The Southern Cross

SouthernCross The

A Publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida

The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida is a community of 34,000 Christians in 11 counties serving 77 congregations, 13 schools and the DaySpring Conference Center. Established in 1969.

Highlights IN this issue

3 From the Bishop 4 Letters to the editor guidelines: 5 H1N1 Diocese publishes policies

Bishop The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith Mailing address: 7313 Merchant Court Sarasota, FL 34240 Phone: (941) 556-0315 Fax: (941) 556-0321

in wake of swine flu emergency

Website: www.episcopalswfl.org In the United States, the Episcopal Church is a community of 2.3 million members in 110 dioceses in the Americas and abroad.

Presiding Bishop The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori 815 Second Avenue New York, NY 10017 (212) 867-8400 The Episcopal Church is part of the Anglican Communion, a global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams Lambeth Palace London WE1 7JU UNITED KINGDOM The Southern Cross is a member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Communicators.

The Southern Cross is published six times a year: January, March, May, July, September and November. Copies are shipped free to all congregations for free distribution.

Articles, letters, calendar information and photos are welcome. They will be used on a space-available basis and are subject to editing. Send all material (preferably in electronic form by e-mail) to:

6 On the cover: Leonard O’Brien covers the altar area with incense during the opening Eucharist of the 41st Convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida Oct. 9 at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center. Coverage of convention begins on page 6.

Photo by Jim DeLa

Diocesan Convention:

Congregations get apportionment break; deacons voting rights restored

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Deacons ordained

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Growing relationships

Two ordained during opening Eucharist of convention Community gardens feeding more than the hungry

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Señor de los Milagros St. Cecelia’s festival unites Hispanic community

23 Events Calendar

Jim DeLa, editor E-mail: jdela@episcopalswfl.org The Southern Cross 7313 Merchant Court Sarasota, FL 34240 Phone: (941) 556-0315, ext. 268

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Submission deadlines for upcoming issues: November/December: October 1 January/February 2010: December 1, 2009 March/April 2010: February 1, 2010 The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Diocese has exciting things planned for the future Editor’s Note: This is Bishop Smith’s address to the 41st convention of the convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida on Oct. 10, 2009 in Punta Gorda.

From Bishop

biennial National Association of Episcopal Schools in Tampa since our last convention.

Ten congregations have new rectors or priests–in-charge; and seven congregations have new assisting here are three The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith priests or deacons. Nine elements in my of our congregations: St. life that I hold John the Divine in Ruskin, St. Monica’s in Nain the highest ples, St. Andrew’s in Tampa, St Paul’s in Naples, regard. The first is being St James in Port Charlotte, the Cathedral of St. married to Mary Ellen.

Peter in St. Petersburg, St. Nathaniel’s in North The second is being a Port, St. Mary’s Bonita Springs, and St. Angrandfather to the best grandchildren ever. The drew’s, Boca Grande, have recently completed or third is being bishop of the Diocese of Southwest are in the midst of renovation or new construcFlorida. The first two are self-explanatory. I will tion projects. And St. Andrew’s, Boca Grande offer some comment on the third. will be received as a parish today.

I count myself as blessed to serve among you On Oct. 13, 1892, the General Convention as bishop. I have experienced multiple occasions of the Episcopal Church established the Missionto have my memories awakened here of priests ary Diocese of South Florida and the House of who remember serving with my priest father; and Bishops elected William Crane Gray as its first of both childhood and collegiate remembrances bishop. In his Episcopal travels he landed on of life in the church in this diocese. Being bishop Boca Grande and purchased land for a church in here is, in a sense, being home.

1908. Bishop Gray held the first service on Boca I believe we have exciting and demanding Grande in March of 1911 in the railroad depot. days ahead in this diocesan home of ours. We He recorded in his journal, “All who could crowd have much in which to rejoice. in were there, and many on the outside. I raised This year, including last night, we have orthe tunes, and the singing was hearty. It was an dained seven people to the priesthood and diainspiring service. Great improvements are goconate. We have six people currently enrolled in ing on, and I believe Boca Grande has a future seminary. before it.”

The School for Ministry Development is in Well, I believe it does too. Some transitions its second year and some students will undoubtjust take longer than others. edly be engaged in the ordination process for We have much to celebrate. Like in any the diaconate. This diocese is currently hosting home though, it is, of course true that all is not three Cursillo weekends annually. We have 15 celebratory. There are times of weeping as well.

Episcopal schools in this diocese of which two Some of our congregations have suffered internal -- Berkley Preparatory School in Tampa and St. conflict. Some congregations are suffering inStephen’s at Christ Church in Bradenton -- are tense financial constraints and uncertain futures. undergoing extensive renovation and new conAs St. Paul informs us. We rejoice with those struction. Those two schools, along with St. Mary’s and St. John’s in Tampa, and St. Paul’s School in Clearwater, all assisted in hosting the (Continued on page XX)

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The Southern Cross November/December 2009

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From the Bishop

(Continued from page 3)

who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We experience wonderful vitality and times of significant pain just like in most homes. And we are all in this together in our diocesan home.

After last year’s diocesan convention of 2008 I began to solidify some of my own thinking regarding some operational and mission issues in the Diocese of Southwest Florida. I decided that I did not want to wait until this 41st diocesan convention to inform the diocese of my thinking, so I presented these thoughts to the spring deanery convocations after discussions with the Diocesan Council, deans, and Standing Committee. The presentations were not intended to be detailed plans, as much as directions I thought we needed to go in for the

Keep the church out of national politics I just finished reading in the September/October issue of The Southern Cross about actions of the 76th General Convention; the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies urged passage of federal legislation establishing a “single payer” universal health-care program, calling for a federal law by the end of 2009, guaranteeing adequate health care and insurance for every citizen.

I think this is outrageous. The Church should not be meddling in federal politics, and this health care bill is most definitely political.

I would like to know how may of the bishops READ the bill. I would say none of them — they are too busy fighting among themselves.

—Beverley Albertson Sarasota

long-term life of the diocese.

At the conclusion of the spring convocations, I formed a temporary task force to begin addressing the questions to transform these directions into plans for the future. Its purpose was to think out loud and identify issues and concerns for putting into action these vision and mission directions. Out of these conversations emerged a vision statement around which to organize my and our thinking and energy. It is. “ Honor our Tradition, Build for the Future, Mercy in Mission.”

The congregational and diocesan topics do not just neatly divide into these three areas. There is much obvious overlap. But for the sake of presentation I will present issues in three distinct segments.

Honor our Tradition

We have a particular history in this diocese and particular ways of

Letters

Letters to the editor and Reflections essays to The Southern Cross are appreciated and encouraged.

We ask that letters be as concise as possible — with a 300-word suggested limit — and stay on one topic. Authors should include their full name, parish affiliation or city of residence. Anonymous letters will not be published.

All submissions are subject to editing to improve clarity and to fit in the available space for each issue.

Please send correspondence to: Letters to the Editor The Southern Cross Diocese of Southwest Florida 7313 Merchant Court Sarasota, FL 34240 Or send letters by fax to (941) 556-0321; or by e-mail to jdela@episcopalswfl.org

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institutional and canonical practice in the Episcopal Church. One institutional model is in how congregations exist. Our diocese has many healthy examples of the traditional congregational model, which includes facilities, ordained and lay staff members, ongoing program, and self-sustaining operating budgets. We need to be about the business of planting more congregations like these.

However, our diocese also has the need to try different and creative approaches for congregational life, which may include congregational clusters or team ministry models so as to make available the shared resources of people, funds and materials.

