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DDG Companion News | September 27, 2017
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| Examples of flooded homes in the Santa Fe community of San Pedro de Macorís. |
Hurricane Maria Relief Donations Welcomed
As far as is known now, none of the churches, schools, and other facilities of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic sustained damage from Hurricane Maria other than leaks in ceilings and walls from rainfall and some collapsed perimeter walls because of fallen trees. However, people in several communities near Episcopal churches experienced flooding in their houses, and their household goods and other items were destroyed. The Diocese of the Dominican Republic has a well-established program to assist affected individuals in nearby communities to recover from natural disasters such as flooding, and Episcopal congregations throughout the country are already collecting relief supplies such as bottled water,
bleach
and other cleaning supplies, replacement clothing, and mattresses to be distributed to the areas in need.
Bishop Diocesan Julio C. Holguín, along with Bishop Coadjutor Moisés Quezada, Canon to the Ordinary Juan Márquez, and the Deans of the diocese's four archdeaneries, are coordinating this collection and distribution of supplies.
Within Province IX, only the Dioceses of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were affected by this most recent hurricane.
Sadly, in Puerto Rico the damage was massive, and recovery will be both slow and expensive.
If you would like to contribute funds to assist with purchasing additional supplies and transporting them to the Dominican communities that need them, please consider making your donation through the facilities of the Dominican Development Group at this link:
http://www.dominicandevelopmentgroup.org/donate. Please designate your donation for "Hurricane Maria Relief." All contributions received will be quickly sent to the Diocese of the Dominican Republic for use in these relief efforts.
The Dominican Development Group is also currently raising funds for the support of the endowment fund of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. For information on this "La Paloma"
campaign and a donation link, click here.
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| Five of the ordinands in Iglesia Episcopal San Andrés. |
Ordinations
On Saturday, September 16, 2017, the Rt. Rev. Julio Holguin ordained six people in Iglesia Episcopal San Andrés in Santo Domingo: to the permanent diaconate, Ercilio Acosta, Magdalena Asencio, Elsa Virginia López and Susana Moreno; to the
transitional
diaconate, José Abreu; and to the priesthood, Lourdes Zaya. The Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada, Bishop Coadjutor, preached the sermon, and the Rt. Rev. Telésforo Isaac, Bishop Emeritus, celebrated the Eucharist.
For a press release (in Spanish) about this event issued by the Communications Committee of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, click here.
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| From left: Patricia Martin, executive assistant in the Office of Mission Team Support, and the Rev. Emilio Martin Fumero, vicar of Iglesia Episcopal San Andrés in Santo Domingo. |
Hurricane Irma at First Hand
Educational Missionary Tom McGowan from the Diocese of Nebraska was in Santo Domingo during the passage of Hurricane Irma in early September, and posted a series of hurricane-related articles on his blog. One of the articles included the photograph above with this text:
I want to close with a story that shows how disrupting a Caribbean "huracán" can be. Padre Emilio, in the photo above, is from Cuba originally. He's spent most of the morning trying to get in touch with family in Cuba, particularly his aging mother. He's from Cardenas, hit by Irma; all communications are out, so he has no way of knowing what has happened. I read in this morning's paper that the situation is magnified in the Leeward Islands; places like Barbuda and St. Maarten's have no contact with the greater world, so families don't know what's happening to their loved ones. An opportunity for some serious prayer if I've ever seen one.
To read all of Tom's Hurricane Irma blog posts, plus learn about his other activities with the Episcopal schools in the Dominican Republic, click here.
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| Click this image to access this issue. |
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Compañeros Dominicanos
For more information on the affects of Hurricane Irma on the Dominican Republic, check out the September 2017 issue of the DDG's bilingual news magazine,
Compañeros Dominicanos. In addition to Hurricane Irma, other articles include the "La Paloma" campaign; a summary of the activities of mission teams from the Diocese of Southwest Florida in the summer of 2017 working on the construction of a church building in Nizao; three pages of photographs of the mission teams from July-September, 2017; and four pages of photographs of the construction progress on the second floor of the Episcopal school in Jimaní and a church building in the Altagracia community north of Boca Chica. To access this issue,
click here.
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Links to online copies of recent issues of the
DDG Companion News:
For earlier issues on the Publications page of the DDG website,
click here.
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Contact the DDG:
Office: (813) 400-2722 | Fax: (813) 983-5082
PO Box 272261 | Tampa Florida 33688-2261
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