|
Province 1 News and Updates | | |
Dear friends,
September often feels to me like a re-awakening in Episcopal circles - things which took time for rest, renewal, and growth re-emerge as the season begins to change. One result of this is a full plate of news and events. This month will feature two newsletters. This newsletter, a week early in our publication cycle, has several important and timely announcements - from the United Thank Offering, the Find a Way Network, the Communities for Spiritual Vitality, and from the Becoming Beloved Community Network.
Later this month, I will send a second newsletter with more regular news as well as announcements and opportunities as they arise. Please keep sending me the exciting things going on in your corner of Province 1, and I will happily share them!
Peace, Will Harron
(coordinator@province1.org)
| | Find A Way: A Sacred Journey 2025-2028 | | |
This October, we will journey to Deer Island with the leadership of the Dioceses of Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts.
October 13, 9:00 a.m - 5:00 p.m.: Journey (by bus) from Natick to Deer Island – the internment site where hundreds of Native people from the “praying towns” died from exposure and starvation in the winter of 1675 - 1676. This spiritual experience of place, presence and still reflection will be guided by Native neighbors and include the bishops of both the Diocese of Massachusetts and the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Registration is required by Friday, October 3.
Additional Journeying Opportunities
- On October 9 walk from Harvard Square to Natick, to gather with the host community for dinner, prayer and conversation.
- October 10 there will be a walk from Natick to Watertown, also concluding with dinner and prayer and conversation.
- October 11 walk from Watertown to Winthrop, concluding with dinner and prayer and conversation.
- October 12 worship with St. John’s, Winthrop, and join a sacred paddle around Deer Island
- October 13 walk to join the others on Deer Island.
People may join for any of the walking, any of the evening gatherings. Accommodations for people with mobility challenges are possible! We are working to find hospitality, places to stay for each pilgrim with each community. Contact rita@harvardepiscopalians.org to sign up and discuss how you can participate.
What is it? Find A Way: A Sacred Journey is a 3 year intention to walk (literally and metaphorically) with the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War across the lands of New England. This war between indigenous tribes and the settler-colonists of the church shapes our history and is largely unknown. It is an unhealed wound in our land, our culture.
“No dream of repair is possible without the long, slow, embodied work of reckoning.” These words from the Landscape of Slavery at Harvard Walking tour imagine a way towards a dream of healing that begins with learning from the land and the peoples who have lived with this land for thousands of years, discovering who we as church have been in that story. How can we begin a new chapter? How can we dream of healing centuries of damage? We will seek to Find A Way, against all odds, to listen, to witness to “streets that may be familiar but which we will seek to hear from in a new way.” (H& LS Tour)
Over three years, Province 1 of the Episcopal Church with various native, ecumenical, interfaith partners in each diocese will sponsor convening opportunities to walk and pray and be in silence and listening together. These events will be on each of the Indigenous People’s Day weekends of 2025, 2026, 2027, and Holy Week of 2028, commemorating the signing of the treaty that ended the active phase of the conflict. Other events may emerge. In each event, the intention is to have opportunities to gather, to walk, to listen.
More information can be found at https://www.findawaypilgrimage.com/
| |
| |
United Thank Offering seeks Province 1 Representative
United Thank Offering (UTO) is currently seeking a new Province One Representative. If you live within Province One and are interested in serving on the Board, please review the job description and overview letter below. The deadline to apply is October 17 at noon eastern time and applicants must have a letter of support to complete the application process.
The United Thank Offering began in 1883 when the women of the church took up a thank offering to support innovative mission and ministry in The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion that the church budget could not cover.
Today, UTO includes members of all ages and genders, and welcomes people regardless of church affiliation. UTO’s focus is still on promoting gratitude and supporting innovative projects that address compelling needs around the globe.
Please click the button below to access information about applying to serve as the Province 1 representation.
| | | | Retreat Opportunity from the Communities for Spiritual Vitality | | |
The Communities for Spiritual Vitality is pleased to host a retreat this fall led by Br. Keith and Br. Luke of the Society of St. John the Evangelist entitled: “Teach us to pray”
The first disciples asked this of Jesus, and countless disciples have asked it in each generation since. This weekend will introduce several practices of prayer and discuss how they can be taught to others. We’ll explore such themes as the relationship between Word and silence, repetition and imagination, movement and stillness, and solitude and community.
