Ohio mosque is first to join sanctuary movement

From The Deseret New-

A Cincinnati area mosque announced it would join the burgeoning church sanctuary movement in the U.S., possibly becoming the first Islamic house of worship to do so.

The announcement came on the eve of the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, who took a hard-line stance on immigration and proposed a national Muslim registry during his campaign.

“It took us no time to decide that this was the ethical and moral thing to do,” said Imam Ismaeel Chartier, leader of the Clifton Mosque, which attracts upwards of 800 people to Friday prayers at its location near the Cincinnati Zoo. “We want to help reclaim humanity for everyone.”

More than 800 U.S. congregations have joined the sanctuary movement — a promise by churches, synagogues and now, mosques, to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation and other government actions, even to the point of violating the law. Rev. Noel Anderson of the Church World Service, which organizes the sanctuary movement, said the Clifton mosque is likely the first mosque to actually open its doors to undocumented immigrants, but that other mosques have supported the movement in other ways.

More here-

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865671680/Ohio-mosque-is-first-to-join-sanctuary-movement.html

LOCAL PRIEST A GUEST ON NATIONAL PROGRAM ABOUT CONVERSION

From The Catholic Telegraph-

Fans of EWTN’s The Journey Home program saw a familiar face Monday: Father Tom Wray, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s Director of Evangelization and Discipleship.

Once an Episcopal pastor, Father Wray converted to Catholicism and, after several years of work as a layman, was ordained a Catholic priest under what’s called the “pastoral provision.’ Established in 1980 by Pope St. John Paul II, it’s a process that allows American bishops to ordain some former Anglican and Lutheran pastors as Catholic priests, and to dispense them from a vow of celibacy if , like Father Wray, they are married and have children.

The journey has been a difficult leap of faith for Father Wray, who declined the offer to appear on the weekly interview program two years ago. Leaving the Episcopal church caused rifts in his extended family, unhappiness and anger in his former (Episcopal) parish, and astonished disbelief from old friends. It meant the end of a career and of seemingly settled plans for the future – all without any guarantee that ordination as a Catholic priest would ever be possible.

More here-

http://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/local-priest-a-guest-on-national-program-about-conversion/37806

Married Northfield native gets pope's nod for priesthood

From Atlantic City-

James Thomas Wray, a native of Northfield and a 1977 graduate of Mainland Regional High School, is one of only about 80 married men in the U.S. to become a Catholic priest through Papal dispensation.

A former Episcopal cleric, he was ordained on March 7 in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati at St. Margaret of York Church in Loveland, Ohio. He said he is now awaiting his new assignment in the Diocese of Cincinnati.

“The dispensation came directly from the Holy Father,” he said of Pope Francis. Wray converted in 2011, spent years studying the Catholic faith, and was ordained a deacon in 2014.

The program to allow former Episcopal priests to become Catholic priests is about 40 years old, he said, and called the Pastoral Provision.

More here-

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/married-northfield-native-gets-pope-s-nod-for-priesthood/article_8e6aa0ac-cb35-11e4-bd19-1739eaa3c477.html

Diocese: No ALS challenge

From Ohio-

A Roman Catholic diocese in Ohio is discouraging its 113 schools from participating in the ice bucket challenge to benefit the ALS Association, saying the group’s funding of embryonic stem cell research is “in direct conflict with Catholic teaching.”

Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, told the schools in a letter Tuesday to “immediately cease” any plans to raise funds for the association or to instead direct donations to another organization that combats ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease that causes paralysis and almost certain death.

The Catholic Church relates the use of embryonic stem cells in research to abortion and says it violates the sanctity of human life. The use of adult stem cells in research is not forbidden by Catholic teaching.

More here-

http://thetimes-tribune.com/diocese-no-als-challenge-1.1740056

Trinity Episcopal Church reaches out in a big way

From Ohio-

The family that is Trinity Episcopal Church came together on Nov. 17, 2012 for the community of Canton to host the Quality Street Fair.

“I think when we all do God’s work together, miraculous things happen,”, said fair coordinator Jane Reeve.

Twenty-five years ago, what began as a kernel of an idea from a beloved parishioner, Peggy Gillespie, Quality Street Fair was born as a way to help the church community. For many years a portion of the proceeds was donated to local charities and most of the proceeds helped to fund church operations.

Trinity set a five-year goal of donating all proceeds outside of the walls of Trinity, which was achieved in 2004. Beginning in 2004 all proceeds were designated to one or two organizations in the wider community. This year, $7,200 was raised for the Canton Food Bank and the Canton Fuel Bank, and checks for $3,600 were distributed to each organization respectively in December. “This is the best-ever gift that Quality Street has made possible,” said the Reverend Linda Spiers. “I am so grateful for the ministry of our Trinity family, along with the enormous support of the Canton community, and I can only imagine how grateful people served by these organizations will be.”

