In the Jan. 28 edition of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s newsletter, "Nautilus News," Dean Amy McCreath extended an invitation to join the cathedral for a live-streamed Ash Wednesday service at noon, when there will be the blessing of a memorial book into which the names of friends, loved ones and congregants from around the diocese who have died of COVID-19 will be inscribed.

Opening page of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's newly created COVID-19 memorial book for remembrance of those who have died. Courtesy photo

“We do this both with sure and certain hope in the Resurrection and as people who follow [our Saviour] who wept at his friend's death, who did not turn away from the reality of suffering and who is always present in the hardest, longest nights,” McCreath wrote in the newsletter.

Byron Rushing of the Diocese of Massachusetts, who is the vice president of the Episcopal Church General Convention's House of Deputies, inspired her to create the memorial book, McCreath said in a joint phone interview with Rushing and Jep Streit, the former dean of the cathedral. The book is based on an AIDS memorial book that the cathedral began--along with AIDS memorial services--in 1985.

“I thought, we should prepare to memorialize these people who are dying,” Rushing said. “When you talk about this to Episcopalians, lots of them remember AIDS memorials. I’m suggesting that we do something comparable to the AIDS [memorial] so there is an actual thing, so when people go back to church, there will be something that they will see.”

The cathedral’s AIDS memorial services in the 1980s eventually inspired other Episcopal congregations to begin their own memorial and healing services, and many of those services became ecumenical and even interfaith. It felt important for the cathedral to again serve as an example for others as the wider community goes through a process of grieving together, McCreath said.

The cathedral’s COVID-19 memorial book is an effort to help make meaning of the many lives that COVID-19 has taken, and to give people a chance to begin healing. The book isn’t just about recording the names of Episcopalians who have died; all are welcome to be included, and the cathedral plans to open the memorial on Ash Wednesday, and continue to pray the names of those in the book at its Friday Compline service each week.

“Compline feels right to me because it’s about acknowledging the end of the day and doing that with the promise of the dawn, with the promise of the new day,” McCreath said. “It’s a good time to sort of tally and feel our feelings of loss, but then also to do that as Christians who anticipate the dawn.”

All are invited to send names to be included in the cathedral’s COVID-19 memorial book to [email protected].

At St. Stephen’s Church in Boston, the sanctuary has been transformed into a staging area for the bags of groceries and other supplies that the church has been providing to families in need every single week since the summer. Each Friday from 10 a.m. to noon, these supplies are distributed to roughly 120 families through this mutual aid program of St. Stephen’s Youth Programs (SSYP) that they're calling "B-LOVE."

St. Stephen’s established a Pandemic Relief Fund and raised around $450,000 since March 2020, and through B-LOVE has been able to distribute around $370,000 in direct financial help to the 300 families in its community, not counting the thousands of bags of groceries, paper goods, books, frozen chicken, fresh carrots, art supplies, laundry detergent and more. Families have been able to get items that were hard or impossible to get at different points during the pandemic, such as hand sanitizer and tissues, as well as masks.

According to the Rev. Tim Crellin, the vicar of St. Stephen’s and executive director of SSYP, they were able to raise the money from a variety of sources, including foundation partners, three grants from the City of Boston and individual donors from Episcopal Church partners and others who heard about the relief fund.

“I think people really appreciated the fact that the money was coming in and 100 percent of it was going out to people that really needed it,” Crellin said in a recent interview. “It’s all going right back out, and because we have the relationships with the families, we were able to make sure that was happening, so [we have] just tons of gratitude for everybody that’s helped, supported us and helped with the groceries too.

"We don’t usually have a food pantry--we usually are working to support young people to get a good education and go onto college--but the need was so great and so clear, and we were in a position to meet it so, thankfully, with a lot of support, we were able to pivot and do something we don’t typically do, because of the need,” Crellin said.

