Local churches establishing their own time tables for reopening

From Massachusetts-

Not all of Foxboro’s faith leaders view Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision allowing conditional in-person worship at Massachusetts churches beginning this week as heaven sent.

“Personally, I was very disappointed and shocked that the governor would open up churches in the first phase,” said the Rev. Edward Cardoza, rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. “I think the governor’s done a very good job, but on this particular piece I think he caved.”

Baker’s so-called Phase 1 plan, announced Monday, permits churches to reopen their doors to worship services provided they comply with safeguards to minimize transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

More here-

https://www.thesunchronicle.com/foxboro_reporter/news/local_news/local-churches-establishing-their-own-time-tables-for-reopening/article_dd738408-2f69-57c6-a237-c7bc265819a1.html

Ahead of Massachusetts reopening announcement, religious leaders left in the dark Updated May 17, 1:33 PM; Posted May 17, 6:00 AM

From  Massachusetts-

At the Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist in Hingham, Rev. Tim Schenck has tried to be proactive by setting up his task force to discuss what a reopening will be like not only for his church but the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

Schenck told MassLive that the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts has also released guidelines that his church draws from. The Episcopal Diocese bishop said that there will be no in-person worship before July 1.

“We've been trying to just do this faithfully and with our eyes wide open from the start and we're going to continue that,” said Schenck. “I mean even when the state may well say, ‘okay, it's safe for groups of X number of people to go [back to church].’ Well, if we don't think it's safe, we’re going to push that back a little bit further.”

Church leaders are looking for ways to give sermons but also observe the restrictions set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the state.

More here-

https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/05/ahead-of-massachusetts-reopening-announcement-faith-leaders-left-in-the-dark.html

Virus Apparently Claims Retired Episcopal Priest

From Massachusetts-

Though it could not be confirmed through public health channels, the COVID-19 virus has apparently claimed the life of a retired priest who was affiliated with Christ Church, Harwich Port.

According to the Rev. Brian McGurk, rector at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church of Chatham, the Rev. Dr. Richard Ottaway, an Episcopal priest and college professor, died Sunday night at Cape Cod Hospital as as result of COVID-19. Rev. McGurk said Rev. Ottaway had been a member of St. 

Christopher's but joined Christ Church Episcopal of Harwich Port about 10 years ago as a parishioner who also assisted their rector on a regular basis.

According to McGurk, Rev. Ottaway’s wife confirmed that her husband had tested positive for the virus.

More here-

https://capecodchronicle.com/en/5513/chatham/5657/Virus-Apparently-Claims-Retired-Episcopal-Priest-COVID-19.htm

RIP: The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris, 1930-2020

From Massachusetts-

Dear Friends,

It is with deep sadness that I write to let you know that Bishop Barbara Harris died on the night of March 13, 2020, at Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln following a hospitalization in Boston, faithfully attended throughout by dear friends and upheld by the prayers of so many.  She was 89.

Our hearts are truly heavy at the loss of one who has been a faithful and altogether irrepressible companion, pastor and inspiration to us in the Diocese of Massachusetts for 31 years.  At the same time our hearts are truly buoyed by the hope which she preached and the conviction she embodied for us throughout all these years.

Barbara once wrote, "If we can believe that Jesus, who died, rose again from the dead, ... then we can, in peace, give over those who have died—known and unknown—to a loving, compassionate and ever-merciful God who has prepared for us a better home than this Good Friday world."  
With regret but with confidence, we entrust our beloved sister Barbara to that merciful and compassionate God, just as she invited us to do.

Our prayers are with Barbara's brother, Thomas, and his family, the loved ones and friends she leaves behind and all who mourn.

More here-

https://www.diomass.org/news/diocesan-news/rip-rt-rev-barbara-c-harris-1930-2020

March 11 update regarding Bishop Barbara C. Harris

From Massachusetts -

Dear Friends,

This is just a brief note to let you know that Bishop Barbara Harris has been transferred to a residential hospice facility.  She is comfortable and receiving excellent care there, and has friends in regular rotation at her side.  I thank you for your prayers which continue to uphold her, her loved ones and her caregivers.

