Bishops of New York State commend Governor Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic

From New York-

From the Bishops of New York State:

The bishops of the Episcopal Church in the State of New York sent a letter to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo today, commending his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Signing bishops include the Rt. Rev. Dr. DeDe Duncan-Probe, Bishop of Central New York.  The text of the letter follows and is linked at: cnyepiscopal.org/2020/04/bishops-of-new-york-state-commend-governor-cuomos-handling-of-the-covid-19-pandemic

About the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York: The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York is made up of 11,000 members worshiping in 85 congregations in 14 counties in the center of New York State, including Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Seneca, Tioga, and Tompkins.

Dear Governor Cuomo:

As the bishops of the Episcopal Church in the State of New York and the spiritual leaders of more than 130,000 New Yorkers, we write today to offer our thanks and support for your leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. You are in our prayers during this difficult time.

 More here-

https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/news/up-to-the-minute/bishops-of-new-york-state-commend-governor-cuomos-handling-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/

 

Pastor out at famed Riverside Church after sex toy shopping spree

From New York (and the, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department)-

The reason for her ouster is far more stimulating than any sermon this pastor could have delivered.

The Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, the first woman to lead Manhattan’s famed Riverside Church, lost her lofty post amid complaints that she brought ministers and a congregant on a sex toy shopping spree and then gave one of them an unwanted vibrator as a birthday gift, The Post has learned.

On May 15, Butler allegedly took two Riverside assistant ministers and a female congregant to a sex shop in Minneapolis called the Smitten Kitten, during a religious conference, according to sources familiar with the out-of-town shopping excursion.

At the store, the pastor bought a $200 bunny-shaped blue vibrator called a Beaded Rabbit for one minister — a single mom of two who was celebrating her 40th birthday — as well as more pleasure gadgets for the congregant and herself, sources said.

More here-

https://nypost.com/2019/07/11/pastor-out-at-famed-riverside-church-after-sex-toy-harassment-accusations/?fbclid=IwAR1JLrZjhoz_mtj1mzHNoNFDPWgE_YwW2Mf9gSlpPd8e841ANt3nCY8HReU

Harriet Tubman’s Canadian church seeks help for repairs

From Western NY-

A century and a half ago, a new Canadian church gave fleeing slaves a place to worship. Now the sanctuary that welcomed Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman and other escapees needs help itself.

The dwindling membership of Salem Chapel, a British Methodist Episcopal church just north of Niagara Falls, has started a crowdsourcing campaign (their gofundme page is here) in hopes of raising C$100,000 — the equivalent of $77,486 in U.S. currency.

The congregation wants to shore up the building, which is in an area where heavy traffic has contributed to its shifting foundation.

More here-

http://ptoday.blogspot.com/2017/11/harriet-tubmans-canadian-church-seeks.html

The Mystic, the Monk and the Play Brought to You by Powerball

From The New York Times-

It sounds like the setup for some kind of droll joke: A lottery winner and a rhinoceros arrive at the birthday party for a dead mystic. Art, and a blowout brawl, ensues.

An unusual stew of ingredients, some onstage and some off, has resulted in this strange spectacle’s move from Kentucky to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which, beginning Saturday, Jan. 16, will present “The Glory of the World,” a new play by Charles Mee that takes a silence-and-strife-filled look at the life of Thomas Merton, the 20th-century American Catholic thinker who “remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people,” as Pope Francis put it in an unexpected shout-out during his address to Congress in September.

The production is being financed by one of the newest and more unexpected patrons of American theater: Roy Cockrum of Knoxville, a onetime Episcopal monk who bought a Powerball ticket at his local supermarket in 2014 and won $259 million.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/theater/the-mystic-the-monk-and-the-play-brought-to-you-by-powerball.html?_r=0

Mansion built for Jesus’ return is on the market for $10M

From The New York Post-

Even Jesus has been priced out of Manhattan.

