Retired reverend writes book on 'A New Way to be Human'

From Washington state-

He calls it "polishing the world." And "leaving a footprint of compassion."

With his new book and a lifelong history of working to brighten the world, the Rev. Robert Taylor is spreading a message of inclusion, goodness and spirituality from what was once darkness and despair.

His recommendations aren’t all that different from what parents might advise their children — create and share joy, don’t exclude anyone, listen carefully, discover similarities with others.

Kindness trumps everything, says Taylor, who lives in the Lower Yakima Valley. People don’t have to be divided by politics, race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

An author, nationally known speaker and leader in social justice causes, Taylor, who is 54, was also the first openly gay dean, or head pastor of a cathedral, in the Episcopal Church.

Born in South Africa, he fled to the United States in 1980 because of his outspoken views against apartheid. He then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York, graduating in 1984 with a Master of Divinity degree.

More here-

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/09/08/retired-reverend-writes-book-on-a-new-way-to-be-human

St. Mark's Cathedral 'healing' and looking for new dean

From Seattle-

The "Holy Box" atop Capitol Hill -- St. Mark's Cathedral -- has devoted three long years to a "healing process" after the tumultuous departure of its last dean, and is at last ready to fill one of the principal pulpits in very secular Seattle.

"It has been a long time," said Roger Valdez, a member of the governing vestry of the Episcopal cathedral, which has been one of Episcopalians' best-attended churches in America.
In becoming head pastor of this Seattle institution, the new dean will need the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job.

Or as the parish profile puts it, he or she must bring "a vision for urban ministry," a "heart for pastoral case," plus "a sense of the worldwide church unfolding in this 21st century." And there's this description of worship:

"While we are specifically a Christian and Episcopal community, we pride ourselves on our interfaith events, which draw Buddhists, Muslims, Jews and Native Americans to celebrate a deep and broad understanding of God."

Read more:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/St-Mark-s-Cathedral-Heeling-and-looking-for-2338515.php#ixzz1fNadvpVa

Bishop Warner – a ‘credible allegation of infidelity’

From Seattle-

The retired longtime Episcopal bishop for Western Washington has been barred from exercising his ministry following what his successor calls “a credible allegation of recurrent marital infidelity.”

The Rt. Rev. Vincent Warner served as Episcopal Bishop of Olympia from 1989 to 2007: Warner surprised the 2002 Episcopal diocesan convention by announcing he was divorcing his wife of nearly four decades. He remarried shortly after his divorce.

“I first heard the allegations several weeks ago, and promptly reported them to the Presiding Bishop’s office, which is the procedure required by the canons of the Episcopal Church,” said Bishop Greg Rickel, Warner’s successor.

“On Monday I received word that Bishop Jefferts Schori had restricted Bishop Warner’s ministry.”

Rickel said the allegations did not involve contact with minors or individuals under Warner’s pastoral care. The retired bishop had opened a consulting business in conflict resolution.

The infidelity allegations will be investigated and resolved according to canons of the Episcopal Church.

“The news grieves me and may be difficult for some of you,” Rickel wrote in a letter to the diocese.

Warner underwent a kind of post-midlife male makeover in the last years of his tenure as bishop.

More here-

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/09/30/bishop-warner-a-credible-allegation-of-infidelity/

Headed to church? Don't forget your iPad

From Seattle-

Over the last year we’ve seen iPads appear in restaurants, during meetings at work and even on-air on TV news anchor’s desks.
But what if they start appearing in church?
Kerry Allman is the Internet Strategist for the Diocese of Olympia, the Episcopal Church in Western Washington.

This week Allman took to his blog ‘Putting the I-T in Spirit’ and proposed just such an idea:

I may be going out on a bit of a limb here, but I would like to talk about using technology as part of the liturgical service. What I mean by this is the idea of using smartphones/iPads/Kindles for following along in the service.

With most churches already blogging, on Facebook and Twitter, as Allman sees it this would be the next logical step in spiritual digital communications.

Allman writes about one of the complaints he hears most often regarding his denomination’s worship practices and it is that there are so many books to juggle:

Now for us “cradle Episcopalians”, being able to navigate around a prayer book, hymnal and lectionary insert is part of the right of passage and joy (if I may be so bold) of being Episcopalian. But the reality is that cradle Episcopalians are a distinct minority. Many people are coming to the church later in life and many times from either another faith tradition or no tradition at all. So when a visitor with no background in the church suddenly has to wend their way through bulletin inserts, prayer books, hymnals (sometimes more than one) and anything else….well, the experience could be overwhelming and not in a necessarily good way.

