Episcopal eNews from Northern Indiana |
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The 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church |
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Earlier this week, the president of the House of Deputies, Gay Clark Jennings, announced legislative committee appointments for the 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church to be held July 2022 in Baltimore. Congratulations to the following deputies who were appointed!
- The Rev. Canon Terri Bays, PhD - Member, Christian Formation and Discipleship
- The Rev. Matthew Cowden - Member, Title IV Disciplinary Canons
- Evan Doyle - Assistant Secretary, Dispatch of Business
- The Rev. T.J. Freeman - Member, Certification of Minutes
- The Very Rev. Brian Grantz - Chair, Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations
- Pamela Barnes Harris - Member, Environmental Stewardship and Care of Creation
- Canon Christopher Hillak - Secretary, Credentials Committee
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Ecumenical Connect (E-Connect) is a transformational ecumenical ministry process in Indiana and Kentucky. Modeled after a program in the ELCA Indiana-Kentucky Synod, this partnership between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church U.S.A, and The United Church of Christ is funded by a Lilly Foundation Thriving Congregations Grant.
What its About:
- Transforming your congregation by linking the gifts that God has given you with God’s vision for the world.
- Celebrating and using what you have, rather than lamenting about and focusing on what you don’t have.
- Finding energy, purpose, and direction through God’s work, prayer, conversation, and faith practices.
- Navigating change calmly, confidently, and effectively.
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Book Study: Braiding Sweetgrass
Date: September 15, October 20, November 10
Time: 7-8:30/6-7:30 p.m. (EDT/CDT)
Where: Zoom
Facilitators: Tamisyn Grantz, Steven Slaubaugh, and The Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Warne
Please join us for three sessions as we read and discuss Robin Wall Kimmerer’s insights into our relationships with creation, our history with Indigenous peoples, and how we might begin to transform our relationships with both.
“Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.”
Reading Assignments (ideally to be read prior to each session):
September 15: sections 1 & 2 (Planting Sweetgrass & Tending Sweetgrass)
October 20: sections 3 & 4 (Picking Sweetgrass & Braiding Sweetgrass)
November 10: section 5, epilogue & introduction to new edition (Burning Sweetgrass)
Books should be purchased on your own from your favored (hopefully independent or used) bookseller. Available directly from Milkweed Publishing in paperback for $18 milkweed.org. If you prefer audiobooks, it is read by the author which is a real treat! If purchasing the book is a financial hardship, please email the diocesan office at info@ednin.org and they will contact facilitators.
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EDNIN Creation Care on Facebook
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“When we ask ourselves who Jesus might be, we must look in the mirror and at each other. Just as we look for Jesus in others, people are looking for Jesus in us.”
- Miriam McKenney
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Evangelism Huddle
Date: June 21*
Time: 12 p.m./11 a.m. (EDT/CDT)
Where: Zoom
Each month, Episcopal evangelists are invited to join staff officer for evangelism Jerusalem Greer and guest mentors via Zoom to talk about issues around the practice and ministry of evangelism. Monthly topics may include evangelism in a Latino/Hispanic ministry, forming evangelists, small group ministry, evangelism for campus ministry, storytelling, and much more.
*Evangelism Huddle is held the third Wednesday of each month.
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Episcopal Public Policy Network |
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Action Alerts
The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations (OGR) identifies opportunities for Episcopalians to participate in our democracy. If there is a topic below that you are passionate about, please click the link and send a message to your members of Congress.
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Tell Congress to Enact Sentencing Reform - Congress has proposed bipartisan legislation titled the EQUAL Act (S. 79/H.R. 1693) that would end the federal prison sentence disparity between crack and powdered cocaine offenses and apply this change retroactively. This legislation also offers an opportunity for a fair and equitable criminal justice system by increasing prosecutorial and judicial discretion. As Episcopalians, we are working to foster the Beloved Community where all people may experience dignity. As part of this belief, The Episcopal Church is committed to advocating for the “abolition of the sentencing disparity between crack-cocaine and powder-cocaine offenses.” General Convention has also passed several resolutions in support of efforts to reform sentencing policies, end mass incarceration, and eliminate racial disparities. Please urge your members of Congress to support the EQUAL Act and fix this decades-long harm.