The sanctuary at St. Stephen's has been turned into a staging area for the B-LOVE program, shown full of food and supplies for members of the community in need. Courtesy photo

Pre-pandemic, St. Stephen’s had already been working with the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill to provide bags of groceries to families in need through their FUEL program, and when schools closed last March due to COVID-19, they increased their distribution to try and help with the increased demand caused by the pandemic and the loss of so many jobs.

According to the Rev. Liz Steinhauser, who serves as director of youth programs at St. Stephen's, when the pandemic began in March of 2020, it took only a few weeks for about 75 percent of the families who participated in St. Stephen’s Youth Programs to have at least one person in their family lose a job due to the pandemic. This number climbed to 90 percent--where it stayed for six months--and rests at a staggering 75 percent today.

In addition to food and supplies for the families, B-LOVE also tries to offer extras when they can, such as books for kids, as shown here. Courtesy photo

According to the Rev. Liz Steinhauser, who serves as director of youth programs at St. Stephen's, when the pandemic began in March of 2020, it took only a few weeks for about 75 percent of the families who participated in St. Stephen’s Youth Programs to have at least one person in their family lose a job due to the pandemic. This number climbed to 90 percent--where it stayed for six months--and rests at a staggering 75 percent today.

“I’m not giving a new idea here,” Steinhauser said in a recent interview. “But clearly, the pandemic [and] the racial reckoning that we are still in the midst of out of the summer has made more clear to white people what was already clear to people of color, which is that there is systemic and enormous inequity in healthcare, in employment, in economics, in public education.”

When last summer rolled around, it became clear that SSYP's summer B-SAFE programming could not happen in the same way it usually does, so they worked with Episcopal parish partners to provide safe programming at two of the usual sites and then, at two others, a weekly distribution of groceries and activities for kids in church parking lots--the start of the B-LOVE program.

A combination of families who had participated in B-SAFE in the past and people nearby in the communities who also needed help took advantage of these weekly distributions over the summer, with Steinhauser noting that at one site, even the staff of a nearby supermarket were walking across the street on their lunch breaks to avail themselves of the help being offered.

St. Anne's in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln has been a longtime partner of SSYP and is one of the many Episcopal congregations committed to helping these communities, now through the B-LOVE program. Maria Rose is a member of St. Anne's in-the-Fields who serves as one of the coordinators for B-LOVE outreach, and, in an interview, recognized the work they are doing with B-LOVE as not only a food security issue, but also a racial justice issue.

“Our church, a lot of our parishioners are hungry for feeling useful in a time when you’re isolated and there’s very little social interactions,” Rose said. “Quite a number of people are hungry for it and there’s a lot of energy around racial justice in our church too, and this dovetails to that.”

“I just feel like if more people acted out of a place of abundance--even if you don’t feel like you have abundance--that we could make a greater difference in the world,” Rose continued. “Instead of acting out of a place of scarcity, but out of a place of abundance, it would create more compassion in the world.”

Another one of SSYP’s Episcopal parish partners is Trinity Church in Concord, and when Steinhauser, as a guest preacher via Zoom, highlighted the continuing community need, the congregation resolved to increase its support through the B-LOVE program, said David Weiss, who serves on the vestry at Trinity Church.

“Given the age of COVID, we have to look at how we can best do our outreach,” Weiss said in an interview. “I think for a lot of parishioners who are very careful and cautious--and rightly so--this gives them the ability to be involved, to feel like they can cast their bread upon water and have it come back to them is its own blessing of itself.”

The B-LOVE program is a mutual aid program, meaning that the people who are handing out materials are staff and parents from the same community of people who are receiving support. Many parents and guardians of children who have been in SSYP are now getting much-needed food and supplies for their families, as well as helping to coordinate the distribution and delivery of these desperately needed supplies.

Yrmaris Matias and her children are shown with some of the supplies they have received from B-LOVE. Courtesy photo

Yrmaris Matias is one of these parents helping with the program and volunteers to deliver goods and supplies to those who are unable to come to the Friday distributions.

“Being part of St. Stephen’s and working with them and helping all of the families, it fills me with joy,” Matias said. “I’m so grateful because they advocate a lot for education for the families who are English learners so I’m very blessed to be able to help all of the families and to have St. Stephen’s in my life and in my family’s life.”

