiring. But Garner, who is rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, was on the short list of nominees for the position. Having just moved to Fayetteville when the Rev. Lowell Grisham retired, he wasn't ready to move on.

"When they asked me why I wanted the job, I told them plainly that I didn't," he says of the interview process in Alabama. "I didn't want to be a bishop, and I didn't want to give up the fruitful ministry that I enjoyed here.

More here-

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/feb/01/rector-delighted-to-stay-evan-garner-lo/?features-religion

First woman bishop elected for Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

From Alabama-

The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama on Saturday elected its first woman bishop.

The Rev. Glenda Curry, rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Homewood and former president of Troy University in Montgomery, was elected to succeed the current bishop, who is retiring.

Bishop John McKee “Kee” Sloan, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, announced last year he was retiring.

He called for the election of a bishop coadjutor, who would assist him and then succeed him when he retires at the end of 2020.

More here-

https://www.al.com/news/2020/01/first-woman-bishop-elected-for-episcopal-diocese-of-alabama.html

Episcopal Church in Alabama buys, forgives $8.1 million of medical debt

From Alabama (Episcopal Cafe)-

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook, in partnership with the Diocese of Alabama, recently bought and forgave $8.1 million in medical debt.
Over the Mountain Journal reports:

Over the holidays, roughly 6,500 Alabama households received a notice in the mail that their medical debts had been purchased and forgiven by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

Those letters were the culmination of a fundraising campaign undertaken by Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook, which commemorated its 70th anniversary by eliminating $8.1 million in medical debts throughout the Birmingham metro area and its surrounding counties.

…

The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama quickly got on board, donating just more than $10,000 to kick off fundraising efforts. The church then raised $68,000 more, mostly from parishioners, though others in the community pitched in as well, Nations said. Because hospitals sell off unpaid bills at discounted rates, the church and RIP Medical Debt were able to buy $8.1 million in debt for just $78,000.

More here-

 https://www.episcopalcafe.com/episcopal-church-in-alabama-buys-forgives-8-1-million-of-medical-debt/?fbclid=IwAR3k-1Q-JCP0nWa7HZbyDiJdTRv_Xa1maG-P0tYWK8ujDxwzVR7d64WLF-o

Three bishop candidates – 2 women – make list for Episcopal Church

From Alabama-

Three candidates have been named in the search for a successor to Bishop John McKee “Kee” Sloan, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

Sloan announced on Feb. 9 that he plans to retire next year.

He called for the election of a bishop coadjutor, who would assist him and then succeed him when he retires at the end of 2020.

On Sunday, the committee tasked with coming up with a slate of candidates announced three finalists, two of them women.

“At the start of that work over 30 people expressed interest in discerning whether or not they felt called to be in this process,” wrote the Rev. Candice B. Frazer, president of the standing committee. “That number diminished with each stage of the process as both potential candidates and the committee discerned the potential call until the final three were selected.”

https://www.al.com/news/2019/12/three-bishop-candidates-2-women-make-list-for-episcopal-church.html

Local church works to help erase millions in hospital debt

From Alabama-

A local church is working to help erase millions of dollars in medical debt for people across central Alabama.

Leaders at St. Luke’s Episcopal church said they wanted to celebrate the church’s 70th birthday by giving back, so for about 6 weeks they campaigned to raise money. That money is now set to be used to pay off outstanding bills at local hospitals.

“You don’t go into medical debt for a good thing,” said Cameron Nations, Associate Rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

The bills that come after people are discharged from the hospital often hurt even more.

St Luke’s Episcopal Church is working with debt relief agency RIP Medical Debt to help lift the financial load.

“Ultimately the system needs to change and healthcare needs to be more affordable, so that people don’t get in these situations in the first place. This was one way we can help in the meantime,” said Nations.

More here-

https://www.wbrc.com/2019/11/30/local-church-works-help-erase-millions-hospital-debt/

Birmingham church houses beehives to better the environment

From Alabama-

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church is caring for honeybees as it takes steps to be more sustainable and god to the environment.