One approach we are currently involved in is a partnership with the congregations of St. John’s, Pine Island; Epiphany, Cape Coral and the Diocese of Southwest Florida. The intention of this collaborative effort is to share resources and maintain two healthy congregational systems.

This is not a new idea. The diocese, St. Boniface, and St. Margaret of Scotland have been involved with St. Edmund’s in a shared mission approach for some years now.

In these times we will continue to explore additional regional shared mission approaches. It is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of working together, sharing our resources, and mission opportunities in this diocesan home. We need also pay heed to the Emergent Church desires expressed in a new generation and pay heed to specific demographic shifts primarily in the Hispanic/Latino populations in multiple areas of our diocese.

We have extraordinary assets in buildings, finances, and human resources to manage in this diocese.

We do so within the context of particular institutional practices in which we can honor our tradition in (Continued on page 16) The Southern Cross November/December 2009

In Brief Parish to honor rector for service

Despite concerns over the H1N1 virus, The common cup is still the preferred way to administer the Eucharist, according to newly published diocesan guidelines.

The Rev. Sharon Lewis, rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Osprey, is leaving parish ministry to concentrate full-time on the Amazing Love Healing Ministry, which has held numerous seminars and weekend in the diocese.

The parish is hosting a celebration of her ministry there on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 1:30 -5 p.m. at Holy Spirit, 129 S. Tamiami Trail in Osprey.

For more information, contact Deacon Rocks-Anne Paul at the church office at (941) 966-1924.

Photo by Jim DeLa

H1N1 flu guidelines available for churches Diocese publishes help document for congregations As the nationwide concern over the swine flu (H1N1) virus mounts, the Diocese of Southwest Florida has issued policy guidelines for congregations.

As President Barack Obama declares the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, the diocese is publishing guidance for parishes and parishioners including steps they can take to prevent spread of infectious disease.

“There is much disagreement … concerning the issue of the spread of disease through the administration and reception of the Holy Eucharist,” the guidelines note while recommending several precautions: l All entrances to the church sanctuary should be equipped with the means to dispense hand sanitizer for everybody who enters and again when they leave the Sanctuary. l Administer the Eucharistic elements in both kinds and with a common cup. Intinction should be done by the person serving the common cup and The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Download the guidelines Get a copy of the Parish Infectious Disease Preparation and Response Guidelines for Swine Flu 2009-2010 by visiting the diocesan website: www.episcopalswfl.org/church_administration.

not by the receiving individual – the intention to minimize the number of hands within the cup and to maximize the opportunity for the person administering the cup to clean using hand sanitizer. l The passing of the Peace is another opportunity for the spreading of infectious disease. The diocese calls for clean hands and minimized body contact.

Sick should stay home

Individuals who may be sick with the flu should stay home – especially persons who lead worship, the guidelines say.

Clergy in charge should conduct training for their other clergy, deacons, and lay (Continued on page 10)

Retired clergy are invited to lunch

The Chaplains to the Retired Clergy, Canon Pastors Jerry Stadel and Larry Smellie, are hosting luncheons for the retired clergy, their spouses and surviving spouses. Ros Warren, from the Church Medical Trust, will speak about Medicare supplement health plans. She is a former social work educator from Great Britain, a Florida resident and clergy spouse.

The luncheons will be at noon at the following locations: l Nov. 12 at Lamb of God Church, 19691 Cypress View Dr., in Estero. l Nov. 13 at Westminster Suncoast Manor, 6090 9th St. South, in St. Petersburg.

Reservations are required. For information, contact the diocesan office at (941) 556-0315 or e-mail lhood@episcopalswfl.org.

UTO grant applications now available

The 2010 United Thank Offering Grant Application and instructions are now available at www. episcopalchurch.org/uto.

The United Thank Offering is a program of The Episcopal Church founded by and administered by (Continued on page 11)

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Bishop Dabney Smith delivers his address to the 41st convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida Oct. 10 in Punta Gorda.

All photos by Jim DeLa

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The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Moving forward Diocesan convention OKs adjusted budget with 9 percent apportionment rate; active deacons will vote in 2010

By Jim DeLa Editor, The Southern Cross

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he 41st diocesan convention, meeting Oct. 10 in Punta Gorda, gave its congregations a little financial breathing room in 2010 and restored convention voting rights to its deacons.

Clergy and delegates also approved an adjusted $2.8 million budget for 2010, lowering the apportionment rate parishes pay to the diocese from 10 percent to 9 percent of their yearly income.

The convention also celebrated by ordaining two vocational deacons at its opening Eucharist and recognizing a 100-year-old mission congregation as a self-supporting parish.

The budget changes, approved earlier that week by Diocesan Council, were presented to convention by interim CFO Anne Vickers. Responding to concerns voiced about parishes still reeling from the recession, she said the drop in revenue will be largely offset by the discovery that $493,000 in income from eight congregations who were late in filing their parochial reports were not figured into the original budget.

The new budget also increases the amount of apportionment revenue expected to be uncollectable in 2010. The revised budget also defers a previously planned $100,000 “2020 Grant� during 2010. The two congregations already receiving grant money from that fund will not be affected.

Vickers noted that diocesan office budget saw a reduction of $533,000, mainly through changes in personnel and program.

With the revisions, the 2010 budget winds up in the black by $3,000.

Apportionment under fire

According to diocesan canons, each congregation gives 10 percent of its revenue, based on figures from two years prior, to the diocese to pay for programs, ministry and staff costs. The diocese, in turn, gives 21 percent of its yearly revenue to the Episcopal Church. At 10 percent, the diocese’s apportionment rate is one of the lowest in the Episcopal Church.

(Continued on page 8)

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

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Convention

(Continued from page 7) Last year, as the recession hit Florida, Council voted to give congregations some relief by temporarily lowering the apportionment rate during 2009 to 8 percent.

The 2010 budget proposal, presented to the diocese at deanery convocations last month, assumed the apportionment rate would revert back to 10 percent.

Vickers told Council that the Finance Committee listened to feedback at those convocations and recommended lowering the rate to 9 percent. But many clergy say parishioners’ giving has still not returned to pre-recession levels.

The Rev. Joel Morsch, rector of Christ Church, Bradenton, told Council even 9 percent is too much. “These figures are still too high,” he said, expressing skepticism that the diocese will be able to collect even 9 percent from congregations. “Anything more than 8 percent will put an unbelievable hardship” on parishes.

On Saturday, Morsch repeated his intention to vote against any budget larger than 2009. “It’s excessive,” he said.

The Rev. Ted Copland, rector of St. Boniface Church in Sarasota, also urged convention to reject the budget. “While I support what Anne Vickers has said about accountability and accessibility, I don’t think the budget, as we have it, meets that test.”

“I think that the economic reality which our congregations face is not reflected in this budget,” Copland said, “that the programs and salary cuts that have happened in so many congregations have not yet been experienced at a diocesan level; that the sacrifices many of us made in 2009 indicate that we will not, in 2010, be able to pay 9 percent apportionment on 2008 money.”

The Rev. Michael Basden, rector of Trinity by the Cove in Naples, disagreed. “While continuing to keep the apportionments at 8 percent would continue provide much needed relief I’m afraid we will return next year saying the same thing,” he reasoned.

“Trinity by the Cove can support the revised budget with a 1 percent increase in 2010.”

Basden said if the apportionment would stay at 8 percent, it would be too easy for congregations to get used to it.

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Delegates at convention vote on a resolution Oct. 10 at the 41st diocesan convention in Punta Gorda.

“Congregations, mine included, would too easily slip into complacency and self-absorption …forgetting we’re part of a church much larger than our little corner. I support the budget.”