In Riverdale, The Bronx, on the second highest peak in all five boroughs, sits a mansion fit for a king — and we don’t mean LeBron James.

The house, variously known as Chapel Farm, Fair Hill or Chapel Hill, was built in the 1920s for one special resident to live in: Jesus Christ.

The idea was, when Jesus returned to earth (via the 1 train, presumably), he would decamp to The Bronx and rule from this opulent, 17-room dwelling. It’s a promising sign for those living in the northernmost borough, which will apparently survive the wars, famine, disease, earthquakes and anarchy the Bible predicts to signal the end of days.

And soon, all this could be yours. It’s set to hit the market in February for $10 million.

More here-

http://nypost.com/2015/12/27/mansion-built-for-jesus-is-on-the-market-for-10m/

As Union Theological Seminary Plans to Sell Air Rights, Some See a Moral Quandary

From The New York Times-

For nearly two centuries, Union Theological Seminary has brought together scholarship and faith on behalf of social justice. But recently the religious institution has found itself pursuing a more earthly occupation: trying to navigate New York City’s brutal real estate market without doing damage to its soul.

This summer, faced with the prospect of major renovations, the seminary on the edge of western Harlem announced that it would sell its air rights and bring in a developer to build a tower of luxury condominiums on its campus, a two-block-long complex built around a grassy quadrangle in the early 1900s. While the profits from the tower will underwrite the enormous cost of refurbishing a host of aging buildings, the project has provoked impassioned condemnation from both faculty members and students who worry that the school will betray its mission by exacerbating the already profound effects of local gentrification.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/nyregion/as-union-theological-seminary-plans-to-sell-air-rights-some-see-a-moral-quandary.html?_r=0

Continue the mission: St. James' Episcopal Church looks toward future with capital project

From New York-

What started as a project to replace the 140-year-old roof on St. James' Episcopal Church in Skaneateles turned into an endeavor to ensure the mission of the nearly 200-year-old church continues for many more years to come.

The Rev. Becky Coerper, the rector of St. James', said the vestry — the body that oversees church operations — considered replacing the roof, which is original to the building, for about 20 years before finally taking steps to do something.

"It was leaking pretty regularly," she said. "We were doing repairs on it annually, sometimes as much as $10,000 or $12,000 a year. ... It was in pretty bad shape. It does fall down. We find pieces of it in our driveway all the time."

More here-

http://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/continue-the-mission-st-james-episcopal-church-looks-toward-future/article_9218492b-6fef-53be-83b4-5380c64e30d4.html

Keeping Quiet at the Monastery

From The Wall Street Journal-

The room I booked for my Hudson Valley getaway last week had its share of peculiarities. It was tiny, cooled by a plastic fan and decorated with a portrait of Jesus. I had to change my own sheets and share a bathroom. And I wasn't allowed to talk.

But all that was to be expected. This wasn't a $300-a-night room at some swanky Rhinebeck inn. This was a $70-a-night room at an upstate monastery.

It isn't for everyone, but one of the best—and cheapest—ways to enjoy a relaxing, bucolic retreat from the city is to book a stay at one of the many area monasteries that welcome guests.

You don't need to be a believer; these places accept devotees and heathens alike. I've stayed with Zen monastics in the Catskills, New Jersey nuns and Staten Island Jesuits. I've seldom paid more than $80 a night, meals included, and always leave feeling a bit less crazy.

More here-

http://online.wsj.com/articles/keeping-quiet-at-the-monastery-1406936983

Genealogy Shows Cardinal O’Connor’s Mother Was Jewish

From The New York Times-

In his 16 years as the Catholic Church’s top official in New York, Cardinal John Joseph O’Connor was a staunch friend and defender of the Jewish people.

He spoke often about what he had seen at Dachau as a Navy chaplain. He used his platform as head of the Archdiocese of New York to support Soviet Jewry, and played a role in the Vatican’s recognition of the state of Israel. Mayor Edward I. Koch, a Bronx-born Jew who worked closely with the cardinal, proclaimed that he loved him “like a brother.”