The retreat will be held from November 6-9, 2025, at the St Methodios Faith & Heritage Center in Contoocook, NH. The retreat will feature a rhythm of solitude, fellowship, and practice. It is open to any layperson in a parish without a dedicated full-time priest. Those who identify as lay leaders or members of underrepresented communities are especially encouraged to join us. Registration is now open and closes on October 1, 2025. Space and room type will be on a first-come basis. Participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible using the button below:
| | |
Retreat location: St Methodios Faith & Heritage Center, 329 Camp Merrimac Rd, Contoocook, NH 03229
In order to make this retreat accessible, the Communities for Spiritual Vitality is covering approximately 50% of the cost, which is reflected in the prices. We do not want finances to be a barrier to access this retreat, so further subsidizing of the registration fee is available as needed.
| | |
The Communities for Spiritual Vitality is an initiative through the Dioceses of Vermont and Massachusetts to provide opportunities for spiritual growth and fellowship to lay people, especially leaders, in parishes that do not have a full-time dedicated priest. To find out more about this Initiative, especially its yearlong cohort experience, which is now recruiting, please visit:
www.communitiesforspiritualvitality.org
| | |
The Society of St. John the Evangelist is a community of men giving our whole selves over to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rooted in the ancient monastic traditions of prayer and community life, and critically engaged with contemporary culture, we seek to know and share an authentic experience of God’s love and mercy. We live a common life shaped by worship, prayer, and our Rule of Life. Brothers Keith Nelson and Luke Ditewig have enjoyed teaching this material together for new monks and seminarians. They are delighted to be able to share it with the laity of the Church more broadly. To learn more about the Society please
visit www.ssje.org
| | |
Becoming Beloved Community Network
Next Meeting September 7
| | |
Please join the Province 1 Becoming Beloved Community Network for our next quarterly meeting on Sunday, September 7 2025 from 3-5 p.m. over Zoom.
This is a meeting for people from across the seven Episcopal dioceses in New England and meet, pray, engage in mutual support, and share updates on the work of racial justice, reconciliation, reparations, and the intersections with those topics in our churchwide, provincial, diocesan, parish, and local contexts.
For more information on our network, you can email James McKim.
| |
Season of Creation Offerings
and Support for Parishes
| | |
The World Council of Churches designated the Season of Creation from September 1 through October 4th each year. The season begins with a Day of Prayer for Creation and ends with the Feast of St Francis. You are invited to observe this season in your home, in your congregation, and alongside other christians around the world. This year there are a variety of ways to engage in the Season of Creation and to deepen your, and your parishes commitment, to creation ministry.
Season of Creation Celebration Guide
The Season of Creation Celebration Guide for Episcopal Parishes is a curated liturgical resource assembled by the Rev. John Elliott Lein (priest in Maine) and the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas (Creation activist and priest in Massachusetts) from prayers, readings, and liturgies created all over the global Anglican Communion and beyond. In 2025, a Perennial Edition of the liturgical guide was released, with lectionary for years A, B, and C. This resource has been endorsed by 50 dioceses in The Episcopal Church, and is a single, comprehensive guide for liturgy for the entire season of creation.
Daily Devotionals for the 2025 Season of Creation
In addition, the newly established EcoRegion in Province One is offering a daily devotional for creation. Most of us know very little about the great web of life that surrounds us. The purpose of these daily devotions is to open our eyes to some of the “created ones” with whom we share common ground, to awaken our hearts to their needs, and to take new steps toward living together in peace. Each day of the Season of Creation (September 1 - October 4) participants will receive an email which highlights a different keystone
species in our newly-designated Province One EcoRegion. Each email will include a photo, a brief description of the species for the day, a few thoughts on how the species reflects our image of God, and a closing prayer. The Devotions will be prepared by Episcopalians from around Province One.
Follow this link to sign up:
| | |
The Devotions will also be accessible at the website of An Episcopal
Path to Creation Justice website: https://www.episcopalcreationpath.org
An Episcopal Path to Creation Justice
If you or your parish are looking for long term support and visioning around how to deepen your existing creation care ministry or how to start a creation care ministry, you are invited to apply to become a part of An Episcopal Path to Creation Justice. The Path provides consultation, support, community, and recognition for participating churches through our trained Companions and share their work so that others will be inspired. To enroll in this one year initiative or to learn more please reach out to the Rev. Rachel Field and Deb Baker.
| |
Revival and Resilience:
Worship in a Time of Climate Crisis – Saturday, October 4
| | |
Join us for a day of worship, reflection, learning, and feasting to explore ways to bring our worship tradition alive in a time of climate crisis. How can our prayer – at home, at church, and in nature – reknit our relationship with the earth and build our resilience and hope? We will meet at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Ayer MA, and spend part of our day at a pocket forest in Ayer. Sponsored by Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission and open to people everyone in Province I & II, as well as the ELCA New England Synod. More information and registration here. Questions? Contact Amy McCreath.
| | Tri-Dio Sacred Ground Circles Begins Again This Fall | | |
Are you interested in joining others from the Episcopal dioceses of Northern New England, Province 1, or any other place, in a film-based dialogue series on race and faith? The next round of Tri-Dio Sacred Ground dialogue circles will start this fall, and will include others from the wider Episcopal church, other denominations or anyone else who is interested. There will be at least three circles that will meet remotely at different times and on different days.