Pat Tuley, from St. Cecilia’s in Tampa, which she described as “the smallest and poorest congregation in this diocese,” told convention her church’s membership rolls have fallen drastically since 2008. “We just cannot pay an assessment based on 2008 income. It amounts to 20 to 25 percent of our current income.”

But Kevin Fitzgerald, of St. Mark’s, Marco Island, and chair of the apportionment subcommittee of the diocesan Committee on Congregation Development, said the recession is not to blame. “It doesn’t really matter what the economic time are,” he said.

“From 2004 to 2008, we have had 22 parishes that have failed to pay their apportionment. Life was pretty good in 2004-2005,” he said. “Whether it is 8, 9 or 22 percent, parishes will find a reason not to pay their apportionment.”

An effort to amend the budget lowering the apportionment back to 8 percent failed. The budget was approved in

a single voice vote.

Voting rights, resolutions

Convention approved five resolutions and referred two others for study Oct. 10: Restored voting rights of deacons: Convention restored the voting rights of any deacon provided they are canonically resident; have an assignment from the bishop to serve a congregation; that they have a written agreement with that congregation; and that they are not retired from active service (see separate story on page 9).

CDC’s name to change. Canon XX was amended to change the official name of the Committee for Congregational Development to the Congregational Development Committee.

Congregations in arrears lose rights. Convention amended Canon II to automatically strip any congregation of its right to seat, voice and vote at diocesan convention if it is in arrears in apportionment payments to the diocese. A congregation will be required to make a (Continued on page 9) The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Deacons’ voting rights returned Resolution overturns 10-year-old policy of avoiding church politics

By Jim DeLa Editor, The Southern Cross

D

eacons in the Diocese of Southwest Florida were given back their right to vote at diocesan convention, reversing a policy instituted in 1999.

The exact number of deacons that will be eligible to vote by next year’s convention is unclear. While there are 80 deacons currently on the rolls, not all meet the criteria specified in the resolution approved at voice vote Oct. 10. To be eligible, a deacon: l Must be canonically resident in

Southwest Florida;

l Cannot be retired from active service

(under the age of 72);

l Must have an assignment from the

bishop to serve a congregation; and

l Must have a written letter of agree-

ment on file in the bishop’s office.

That criteria whittles down the number of voting deacons to around 40, says the Ven. Dennis McManis, convener of the diocesan Deacon’s Council.

While many deacons are actively serving churches, some likely do not have current agreement letters on file, he said.

Decade-old policy

The practice of nonvoting deacons in Southwest Florida began in 1999, when then-Bishop John Lipscomb asked deacons to voluntarily give up their right at diocesan convention.

According to the 1999 diocesan journal, 11 deacons stood before convention and publicly “removed themselves from the political process.” After that, it became diocesan policy that deacons would be granted only seat and voice and convention.

Former Bishop Lipscomb told The Southern Cross his request was based solely on his interpretation of the role of deacons, “to not take part in the wider councils of the church but to be there to speak about the concerns of the world …

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

without being involved in the political machinations that can often go on,” he recalled. “And that was, in sum and substance, the entire conversation.”

It is apparently an unusual practice.

Only a few dioceses in the Episcopal Church keep their deacons from voting, according to the Rev. Dutton Morehouse, the editor of the newsletter of the North American Association of the Diaconate, adding his organization no longer collects that information.

“The feeling is that there are only a few dioceses that don’t permit voting and it is regarded as a non-issue for NAAD,” he said in reply to an e-mail inquiry.

A question of justice?

Clergy and delegates voting against the resolution argued it was strictly a matter of interpretation of the ordination vows. Those in favor saw it as a matter of fairness and justice.

The Rev. Fred Robinson, rector of Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, said a priest’s ordination vows specifically direct them to participate “in the councils of the church,” while no such directive is given to deacons. “I think that priests are to be a part of the overseeing of the Church and when we vote by orders we have those who are given the role of oversight as one order, and the laity, who are not given that oversight,” he said. “I Discussion revived in 2008 don’t know where deacons belong in all During adoption of a major revision of that but I don’t think they belong with of the canons at the 2008 diocesan con- priests.” vention, an attempt to amend the proposed But the Rev. Bob Wagenseil, rector canons to allow of Calvary Church in voting by deaIndian Rocks Beach, According to the cons was ruled said the diocese should 1999 diocesan journal, out of order but look beyond the prayer sparked a spirbook. “I was just look11 deacons stood before ited debate on ing through the prayer convention and publicly the subject. book and I noticed Conven“removed themselves there’s nothing in the tion did not debaptismal right about from the political procide the issue voting at convention. cess.” It soon became then, but inSo all you laypeople stead instructed diocesan policy that dea- c a n g o h o m e , ’ h e the Commisquipped. cons would be granted sion on MinisWagenseil said try to study the denying deacons votonly seat and voice and issue and subing rights is a relaconvention. mit a report and tively new innovation recommendain church history. “I tion to deanery believe it’s time for us convocations in the spring of 2009. to uphold …tradition and return to the The commission submitted a report norms of the past, and give deacons back detailing the history of deacons and quot- their obligatory rights to participate in this ing from the Book of Common Prayer, body by voting.” but could not agree on recommendations.

No deacon spoke for or against the Instead, the commission listed three pos- resolution during the debate. sible courses of action; Do nothing; allow qualified deacons to vote; or to allow a limited number of deacons, elected by deacons, to “hold the ‘Deacons’ vote’ at convention.”

At spring deanery convocations this past April, the Clearwater and St. Petersburg deaneries moved the resolution (2009-1) which passed Oct. 10.

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Hispanic ministry to hit the road Bishop Dabney Smith blessed two new vehicles at convention Oct. 10 to be used for outreach by the diocese’s Hispanic Ministry.

Health care professionals are needed to volunteer their time and expertise as part of a Mobile Ministry to provide health screening and education to poor families in our communities who do not have insurance or the financial resources to visit a doctor. Those interested can contact the Rev. Benjamin Santana at (941) 894-3117 or benjamin.santata@gmail.com or the Ven. Dennis McManis at (941) 556-0315 or dmcmanis@episcopalswfl.org

St. Andrew’s, Boca Grande, becomes a parish The Rev. C. Read Heydt, left, and a delegation from St. Andrew’s Church in Boca Grande, address convention after the century-old congregation was granted parish status Oct. 10.

The Rev. Cappy Warner, the assistant rector, praised the hard work parishioners have done to keep the new parish going and growing. “We have a very faithful, hopeful, interested, and committed congregation,” she said.

The parish has recently tripled its outreach budget, can support fulltime staff and is in the midst of a capital campaign.

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The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Convention

(Continued from page 8) written request explaining any extenuating circumstances to the Congregational Development Committee by April 15 in order to have their rights restored.

Conflict avoidance: Convention approved a canonical clarification that would prohibit anyone from serving on the Standing Committee and the Ecclesiastical Trial Court at the same time, to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Cleaning up the canons: Convention approved correcting several technical errors in the canons, which were completely revised in 2008.

Capital funds exemption referred to committees: This resolution would have exempted any funds collected in a capital campaign from the apportionment tithe to the diocese. Supporters say the current policy creates an unfair financial burden on churches trying to expand; opponents say the resolution’s financial effects on the diocesan budget would be detrimental.

Convention voted to follow a Diocesan Council recommendation to refer this resolution to the Finance Committee and the Congregational Development Committee to study what impact such a change would make.

Apportionment policy changes referred to committees: This resolution sought to modify the canons regarding apportionment; including exempting capital funds from being subject to the 10 percent tithe to the diocese. Convention voted to follow a Diocesan Council recommendation to refer this resolution to the Finance Committee and the Congregational Development Committee to study what impact such a change would make.

