Episcopal Diocese of Rochester suspends Mass amid COVID-19 coronavirus concerns

From Rochester-

The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester announced Monday it is “exploring alternative ways to worship and meet,” amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

The Episcopal Diocese’s Bishop, Bishop Singh, announced that all 50 of the Diocese’s parishes must immediately “suspend the use of the common cup.” Bishop Singh has also asked the parishes to suspend in-church worship, and “move to worshiping online or with loved ones at home as soon as possible, but no later than Sunday, March 22.”

The statement released by the Diocese Monday also said that, “local church leadership should use their discretion and move all meetings online or on the phone and cancel/postpone gatherings.”

More here-

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/coronavirus/episcopal-diocese-of-rochester-suspends-mass-amid-covid-19-coronavirus-concerns/

2020 is here .... finally!

From Rochester-

2020. Wow.
 

There were so many strategic plans named 2020. Colleges, school boards, hospitals, businesses, even the village of Oswego, not to mention the Association for Strategic Planning, all have or had 2020 plans. I hope they went better than the one devised by The Episcopal Church just before the turn of the millennium.

To the credit of those Episcopal big thinkers, they reached for the stars: to double churchwide attendance by 2020. In fact, over the past 20 years the church shrank by 25%. In New York state, over the past four years alone, the Episcopal Church closed 3% of its congregations while overall average attendance is down 16% (Denominational research). Whoever’s job it is to go back and evaluate that 2020 strategic plan will have a lot of data to work with but very little affirmation when completed.

More here-

https://www.fltimes.com/opinion/cameron_miller/denim-spirit-is-here-finally/article_fd679ef8-44d7-50ea-ab71-27949b615724.html

Trinity Episcopal hosting sell-off

From Geneva NY-

You might say there’s an inventory reduction going on at Trinity Episcopal Church.

The congregation has moved from its massive building at 520 S. Main St. to the smaller confines of Trinity Place on Castle Street. The church also is in the midst of redeveloping the historic building into an events center, inn and restaurant. Thus the need to dispose of about 150 years’ worth of things, said Trinity Pastor Cameron Miller.

Church officials decided on an online auction.

“We’re emptying the building,” Miller said. “We’re going to worship in the sanctuary (after the building redevelopment is complete). (But) we’re not going to be able to use the rest of the building.”
The church already has dealt with some of its property, said Miller.

More here-

https://www.oneidadispatch.com/news/state/trinity-episcopal-hosting-sell-off/article_89772cbf-0189-52e8-9553-d52fed7bc3c5.html

Ties that bind — the partnership between HWS, Geneva celebrates 200 years

From Rochester-

In 1818, Rochester was a sleepy little village, as were many of the other towns in this area, and as he searched for a place for his college, Bishop Hobart dismissed them.

But he liked what he saw in Geneva. It was a booming, bustling place. It lay on the “gateway route” to the western frontier. It had a hotel, a municipal water system, a post office, a library, a church and a newspaper. There was an expanding business community and an active social life.

Most importantly it had an Academy. When John Henry Hobart, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, arrived in 1818, he proposed that the Academy become his new college. Bishop Hobart wanted to partner with a place that had local support and the economic ability to support a college that could become a respected institution. He asked the leaders of Geneva to raise money in the community for the construction of a stone building. This was the beginning of a two-century-long partnership with the new college and the Geneva community. It was a partnership the Geneva community actively embraced.

More here-

http://www.fltimes.com/opinion/guest-appearance-ties-that-bind-the-partnership-between-hws-geneva/article_1d2d665b-74e2-5e16-af5f-542e3e179b43.html

Episcopal Bishop Prince Singh, justice center official honored for aid to farmworkers

From The Diocese of Rochester-

Rochester's Episcopal bishop and the Worker Justice Center of New York's executive director were honored for their work with farmworkers during an event Thursday.

The Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh received the George Exley-Stiegler Award during the Rural & Migrant Ministry Dinner, held at Temple B'rith Kodesh in Brighton.

The Jim Schmidt Award went to Lewis O. Papenfuse, executive director of the Worker Justice Center, which has offices in Rochester, Albany and Kingston, Ulster County. Its work includes providing legal services to low-wage workers and advocating for institutional change. Schmidt, who died in 2012, served for more than 25 years as director of Farmworker Legal Services of NY, one of the center's predecessors.

More here-

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2017/10/26/episcopal-bishop-singh/804080001/

Episcopal Diocese sells East Ave. HQ for $1.2M

From Rochester-

The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester has sold its East Avenue offices and chapel for nearly $1.2 million, a deal that was finalized late last month.