Yet there was something Cardinal O’Connor apparently never knew: His mother was born a Jew, the daughter of a rabbi and butcher.

“The basic fact is, my mother was Jewish,” said Mary O’Connor Ward-Donegan, the cardinal’s 87-year-old sister. Observing the Jewish matrilineal tradition, she added, “That means my two brothers were Jewish, my sister was Jewish and I am Jewish. Of that I am very proud.”

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/nyregion/cardinal-john-joseph-oconnor-jewish-mother-genealogy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

N.Y. TIMES' ANTI-RELIGION HYSTERIA

From WND-

New York Times: “Get churches out of public schools.”

That was the Times’ editorial on May 25, and it opened as follows:

“New York City prohibits the use of public school facilities for regular religious services. That policy makes sense for buildings that are used and maintained by taxpayers.”

But since the school buildings are vacant over weekends – when Muslims, Jews and Christians hold their principle services of worship – why should they (as taxpaying citizens) be denied the right to worship if they pay a rental fee for the premises and keep them clean and undamaged?

Does New York City prohibit all other non-school organizations from such school building use? Or is this only a discrimination against religion (which is illegal under the First Amendment)?

By way of full disclosure: During my years as an Episcopal priest and founder of new mission churches, we held services in public schools – for which we paid rent and whose property we kept undamaged and clean.

Read more at

http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/n-y-times-anti-religion-hysteria/#z94REbghL2JGmb62.99

Ilion prayer service provides healing to the community

From New York-

The Ilion Council of Churches conducted an interfaith prayer service of healing and remembrance at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church Monday evening.

Father John Bassett, rector of St. Augustine’s, was joined by Deacon Jim Bower of the Church of the Annunciation and Reverend Victor McKusick, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Ilion. Representatives from the First Baptist Church of Ilion and other area churches were also in attendance.

As people entered the church candles were given out as a sign of hope in the wake of the tragedies that struck Herkimer and Mohawk last week.

On Wednesday, Kurt Myers, 64, of Mohawk, shot four people in Mohawk and two more in Herkimer. Four men died, and the survivors are still in the hospital.

Bassett said the simple service with the theme of resurrection and healing was designed to bring the community together at a time when healing is needed.

More here-

http://www.herkimertelegram.com/news/x898151117/Ilion-prayer-service-provides-healing-to-the-community

Binghamton priests to offer 'ashes to go' on downtown sidewalk

From Binghamton NY-

Two local Episcopal priests will take a Lenten ritual to a downtown sidewalk Wednesday morning and offer “ashes to go” to anyone who wants to partake in a Christian custom that starts Lent.

Though “ashes to go” has been offered elsewhere, this is likely the first time that clergy in the Binghamton area have taken the Ash Wednesday ritual to the masses outdoors.

“When people spot clergy with ashes, they might say, ‘Hey, it’s Ash Wednesday,’” said the Rev. Janet Watrous, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Binghamton. “Sometimes it’s important to make a witness to something regardl

Watrous and the Rev. David Drebert, of Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, will offer ashes and a prayer from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday on Trinity’s sidewalk on Main Street across from Binghamton High School.
More here-

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130211/NEWS01/302110088/Binghamton-priests-to-offer-ashes-to-go-on-downtown-sidewalk

Staten Island priest featured in Mayor Bloomberg's gun violence campaign

From New York-

To highlight the suffering caused by gun violence,  Mayors Against Illegal Guns -- the group co-chaired by Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- released 34 videos Monday detailing the stories of victims of mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., Oak Creek, Wis., Tucson, Ariz., and Virginia Tech, as well as those affected by less-publicized incidents.

The story of Rev. Kevin Fisher, the rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Brighton, was included in the campaign.

Rev. Fisher's uncle was killed with his own handgun when an intruder turned it on him in 1985. A decade later, Rev. Fisher's mother, Beatrice, then 68, was killed with a shotgun by William Bartlett Fisher, her husband and Rev. Fisher's father.