Back to Punta Gorda in 2010

In one of the last orders of business, Convention approved the motion that the 42nd diocesan convention return to the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center on Oct. 9, 2010.

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Election results The following people were elected of office at the 41st Annual Convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida.

Standing Committee The Rev. Doug Scharf, rector, Holy Innocents’ Church, Valrico The Rev. Doug Zimmerman, rector, St. Wilfred’s Church, Sarasota Joseph W. “Jay” Fleece III, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, St. Petersburg. (elected to a full three-year term) Sheree Graves, St. Peter’s Cathedral, St. Petersburg. (fills a one-year unexpired term) Diocesan Council: William L. Moore, MD, St. Peter’s Cathedral, St. Petersburg Steven R. “Rusty” Whitley, St. Hilary’s Episcopal Church, Fort Myers Diocesan Review Committee: The Rev. Barbara L. Muller, priest-in-charge, St. Cecilia’s Church, Tampa Ecclesiastical Trial Court: Jonathan D. Smith, St. Mary’s Church, Dade City The Rev. Benjamin L. Creelman, deacon, St. James’ Church, Port Charlotte The Rev. Margaret Koor, deacon, St. Nathaniel’s Church, North Port University of the South Trustees: David Dunn-Rankin, St. Mark’s, Venice (elected on second ballot)

Flu guidelines

(Continued from page 5) ministers so that they can lead the Holy Eucharist service as an ante-communion as far as the Peace, distribute Eucharistic elements from reserved sacramental supplies, and dismiss the people in a simple way. This practice, rather than Morning Prayer, is recommended where the Morning Prayer service is not common and well known by the congregation.

Sanitation in all food service areas is more important than ever. Restrooms, obviously, need careful cleaning. Outside groups meeting in parish facilities need to be instructed in proper procedures.

The guidelines also suggest that congregations can be prepared to take the lead if the outbreak gets worse.

“If large-scale immunization programs for the local community are needed, this is an outstanding opportunity to acquaint local residents with the parish.

It is encouraged to make facilities available to public health agencies as venues for immunization,” the manual says.

“The Church Insurance representative for this diocese calls upon parishes to protect themselves against liability risks by receiving a copy of the immunization agency’s insurance police and keeping it on file.”

The guidelines, available on the diocesan web site, also include checklists and emergency contact numbers should a regional health emergency arise.

Download a copy of the guidelines at www.episcopalswfl.org/church_administration.

—Jim DeLa

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Two ordinations kick off convention

Photos by Jim DeLa

More photos of the ordination can be found at www.flickr.com/jimdela

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The Southern Cross November/December 2009

For the first time

at a diocesan convention, two vocational deacons were ordained at diocesan convention.

At the convention’s opening Eucharist Oct. 9 at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Convention Center in Punta Gorda, Sandra Johnson, of All Souls Episcopal Church in North Fort Myers, and Aubrey Cort of Epiphany Church in Cape Coral, were ordained into the Sacred Order of Deacons.

Johnson is assigned to St. Hilary’s Church in Fort Myers.

Cort is serving with the team ministry serving churches in Lee County.

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

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Community gardens are popping up in Southwest Florida too, like this one at St. Martin’s Church in Hudson, shown here as it was being built in September.

This garden will yield radishes, beans and tomatoes.

Community gardens feed neighborhoods

By Phina Borgeson Episcopal News Service The Rev. Peter Rood, rector of Holy Nativity Church in Westchester, Calif., tells of being contacted by City Council member Bill Rosendahl, who wondered if it were possible to plant a garden in the atrium of his office building. The spot proved too shady to be promising, but before they knew it, gardeners from Holy Nativity and Rosendahl were talking about the possibly of turning 4,000 square feet of adjacent city-owned lawn into a community garden.

“The city of Los Angeles clearly knew about our garden and appreciated it,” said Rood, “but I could tell that they were bewildered.”

The Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles is a suburban area where not long ago covenants banned residents from growing gardens in their front yards. Now the Episcopal church at the corner of 83rd Street and Dunbarton is very conspicuously doing so.

Holy Nativity’s garden is among those churchbased efforts not only growing food, but also serving as inspiration and teaching centers for others in the community. At the Church of Our Saviour,

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Dallas, Becky Smith’s standard response to other churches interested in community gardening is: “Come and see.” Through participation in volunteer days, others have been encouraged to get started, including the planters of four new gardens in the Diocese of Dallas this year.

New gardening efforts began at churches around the country this spring and summer. Three new gardens have been harvested in the Diocese of Northern California, for example, while a fourth, at Holy Family, Rohnert Park, is planting a cover crop to prepare for next spring’s opening.

Increasing food security

The most obvious mission of these gardens is to increase food security in the congregations’ communities.

By mid-season, gardeners at the Parish Pea Patch, St. Luke’s Church, Renton, Wash., had passed their goal of 500 pounds of produce from their small garden. Combined with nonperishables collected from parishioners, more than a ton of food was donated to the Renton Food Bank, said Tom Bakan, gardener and parishioner.

Recognizing their efforts, the Seattle Foundation awarded them a $5,000 grant

for further development of their garden and related efforts.

At Food Pantry LAX, named for the nearby Los Angeles International Airport, more than 60 percent of people receiving bags of food have jobs and shelter but just can’t make ends meet, Rood said. So Holy Nativity is assessing yields per unit area in their garden and registering neighborhood fruit trees from which they glean.

The parish initiated a “Yes We Can with One Can” drive, asking all who meet or worship in the building to bring an item for the pantry.

At the northern end of California’s Central Valley, Anderson-Cottonwood Christian Assistance, an ecumenical nonprofit that manages a food bank serving a third of Shasta County, established a garden at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Anderson. The church supplies the land and the water. Community businesses and leaders supplied infrastructure materials needed in this first year, such as pipe for irrigation and deer fencing.

Individuals who tend 23 of the 30 plots donate 25 percent of their yield to the food bank, and the remaining plots are grown communally for that purpose.

(Continued on page 15) The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Gardens

(Continued from page 14) The twice-a-week delivery of 100 or more pounds of food has encouraged other home gardeners to donate their excess to the food bank, said Garden Committee Chair Lyle Amlin. “I estimate for each pound of food that we bring in from the community garden, the other gardeners bring in two.”

The Trinity Cathedral Charlie Comella Community Garden in Cleveland had a record month in August of this fourth year of their existence, said Scott Blanchard, garden leader. Volunteers at the four-year-old garden harvested more than 1,000 pounds of produce – potatoes, tomatoes, collard greens, cabbage, green beans and squash – for downtown Cleveland’s homeless and hungry people.

Gardeners see an increasing need for their produce. “Just this last year, with the changes in the economy,” Smith of Dallas said, “we have gardeners in our individual plots who have been laid off from jobs they’ve had for 20 years.” Some volunteers helping with harvesting have stretched home budgets and go home with food.

“Maybe we are being led to have a pantry on site, or a soup kitchen,” Smith said, adding that they must pray about doing more in this time of high unemployment. She estimated Our Saviour Community Garden would donate at least two and half tons of produce to the food pantry this year.

Good stewardship

Besides improving human health through increasing the availability of fresh seasonal produce, community gardens contribute to the planet’s health by reducing the miles that food travels from garden to plate.

Turning church lawns into gardens increases diversity in the landscape, and growing vegetables organically lessens fossil fuel inputs. Composting on site reduces hauling to and from the garden to bring in soil amendments and remove waste, noted Rood. “This means fewer big trucks burning fossil fuels and spewing fumes.”

Holy Nativity’s gardeners, in the Mediterranean climate of Southern California, installed cisterns, to capture water.