More here-

http://www.foothillsmediagroup.com/articles/2013/02/05/canton/news/doc511154c2c8c9d029414000.txt

Effort seeks to raise $50,000 to fix beloved bells at Trinity Episcopal Church

From Toledo-

It is a haunting, tender moment: A 16-year-old girl from another era manually manipulates the giant church bells that chime to the melody of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

The moment was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder on June 2, 1945. The location, a bell tower at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Toledo.

Installed in 1943, the The Gardner Chimes — 12 bells weighing 9.6 tons — eventually fell into disrepair and have remained silent for 20 years.

Those bells may ring again this spring if the Old Trinity Foundation can raise $50,000 to pay for repairs. The grass-roots organization launched its fund-raising campaign Friday.

The organization hopes to raise the money through corporate and private gifts, organizers said.

“It’s very hard to put a value on this project,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Hoster, rector at Trinity Episcopal Church. “When you think of the soundscape of the city — when you enter the city and hear something like this — it says you have more than just cars driving by.

More here-

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/12/01/Effort-seeks-to-raise-50-000-to-fix-beloved-bells-at-Trinity-Episcopal-Church.html

Anonymous donation brings 2,000-pound bell to St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lakewood

From Ohio-

Having gone nearly a century without a bell in their church’s bell tower, parishioners of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lakewood are now celebrating a ringing achievement.

Last week, workers turned out to install a 2,000-pound bell at the church. The job brought an end to decades of dreams about what could be accomplished with the tower.

“It’s been ready for a bell since the building was built in 1927,” parishioner Lorna Jordan said.
After the church’s initial construction, the forthcoming Great Depression and World War II hindered finances and likely discouraged the purchase of a bell for years.

An anonymous donor recently sent the church $37,000 – enough to purchase a bell and fund the construction work and installation process necessary to get it inside the tower.

More here-

http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index.ssf/2012/11/anonymous_donation_brings_2000.html

Church buildings in Akron, Fairlawn get new life

From Ohio-

Two church buildings that were once part of a legal property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio and two breakaway congregations now have new owners.

Grace Brethren Church of Norton recently purchased the property at 565 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road in Fairlawn that was the former home of St. Luke’s Anglican Church.

In September, Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church bought the property at 825 E. Buchtel Ave. in Akron, where Church of the Holy Spirit Anglican Church had been located.

The 12-year-old Baptist congregation moved from its Copley Road location in July and completed the purchase of its new property on Sept. 4. The Rev. Shawnte Davon Hardin, senior pastor at Greater Faith, said the congregation moved because it needed more space.

More here-

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/church-buildings-in-akron-fairlawn-get-new-life-1.349163

Canton church splits with governing body over gay clergy issue

From Ohio-

The Rev. William Pawson likens his congregation leaving the Presbyterian Church, USA, to a divorce. Westminster Community Church’s break with its governing body was necessary, he said, because of a policy change regarding gay clergy.

Last spring, the Presbyterian Church, USA, adopted a new constitution, one the Westminster congregation believed strays too far from the Bible by permitting homosexuals in leadership roles and removing the requirement that church officers be in heterosexual marriages or celibate singles.

The change prompted Westminster to join the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Pawson and other conservatives say the policy change is an end-run around repeatedly rebuffed efforts to allow homosexuals to serve as clergy, elders and deacons. In July, the governing body of the PCUSA rejected amendments to restore the language.

“The new constitution was in conflict with the deeply held convictions of this congregation,” he said. “For us, it was the straw the broke the camel’s back.”
More here-

http://www.cantonrep.com/topstories/x1784774227/Canton-church-splits-with-governing-body-over-gay-clergy-issue

Trinity urban service corps engages young people to make cle a better place

From Ohio-

One year ago, six interns from Dallas, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Boston, Baltimore and Jewett, Ohio, came to Cleveland to participate in the inaugural year of Trinity Urban Service Corps, a project of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Cleveland.

The goal of the program is to engage young people in nonprofit service work that improves the City of Cleveland. It also seeks to build community among members, stimulate faith development and help young people discern their career paths.

Adam Spencer, who organized the program for Trinity Cathedral, says it has been successful and is expanding to eight interns in its second year. A new crop of service corps members are scheduled to arrive in town next month.

"This program is all about working to make the city a better place," says Spencer, a Northeast Ohio native who loves playing the role of tour guide in his hometown. "The service corps members help to do the work we desperately need done in Cleveland. The program also gets young people interested in the city and its issues, and it shows them all the wonderful stuff that's going on here."