More here-

http://www.komonews.com/news/topline/128817438.html

St. Augustine’s gets ready to dedicate new church

From Washington State-

St. Augustine’s in-the-Woods Episcopal Church will dedicate its new addition next weekend, a 9,400-square-foot, two-story expansion that nearly doubles the size of the church’s facilities.

“This is the parish’s commitment to the future with the same sense of optimism of the people who came before us,” said Harry Anderson, who as senior warden is the top lay person in the church.

“This will be our testament and our legacy,” Anderson said.

The new $2 million expansion includes an entry, fellowship hall, staff offices, lounge, restrooms, kitchen, storage and mechanical room, plus unfinished space, including the basement, that can be used later.

The project, primarily financed with contributions from the congregation, is perhaps the largest on South Whidbey in the past few years, Anderson said.

More here-

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/news/123139198.html

A Chance for a New Creation: An Interview with Bishop Greg Rickel

From Olympia-

On May 6, at Saint Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, Greg Rickel, the Episcopal Bishop of Olympia (Western Washington), participated in an interfaith service of prayer with Muslim leaders, including Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the so-called "Ground Zero" imam. At the end of the evening, he and Imam Rauf embraced, and shortly afterward, an audience member approached Bishop Rickel with tears running down his face.

"That has brought my faith back," he said, and the memory of that evening of encounter was still lighting up Greg Rickel's face recently when we met for a couple of pints near the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Helping to remind people of the life-saving elements of faith—or to ignite faith in the first place—is at the heart of Greg's career in ministry, first as a parish priest, now as one of the youngest and most dynamic bishops in the Episcopal Church. I was once Greg's parishioner at St. James Episcopal Church in East Austin, and our relationship was a vital part of my re-engagement with the Church and with my renewed life as a Child of God. My story is far from unique. Ask anyone who has worshipped with Greg or worked with Greg and you'll hear similar engagement and enthusiasm. In a world where too many believers are angry, suspicious, moralistic, and fearful, Greg Rickel is constantly reminding us that true faith is about love, forgiveness, and spiritual practice.

More here-

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Chance-for-a-New-Creation-Greg-Garrett-05-23-2011.html

Confronting Islamphobia – NY Imam to speak here

From Seattle-

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who wants to build an Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, will headline a conference on “Confronting Islamophobia” May 6-7 at St. Mark’s Cathedral.

Imam Rauf will keynote the conference Friday night with a speech entitled What’s Right With Islam is What’s Right With America, at the Episcopal cathedral on Capitol Hill.


The cultural center has generated controversy in New York City, fanned across the country by frequent denunciations on Fox News. President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have defended the right to put the center at its proposed locale.

Imam Rauf has spent 28 years as Imam of Masjid al-Farah, a New York City mosque.

On Saturday, the conference will include workshops on such topics as “Islamophobia in US Middle East Policy” — led by Kathleen Christison, a former CIA Middle East desk analysis — and “Sharia, Canon law and the Constitution with Sharia scholar Salah Dandon and Jim Brooks, a judge from the tribunal of the Archdiocese of Seattle.

More here-

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/05/02/confronting-islamphobia-ny-imam-to-speak-here/

Church prepares, delivers 1,300 turkey dinners to Eastside needy | St. Thomas Episcopal parishioners don’t let a little snow and ice keep them from an

From Washington State-

Despite the ice and snow prior to Thanksgiving, volunteers from St. Thomas Episcopal Church prepared turkey dinners for more than a thousand needy in Bellevue. It is the sixth year for the feeding program.

Hopelink in Bellevue helped identify those needing help.

“Thanksgiving at St. Thomas” began in 2004 when elementary school teacher and parishioner, Tammy Waddell, thought she and a few fellow volunteers at St. Thomas Episcopal Church should help Eastside people who were coming up short at Thanksgiving.

“I was inspired by a bishop of the Episcopal church to invite less fortunate people to Thanksgiving,” Waddell said. “I thought we could do something like that.”

Her crew bought, cooked and prepared complete turkey dinners for 100 people who had signed up through the Hopelink food bank in Bellevue. On Thanksgiving, they waited for people to show up and have dinner. And they waited. And waited.

More here-

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/community/112351199.html

Marysville church helps bees weather winter

From Washington State (must be a slow news day)

Thousands of honeybees received some help staying warm this winter.

Members of the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church congregation didn’t want to risk harming the bees by taking the hive down, so late in the year from the top of their church building. They were also worried the bees wouldn’t survive a cold winter. They wanted to do something to help.

So church pastor Mary Allen and members of the congregation started learning about honeybees. They contacted the experts at Washington State University Extension office, Beez Neez Apiary Supply in Snohomish and beekeeper Jerry Mixon in Shoreline.