The 12,000-square-foot property at 935 East Ave. in the city was sold to East 935 LLC, according to the Episcopal Diocese, which has relocated its offices to a space at  St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 3825 East Henrietta Road, Henrietta.

"These funds will enter our endowment and will be used to support such things as outreach missions and growth of our congregations," Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, bishop of the Rochester diocese, said in a statement.

The diocese began exploring a sale of the 100-year-old building, where it oversaw 46 parishes in eight counties, earlier this year. The area diocese has been based at the site since 1954.

More here-

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2017/02/07/episcopal-diocese-of-rochester-sells-east-avenue-office-chapel-for-12-million/97588818/

Forum Sunday set to address poverty, racism and violence

From Rochester-

The question of how to address racism, poverty and violence will be the focus of discussion at a community event Sunday that will include a keynote address by the top official of the Episcopal Church.

"From Nightmare to Dream: Overcoming the Unholy Trinity of Poverty, Racism & Violence," will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Integrated Arts and Technology School, 950 Norton Street, in Rochester. Sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, the event is free and open to the public.

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Bruce Curry will give the keynote address.  Curry is the first African-American head of the Episcopal Church's three million adherents in the United Stares. He is a native of Buffalo and graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren will join a panel discussion that will include Curry, other civic and religious leaders as well as youths from Teen Empowerment.

More here-

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/local/2016/11/04/forum-poverty-racism-and-violence-feature-keynote-address-by-the-top-official-of-the-episcopal-church/93290346/

Relocating for Mission

From The Living Church-

Two prominent religious institutions located two miles apart in Rochester, New York, plan to sell their historic buildings near the city center and redirect their resources toward mission priorities.

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (CRCDS) and the Diocese of Rochester announced pending sale and relocation plans about two weeks apart in May. The decisions respond to similar demographic changes.

The Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, Bishop of Rochester, is a board member of CRCDS, and he teaches classes in the school’s Anglican Studies program. In a letter to his diocese about the pending sale of Diocesan House, he described the sale as a liberating and mission-focused decision.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/relocating-mission

Rochester's Episcopal Diocese Plans To Sell Its East Avenue Building

From Rochester-

Another area religious organization is selling an historic building. This time, it's the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester.

The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, Prince Singh has written to church members letting them know that the trustees and staff are looking to sell the stately mansion they use for administrative offices on East Avenue.

Singh says it's not because of declining interest in the church. In fact, he says a number of episcopal churches throughout their 8-county region have been growing.  The Bishop says this has more to do with the fact they really don't need such a large building for administrative staff, since they are only using a portion of it, and the church itself, has a more decentralized model.

More here-

http://wxxinews.org/post/rochesters-episcopal-diocese-plans-sell-its-east-avenue-building

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

From St. Mark's Penn Yan New York

Bishop Prince Singh: Lent Can Be a Season of Action-Reflection

From Huffington-

Every year, the church reminds us to observe an intentional season of introspection during the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday follows Fat Tuesday and launches this season, urging Christians to engage self-regulation. It invites personal responsibility to partner and dance with corporate responsibility.

Without this bridge in society, we become all too easily a community that depends solely on entitlements where every problem becomes someone else's responsibility. This attitude has most consequence in the area of taking care of the needs of our neighbors locally and globally, especially in these difficult economic times. We are invited to be bridge builders who identify social problems and find ways to address them. I like to think of this as prophetic action that goes beyond demonstration. Lent can be a season of action-reflection.

More here-

St. Paul's pipe organ being restored to its glory

From Rochester NY-

Being in charge of a $1.2 million project to restore the massive, 84-year-old organ at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester has meant more to Matt Parsons than just hard work.

It has been a link to the past.

His great-great-grandfather, Gideon Parsons, helped build the organ, which was constructed in Boston by E.M. Skinner, America's foremost organ company in the early 1900s. His grandfather, Bryant Parsons Sr.; father, Richard; and uncle, Calvin, also have worked on maintaining the 4,474-pipe instrument over the years.

"My great-great-grandfather's signature is on some of the pipes," said Matt Parsons, 31, who is the project manager, "so that was pretty cool to see."

More here-

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110805/NEWS01/108050345

Area pastor heading to Tanzania to help kids

From Rochester NY-

Dahn Gandell believes in sustainable change.

The 45-year-old Perinton resident is practicing what she preaches as she embarks today for a two-week mission to Tanzania for Carpenter's Kids, a foundation run by the Episcopal Church that aids schoolchildren with supplies and other necessities.