The Rev. Kenneth Kroohs of St. ChristoThe Southern Cross November/December 2009

pher’s Church in humid High Point, N.C., has been collecting condensation from the church office air conditioners to water their patch of tomato plants.

Many church-based community gardens are edged with perennials and wild flowers to encourage a diversity of beneficial insects. Church of Our Saviour maintains bee hives and holds an annual honey-harvest event.

Rebuilding community

Just as gardens increase the diversity of flora and fauna, they can bring together a variety of people from the communities surrounding them, some of whom might not otherwise meet.

Adult gardeners join with children and youth in the garden. St. Michael’s garden in Anderson, Calif., plans to welcome gardeners from an adjacent grade school next season.

In Akron, Ohio, the summer education program at St. Paul’s Church was rooted in the parish garden and community hunger concerns. Youngsters fashioned tomato cages, chopped cabbage for soup at the nearby hunger center and visited an organic farm.

“The children were delighted to work the garden,” said Sheila Svoboda, the church’s family minister, “and they felt a wonderful pride to see concretely the fruits of their labor.”

At the Our Saviour garden, youth groups from around the Diocese of Dallas helped with the summer Tuesday harvests for the food pantry. At Holy Nativity, a group of young women built new garden beds raised for accessibility, a high school servicelearning project preparing the way for a new group of gardeners.

At St. George’s Church in Carmichael, Calif., where parishioners and neighbors both have plots, a group of seniors from a nearby apartment complex are planning with their activities director to plant a winter garden to help supplement their food budgets year ‘round.

Deacon Bob Olsen at St. George’s points to one common success factor in community gardens: “I know a lot of our congregation who don’t have garden plots are excited to see what’s going on with the gardens, and when they talk about the garden you know they feel they are part of something bigger than our little church – that we are actually being neighbors to

our neighbors.”

Dallas’ Smith noted, “It’s important that churches do this to be externally focused, not to bring people in. We have five more members because of the garden, but that’s not the ministry.

The ministry is to be a part of the neighborhood and give back.”

Future dreams

When annual vegetables and flowers are a success, community gardeners may begin to think long-term, for perennial yields. Fruit trees at Trinity Cathedral’s garden in Cleveland are bearing in this fourth year of gardening. The Church of Our Saviour is putting in a new growing area, part of which will include a small vineyard with table grapes for the pantry and a row for making sacramental wine for the congregation.

Within a mile of the Church of Our Saviour, Smith said, 40 percent of the families have an income below $25,000, and the neighborhood is what foodsystem analysts call a food desert – that is, without retail outlets for healthful food.

She envisions an on-site market to sell the garden’s organically grown produce at an affordable price.

“I actually have this fun dream of pushing one of those ‘ice cream’ carts or driving an ‘ice cream’ truck,” through the neighborhood, she said, “but with our vegetables and fruit.”

-- The Rev. Phina Borgeson is correspondent for science and environment.

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From the Bishop

(Continued from page 4)

creative, coherent, and responsible ways. I call upon the Commission on Ministry, the Congregational Development Committee, the Diocesan Council, the Standing Committee, the deans, the clergy events planning committee, the clergy, the vestries, the ECW, and all of the delegates to this convention to think and plan creatively and strategically to honor our tradition for the growth and health of our congregations and diocese.

Build for the Future

DaySpring: The process of planning has begun for the return of the major operational aspects of the diocesan office to DaySpring. The diocese already owns DaySpring and having the official diocesan presence at DaySpring will positively influence the ongoing operation.

DaySpring is important in the life of the diocese as a gathering space that is beautiful and central.

It is a place where multitudes meet Jesus and each other. Preliminary conversations have started with the Manatee County Planning Department. It is essential that we proceed with an approach that is thoughtful and responsible. I have no need or desire to rush things. I want the decisions to make sense for us and for generations to come.

DaySpring should also have a larger and beautiful worship space for the needs of our multiple diocesan activities held there. The most important thing we do when we gather as Christian community is worship God through Jesus Christ.

Again, it is essential that we proceed with an approach that is thoughtful and responsible. Let me stress that the conversations for planning purposes are in the preliminary stage. I do not want to make decisions that will simply be reactive or that we will regret.

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I am furthermore convinced that DaySpring needs an endowment fund to deal with its ongoing capital depreciation and improvement issues. A very modest amount has been contributed for this purpose but, again, we need to pay continued attention to this need for the long term.

If the Diocese of Southwest Florida ever sold DaySpring we would never recover it. I believe we should use this gift to our greatest advantage. We need be intentional about program development, asset improvement and diocesan operational presence at DaySpring.

The development of a DaySpring endowment fund will only enhance these purposes.

The diocesan office move will include creating and maintaining an

official presence at our cathedral in St. Petersburg. This aspect is more readily available due to the construction already underway at the cathedral. Conversations are currently in progress regarding some designated diocesan office space, shared meeting space and School for Ministry Development functions.

We will keep addressing these issues more specifically as the particulars become more available.

Mercy in Mission

Episcopal Charities: I presented this concept and need at the October 2008 diocesan convention.

I noted that an Episcopal Charities Fund is an immense resource in many dioceses. I asked for 2009 Episcopalians to each contribute (Continued on page 17) The Southern Cross November/December 2009

From the Bishop

(Continued from page 16)

$1,000 to establish this fund for outreach.

I hoped that we would generate approximately $2 million by this invitation. It has not yet succeeded in a mature fashion. However, the current activity is in simply raising funds to build an Episcopal Charities Fund endowment so as to have monies available for outreach within and beyond the diocese.

The fund has been established and is now in the building stage. It is not yet significant, but by paying continued attention to it, the fund will develop into an important instrument for community services and outreach.

Last week, about 20 congregations participated in the Baseball with the Bishop night at Tropicana Field. About 700 Episcopalians gathered and the Tampa Bay Rays will now contribute $4 per ticket to the Episcopal Charities Fund. I would like to thank everyone who participated to help build up the fund. I thank all congregations and individuals who have specifically contributed to the Episcopal Charities Fund thus far and thank those who will in the future.

One particular present reality for mission is the need and opportunity in many of our congregational communities across the diocese for Hispanic/Latino mission. Today you will find a church bus and commercial type van that have been contributed to the diocese for these efforts. These efforts will include medical team collaborations, delivery of food, clothing, and other resources, and making worship available to our Hispanic and Latino The Southern Cross November/December 2009

brothers and sisters in Christ in targeted areas across the diocese.

This represents an Episcopal Community Services shared effort between Church of the Redeemer, St. George’s and the diocese. It is our hope to continue to identify existing Episcopal Churches in Hispanic communities and to establish a network of locations in which to develop a ministry circuit. The vehicles will be blessed at lunch.

Many of our congregations are dealing with issues of domestic poverty, food kitchens, refugee resettlement, homeless ministry and more.

The Episcopal Charities Fund will aid in mission initiatives and collaborative efforts for cultural issues and circumstances that are chronic, critical, or catastrophic. The financial resources are modest in the fund at this point. I now recognize that the development of the Episcopal Charities Fund will probably take years to become a mature asset for mission in the diocese. But I will continue

to address the need. One day it will help us have mercy in mission and then will continue to do so. I ask again this day. I will continue asking.

I am pleased and grateful to be in the Diocese of Southwest Florida.

God willing, I hope to be your bishop for a long time. We are in our 40th year anniversary. I would be gratified to celebrate our 50th anniversary together. The directions I offer are ones I believe we need to more actively engage in the next decade and beyond.

It is a personal joy being bishop here although it is not always fun.

There is an intensity attached to the office that is revealed in the fact that I do not have the power to make everyone happy, or to make believing Christians agree with each other on cultural and theological issues.

No, it is not always fun but the joy gives the gift of encouragement.