More here-

http://freshwatercleveland.com/forgood/trinityurbanservice072612.aspx

Bishop's Bike Ride rolls through Canton

From Ohio-


Between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. today, approximately 50 participants in Episcopal Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr.’s  7th Annual “Bishop’s Bike Ride,” will spend the night in Canton, the first stop in the five-day ride. 

After stopping at First Friends Church at 5455 Market Ave. N, they’ll have dinner at 6 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 515 48th St. NW, then spend the night with host families from St. Mark’s, St. Paul’s in Canton and New Life Episcopal Church in Lake Township.

 The group will meet for breakfast at St. Mark’s at 7 a.m. and leave at 8 a.m. for the next leg of their ride.  They will stop Wednesday in Wooster, Thursday in Gambier, and Friday in Ashland, before ending their ride Saturday in Wakeman, where they’ll attend a diocesan picnic.

The purpose of the ride is to raise money for youth mission trips.

More here-

http://www.cantonrep.com/newsnow/x1880830984/Bishops-Bike-Ride-rolls-through-Canton

Moving an 80-Ton Church

From Ohio-

Trinity Episcopal Church had outgrown its space on Maple Avenue. The parking lots were overflowing, all the way to St Patrick’s. Some in the growing congregation were relegated to sitting on small, uncomfortable seats, pulled out from the sides of wooden pews. And parishioners, including many children, found themselves on the street as they walked to the parish before or after services.

Something had to be done.

So in 1965, after some discussion by church leaders and the diocese, two extraordinary, and what some believed to be impossible, options were on the table: Option A: Rebuild the church to accommodate the growing flock — estimated cost, $1.5 million. Option B: Move the current church to another location where there was room to grow — estimated cost, $54,000.00.

It was a sunny Tuesday, August 24, 1965 when the 80-ton Trinity Episcopal Church was moved three-quarters of a mile from the Maple Avenue lot where it had stood since 1875, to its current River Road location.

More here-

http://canton-ct.patch.com/articles/collinsville-s-trinity-episcopal-church

Hearts for Honduras

From Ohio-

From the moment he stepped onto the tarmac at the airport at the foot of the central mountains of Honduras, Ironton businessman Robert Slagel entered a world of shocking contrasts.

“As soon as we got off the plane, there was a guard with a machine gun,” he said. “In the lobby of the airport, there were private individuals guarding luggage with machine guns.”

The Ironton entrepreneur was part of three-person team from Christ Episcopal Church going as first-time missionaries to the poverty-stricken Central American country of Honduras. Joining Slagel were Laurel Baise of Ironton and the Rev. Sallie Schisler, vicar of the church.

They left on a dreary, overcast Sunday, just before the start of Lent, the season of repentance and contemplation for Christians. Now as the culmination of that season dawns today on Easter Sunday, their journey shows the message of service to those in need that is the hallmark of their faith.

“To be honest, I never thought in a million years that I would go on a mission trip,” Slagel said.

More here-

http://www.irontontribune.com/2012/04/09/hearts-for-honduras/

Massillon church members knit dolls for orphans in Africa

From Ohio-

Christine Lane is moved to tears every time she thinks about the children who will hold the small dolls that she knits.

“The very thought that there are children in orphanages who have lost their parents to AIDS is heartbreaking,” said Lane, of Massillon. “Because of my arthritis, some days I can knit and some days I can’t. But I do what I can because this is something that makes a difference in the lives of children who have nothing.”

Lane heads the Comfort Doll project for the Episcopal Church Women’s auxiliary at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church. The project, which launched in January, encourages volunteers to knit small dolls that roughly measure 5 to 9 inches tall.

The little dolls were designed to be used as packing material for medical supplies shipped to areas of Africa where the AIDS virus is widespread. The dolls are substituted for peanuts or bubble wrap to provide cushioning for vaccines, medicine, treatments and medical supplies and instruments donated by pharmacies and hospitals to ICROSS (International Community for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering) Canada, which gathers and ships medical supplies to the poorest parts of the world.

More here-

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/massillon-church-members-knit-dolls-for-orphans-in-africa-1.279921

St. Timothy’s Episcopal makes ‘comfort dolls’ for children in Africa

From Ohio-

Members of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Massillon are turning scraps of yarn into multi-tasking “comfort dolls” to help children in Africa.

Chris Lane, who chairs the project, spotted the opportunity on the Internet and asked other members of the parish to join her mission to supply dolls to ICROSS Canada, a nonprofit organization that sends medical supplies to areas of Africa where AIDS is rampant. ICROSS Canada obtains AIDS vaccines, medications, treatments and medical supplies and instruments from pharmacies and hospitals.

The first supply shipments four years ago included glass vials and test tubes that needed special cushioning. Simple little knit dolls were developed to serve as packing material. Once that is done, the dolls are distributed to children orphaned by AIDS and those who have the disease.