"We need to do this," said Gandell, the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Honeoye Falls. "The gratitude becomes contagious. And I can tell you this after going there, that this really changes lives. Tanzania is like the U.S. in the 1950s, really very conservative and soft-spoken. Until you can form relationships with people, you can't confront issues in a really honest and truthful way."

Gandell and her husband, David Gandell, sponsor 50 children in Kongogo, Tanzania. For $80 per year per child, they receive a school uniform, backpack, shoes, mosquito net, socks, one meal per day, health care and other necessities. Each person who signs up to sponsor a child makes a five-year commitment to see them through secondary school. The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester sponsors another group of 50 children, while 100 others are supported by people in the Rochester area.

More here-

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110801/NEWS01/108010321

Diocese of Rochester ordains married man as priest

From New York-

Walking down the aisle Saturday at Sacred Heart Cathedral, dressed all in white, Scott Caton tightly held the hand of his wife, Bonnie.

He watched his only son, Alexander Scott Caton, recite Scriptures from Jeremiah, and his other five children take prominent roles in the Catholic Mass. Forty-five minutes into the ceremony, Caton knelt down in front of the altar as Bishop Matthew Clark laid his hands on Caton's head, signifying the bestowal of the Holy Spirit.

With that gesture and a greeting of peace, the ceremony marked the Diocese of Rochester's first ordination of a married man.

More here-

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110612/NEWS01/106120336/Diocese-Rochester-ordains-married-man-priest?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews

A-Team to Greece church’s rescue

Lest there be any confusion, this Greece is near Rochester NY-

After 80-year-old John Montstream went up on a 24-foot-tall high-lift to change light bulbs over his church’s altar, he joked that he had drawn the short straw.

But while Montstream went up on the lift, he is not alone in the work he does for his church.

A group of retirees meets every Tuesday morning at Trinity Episcopal Church to discuss the latest problems facing their parish.

They are also responsible for saving their church about $5,000 in energy costs and countless thousands of dollars on grounds maintenance.

The group calls itself the A-Team.

“We weren’t going to call ourselves the B-Team,” joked Montstream.

Montstream, a mechanical engineer retired from Eastman Kodak Co., organized with the other A-Team members to make the building more energy-efficient.

The team put heaters in the church underneath thermometers, so that the building would use less power to heat the building when no one was there. They also had a temperature controller installed on the boiler so that if it was warm outside, the boiler temperature would go down.

More here-

http://rocnow.com/article/our-towns/20107140302

NY court: Episcopal diocese owns church building

The Episcopal Church wins the property fight in New York (Rochester). From Newsday. (Lt. Kaffee didn't even argue the case. ).

In a property dispute stemming from the national Episcopal rift over the ordination of a gay bishop, New York's top court ruled Thursday that the Rochester Diocese can keep the building once occupied by the breakaway All Saints Anglican Church.

Trial and midlevel appeals courts sided with the diocese, concluding it was entitled to the property under the rules of the church. The Court of Appeals agreed unanimously Thursday, saying All Saints had agreed years earlier to abide by a trust agreement covering ownership of the property.

With about 100 similar cases around the country, diocese attorney Thomas Smith said this appeared to be the first to reach a state's top court, though a midlevel California court reached the same conclusion this week. "Hopefully this will serve as the binding precedent in New York and a valuable precedent in other states," he said.

More-

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--episcopalfinances1023oct23,0,580813.story

and here -

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1397075&sectionID=1

Rochester Church spat might head to Supreme Court

More on the Church Property suit going on in Rochester NY.

With about 100 similar cases in courts around the country, Episcopal Diocese attorney Thomas P. Smith said the All Saints case appeared to be the first to reach a state’s top court. The Court of Appeals is New York’s highest court.

At issue is whether the parishioners who built the church own it, or whether they simply held it in trust for the Episcopal Church of the USA and the diocese under the national church’s 1979 Dennis Canons, Smith said. “These were Episcopalians giving to an Episcopal church and not to a free church,” Smith said. “They’re free to leave and join the church of Uganda or wherever, but not take church property.”

The rest is here-

http://www.mpnnow.com/news/x2090106681/Church-spat-might-head-to-Supreme-Court

New York State Supreme Court to Decide Property Issue

The new York Sate Supreme Court is going to hear arguments on a parish property dispute in the Diocese of Rochester.

Arguments were scheduled Tuesday at the Court of Appeals. Trial and midlevel appeals courts sided with the diocese, concluding it was entitled to the property under rules adopted by the National Church in 1979.

http://www.amny.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--episcopalfinances0909sep09,0,3848409.story