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Urge Congress to Enact Paid Family Leave - The Episcopal Church supports establishing a federal paid family leave program to ensure that all Americans have the capacity to care for themselves or their loved ones without risking their jobs or incomes. This is a matter of both social and economic justice. Our society will be stronger when workers do not have to choose between earning a paycheck and caring for a new child or nursing themselves or relatives back to health.
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Support a Pathway for Dreamers - Passing the bill aligns with The Episcopal Church’s longstanding commitment to protecting Dreamers. The Church has advocated for passing the Dream Act since 2012 when it called on Congress to pass “federal legislation that presents a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth and young adults.” Polls also consistently show that Americans across the political spectrum support providing Dreamers with a pathway to citizenship, showing that passing one of these bills would garner public support across the country. We call on our community to contact their members of Congress to support this bill that will uphold our country and Church’s commitment to protecting these members of our communities.
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Support Efforts to Prevent Maternal and Child Deaths - Improving maternal and child health is one of our Church’s priorities as called for by the General Convention. In addition to advocacy, Episcopal and Anglican ministries provide support for this work in various ways. Urge your senator to support this legislation.
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Tell Congress to Pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) 3.0 - The opioid epidemic is estimated to have claimed more than 90,000 lives in 2020, the highest annual number on record. Each of these losses has incalculable effects on families and communities, and The Episcopal Church calls for a comprehensive response to the opioid epidemic. With COVID-19 disrupting daily life, substance abuse has exacerbated, and synthetic opioids, like Fentanyl, have become the largest driver of a noticeable increase in overdoses.
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Congress Weekly
Date: Thursdays
Time: 1-1:30 p.m. (ET)
Congress Weekly is a fast-paced, 30-minute conversation about the policies and legislation we are advocating for. They take place weekly on Thursdays from 1:00-1:30pm ET. Registration is required. If you already registered for one of the first six sessions, you MUST register again using this link.
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Increased demands and stress have marked the work of priest over the last 18 months. Clergy who completed “Contemplative Renewal” had resources and companions that helped them maintain resilience and health. Are you looking for ways to be renewed in your sense of call and more ready for the next set of challenges that the future holds? Would you benefit from time away to deepen your spirit?
The Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal (ECCSR) hosts a two-year “Contemplative Renewal” experience for early and mid-career clergy. The cohort of 19 men and women will discover renewal through the rhythms of prayer, Benedictine spirituality and community at Holy Wisdom Monastery, an ecumenical monastery outside of Madison, Wisconsin.
If you are an ordained priest currently serving half-time or more in a congregational setting, you are invited to apply for the next cohort, to begin in July of 2022. Funded by a Thriving in Ministry Grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., this unique experience is available at no cost. Online applications may be completed at www.holywisdommonastery.org/eccsr starting October 1, 2021.
Co-Directors Rev. Jerry Buss and Rev. Nancy Enderle are available to address any questions. Please call us at (608) 836-1631 or email:
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United Thank Offering (UTO)
2022 Annual Grants
Applications Due: February 4, 2022
The United Thank Offering (UTO) Board is pleased to announce the availability of their 2022 UTO Annual Grants, with an application deadline of Feb. 4, 2022. These grants are awarded for projects in The Episcopal Church and throughout the Anglican Communion, each year with a different focus.
For 2022, the focus is Care of Creation: Turning love into action by caring for God’s creation to protect the most vulnerable — who will bear the largest burden of pollution and climate change — through justice, advocacy, environmental reparations, and the development of formational materials.
The United Thank Offering was founded to support innovative mission and ministry in The Episcopal Church and to promote thankfulness and mission in the whole church. One hundred percent of UTO thank offerings are granted the following year. These awards have supported everything from staff positions to conferences, creation of educational resources, and building projects.
Application information and forms are available here. Please note: The application deadline is earlier this year due to General Convention and Executive Council schedules.
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Commission on Ministry Continuing Education Grants
The following individuals have been awarded Continuing Education Grants through the Commission on Ministry.