As the one-year anniversary of the death of Bishop Barbara C. Harris on March 13 approaches, Bishop Alan M. Gates and Bishop Gayle E. Harris are inviting individuals and congregations in the Diocese of Massachusetts--and across the Episcopal Church--to include remembrances of her in their prayers and liturgies.

In a letter of invitation issued to congregations in the diocese on Feb. 11--the 32nd anniversary of the historic consecration of Barbara Harris as the worldwide Anglican Communion’s first female bishop--Gates and Harris remembered her as “a courageous pioneer, an outspoken prophet and an indefatigable champion of God’s justice and witness to God’s grace.”

They added that, in the Diocese of Massachusetts, where she served as bishop suffragan for 13 years and remained an active part of diocesan life in her retirement years, “she was for us also a wise counselor and faithful companion. For three decades our diocesan gatherings were enlivened by her keen wit, consummate storytelling and impromptu musical accompaniment.”

“It has ever been the delight of the faithful to recollect with gratitude the lives of those in whom Christ's love has been manifest,” the bishops said in their letter of invitation. “We commemorate their lives for the inspiration and strength which we derive from their witness. We turn to them also as continuing companions in the Spirit, forebears of whose love and prayers we remain assured.”

Resource and reference materials have been collected online to support commemorations, including a collect and suggested propers. Find them at www.diomass.org/barbara-c-harris-commemoration-resources.

Gates and Harris noted in their letter that while formal churchwide commemoration of those who have died, on the Episcopal Church calendar and in its official liturgical resources, is a process of communal discernment that falls under the purview of the General Convention, local commemoration “is an established part of Christian tradition.”

They invite congregations offering a commemoration of Bishop Barbara Harris to send a brief description of it to Gates’s office, in care of Laura Simons at [email protected]. “Such accounts may become part of the testimony for subsequent consideration of churchwide observance,” they said.

“Repentance 2021—Turning back to God here and now”: The invitation of Lent to repent and return to the Lord is the same every year, but we come to this invitation this year in the wake of the overlapping pandemics of COVID-19, racism, climate change and disinformation. How shall we answer the ancient invitation faithfully in this particular season of our common life? This Lent, the annual preaching series at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston aims to lift up the voices of leaders who are fairly new to the greater Boston area or who have come to see the area anew. The sermons will be offered within the context of a brief service of noonday prayer, via Zoom. Conversation with the preacher and other attendees follows, with an end time of 1:15 p.m. Everyone is welcome; register for the Zoom link here.

The schedule of preachers for the series is:

"Lent and the Longing for God": This morning retreat, to be conducted online on Saturday, March 6, 9:30 a.m. to noon, and led by the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, will invite participants to explore their own desires, as well as the desires of the One “to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.” The retreat time will include presentations and guided meditation, with options for solitary reflection or for small group conversation. This retreat is co-sponsored by the dioceses of Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts, and open to the people of both. Find more details and registration here.

New creation care series invites everyone outdoors for “Love and Lamentation” this Lent: The Rev. Lise Hildebrandt, a priest of the diocese and a convener of the Creation Care Justice Network, is inviting the diocesan community to join her this Lent in practicing both love and lament for God’s creation.

“I think part of the reason we are in such a crisis point in terms of climate change and the environment is because we see ourselves as humans as somehow above or not part of creation, which of course is not at all true. If we don’t love something, we don’t cherish it, and we get into a place where we just exploit it,” Hildebrandt said in an interview.

“So I got this idea to do this series ‘Love and Lamentation for Creation’ in order to give us a way of claiming the incredible, amazing fact of created things and also experiencing the grief of hurting what God created and has called good.

 “Certainly Lent is a really great time to do that because it is a time when we do repentance, and I think this a huge area where we need, as a church, to be doing repentance,” she said.