The church has three beehives. Church Rector, John Burruss says it’s about more than just keeping bees for honey. 

“One of the values at Saint Stephens Episcopal Church is recognizing that everything in the creative world is sacred. Bees play such a critical role in our health,” said Burruss. “They’re responsible for about 30 to 45 percent of our food. And 90 percent of wildflowers so caring for bees is a way of helping our congregation recognize the importance of caring for creation, and of caring for our food and where it comes from.”

Burruss says the hive is symbolic of the church and its parishioners.

More here-

https://www.cbs42.com/top-news/birmingham-church-houses-beehives-to-better-the-environment/

Bishop Kee Sloan: Lent means more than giving up brussel sprouts

From Alabama-

Bishop Kee Sloan, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, kicked off Lent with an Ash Wednesday sermon at Cathedral Church of the Advent that recalled his childhood vow to give up brussel sprouts.

“When I was a kid, for several years in a row, I gave up brussel sprouts for Lent,” Sloan said. “And for me it was like it checked off a box. We never had brussel sprouts. The few times we had them we were suspicious of them and complained about them, so Mom fixed something else. I was well into my fifties before I realized I really like brussel sprouts. Who knew?”

Sloan now thinks he may have missed the point.

“If we give up something that doesn’t touch us, then I don’t think we get any credit for just checking something off a box,” Sloan said.

More here-

https://www.al.com/life/2019/03/bishop-kee-sloan-lent-means-more-than-giving-up-brussel-sprouts.html

Episcopal bishop of Alabama plans to retire

From Alabama-

Bishop John McKee “Kee” Sloan, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, has announced that he will retire next year.

During the annual convention of the Diocese of Alabama on Feb. 9, Sloan called for the election of a bishop coadjutor, who would assist him and then succeed him when he retires at the end of 2020.

“I think it’s time for me to step aside for new leadership as we continue to share the Good News of the love of God in Jesus Christ in a changing world,” Sloan wrote in a letter to the diocese.

Sloan was ordained as a suffragan, or assistant, bishop in 2008 for the diocese. Sloan then won an election in 2011 to take over as head of the diocese when former Bishop Henry N. Parsley retired.

Sloan presides over about 30,000 Episcopalians in 91 churches across the north-central part of the state.

More here-

https://www.al.com/life/2019/02/episcopal-bishop-of-alabama-plans-to-retire.html

Alabama church removes pew honoring Confederate president

From Alabama-

An Alabama church has removed a pew honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, saying the memorial had no place at a time when rebel symbols have been adopted by white supremacists.
The pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church, Robert C. Wisnewski Jr., posted a message on the church website last week saying the wooden pew was dedicated more than 90 years ago at a service featuring a pro-lynching segregationist.

After learning of the pew's history at a recent planning retreat, church leaders discussed it and then voted to remove the pew from the sanctuary and place it in the church archive, he wrote.

"Confederate monuments and symbols have increasingly been used by groups that promote white supremacy and are now, to many people of all races, seen to represent insensitivity, hatred, and even evil," Wisnewski wrote. "The mission of our parish is diametrically opposed to what these symbols have come to mean."

More here-

https://www.krmg.com/news/alabama-church-removes-pew-honoring-confederate-president/kxvJtoW0wWz0yYtzRBBqCO/

Priest from Birmingham will officiate funeral for President Bush, calls him man of deep faith

From Alabama-

A Houston priest originally from Birmingham will officiate the funeral Thursday for former President George H.W. Bush.

The Rev. Russell J. Levenson Jr., a close friend of the Bush family and the rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, was present when Bush died. There will be a service on Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and another Thursday at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Bush’s son, former President George W. Bush, will give the eulogy Wednesday at the National Cathedral. The president’s body will then be transported back to Houston for the service at St. Martin’s.