When I was a young man I went through a desperate time of spiritual self-assessment flavored by deep fear. I came out of it upon reaching the conclusion that Christianity is true, that Jesus Christ is alive, and that I was now free. It is true! I’ve never looked back. This is the life to which I have been called and where I will faithfully remain. Our faith in Jesus Christ is true.

I invite you to join me in committing for the long term in this diocese. We need to strengthen our resources because we have been called to serve here.

I believe we are called to: Honor our Tradition, Build for the Future, and have Mercy in Mission.

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Participants carry the Señor de los Milagros mural around St. Cecilia’s Church in Tampa Oct. 18 as part of the Lord of Miracles festival.

Photos courtesy of St. Cecilia’s Church

St. Cecilia’s celebrates Señor de los Milagros St. Cecilia’s Episcopal Church in Tampa held a Señor de los Milagros (Lord of Miracles) festival Oct. 18 with the help of the Hispanic communities in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

The even is a traditional Peruvian festival. Earthquakes experienced in Lima during the 17th and 18th centuries led the faithful to venerate a mural of the crucifixion in the Sanctuary of Las Nazarenas, Lima.

Every October 18 the streets of Lima are dressed in purple while the mural is processed through the streets.

Hundreds of thousands attend the annual event, one of the largest processions in the world.

The Tampa event started with the Rev. William DeLa Torre giving a series of medi-

tations on the Anglican rosary.

The Eucharist was celebrated in Spanish with the Rev. Barbara Muller, Priest in Charge, as celebrant and Deacon DeLaTorre preaching.

A copy of the Señor de los Milagros mural was mounted on a sedan and carried around the church grounds. The shrine, which required 6-8 people to carry, was organized into family groups.

The procession of about 100 people stopped from time to time while a meditation was offered by a member of the community. The celebration was topped off by a dinner with Peruvian food.

The event required hundreds of hours of preparation and careful planning with the Hispanic communities in Pinellas and Hillsborough County.

The Rev. William DeLa Torre stands next to the mural before it was mounted on a sedan.

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The Southern Cross November/December 2009

South Carolina votes to distance itself from Episcopal Church Episcopal News Service

Every dog has his day The Rev. Bob Wagensiel blesses a dog during the 15th Annual Blessing of Animals sponsored by Calvary Episcopal Church and Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue in Indian Rocks Beach Oct.3. More than 200 humans and pets were in attendance. Pet food donations were to assist families who love their pets and need food assistance through the parish’s Beach Community Food Pantry.

In Brief

(Continued from page 5) women since 1889. UTO is entrusted to promote thank offerings, to receive the offerings and to distribute the United Thank Offering monies through grants.

Projects that will receive grants will focus particularly on projects that implement significant change toward alleviating profound human suffering that the Millennium Development Goals address, particularly those that directly affect women and children.

Please print out, read and follow all directions in completing the application form. Grant awards are for projects that will occur June 2010 through June 2011.

Complete the application and send the original to: The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, Attn: Jan / UTO, 7313 Merchant Court, Sarasota, FL 34240 The Diocesan deadline for receipt of applications is Dec. 31. The original application must be received and/or postmarked by that date to be eligible for review by the diocesan screening committee. For questions or additional The Southern Cross November/December 2009

information please contact Jan Nothum in the bishop’s office via e-mail jnothum@ episcopalswfl.org

Forum to examine human trafficking

A February forum hosted by St. Boniface’s Peace and Justice Committee will offer a look at the problems of human trafficking.

Nola Theiss, executive director of Human Trafficking Awareness Partnerships, George Koder of the Clearwater Police Department’s special unit on human trafficking and Jordan Buckley, of Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida, will address the issues of those who are drawn into these situations.

The program will be held Saturday, Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Community Center at St. Boniface, 5615 Midnight Pass Rd., on Siesta Key in Sarasota. Advance registration and a donation of $15 to cover drinks, lunch and speakers’ expenses should be sent to St. Boniface to ensure participation.

A registration form can be found online at www.bonifacechurch.org or by calling the church at (941) 349-5616, ext. 5.

A majority of delegates attending a special convention of the Charlestonbased Diocese of South Carolina voted Oct. 24 to distance themselves from the Episcopal Church and to seek “missional relationships with orthodox congregations isolated across North America.”

About 300 Episcopalians gathered at Christ Church in Mt. Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston, approved four of five measures that, among other things, declared General Convention Resolutions D025 and C056 as “null and void.”

The two resolutions focused on human sexuality and reaffirmed the Episcopal Church’s commitment to the Anglican Communion. Resolution D025 affirms “that God has called and may call” gay and lesbian people “to any ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church.”

Resolution C056 calls for the collection and development of theological resources for the blessing of samegender blessings and allows bishops to provide “a generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church.”

Bishop Mark Lawrence told delegates that the special convention was a protest against “false teaching, that I have called the Gospel of Indiscriminate Inclusivity [that] has challenged the doctrine of the Trinity, the Uniqueness and Universality of Christ, the Authority of Scripture, our understanding of Baptism, and now, that last refuge of order, our Constitution & Canons.” The special convention was restricted to congregational delegations. Visitors and journalists were barred from attending.

According to the Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the diocese, characterized this resolution as “a withdrawal from some of the national councils of the church. It’s about as far as you can get but still be in.”

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Vatican proposal to welcome former Anglicans generates mixed reactions

By Sharon Sheridan Episcopal News Service The Oct. 20 announcement that Pope Benedict XVI plans to allow provisions to accept groups of former Anglicans who wish to join the Roman Catholic Church prompted a flurry of speculation and comment across the Episcopal Church and beyond.

While some applauded or panned the proposal, others cautioned that full details remain to be disclosed. The press release from the Vatican announced the preparation of an “Apostolic Constitution” to allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Roman Catholic Church while preserving elements of Anglican spirituality and liturgy, with pastoral oversight and guidance provided through a “personal ordinariate” and provisions for married former Anglican clergy to be ordained as Catholic priests.

“It is difficult … to make precise comment upon this until one has seen the actual text of what the pope is going to say,” said the Rev. Robert Wright, professor of ecclesiastical history at General Theological Seminary in New York, in a telephone interview. “So far, all we have is a vague sort of press release. It leaves open a lot of questions. Does it mean that they are prepared to recognize the Anglican orders of priests who convert or not? … Anglican orders were called invalid in 1896 by a papal bull. Does this mean this invalidation is going to be lifted?”

Another question Wright asks is: “Does it mean that clergy would be taken in without a corresponding group of lay people, or is this something that is intended to apply primarily to … parish groups or even dioceses of people who want to convert, as it were, in groups?”

The offer to accept married priests is “nothing new,” Wright also noted. “The Roman Church has been willing to accept married priests from the Anglican tradition for many years. What is not specified is what kind of training and examination they would have to go through.”

“The probability is that there will be very strict guidelines of examination of such people and what they need to know and what they need to agree to,”

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he said. “My impression about this [announcement] is that it is primarily aimed at England, rather than at America. I think it is significant that they chose to release it in England, not in the USA.” In a statement from the Episcopal Church, Bishop Christopher Epting, ecumenical and interfaith officer, said that the announcement “reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally ... We are in dialogue with the [Archbishop of Canterbury’s] office and will, in the coming days, continue to explore the full implications of this in our ecumenical relations.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols released a joint statement at an Oct. 20 press conference in London. They said that the announcement of the Apostolic Constitution “is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church. The announcement of this Apostolic Constitution brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church.”

Welcomes in both directions

While the pope extended a welcome to former Anglicans, Episcopalians likewise welcomed former Roman Catholics.