In lieu of visits, your cards and notes are appreciated and can be sent to her in care of The Office of the Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, 138 Tremont Street, Boston MA 02111.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates

More here-

https://www.diomass.org/news/diocesan-news/march-11-update-regarding-bishop-barbara-c-harris?fbclid=IwAR2YallsBF4439xMlndLnHlC9cyogG2pkScAT8GVWoChDF590HmRMzK1hVY

ABRAHAM EXPLORED: FAITH GROUPS REVISIT SHARED ROOTS IN INTERFAITH EXHIBIT IN BOSTON

From Boston-

Just over a year ago, the day after the deadly mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, more than a thousand locals gathered together on the Boston Common to mourn and pray.

As Rev Amy McCreath, dean of the historic St Paul Cathedral that overlooks America’s oldest park, watched people of various faiths unite once again to mourn another national tragedy, she was hit with an emotional realisation.

“I looked out over the crowds of people, and it was so clear that all of them really want a peaceful future,” she remembered. “We want to work together against violence, but we don’t even know each other. Unfortunately, the odds are good that something like that will happen again, and we need to be prepared to support one another and defend one another."

That’s part of the reason the Episcopal cathedral agreed to host a new interfaith art exhibit that explores the faith and life of Abraham, the shared spiritual forefather of the world’s three largest monotheistic religions - and launched an accompanying interfaith book study to spotlight Abraham’s wives, Sarah and Hagar.

More here-

https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/features/13907-abraham-explored-faith-groups-revisit-shared-roots-in-interfaith-exhibit-in-boston

Old North Church, a cherished symbol, opens up about its link to slavery

From Boston-

The slender white steeple of Old North Church is a cherished symbol of American freedom, the place where two signal lanterns dispatched Paul Revere on his famous 1775 ride to warn the colonists of approaching British troops.

But it’s also a symbol of something else — an American reckoning.

New research shows that Boston slave traders who attended Old North helped build that iconic steeple, and that those parishioners were deeply entwined in a slave-smuggling ring that shipped captive Africans from the British West Indies to notorious Dutch plantations in South America.

Startled by this discovery, the vicar at Old North plans to revamp the tours there, change interpretive signs, and ensure that the 150,000 yearly visitors to this Episcopal church have an opportunity to learn about these newly unearthed connections to Colonial slavery.

More here-

 https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/10/26/old-north-church-cherished-symbol-opens-about-link-slavery/tOKwIqLkBgeujRLyWELPfJ/story.html

Winchester’s Parish of the Epiphany receives social justice award

From Massachusetts-

Every month for the past two years, members of Winchester’s Parish of the Epiphany, along with other faith groups, have gathered at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Boston and Burlington to pray, sing, and hold signs of support for the detainees. From inside the building, the detainees pressed signs against the windows, saying “thank you” and “we love you,” acknowledging parishioners’ presence.

But the social justice work of the Parish of the Epiphany isn’t limited to immigration; neither is it new -- the Winchester church has been active in social justice work since the 1960s.

In June, the parish’s long commitment to social justice was recognized with an award from the Episcopal City Mission, a faith-based organization that works with local groups on social and economic justice projects. The award, called the M. Thomas Shaw Award for Social and Economic Justice, pays tribute to the legacy and justice work of Rev. Thomas Shaw, a former bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts who died in 2014 of cancer. The previous recipients of the award are the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan, Diocese of Massachusetts Creation Care, Boston Warm Day Centers, and Grace Episcopal Church in Medford.

More here-

https://winchester.wickedlocal.com/news/20190906/winchesters-parish-of-epiphany-receives-social-justice-award

Western Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop Douglas Fisher joins suit challenging President Trump’s border wall construction

 From Massachusetts-

The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts is among the 75 religious organizations to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to secure funds to build an expanded wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

In his appendix entry to the brief, Diocesan Bishop Douglas Fisher calls Trump’s action “a clear violation” of the right of Congress to approve how funds from the U.S. Treasury are to be spend.