View the Sacred Ground Invitational video “We Bless You” (22 Minutes) by the Union of Black Episcopalians and Sacred Ground staff Click here. This is the best introduction to those who might want to participate in Sacred Ground
You can learn more details about the beginning and structure of Sacred Ground here. This is great for facilitators or potential facilitators.
Representatives from each diocese are: Betty Lane of New Hampshire, Mary Provo of Maine, and Franci Vinal Farnsworth of Vermont.
| | Province V of The Episcopal Church Offers Online Course on Human Trafficking Response and Support | | |
Province V of The Episcopal Church invites you to join an online course aimed at equipping participants to recognize and respond to human trafficking and to support survivors reentering the community after experiencing exploitation.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported 10,583 cases in 2022, with sex trafficking being the most common type. This statistic underscore the critical need for increased awareness and education to combat human trafficking effectively, and the Church’s responsibility for addressing it.
The 90-minute “Trafficking: Faithful Response and Support” course provides an introduction to human trafficking, guidance on responding to suspected cases, and strategies for fostering a supportive community environment that empowers survivors on their journey from surviving to thriving.
Course Dates and Times:
Wed, Sept 24, 7:30-9 pm ET / 6:30- 8 pm CT. Registration
Tuesday, October 7, 7:30-9 pm ET / 6:30- 8 pm CT. Registration
Mon, Oct 20, 7-8:30 pm ET / 6-7:30 pm CT. Registration
Thurs, Nov 6, 7-8:30 pm ET / 6-7:30 pm CT. Registration
This important initiative is made possible through a partnership between Province V and Total Life Wellness, with funding provided by a Becoming Beloved Community Grant from The Episcopal Church.
For more information and additional resources, please visit Province V’s Anti-Human Trafficking webpage.
| | |
Are you engaged in formation ministry in The Episcopal Church? We need to hear from you.
This survey is for volunteer and paid, lay and ordained, part-time and full-time individuals engaged in formation ministry with any age group at every type of Episcopal institution including congregations, diocese, organizations, campus, center, or anything in between.
Forma seeks to better understand the compensation, experience, and expertise of Christian formation professionals in The Episcopal Church. Your responses to our Landscape of Formation Survey will help equip Forma with the necessary data to advocate for just wages, identify professional development needs, and support those engaged in ministry.
| | The Province 1 Executive Committee is currently seeking an Assistant Treasurer, with the option of continuing to serve in the role of Treasurer in 2026. If you would like more information about this volunteer role, please email our Provincial Coordinator. | | Ministry Network Meetings | | | |
The Indigenous People's Justice Network continues to meet and is hosting a series of book discussions, detailed above. The network also meets regularly on the First Wednesdays of each month at 11 a.m. The next meeting is Wednesday, October 1 at 11 a.m. Please contact Vicki Ix for additional information and to join this network.
The Faith Formation Network meets quarterly over Zoom. The next meeting will be on Thursday, September 18 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. All practitioners of Christian formation, from diocesan to parish to family and individual level, are invited to join in a check-in call full of networking and collaboration. For more information, email Bird Treacy.
The Young Adult and Campus Ministry network meets monthly for a discussion on various topics relating to young adult and campus ministry in New England. The network is on summer hiatus and will set its fall meeting schedule soon. Please contact Will Harron to get involved in this ministry network.
The Becoming Beloved Community Ministry Network meets quarterly to discuss racial justice and reconciliation efforts in New England and General Convention. The next meeting is Sunday, September 7 from 3-5 p.m. over Zoom (registration information above). Contact James McKim for more information on the network.
| | |
Episcopal Province of New England (Province 1)
President: Olive Swinski (RI)
Vice President: The Rt. Rev. Laura Ahrens (CT)
Treasurer: Rita MacAuslan (NH)
Executive Committee:
Betsy Ridge (MA), Denise Noble (VT), the Ven. Bonnie Matthews (CT)
Executive Council Representatives:
Betsy Ridge (MA), the Rev. Kit Wang (NH)
Coordinator: Will Harron (WMA)
| | | | Our monthly newsletter schedule of publication is on the second Wednesday of the month; newsletter items should be submitted to the Provincial Coordinator at coordinator@province1.org by the Monday before publication date to be included in the issue. | | | | |