More here-

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/staten_island_rev_featured_in.html

Sympathy for the Stones

From The Living Church-

Nathan Brockman writes that Trinity Wall Street’s choir “spent some significant time with rock ’n’ roll royalty Saturday night, singing the choral part to The Rolling Stones’ iconic secular hymn, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want,’ at the band’s first 50th anniversary show in the U.S." His report adds:

The 18,000 fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn embraced the Choir’s effort — as did Mick Jagger, the Stones’ lead singer. Onstage, he called the singing “beautiful,” and noted that the Choir was nominated this week for a 2013 Grammy award.

… “The Rolling Stones chose us to help them celebrate their 50th anniversary,” said Julian Wachner, principal conductor of the Trinity Choir. “We couldn’t be more honored.”
More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/sympathy-stones

Better Together

From The Living Church-

For the past six years the youth groups of San Andres, Yonkers (Iglesia Memorial de San Andres), and Christ Church, Bronxville, have found that we are better together. Our young people meet every Monday night. We have traveled to the monastery at Taizé in the spirit of reconciliation and trust. We have met and worked with those in need in New York City and across the nation. Our kids long to be challenged and tested. They want to engage their faith. They want love to be active, not passive.

The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio, Bishop of Cuba, invited us in August to expand our understanding of “better together.” This was a gift greater than any of us could have imagined. As a mixed group, ranging from ardent capitalists to crypto-communists, the young people had high hopes for the trip. They wanted to see American cars from the 1940s and ’50s and experience the culture of the Buena Vista Social Club. They wanted to pose in front of Che Guevara murals and step back into the world of Hemingway. They wanted to ask about universal medical care and the education system in Cuba. And they were able to do it all. But what most profoundly affected them was the extraordinary generosity and spirit of the Cuban people.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/better-together

Harlem Woman Becomes Episcopal Church's First Female Korean-American Priest

From New York (Who keeps track of this stuff?)

When she first started attending All Angels', an Episcopal church on the Upper West Side with her husband a decade ago, Christine Lee, who grew up in an Asian-American church, wasn't particularly fond of worshiping there.

"I just didn't feel like I fit in at All Angels'. It was too different, the liturgy, the worship style. Going from an Asian-American church to a church where there were only about five Asians, I had such a hard time connecting to anything or anyone," said Lee, 40, who has lived in Harlem for nine years.
But over time, Lee, the daughter of a reverend, connected with the congregants at the 5 p.m. service, which includes people who are homeless and others from diverse ethnic, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.

"Everywhere else in the city, even in a diverse city like New York, people are separated from
each other by race and class," said Lee, who had graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. years earlier.

Soon, she found herself moving towards a career in ministry, spending the summer as the interim minister at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem. And on Saturday, Lee, who was born in Indianapolis, was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church, making her the first Korean-American woman ordained in the church, according to officials.

Read more:

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121003/harlem/harlem-woman-becomes-episcopal-churchs-first-female-korean-american-priest#ixzz28KO5BKNx

Tiffany baptismal font in transit from Pomfret to New York City

From Norwich CT-

When representatives from New York City’s Museum of Biblical Art visited Christ Church in Pomfret last year, it was expressly to view the chapel’s six Tiffany stained glass windows.

But soon after entering the church, they spied something more exciting and quickly moved to the rear of the sanctuary, said Linda Goodwin, a member of the congregation’s historic preservation committee.

“They went to the font like bees to honey,” she said.

The 4-foot, 900-pound marble baptismal font was quickly identified as another piece designed by artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. And on Tuesday, after months of discussion and planning, the 104-year-old font was broken down into two sections, packed and shipped to New York City for display in an upcoming exhibit titled, “Louis C. Tiffany and the Art of Devotion.”