Her series offers two ways to love and lament creation together with others: At six weekly outdoor gatherings (with COVID-19 precautions) in the Arlington area, on Sundays at

3 p.m., beginning on Feb. 21; or by using materials that she’s created for households or small groups to use outdoors on their own. The materials are available upon request, and can be adapted for use by people of different ages.

Each week of the series focuses on a particular element of creation (air, water, earth, animals, trees), and, along with Scripture reflection, litanies and prayers, includes time to move around and practice paying attention.

“I hope it kind of helps us leave with hope but a sense also that we need to be engaged in this work,” Hildebrandt said.

She noted that the series is an experiment and that she will welcome feedback from those who give it a try.

Find more details on this flier. For specific location information, to sign up for in-person gatherings or to request the resource materials, click here. Questions may be directed to the Rev. Lise Hildebrandt at [email protected].

Celebrating the life and work of the church’s first Black priest: House of Deputies Vice President Byron Rushing will preach the sermon at the Diocese of New York’s online service celebrating the life and work of Absalom Jones, on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 10:30 a.m. Click here for details on joining the service, and view a recording of a Feb. 10 panel discussion on Jones’s work during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 and lessons for strengthening community ties during the current pandemic.

Episcopalians prepare for second COVID-19-restricted Lent with mix of fatigue and perseverance: [Episcopal News Service:] As rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Lebanon, N.J., the Rev. Philip Carr-Jones has a Lenten plan unlike any in his 37 years as a priest–self-imposed ashes on Ash Wednesday, drive-by palm distribution on Palm Sunday, a Maundy Thursday service on Zoom coinciding with family dinners, online Stations of the Cross for Good Friday and an outdoor Easter Vigil.

Carr-Jones, like many Episcopal clergy and lay leaders, says he’s exhausted, with the world now nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, but that experience also has prepared congregations as they enter their second Lent under threat of COVID-19. Livestreaming set-ups are established. Hand sanitizer and face masks are routine accessories for those able to gather in person. Outdoor services are common.

And as Episcopalians say personal prayers of repentance this Lent, they also will be joining Carr-Jones in a collective prayer for perseverance, to get through “one more Easter” like this, they hope, for the last time. Read the full story here.

The Rev. Emily Garcia, the assistant rector at Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, shows the space she set up for viewing the church’s Easter Vigil in April 2020. This year, churches will be entering their second Lent during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Emily Garcia, via Facebook

Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center plans June 1 re-opening, with “Family Camp Weekends” in place of traditional summer camp: Prevented by the pandemic from hosting groups since last March, the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in Greenfield, N.H., has announced a June 1 target date for re-opening--based on guidelines from the State of New Hampshire and the American Camping Association--with plans to return to full operation in the fall.

Having an empty campus for an entire year “has been a difficult and lonely experience,” the center’s executive director, John Koch, said in the Feb. 11 announcement, but added “we are finally starting to see some sunlight on the horizon.”

Given ongoing unpredictability of the pandemic’s course, traditional overnight summer camp will not be offered in 2021, but the center does plan to host “Family Camp Weekends” as an alternative.

Individual families or “neighborhood pods” will be able to have their own cabin and participate as a group in traditional camp activities, including arts and crafts, swimming, archery and hiking. The staff is considering some separate adult programming, and hopes to be able to offer a physically distanced campfire experience in the evenings.

“We are quite excited to be able to offer this hybrid camp format this summer. It will mean we can provide a safe and fun experience for families eager to break free from the confines of the lingering pandemic,” Koch said.

Additional information, including dates and registration instructions, will be available on or before March 31.

In anticipation of the reopening, the center has extended its retreat booking calendar into 2022. Dates may fill up quickly, so groups are encouraged to book their retreats and conferences as soon as possible. Inquiries about availability may be e-mailed to [email protected].

Continue to beware of scammers: Online "phishing" scams continue to target churches and clergy, and they require everyone's awareness and vigilance.

Scammers' tactics vary, but a common one is to send e-mails or text messages that appear to be from a known organization or church leader (such as a bishop or rector). They typically ask for urgent help or a favor, and request that the recipient buy and electronically send gift cards, make donations via money transfer or provide personal information.