“We appreciate the welcome the pope extended to those in the Anglican Communion who are disaffected,” New York Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam said in an e-mailed statement. “We for our part continue to welcome our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, both lay and ordained, conservative and liberal, who wish to belong to a church that treasures diversity of thought.”

Executive Council member Katie Sherrod of the continuing Diocese of

Forth Worth is among the Episcopal Church’s former Roman Catholics.

“I watch with bemusement as Episcopalians leave our church to go to one that’s much more rigid and exclusive,” she said in a telephone interview. “I hope they find what they’re looking for there, but I have a feeling that some of the people who might think this arrangement will be different are going to be in for a surprise.”

“It looks to me, just from all of the news coverage … it’s going to have a bigger impact in the Church of England than it will in the Episcopal Church,” she said.

“At the heart of this, it comes down to the ordination of women in most cases. And even their objection to gays and lesbians, that’s also rooted in sexism, if you trace it back to its roots.”

She predicted it would form a split in the Anglican Church in North America, composed mainly of groups who have left the Episcopal Church, noting “cracks” already appearing in the group over differing views about ordaining women.

“I welcome the news,” the Very Rev. Samuel Candler, dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, wrote on his blog. “In the past 10 years, I have noticed many of my disenchanted Episcopal and Anglican friends drifting toward Roman Catholic structures. They have been arguing for more ecclesiastical order and authority.

It has long been my prediction that our current Anglican controversies will be cleared up, finally, with a choice between distinctly Anglican and distinctly Roman ecclesiologies. Much of our current controversy, having been precipitated by sexuality issues (ordination of women and homosexuality), is more accurately about authority, uniformity and legal order. …

[I]t is gratifying that the best centralized and universal jurisdiction in the world -the Roman Catholic Church -- has been able to make provisions to welcome such disenchanted Anglicans.”

“I believe there is room in the kingdom of God for various ecclesiastical styles,” he concluded, “and I pray that God will direct us all to a place where we can more freely preach the Gospel and work toward the kingdom of God.”

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

In Brief Connecticut elects Douglas as next bishop

The Rev. Dr. Ian T. Douglas of Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, was elected Oct. 24 as 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, pending the required consents.

Douglas, 51, Angus Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity at EDS, was elected on the second ballot out of a field of four nominees. He received 150 votes (121 needed to elect) in the lay order and 169 (140 needed to elect) in the clergy order.

His election marks the first time in the diocese’s 224-year history that a priest from outside of the diocese has been elected bishop.

Douglas will succeed Bishop Diocesan Andrew Smith, who has served the diocese since 1999 and will retire in January 2010.

Douglas is a member of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council, which carries out programs and policies adopted by General Convention. He is the church’s clergy representative on the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Communion’s most representative decisionmaking body which includes bishops, clergy and laity.

“Broad center” bishops confer at Lambeth

Describing themselves as representing the “broad center” of the Episcopal Church, six bishops were welcomed Oct. 23 as guests of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at his London residence, Lambeth Palace.

“Our message was to say that the Episcopal Church is not a perfect church, but … it is alive, it is well, it is vital, it is pursuing the mission that God has set before it,” said Bishop Clifton Daniel of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina in an interview with ENS following the meeting. Daniel was joined by bishops Michael Curry of North Carolina, Stacy Sauls of Lexington (Kentucky), Neff Powell of Southwestern Virginia, Assistant Bishop William Gregg and Assisting Bishop Chip Marble, both of North Carolina.

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

From Episcopal News Service

During their 90-minute meeting, the church leaders discussed a variety of topics and concerns facing the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, including the development of an Anglican covenant, cross-provincial interventions, human sexuality issues, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Episcopal Church’s focus on domestic and global mission.

Fort Worth poised to ordain first woman priest

Thirty-three years after the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and to the episcopate, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, is following suit.

The Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick Jr., bishop of Kentucky and provisional bishop of Fort Worth, is set to ordain the Rev. Susan Slaughter to the priesthood on Nov. 15 at St. Luke’s in the Meadow Episcopal Church, where she currently serves as deacon.

Slaughter will become the first woman ordained to the priesthood in the history of the diocese, founded in 1983.

She will also become the first woman to serve as rector of a diocesan parish — also at St. Luke’s in the Meadow.

The continuing diocese reorganized in February 2009 with Gulick as provisional bishop.

Georgia wins ruling over disputed property

A judge has sided with the Diocese of Georgia over the ownership of a parish property two years after the congregation announced its break form the Episcopal Church.

The Chatham County Court on Oct. 27 ruled that the property of Christ Episcopal Church in Savannah must be used for the mission of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia following some two years of litigation with the breakaway congregation.

The dispute began in 2006 when the church’s former rector and members of the vestry “covertly and without prior notice ... changed the church’s articles of incorporation to disavow Christ Church’s 217-year affiliation with The Episcopal

Church,” according to the continuing congregation’s website.

The vestry had voted unanimously to place the congregation under the care of John Guernsey, a former Episcopal priest who had been consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of the Province of Uganda.

S.C. to distance itself from Episcopal Church

A majority of delegates attending a special convention of the Charlestonbased Diocese of South Carolina voted Oct. 24 to distance themselves from the Episcopal Church and to seek “missional relationships with orthodox congregations isolated across North America.”

About 300 Episcopalians gathered at Christ Church in Mt. Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston, approved four of five measures that, among other things, declared General Convention Resolutions D025 and C056 as “null and void.”

The two resolutions focused on human sexuality and reaffirmed the Episcopal Church’s commitment to the Anglican Communion. Resolution D025 affirms “that God has called and may call” gay and lesbian people “to any ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church.”

Resolution C056 calls for the collection and development of theological resources for the blessing of same-gender blessings and allows bishops to provide “a generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church.”

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina told delegates that the special convention was a protest against “false teaching, that I have called the Gospel of Indiscriminate Inclusivity [that] has challenged the doctrine of the Trinity, the Uniqueness and Universality of Christ, the Authority of Scripture, our understanding of Baptism, and now, that last refuge of order, our Constitution & Canons.” The special convention was restricted to congregational delegations.

Visitors and journalists were barred from attending.

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Books

50 Ways to Help Save the Earth — How You and Your Church Can Make a Difference, by Rebecca Barnes-Davies, from Westminster John Knox Press, 125 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $14.95.

This guide outlines 50 ways in which you, your congregation, and your local community can help fight global warming and enjoy participation in a vital part of Christian discipleship.

50 Ways to Help Save the Earth makes a clear connection, in a practical and unintimidating way, between stewardship of the earth and living one’s faith. This easy-to-follow book consists of seven chapters on topics related to global climate change: Water, Energy, Transportation, Food and Agriculture, People, Other Species, and Wilderness and Land Planning.

Each chapter begins with a statement on how the content relates to global warming, followed by seven action items ranging from individual efforts to activities that encourage the involvement of the congregational and wider communities.

With illustrations throughout, Rebecca Barnes-Davies’s book offers a lighthearted way to address global warming while teaching us to reshape our lives to honor rather than destroy God’s creation.

Your Faith, Your Life — An Invitation to The Episcopal Church, by Jenifer Gamber, with Bill Lewellis, from Church Publishing, Inc., 202 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $15.

An everything-you-need-to-know guide for newcomers to engage deeply in the Christian life in the tradition of the Episcopal Church, written in an accessible, conversational style.

This book will carefully present the Episcopal Church’s language of worship theology church structure and sacraments so newcomers will have the vocabulary to share their beliefs and practices, explore the Bible, understand prayer and discern their own ministry within the church.

Similar in format to the earlier book for teens, this new book will draw on the

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success of the teen book by retaining its broad content areas as well as its clear and simple language, while inviting readers to consider their relationship with God and the church community as an ongoing process of transformation and providing a way to engage in that process.