They learned that bees keep their hive warm by rapidly flexing their wings and that they eat their own honey. They also received advice that they needed to winterize the hive and could help the bees stay warm by putting wood over the exposed side of the hive while leaving the bottom open so bees could travel to and from the hive.

More here-

http://heraldnet.com/article/20101130/NEWS01/711309915/-1/NEWS03

Bishop Robert Cochrane of Olympia remembered for evangelism, helping those in need

From Episcopal Life Online-

The Rt. Rev. Robert Hume Cochrane, sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, Washington, died early May 7 after a battle with cancer. He was 85.
Current Bishop of Olympia Gregory H. Rickel said Cochrane "had a profound impact on this diocese as well as the greater church. He will be deeply missed here, not only as a former bishop but, for me, as a wise and trusted mentor and colleague."

Cochrane, who said he "never expected to be in this position," was the only bishop in the history of the Diocese of Olympia to be chosen from among its own clergy. Early on, he identified evangelism and mission as priorities of his episcopate.

He will be remembered for his contributions to lay ministry, the connections he established with other denominations and his commitment to helping people in need, regardless of their religious affiliation, according to a diocesan press release. While bishop, he co-wrote the Episcopal Church canon authorizing lay Eucharistic ministers to take communion from the church to the sick and shut-in.

Under Cochrane's leadership, the Refugee Resettlement Ministry, an affiliate of Episcopal Migration Ministries, was created in the late 1970s as a response to an influx of refugees from Southeast Asia.

More-

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81831_122160_ENG_HTM.htm

First Hispanic female Episcopal bishop retiring

From Seattle-

The first Hispanic woman to serve as a bishop in the Episcopal Church is retiring from the Seattle-based Diocese of Olympia, talking of how she has "loved" being here but hinting at difficulties with the man who beat her in an election for diocesan bishop.

The Rt. Rev. Nedi Rivera, the suffragen (assisting) bishop, said that she and Diocesan Bishop Greg Rickel share the same goals, but are going down "different roads." In recent months, Rivera has spent one-third of her time doing double duty as interim Bishop of Eastern Oregon.

"I feel for the first time in my life that I am behind the times, slow on the uptake and out of synch with the future: I think I am part of the old order here," Rivera said in a letter released on the diocesan website.

Rivera was elected in May of 2004, and assumed Diocese of Olympia duties four months later. In 2007 she was one of five candidates for diocesan bishop, placing third as Rickel was elected. Rickel had served as rector of a large congregation in Austin, Texas.

The retirement of Rivera comes less than a month after the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. The convention ended an informal moratorium on election of gay or lesbian bishops in the church.

Already, in the past two weeks, a lesbian priest in a longstanding relationship has been picked as one of three finalists for Bishop of Minnesota.

As well, a gay priest and a lesbian priest are among six candidates to fill two jobs as assisting bishops in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

"I affirm each and every one of these candidates and I am pleased with the wide diversity they offer this diocese," the Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno. Bishop of Los Angeles, said in a statement quoted by the New York Times.

The Diocese of Olympia has been outspokenly in support of full inclusion of gays and lesbians in all church rule.

Earlier this year, Rickel welcomed a visit by the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire and the first open, non-celibate gay to serve as a bishop in the church. Until his resignation last year, a gay man, the Rev. Robert Taylor, was dean of St. Mark's Cathedral.

Rickel came back from General Convention facing a six-figure deficit in the Diocese of Olympia budget. He is faced with possibly cutting staff at the diocesan headquarters atop Capitol Hill.

More here-

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/175351.asp

Bishop Rivera Pioneers ‘New Model of Episcopate’ in Olympia

The Rt. Rev. Bavi “Nedi” Rivera, Suffragan Bishop of Olympia since 2004, was installed as provisional Bishop of Eastern Oregon May 23 at Ascension School Camp and Conference Center in Cove, Ore. She had been serving as Assisting Bishop of the diocese since March 1.

Eastern Oregon has been without a diocesan bishop since the resignation of the Rt. Rev. William O. Gregg in 2007.

Because church canons call for a provisional bishop to be elected and because an electing convention requires considerable advance planning, the diocesan standing committee opted to bring Bishop Rivera in first as an assisting bishop. The installation service was preceded by an abbreviated convention held in the context of a Eucharist.

“We did not want to wait any longer,” said the Rev. Nancy Sargent Green, standing committee president. “It was much more important to get her into this chair, into the hearts and lives of the people of Eastern Oregon, and let her be our bishop.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Bishop Rivera will serve a minimum of 64 days in Eastern Oregon in 2009. The diocese will reimburse the Diocese of Olympia for the time that she spends in Oregon.