- The Rev. Matthew Cowden - Doctor of Ministry in Preaching ($1,000)
- The Rev. Jen Fulton - Gathering of Leaders, Sewanee, sabbatical ($850)
- The Rev. Bernie Hartsough - Conversational Spanish lessons ($700)
- Marie Gambetta - Dove Faith Café Storyteller Training ($300)
- Steven Slaubaugh - Forma Conference & Bexley Seabury class ($350)
Here's an additional bit of great news - There are still monies left in the Continuing Education grant fund so if you discover an educational opportunity for which you would like financial support, please fill out the application and forward it to Missioner Michelle at info@ednin.org. The remaining monies are first come, first serve until they are gone.
Applications are open to clergy or parishioners at least 18 years of age who regularly attend a faith community within the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana. Grant awards are a maximum of $1,000 and may be used for continuing education to enhance your ministry.
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COVID-19 Vaccinations
Anyone age 12 and older may now schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment. Click here to register or call 211 (866-211-9966) if you do not have access to a computer or need assistance. Walk-in appointments are also accepted at most vaccination sites.
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If you have not previously visited EDNIN Virtual Worship on Facebook, please do so and join us live throughout the day as you are available or go back when you have free time to watch the recorded videos. |
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News from Across The Episcopal Church
and Anglican Communion
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Anglican bishops begin global conversations in the...
Anglican bishops begin global conversations in the buildup to face-to-face Lambeth Conference in 2022 [Anglican Communion News Service]First round of six-month program of Bishops' Conversations "a joy," says Lambeth Conference company Chief...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Tbilisi Episcopal church, a refuge for LGBTQ+ people in...
Members of one of The Episcopal Church's most isolated congregations - St. Nino's Episcopal Mission in Tbilisi, Georgia - have found themselves on the front lines of the country's violent conflict over LGBTQ+ rights, by...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Canadian churches on First Nations land are burning,...
A slew of church burnings across western Canada have left six churches on First Nations land badly damaged or destroyed as of Tuesday (June 29). Four of the churches are within an hour's drive of one another in southeastern ...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Presiding Bishop announces new churchwide racial truth...
The Episcopal Church Executive Council began its June meeting with discussions on how racism is being confronted within and beyond the church, including the creation of a new working group that will be tasked with...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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VTS reparations fund makes first cash payments to...
Virginia Theological Seminary has no precise number. By its best estimate, hundreds of Black laborers toiled at the seminary in Alexandria as slaves in the decades before the Civil War and under later forms of economic...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Presiding Bishop offers pastoral word to all Haitians,...
Presiding Bishop offers pastoral word to all Haitians, Episcopalians in the Diocese of Haiti following the president's assassination [Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry issued a pastoral word to all Haitians and Episcopalians...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Whayne Hougland to resign as bishop of Western, Eastern...
Bishop Whayne Hougland will resign from leading the dioceses of Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, the dioceses announced June 28 as Hougland nears completion of his one-year suspension after admitting to an...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Episcopal Church reiterates opposition to anti-LGBTQ+...
The Episcopal Church is responding to the United States Supreme Court's ruling in a pivotal case about religious groups' anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination by expressing support for same-sex parents and concern about the case's...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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UPDATED: Online election underway for committee to...
UPDATED: Online election underway for committee to nominate presiding bishop candidates Editor's note: This story has been updated with the results of the fifth ballot. [Episcopal News Service] An election is underway for the members of the...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Dioceses recruit congregations to form 'learning...
Three Episcopal dioceses and an Episcopal seminary were among the recipients last year of $1 million Lilly Endowment grants supporting innovative approaches to revitalizing congregations. As part of Lilly's Thriving...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Executive Council advances church's work on racial...
Themes of racial justice, including the experience of people of color within The Episcopal Church, the persecution of Indigenous peoples in North America and plans to extend and magnify the church's existing truth and...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Episcopal churches step up efforts to go solar to reach...
When it came time to bless the solar panels at the Church of St. Martin in Davis, California, earlier this spring, Northern California Bishop Megan Traquair had to improvise - the Book of Common Prayer, so far, doesn't...
Read more
www.episcopalnewsservice.org
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Please email any events, articles, or notifications to be included in the next monthly enewsletter to Canon Christopher Hillak, Missioner for Digital Communications
by July 25. Thank you!
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The Episcopal Diocese
of Northern Indiana
117 N. Lafayette Blvd.
South Bend, IN 46601
(574) 233-6489
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