More here-

http://www.cantonrep.com/ipadfeatured/x1288987685/Around-Town-St-Timothy-s-Episcopal-makes-comfort-dolls-for-children-in-Africa

Church needs volunteers to keep shelter open

From Ohio-

A Xenia church is asking for volunteers in order to continue with its mission.

Christ Episcopal Church has offered a place for the homeless to stay for years, but had been strictly a cold weather emergency shelter, which only opened when temperatures dipped below 28 degrees. This winter, however, the church realized a greater need and decided to keep the shelter open every night November through March.

The church offers the only shelter for adults without children in Greene County. It houses 15 people per night on average, but each night, it needs one male and one female volunteer to spend the night and to keep an eye on things.

"The volunteers who have been (here) have been volunteering for months and they need a break," said Summer Watts, Senior Warden at Christ Episcopal.

More here-

http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/greene_county/church-needs-volunteers-to-keep-shelter

Churches sharing a minister

From Ohio-

In an unusual arrangement between two denominations, St. Paul's Lutheran Church and St. Paul's Episcopal Church are sharing one spiritual leader.

Beginning earlier this month, the Rev. Craig Lewis, pastor for St. Paul's Lutheran at 930 Harding Memorial Parkway since 2002, began also serving the parish of St. Paul's Episcopal, 197 E. Center St.

"I think both churches were in a position where they were just kind of trying to come up with creative ways to keep both places open," Lewis said, estimating the Lutheran church's membership to be about 40 and the Episcopal congregation to be about 25.

Martha Wright, spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, of which St. Paul's Episcopal is a part, described such a situation of sharing pastors between the two denominations as "not all that unusual. There are at least two other situations like that in our diocese. Often it's a case where the churches are nearby, and they can share a pastor or a priest."

More here-

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20120218/LIFESTYLE/202180315

Warren church service to feature Beatles music

From Ohio-

“ALL YOU NEED IS Love” along with your bell-bottoms and tie-dye T-shirt and you’ll be right on for a groovy event at Christ Episcopal Church.

A special service featuring music of The Beatles is planned for 6 p.m. Feb. 18 in the church at 2627 Atlantic St. NE.

Doug Thomas, featured vocalist for The Bridge, the band that will play, said he sees The Beatles’ music as a comfortable fit into a religious service. “So much is about love and peace,” he said. “It’s spiritual on many levels.”

Those “Words Of Love” penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney span the generations and make an enduring statement on life’s “Long and Winding Road.”

The Rev. Jeff Baker said the service is a way “to get out of the box and have fun.” He continued that the song-oriented service with music so many people know and love is another way “to experience God.” So come and don’t be a “Nowhere Man.”

More here-

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/11/warren-church-urges-all-come-together-service-feat/

Cleveland Churches For Sale: In Cleveland, A Battle Over Unwanted Churches

From Cleveland-

The Euclid Avenue Church of God and the former Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration sit empty on this city's former Millionaires' Row, remnants of a heyday when mansions marched east from downtown.

Their congregations have fled. And historic preservationists fear that both churches will disappear, too, swallowed up by the nearby Cleveland Clinic's appetite for land.

The churches say they have no money (or congregations) for upkeep, and the world-renowned hospital says it has no need for churches. Which begs the question: what happens to architectural gems that no one can afford to maintain?

The Cleveland Restoration Society is pitting itself against the health care giant -- the city's largest employer -- over the fate of the dilapidated churches at the edge of the hospital's main campus.

The clinic has offered to pay $500,000 for the land beneath the landmarked Euclid Avenue Church of God; the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio has put the neighboring Transfiguration up for sale for $1.9 million.

Real estate insiders say both sites would make sense for parking or commercial development. The property owners see a chance to unload unwanted buildings to a deep-pocketed buyer. But two city boards have rejected a request from the Euclid Avenue Church of God to demolish its building, a city landmark. And the Restoration Society is trumpeting that the clinic should use its muscle and money to remake both churches.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/cleveland-churches-for-sale_n_1242814.html

Anglican congregations moving forward after losing church buildings

From Ohio-

Carla Long is overcome with sadness every time she sees the unoccupied church building in her East Buchtel Avenue neighborhood.

“It’s heartbreaking. That church has been a beacon of light in this neighborhood,” said Long, 46. “We always called it a hospital because it was a place where you could go for comfort and healing.”

Long is a recovering addict who found support at Holy Spirit Church when it was located at 825 E. Buchtel Ave. The congregation moved out of the building in July, after losing it in a court battle.

The Holy Spirit congregation is among five Northeast Ohio parishes that were displaced after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge ruled that the church properties they occupied belonged to the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio.

More here-

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/anglican-congregations-moving-forward-after-losing-church-buildings-1.257280