"The President's use of government funds for building the southern border wall is a clear violation of the Congress' power of the purse,” Fisher’s statement reads.

“The situation at our southern border may quite rightly be seen as a crisis as the President's policy shifts have stranded asylum seekers in Mexico for an indeterminate time. The impact of his change to national policy has endangered the lives of people who seek safety here. What has been done to the children under orders from the President, is immoral and an affront to human dignity. I join this amicus brief on behalf of the Episcopalians in Western Massachusetts who have promised to uphold the dignity of every human being."

More here-

https://www.masslive.com/politics/2019/08/western-massachusetts-episcopal-bishop-douglas-fisher-joins-suit-challenging-president-trumps-border-wall-construction.html

Nuns who own shares of Smith & Wesson parent company call for corporate human rights policy

From Mass-

The Interfaith Center, which includes the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investments the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary U.S.-Ontario and the Adrian Dominican Sisters, bought stock in American Outdoor Brands in order to have a voice as a shareholder in the company.

It’s a new technique activists are using to get their point across in corporate America. Episcopal Church groups, both the local Springfield-based diocese and the national organization, bought American Outdoor Brands stock for the same reason. The Episcopal Church must wait at least a year in order to put its own referendum on a shareholder ballot.

The Interfaith Center has also targeted Smith & Wesson competitor Sturm, Ruger & Co., opposing Board Chairman Michael Jacobi and director Sandra Froman after Ruger rejected any corporate responsibility for improving gun safety, refusing to even acknowledge the risks to long-term shareholder value.

Ruger has its headquarters in Southport, Connecticut.

More here-

https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/07/nuns-who-own-shares-of-smith-wesson-parent-company-call-for-corporate-human-rights-policy.html

Dover’s St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church to offer Open Baptism

 From Massachusetts-

On Sunday, June 9, at 10 a.m., St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, 18 Springdale Ave., Dover, will hold its first-ever open baptism. The open baptism service is available for anyone who desires to be baptized or have a child baptized regardless of their relationship with the Episcopal Church or any church, for that matter.

Holy Baptism is a rite of welcome into the Christian Church where the baptized are reminded of God’s love for them. Anyone who has never been baptized is welcome to participate.

Rev. Sean Leonard, St. Dunstan’s rector, said, “We are glad to offer this service to our friends and neighbors in Dover. Baptism is a wonderful moment in a person’s life where all are reminded of God’s deep love for them.”

More here-

https://www.enterprisenews.com/news/20190602/dovers-st-dunstans-episcopal-church-to-offer-open-baptism

Bishop Michael Curry brings a touch of royalty to Brockton church

From Massachusetts-

The presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, best known for his passionate sermon at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle last year, brought his message about the unifying power of love to Brockton on Sunday.

The Most Rev. Michael Curry drew fanfare at the Grace Chapel Episcopal/Anglican Church and The First Evangelical Lutheran Church. He delivered a sermon that touched upon the need for peace through the love of God, especially in light of religious hatred and bigotry that has resulted in shootings at places of worship, including at a San Diego-area synagogue on Saturday at the end of Passover, on the heels of the mass slaughter of Christians at churches in Sri Lanka last weekend and the massacre of Muslims at the mosque in New Zealand in March. Curry remarked on how Jesus twice told his disciples, “Peace be with you,” after appearing to them following the resurrection, and how that should be taken as a reminder to society.

“When the Bible repeats itself, it’s like when your momma repeats herself. It’s worth paying attention to,” said Curry, preaching his sermon at the 900 Main St. church in the Campello section of the city, where he was joined by several other bishops. “I don’t think that’s an accident. I think God’s trying to tell us something. ... What that love of Jesus did for them in the first century can still be done for us in the 21st century.”

More here-

https://www.enterprisenews.com/news/20190428/bishop-michael-curry-brings-touch-of-royalty-to-brockton-church

Episcopal bishop brings message of love from royal wedding to Boston

From Boston-

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry has a message about living a life guided by love and generosity, a life of giving more than you take and thinking of others before yourself.