“They look at it as a missionary partnership, giving of their wealth to the beloved brothers and sisters who are not quite so wealthy,” Ms. Green said.

Bishop Rivera said the diocese was in the midst of a transition and would need to consider new ways of doing ministry.

“None of us know yet what that will be,” she said. “They have called a bishop who they believe can (among other things) think creatively and explore new models of the episcopate, strengthen lay leadership, understand and embrace shared ministry and area ministry models, understand the culture of the Church in the West and collaborate with other small and rural dioceses. This first step of ministry sharing between two dioceses is a first ‘new model of the episcopate’.”

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/5/27/bishop-rivera-pioneers-new-model-of-episcopate

BISHOP SUSPENDS PRIEST AFTER COMPLAINTS OF MISCONDUCT

Press Release from the Diocese of Olympia

The Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel, Bishop of Olympia, has suspended the Rev. Lawrence S. Perry from his position as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, Wash., having recently received two separate complaints of sexual misconduct against Perry. In both complaints, Perry crossed boundaries that are to be held between a priest and a layperson. In neither of these cases was a child or youth involved. Perry has voluntarily submitted to Rickel's care and discipline and has fully cooperated. Perry has admitted that the complaints are substantially true. Counseling has been offered to all those involved, including members of the congregation.

"Please trust that as your bishop I take this matter seriously," Rickel told the congregation. "The members of the parish, the people who have been harmed and the Perrys are all in my prayers and will continue to be in those prayers."

Although the details of Perry's discipline are still to be determined by Rickel and will in large part be between Rickel and Perry, the following terms were reported: Perry will not return to Trinity, Everett; he will be suspended from the priesthood and may not function as a priest in any way; he may not contact Trinity, Everett parishioners, be on the grounds of Trinity, Everett or wear priestly garb. If any of the terms of the suspension and discipline are not obeyed, it becomes a matter for further discipline.

"A significant amount of time and space for healing in the congregation is necessary," Rickel said, explaining that the process to call a new rector would not begin until sometime in the future. With the input of Trinity's vestry, or administrative committee, Rickel will appoint a priest-in-charge in the near future. Meanwhile, the Revs. Robert Dunn and Wayne Bond, already exercising ministry at Trinity, Everett, have agreed to cover the liturgical and pastoral needs of the congregation.

More here-

http://www.ecww.org/news_detail.cfm?NID=544

Everett Episcopal priest suspended after report of sexual misconduct

An Episcopal priest was permanently suspended from his position at an Everett church last week.

Father Lawrence Perry, who has served as head of Trinity Episcopal Church since 2000, was asked to leave after two adult congregants accused him of sexual misconduct, said Norah Joslyn, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, which governs the Everett church. Perry did not dispute the accusations, she said.

Perry could not be reached for comment.

Church leaders don't know whether the two congregants plan to pursue the matter with police or in the courts, she said.

The suspension was effective Thursday, when Bishop Gregory Rickel met with members of the church to explain the situation, Joslyn said. The church has about 400 members, based on numbers from a few years ago, Joslyn said.

Further discipline is likely, Joslyn said. Perry likely will be suspended from serving in any role at the Episcopal Church, she said.

The Rev. Wayne Bond and the Rev. Robert Dunn, who both served under Perry at Trinity, are expected to preach and perform other duties until the diocese finds a permanent replacement.

http://heraldnet.com/article/20090512/NEWS01/705129884

Breakaway congregations form new Anglican diocese

At least eight conservative congregations in Western Washington — including two that left the Episcopal Church — are forming a new Anglican diocese in the Northwest.

The Cascadia Diocese, as it's being called, is the latest local example of the deep divisions splitting the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion over issues such as Scriptural authority and church teachings. The differences erupted in 2003 when the Episcopal Church confirmed the election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch — or province — of the 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Western Washington congregations are seeking to become part of the Anglican Church in North America — itself a newly formed conservative rival to the more liberal Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada.

The rival province was formed last December by groups that included four U.S. dioceses and a number of parishes that had broken away from the Episcopal Church. This new province intends to seek the approval of leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

(snip)

Other congregations involved in the formation of the Cascadia Diocese include several from the Reformed Episcopal Church. The Reformed Episcopal Church, which is not recognized by the Anglican Communion, formed in 1873 when it broke off from what later became the Episcopal Church. It has more than 100 congregations in the U.S. and Canada, its own prayer book and does not ordain women.

The rest is here-

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008976514_anglican03m.html