“The point of the show is to let visitors experience Tiffany pieces they might never see, like the font,” said Tricia Pongracz, co-curator of the show. “This is the first time it’s leaving the church and we’re very grateful the church wants to share it with us.”

Although Tiffany is best known today for his glass pieces, Pongracz said he also produced hundreds of ecclesiastical decorations and memorials. She said his output dovetailed with an “explosion” in church construction in the late 1800s.

More here-

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/newsnow/x887148527/Tiffany-baptismal-font-in-transit-from-Pomfret-to-New-York-City#axzz26udDDUfZ

Five fired General Theological Seminary workers say their lives ‘a living hell’

From The New York aily News-

It’s hard to imagine a group of workers with a giant inflatable rat protesting outside a religious institution as prestigious as the General Theological Seminary.

Yet, that’s exactly what is happening at the Episcopal Church’s oldest seminary, where five maintenance workers who lost their jobs after many years of service say their lives have been turned into “a living hell.”

“Working for a church is different, it is not like any other job, we thought we were like family,” said Godfrey Johnson, 52. “But now we have been let go with nothing, not even a word of thanks.”

Not to mention severance pay.

After working for a long time at the West 21 St. seminary — 24 years in the case of Johnson — the five employees were notified on July 27 that their jobs would terminated July 31.
The seminary is confronting severe financial problems and has been trying to cut corners. Unfortunately in this case it did so on the back of the workers. The seminary kicked out Aramark, a union cleaning contractor and, according to the Rev. Lang Lowrey, president of the seminary for the last three years, replaced it with Able, a non-union shop. The fired workers belong to SEIU Local 32BJ.

Read more:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fired-general-theological-seminary-workers-lives-a-living-hell-article-1.1144439#ixzz24eHx0CXy

‘Full Marriage Equality’

Found in The Living Church-

From Bishop Sisk

To My Brother and Sister Clergy of the Diocese of New York:

Things change.

In 2009 the General Convention urged “generous pastoral oversight” with respect to the question of offering Blessings for same-sex couples. It also created a Special Committee to study implications of the issue, and to develop, for consideration at the 2012 General Convention, a liturgy for the conduct of Blessing rites. New York State’s happy decision to adopt the Marriage Equality act intensified this already crucially important conversation. In a very real sense, this State’s action advanced the conversation dramatically by shifting the frame of reference itself.

Over the course of the past years I have tried to “thread the needle” between conflicting opportunities and demands: The General Convention’s undefined offer of “generous pastoral oversight”; The Book of Common Prayer’s largely unchallenged expectation that marriage was between a man and a woman; and the State of New York’s requirement that a cleric officiating at a marriage do so in compliance with his or her denomination’s teaching. It was in recognition of these shifting and conflicting demands that I gave permission for clergy to bless couples who had already had a civil marriage, but not to perform that marriage service themselves.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/full-marriage-equality

Occupy protestors on trial for trespass at NYC church lot

From The Chicago Tribune about New York-

Eight Occupy Wall Street protesters went on trial on Monday on trespassing charges for scaling a fence in lower Manhattan to stake a new base of operations for the movement after being evicted from its main encampment late last year.

A retired Episcopalian bishop, George Packard, was among those on trial in Manhattan Criminal Court for breaking into fenced-in Duarte Square, a lot owned by historic Trinity Church, an active Episcopal parish founded in 1697.

They were part of a larger group of 65 protestors who were arrested on December 17, 2011, for pushing their way onto the church-owned land. It was an effort to secure a new base not far from Zuccotti Park, where the original Occupy encampment stood until police raided it in November 2011.

Through its protests, which spread across the country, Occupy Wall Street started a national conversation on economic inequality last fall. But the movement has struggled to maintain its viability after police cleared most of its encampments in various cities.

In his opening statement on Monday, Assistant District Attorney Lee Langston said the protesters made a "deliberate decision" to violate the church's property rights, despite a locked fence and signs warning against trespass.

More here-


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-occupy-newyorkbre85a1je-20120611,0,177112.story