Church leaders should inform their congregations about these scams and reinforce the message that bishops, clergy and church leaders will never ask for help or donations in this way. Recipients should be skeptical of unexpected e-mail or text message requests to send or spend money or provide urgent assistance. Check the sender’s e-mail address for legitimacy before responding or opening any links or attachments. E-mail from the bishops and diocesan staff, for example, will come from the e-mail domain @diomass.org, not gmail.com or other e-mail providers. 

The Federal Trade Commission provides updates about recent scams, by topic, and how to recognize the warning signs, here.

St. Luke’s-San Lucas in Chelsea honored for community service: The Chelsea Black Community (CBC) organization will honor St. Luke’s-San Lucas Church in Chelsea with a “Chelsea Trailblazers” recognition during a Black History Month event on

Feb. 24, 6-8 p.m., via Zoom. The church is being recognized for its “selfless service to the community of Chelsea during this COVID pandemic,” according to an announcement from the CBC, which adds: “We have witnessed how you continually support members in our community and are a beacon of light for all those who strive to follow in your footsteps. You are wholeheartedly respected for your community support and service.”

Find information about the CBC’s Black History Month events here.

Saugus book group welcomes neighbors into conversation: The Rev. John Beach of St. John’s Church in Saugus is leading a book discussion group on Zoom as a way for neighbors to come together and discuss things that matter.

The current discussion series is now underway on Tuesday evenings through March 30, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., focused on The Second Mountain by David Brooks, in which the political commentator for The New York Times explores four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Others are welcome to join the group. To register or receive more information, e-mail [email protected].

Lent-to-go: As congregations continue to worship remotely during the pandemic, many came up with creative ways to stay connected through bags containing Shrove Tuesday pancake-making supplies and Lenten devotional materials and activities that were either delivered to members or were available for members to safely pick up. Some of the congregations included (top, from left): Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill; Church of the Good Shepherd, Reading; (bottom, from left): Christ Church, Andover; Trinity Chapel, Shirley; (far right): St. Stephen's Church, Cohasset. Photos courtesy of Facebook and parish newsletters.

NECN: Churches making changes for Ash Wednesday amid ongoing pandemic: Churches have learned to adapt during the coronavirus pandemic. And Ash Wednesday will be no exception. At Grace Church in Norwood, parishioners will be able to drive through to pick up pre-packaged ashes to self impose at home. Watch the segment here.

Boston Herald: Old North Church used as vaccination site: Old North Church in Boston was a hive of activity as it opened Feb. 9 as a COVID-19 vaccination site operated by North End Waterfront Health. "They contacted us last week to see if we would be interested and we did not hesitate," Old North's vicar, Matthew Cadwell, reported. See Boston Herald photos here.

Episcopal News Service: Church volunteers help elderly parishioners make vaccine appointments: With COVID-19 vaccine rollouts varying widely from state to state, some states have been criticized for their confusing and dysfunctional vaccine appointment systems. One of those states is Massachusetts. The problems intensified as the state began opening up vaccine appointments to residents age 75 and older—a demographic that is less familiar with computers and more likely to encounter difficulty using online appointment systems. The Parish of St. John the Evangelist in Hingham saw the technical difficulties as an opportunity to help. Volunteers from the parish’s COVID Response Team are helping older parishioners navigate the red tape and get signed up for vaccine appointments. Read more here.

Boston Sun: Made for This Time: Surprisingly Emmanuel Church Was Engineered for COVID-19: History has become a real teaching mechanism at Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street for those in the leadership and on the Building Commission – as through the pandemic they have learned firsthand of the wisdom of their forefathers in the 1800s who engineered their church to mitigate airborne diseases so the church could minister to the sick.

It has been an unexpected and astounding finding, church leaders said.

The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz and Church Building Commissioner Michael Scanlon said after years of trying to make the church more efficient and to save on heating bills, it is only now that they have learned the system they sought to dismantle is actually the perfect antidote for keeping the COVID-19 virus at bay inside the church.