“He left this life for the next, and it is the way all of us would want to leave this life: surrounded by the ones you love, completely at peace, and ready for what follows,” Levenson said in a TV interview. Bush died Friday. He was 94.

Levenson graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1980 and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1984 from Birmingham-Southern College. He was associate rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook from 1993 to 1997.

More here-

https://www.al.com/life/2018/12/priest-from-birmingham-will-officiate-funeral-for-president-bush-calls-him-man-of-deep-faith.html 

also here-

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/remembering-george-h-w-bush/longtime-bush-family-pastor-talks-about-41s-final-days/285-620403425

Forgiveness and being forgiven

From Alabama-

In the Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35, we read the story of the servant who owed his master so large an amount of money that it would have been impossible for him to repay it in his lifetime. The master planned to recoup his money by selling the man, his wife and his children. The man begged forgiveness of the debt and received it.

As it turns out, on his way out the servant ran into a fellow servant who owed him a “few dollars.” Servant number one grabbed servant number two and demanded his money. The man begged for mercy and was thrown into prison by his colleague. Most of us know the rest of the story. The first servant was thrown into prison by an angry master who had shown him mercy, forgiveness.

More here-

http://www.sandmountainreporter.com/article_2ea8160e-e9e0-11e8-951d-8725672d9008.html

Man arrested after shouting ‘womp, womp’ and pulling a gun on immigration protesters

From The Washington Post-

The gathering at a park gazebo in Huntsville, Ala., was by no means the largest of Saturday’s nationwide protests against President Trump’s “zero tolerance” border policies, though it was memorable for other reasons.

It began around noon, as an Episcopal priest delivered a prayer to about 100 protesters gathered around the gazebo and a man marched back and forth in front of her, shouting “womp, womp!”

“Holy and ever-loving God . . .” said the priest, Kerry Holder-Joffrion.

“Womp, womp!” said the man.

“We pray for the children of this nation and all nations . . .”

“WOMP, WOMP!”

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/07/01/man-arrested-after-shouting-womp-womp-and-pulling-a-gun-on-immigration-protesters/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e11f47e77179

Church dedicates free, outdoor food pantry

From Alabama-

Trinity Episcopal Church became the first Clanton church to open a free, outdoor food pantry service developed by Shelby County nonprofit organization Three Hearts One Mission.

Stationed outside the church’s next-door Heflin House, the miniature pantry resembles a large birdhouse on a stand with a glass door offering a sneak-peek at its canned contents.

Co-founder Rachel Davidson of Three Hearts One Mission said the pantry is a safe source of canned goods for the needs of anonymous community members.

“We’re delighted this is going to be the first one, but we’re also looking forward to having more of them in different places and working with you in the years to come,” Janet Pandzik told Three Hearts One Mission founders during a dedication ceremony on June 22.

More here-

https://www.clantonadvertiser.com/2018/06/25/church-dedicates-free-outdoor-food-pantry/

'Meet Your Muslim Neighbor' event breaks down barriers

From Alabama-

Dr. Abu-Alrub grew up in Huntsville as the granddaughter of a Methodist minister. She converted to Islam 27 years ago when she married a man with Palestinian roots. Her work as an oncology nurse -- helping people cope with cancer -- has taught her that people will accept differences in culture and religion when they have a common purpose.

Along with close friend Rev. Dr. Basye Holland-Shuey, Episcopal priest and spiritual director of the Church of the Nativity, Abu-Alrub works to combat Islamophobia, hate crimes, and school bullying. The two have gone to workshops around the country to see how other communities cope.

So it was natural that they helped plan the first annual "Meet Your Muslim Neighbor" event, an open house held at the Huntsville Islamic Center on Sparkman Drive. Dozens of members of the center wanted to host an event that would deal with misconceptions about Islam as well as show the public that Muslims are doctors, professors, students, ordinary people with jobs and families. 

More here-

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2017/04/meet_your_muslim_neighbor_even.html