He’s aware that some may tune him out.

“Christians go to church, they expect to hear something about love,” Curry said in an interview Saturday morning. “You can almost go on autopilot and turn it off — until you stop and think about, what are we really talking about?”

What Curry is talking about — what animates and propels the cleric who rose to international fame last year with his passionate sermon at the wedding of American actress Meghan Markle to Britain’s Prince Harry — is the idea of a love rooted in selflessness and genuine concern for others, not just lip service.

More here-

https://www2.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/04/27/episcopal-bishop-brings-message-love-from-royal-wedding-boston/74N4DaxlW0pOgRMG4LbvBJ/story.html

Bishop meets students, hears gas disaster stories

From Massachusetts-

The Most Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, brought a message of hope and love of God and neighbor to Lawrence.

He began his visit at Esperanza Academy, which holds classes in the parish hall of the adjacent Grace Episcopal Church. The middle-schoolers gave him a welcome fit for a rock star.

After meeting with the students and answering numerous questions, he headed next door to Grace Episcopal Church, where he listened to local residents' experiences of the Sept. 13 gas disaster. Many of those who spoke called for environmental justice and Curry clearly supported their pleas.

The Rev. Joel Almono, rector of the church, said the fires and explosions of the disaster destroyed 140 homes. Thousands of residents were displaced, he noted.

Yet the crisis brought the faith community together and clergy members of many denominations helped to bring pressure on Columbia Gas to fix the failed energy system, he pointed out.

More here-

https://www.eagletribune.com/news/merrimack_valley/bishop-meets-students-hears-gas-disaster-stories/article_cbd4363d-7f48-529b-9386-39d97594a61f.html

Presiding bishop of Episcopal Church to visit Lawrence April 26

From Massachusetts-

The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, will visit Lawrence next Friday.

Curry, the leader of about 2.1 million Episcopalians in the United States, is expected to be at Esperanza Academy at 1:30 p.m.  He will spend time with the students and learn more about the  education that the academy offers to middle school girls from Lawrence.

Located at 198 Garden St., Esperanza Academy is led by Head of School Jadihel Taveras. The academy's classes are held in the parish house of Grace Episcopal Church, which is just around the corner at 35 Jackson St.

Curry was elected presiding bishop by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in July 2015. Last May, his message about God's unconditional love went global and viral when he preached at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

More here-

https://www.eagletribune.com/news/merrimack_valley/presiding-bishop-of-episcopal-church-to-visit-lawrence-april/article_08c71273-c9a0-5eb8-b3a6-25f082c1beba.html

Passover and Easter — a divine double-feature

From the Boston Globe-

The Episcopal Church isn’t in the news very often. Even an annual spate of headlines — like the current one — seems excessive. Bishop Michael Curry stole the show at last year’s royal wedding with a charismatic sermon celebrating love. And this year, just in time for Holy Week, there’s been a flurry of attention thanks to a presidential hopeful, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. 

Mayor Pete, who left the Catholic church of his upbringing to marry his husband, is crafting a candidacy aimed at the Christian left, where there’s a wide-open lane. His status as a devout Episcopalian came up on the campaign trail when he wielded it to cut a contrast between his faith and the anti-LGBT policies of Vice President Mike Pence, another cradle Catholic, whose turn to evangelicalism shaped his politics. 

Co-opting Episcopalianism’s political pedigree is a sensible play. Inclusion has been central to the church’s “brand” since the 1970s, when it started ordaining women and declared that gay men and lesbians have “full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” The ordination of LGBT clergy came next — followed, in 2003, by the controversial election of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire. Conservative parishes who protested in the months leading up to his consecration would later split from the Episcopal Church altogether. In the colonial Connecticut town where I grew up, some families left our church for Catholic or evangelical alternatives. 