Joy in Disguise — Meeting Jesus in the Dark Times, by Edward S. Little, from Church Publishing, Inc., 151 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $18.

How can Paul rejoice when he’s got nothing to rejoice about? How can he talk about joy when he’s in prison? This book follows Paul as he writes to his friends in Philippi, helping us to understand his experience of joy as a totally consuming emotion.

Paul highlights four reasons why joy fills his heart: because of the Gospel partnership he shares with his friends in Philippi; because of the unity that they experience in Christ; because of their confidence in Jesus; and because God has given them peace beyond understanding.

These themes correspond with the four chapters of the letter, and form the organizing principle of this book.

“Bishop Ed Little’s wonderful and rich meditation on St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is an outstanding commentary on the theme of joy in all circumstances of life,” said Lord Carey of Clifton, archbishop of Canterbury, 1991-2002.

Three Cups of Tea — Young Reader’s Edition by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, adapted by Sarah Thomson, from Penguin Group, foreword by Jane Goodall, 209 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $8.99.

This young readers edition of the worldwide bestseller Three Cups of Tea has been specially adapted for younger readers and updated by Greg Mortenson to bring his remarkable story of humanitarianism up to date for the present. Includes new photos and illustrations, as well as a special interview by Greg’s 12-year-old daughter, Amira, who has traveled with her father as an advocate for the Pennies for Peace program for children.

A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story, by Diane Butler Bass, from HarperCollins Publishers, 353 pages, hardcover, c. 2009, $25.99.

For too long, the history of Christianity has been told as the triumph of orthodox doctrine imposed through power and hierarchy. In A People’s History of Christianity, historian and religion expert Diana Butler Bass reveals an alternate history that includes a deep social ethic and far-reaching inclusiveness: “the other side of the story” is not a modern phenomenon, but has always been practiced within the church. Butler Bass persuasively argues that corrective — even subversive — beliefs and practices have always been hallmarks of Christianity and are necessary to nourish communities of faith.

In the same spirit as Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking work The People’s History of the United States, Butler Bass’s A People’s History of Christianity brings to life the movements, personalities, and spiritual disciplines that have always informed and ignited Christian worship and social activism.

A People’s History of Christianity authenticates the vital, emerging Christian movements of our time, providing the historical evidence that celebrates these movements as thoroughly Christian and faithful to the mission and message of Jesus.

The Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education, edited by Sharon Ely Pearson and Robyn Szoke, from Church Publishing, Inc., 328 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $24.

While this one-volume guide is especially useful for Christian educators, showing them how to teach week by week according to the ethos and tradition of the Episcopal Church, it also provides a valuable and useful reference tool for all church leaders and members in connecting Christian faith to daily life.

This new guide to Christian education and formation is based on the Book of Common Prayer, the cornerstone of Anglican liturgy and theology. Keyed to the Revised Common Lectionary, all activities and lessons are structured on the seasons and lessons for Years A, B, and C. —To order any of these book, go to Episcopal Books and Resources, online at /www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Calendar

Special Events

Meetings

Canterbury Faire. Nov. 7–8, at Church of the Good Shepherd, 401 W. Henry St., in Punta Gorda. An annual event with a medieval theme with games, crafters, vendors, food and entertainment. Fun for the entire family. Admission is free. Contact Judy Quinn at (941) 625-8780.

Episcopal Church Women Annual Meeting. Nov. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at DaySpring Conference Center near Ellenton.

The ECW Diocesan Executive Board invites the women of the diocese to its 39th annual meeting. Guest speaker will be The Rev. Dr. Ellen Sloan, rector of St. Michael’s and All Angels, Sanibel. Ellen was the ECW Triennial Chaplain in Anaheim this past July. The cost is $25. Contact Florence Holden at fholden01@gmail.com or (727) 992-4521.

YouthQuake 2009: Convergence. Nov. 14, from 3-9 p.m. at the Christian Retreat Center, 1200 Glory Way Blvd., in Bradenton. An ecumenical one-day youth event presented by Acts29 Ministries. Cost is $25, which includes dinner. Featured speaker is Jonathan Hansen, missionary intercessor at the International House of Prayer in Atlanta. For more information on this program, visit http://youthquake.a29.com/convergence. Contact: Candy Stott at designedinteriors@tamapbay.rr.com Canterbury Faire. Nov. 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.. at the Church of St. Andrew’s, 2301 Deltona Blvd., in Spring Hill. The fair will include many events, games, food, beverages and a silent auction. Contact Gail Niedurny at (352) 686-0809.

Blue Christmas service. Dec. 21, at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1676 S. Belcher Rd., in Clearwater. A Service of Solace or Longest Night. People who are struggling with Christmas and friends who support them are invited to come and sit with one another in a liturgy that speaks of the love of God for the grieving — a service that reminds us of the most gracious God who is always with us in our time of need. Contact the church office at (727) 531-6020.

Training/Workshops/Retreats Recovery Weekend. Nov. 21–22 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1676 S. Belcher Rd., in Clearwater. St. John’s celebrates Recovery Weekend. Each service that weekend will have witnesses by people who, by God’s grace, are in recovery from some form of addiction. There will be special prayers and readings. For service times go to www.stjohnsclearwater.org. Contact the church office at (727) 531-6020.

Advent Retreat with The Order of Julian of Norwich. Dec. 4–6 at DaySpring Conference Center in Parrish. Facilitated by Mother Hilary Crupi, OJN, and Sister Mary Jude Voorhees, OJN. Contact: Sister Mary Jude Voorhees by e-mail at maryjude@ orderofjulian.org.

Healing Conference. Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. Wilfred Episcopal Church, 3773 Wilkinson Rd. in Sarasota.

The conference, titled “Bondage to Freedom,” will be led by Dr. Kathleen Jones-Baze, Ph.D and chaplain, OSL, St. Wilfred Episcopal Church. Cost is $20.Contact the church office at (941) 924-7436 or Kathleen Jones-Baze at (941) 320-6717.

The Southern Cross November/December 2009

Standing Committee meeting. Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. at the diocesan office, 7313 Merchant Court, Sarasota. Regularly scheduled meeting of the committee. Contact Karen Patterson.

Commission on Ministry Meeting. Nov. 19, at 5 p.m. at Diocesan House, 7313 Merchant Court, Sarasota. Regularly scheduled meeting. Contact: The Rev. Mike Branscombe at mikeb@churchofascension.org.

Diocesan Council Meeting. Nov. 21, at 9 a.m. at DaySpring Conference Center near Ellenton. Scheduled meeting of Council.

Parish plans for mortgages, loans, etc. should be submitted to the Finance Committee 30 days in advance. Contact the Rev. Canon Michael Durning at (941) 556-0315, ext. 271.

Congregational Development Committee Meeting. Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church, 8700 State Road 72 in Sarasota. Regularly scheduled bimonthly meeting. Contact The Rev John Adler at (239) 4544778.

Fresh Start Meeting (Lay and Clergy). Dec. 12, at 9 a.m. at DaySpring Conference Center in Parrish. A program for congregations in transition. Theme: Conflict II: Conflict Management. Deepen your understanding of conflict and provide ideas and tools you can use in managing conflict effectively.

Facilitated by the Fresh Start Facilitation Team. To register for this event, contact the Rev. Canon Michael Durning at (941) 556-0315, ext. 271.

If your group or congregation is planning an upcoming event of interest to the rest of the diocese, please send the information to: The Southern Cross Calendar 7313 Merchant Court Sarasota, FL 34240 or e-mail it to jdela@episcopalswfl.org The diocesan events calendar is also available on our web site: www.episcopalswfl.org

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