“They knew about airborne diseases and ventilation was installed,” said Werntz. “The system keeps the air flow upward and not across and doesn’t recirculate air…We did everything we could for 15 years to dismantle it. It’s more energy efficient and financially responsible not to blow hot air out the roof. We weren’t successful though. We just couldn’t figure out how to eliminate all the fresh air vents. Then COVID-19 hit and we said, ‘Oh my.’ We had a system in place designed perfectly for this. We reversed the few steps we had taken and spent some money to fix the attic fan and put the former system back in service.” Read more here.

Feb 17: Cathedral Church of St. Paul Ash Wednesday Service, Livestream, 12:00pm

Feb 18: Cathedral Lenten Preaching Series via Zoom: Morgan S. Allen, 12:00pm

Feb 18: Youth Ministry Online Gathering, 3:30pm

Feb 18: Diocesan Council Meeting, via Zoom, 6:00pm

Feb 20: Practical Aspects of Congregational Leadership Seminar: Leadership Roles & Responsibilities, via Zoom, 9:00am

Feb 20: Online "Spirituality in Aging" Discussion Series: Part Three, 9:30am

Feb 21: Bishop Gates visits the Church of Our Saviour in Arlington

Feb 21: "Love and Lamentation for Creation" Series, 3:00pm

Feb 23: Finance Forum for Congregational Leaders, via Zoom, 5:30pm

Feb 25: Cathedral Lenten Preaching Series via Zoom: Gregory G. Perez, 12:00pm

Feb 25: Children's Formation Online Gathering, 3:30pm

Feb 25: Online "Building Bridges" Veterans Ministry Network Gathering, with Bishop Fisher, Bishop Gates and Lt. Col. John Paradis, 5:00pm

Feb 28: Bishop Gates visits St. Mary's Church in Dorchester

Feb 28: Bishop Harris visits St. Mary's Church in Newton

Feb 28: "Love and Lamentation for Creation" Series, 3:00pm

Mar 2: Clergy Professional Development Day Part II, 9:30am

Mar 4: Cathedral Lenten Preaching Series via Zoom: Omolara Fatiregun, 12:00pm

Mar 4: Youth Ministry Online Gathering, 3:00pm

Mar 5-6: Province I Formation Online Gathering

Mar 6: "Lent and the Longing For God" Online Retreat, 9:30am

Mar 7: Bishop Harris visits St. Anne's Church in North Billerica

Mar 7: Bishop Gates visits St. Stephen's Memorial Church in Lynn

Mar 7: B-SAFE 2021 Partners Gathering, 1:00pm

Mar 7: "Love and Lamentation for Creation" Series, 3:00pm

Mar 11: Practical Aspects of Congregational Leadership Seminar: Parochial Reports I, via Zoom, 9:00am

Mar 11: Cathedral Lenten Preaching Series via Zoom: James Rutenbeck, 12:00pm

Mar 11: Children's Formation Online Gathering, 3:30pm

Mar 13: Practical Aspects of Congregational Leadership Seminar: Parochial Reports I, via Zoom, 9:00am

Mar 14: Lay Worship Leader Online Training, 1:00pm

Mar 14: "Love and Lamentation for Creation" Series, 3:00pm

Mar 18: Cathedral Lenten Preaching Series, via Zoom: Kate Bast, 12:00pm

Mar 18: Diocesan Council Meeting via Zoom, 6:00pm

Mar 20: Youth Retreat with Bishop Harris, 2:00pm

Mar 21: Bishop Gates visits Grace Church in Newton

Mar 21: Bishop Harris visits St. John's Church in Westwood

Mar 21: "Love and Lamentation for Creation" Series, 3:00pm

Mar 23: Finance Forum for Congregational Leaders via Zoom, 5:30pm

Mar 25: Cathedral Lenten Preaching Series via Zoom: Sujin Pak, 12:00pm

Mar 28: Bishop Gates visits St. Elizabeth's Church in Sudbury

Mar 28: "Love and Lamentation for Creation" Series, 3:00pm

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