More here-

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/04/18/passover-and-easter-divine-double-feature/Ha2fDftKZqOc3fmgiRvmjK/story.html

Bishop listed in worst anti-Semitic acts of 2018

From Premier-

A speech by an Anglican Bishop from Massachusetts has been named in the worst global anti-Semitic acts of 2018.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed Bishop Gayle Harris at number eight claiming she fabricated Israeli atrocities.

It said: "During a speech in Massachusetts last July, Bishop Gayle Harris reported that she witnessed an Israeli soldier arrest a three-year-old Arab child on the Jerusalem Temple Mount and gun down a 15-year-old Palestinian teen in the back.

"After the Simon Wiesenthal Center exposed the claims as fabrications, Harris, the #2 Episcopal clergy in the state, backtracked, saying that she had only heard the stories from a third party (a Palestinian). 'The fault is solely mine,' Harris said. 'I was ill-advised to repeat the stories without verification'."

The human rights organisation claimed the fabrications "generated widespread outrage in the Jewish community".

More here-

https://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Bishop-listed-in-worst-anti-Semitic-acts-of-2018

Why our congregation gives directly to a church school in Haiti

From The Christian Century-

In August 2015 I stood outside l’Eglise St. Matthieu, a small church in northern Haiti, looking at a low rectangular arrangement of stones, concrete, and rebar that was supposed to be the foundation of a new school building. Beside me were a fellow member of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, Mas­sa­chusetts, and Père Joseph Tan­crel Diegue, a 61-year-old Haitian priest. We were all frowning.

Three years earlier, Grace Church had raised money to pay for the construction of classrooms for St. Matthieu’s School. With a new classroom building, the school’s five teachers would no longer have to try to teach five different grades simultaneously in the church’s sanctuary, a room smaller than a basketball court. Children at the school had carried stones for the construction. Workers had dug trenches for the foundation, poured the concrete, and set the stones and rebar. Now the foundation was covered with weeds, and the rebar was starting to oxidize. There were no walls and no rafters. No more money, either; it had all been spent, somewhere.

More here-

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/first-person/why-our-congregation-gives-directly-church-school-haiti

Massachusetts Episcopal bishops, Catholic leaders decry deadly synagogue attack

From Mass Live-

The bishops of the two Episcopal dioceses in Massachusetts are among the religious leaders issuing statements of support to the victims of Saturday's attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue during a baby-naming ceremony that killed 11 people and injured 6, including four police officers.

The statement from Bishops Douglas J. Fisher, Alan M. Gates, Gayle E. Harris, also pushed back on President Donald Trump's statement that the "results would have been far better" if the targeted Tree of Life synagogue had hired an armed guard.

"A ceremony celebrating new life has become the latest setting for the murderous intersection of bigotry, religious hatred and easy access to lethal weapons," the bishops' statement reads.

"We extend our deepest condolences, solidarity and kinship to our sisters and brothers at the Tree of Life synagogue and to the wider Jewish community throughout the nation upon the massacre today in Pittsburgh."

More here-

https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/10/massachusetts_episcopal_bishops_other_faith_leaders_decry_deadly_synagogue_attack.html

Feed My Sheep packs food for hungry children in Gardner and Athol

From Massachusetts-

Jean Kunzinger was on hand to greet people who were volunteering their Saturday to participate in Feed My Sheep, a multi-denominational gathering to combat hunger in the area. Kunzinger said 68 people signed up for Feed My Sheep on Saturday, and the crowd was singing as they packed food for those in need.

“It is great to see so many come together,” said Kunzinger as the room broke out in song with “Sweet Caroline.”
The event was the brainchild of a local activist who heard children were hungry.

Susan Hubbard, affectionately called “Old Mother Hubbard,” a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, said that she began bringing the project Feed My Sheep together after attending events where people gathered to pack food for the hungry in other areas. She brought the idea to her church to see if they were interested in making a difference.

“As a church, we decided that we wanted to do something more to help,” she said.

More here-

http://www.thegardnernews.com/news/20180917/feed-my-sheep-packs-food-for-hungry-children-in-gardner-and-athol