Dear Beloved,

During my travels this winter and spring I have been reminded repeatedly of the change of seasons:

….being in the green of Guatemala and returning to winter in Denver.

….traveling from winter in Denver to the deep winter in Oshkosh.

….visiting the warmth of the Dominican Republic and then back to winter weather in Denver, and from here to blossoming spring in Montgomery Alabama.

….repeatedly traveling back and forth to Albuquerque, I have experienced the gradual and subtle change of weather between these two cities separated by 500 miles. 

At times I feel like I am time traveling:

....from the present

....to the future

….and then back to the past

…..which is the present.  

As we have moved from what has felt like a hard winter into this Spring, I would like to share with you some events of the past, what is happening in the present, as well as give you a view of what is springing up for us in the future.

Rev. Mimi Maki was installed as the new pastor during a beautiful liturgy with the Emmaus Catholic Faith Community in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, planned and led a powerful and transformative pilgrimage to Montgomery, Alabama in April.



A wonderful gift of financial generosity was given to us to enable an ECC team of gifted writers and artists, under the leadership of Rev. Maggie Gann, to promote our Ecumenical Catholic Communion to over a million people through an advertisement in USA Today Special Easter Edition.



https://usatodayspecial-va.newsmemory.com/?special=EASTER&date=20250414

Deborah Imbach from St. Francis Parish in Largo, Florida has begun studies for the deaconate.

Deacon Bob Pragano, also from St. Francis, is beginning his studies for the priesthood.

Richard Rosato from All Souls ECC in Reading, Pennsylvania, has begun his studies for his M.Div.

Fr. Peter Veitch, OSB, is pursuing his studies for transitional deaconate.

We are thankful for Bishop Kedda for her work on the Catholic Bishops Forum by helping us work towards unity amongst the different catholic jurisdictions. We are also grateful for her role as Chairperson to The Ecumenical Relations Advisory Group. The purpose of this special group is to learn as much as we can about ecumenical relationships so that we can offer our informed advice to parishes that want to connect with other churches in their area. The group also provides advice to the National Council of Churches (NCC) nationally in relations with other communities.

Bishop Frank continues to serve as Vicar for Ecumenical Affairs for ECC on the Executive Committee of the governing board of the National Council of Churches, endeavoring to help us grow in our relationship with other Christian denominations and keep us abreast on the movements and callings of this greater Body of Christ.

Mary Kay Fairbanks, from St. Clare Ecumenical Catholic Community in Spokane, Washington will be ordained to the diaconate on July 26, 2025. 

Deacon Tim Rooney of St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Phoenix, Arizona, will be ordained to the priesthood on August 10, 2025.

Fr. Don Sutton is retiring from St. Paul ECC in Denver, Colorado and Rev. Lori Vail is retiring from Mary Magdalene Church in East Rochester, New York. We are thankful for their wonderful services to ECC and send our prayers with their communities as they search for new pastors.

We are so grateful for the work that the Mary Magdalene Society continues to do, raising money to give yearly grants to ECC members as they begin or continue their studies to be ordained as well as giving grants to our youth groups. This year, they awarded Clergy Grants totaling $7,500 to 6 people and a Youth Grant totaling $5,880 to the Youth Group, "God is Great," led by Maria Budgett at Holy Trinity In Long Beach, California.

Holy Trinity Church in Long Beach, California, has built and soon will dedicate its new Parish Gathering Space.

We welcome Rev. Michael Nicosia to the ECC on the East Coast as he and his partner venture from Denver, Colorado, to New York State. We are so thankful for Michael's countless contributions in the Denver area as co-pastor of St. Paul Catholic Community, Vicar of Ecumenical Engagement at Rocky Mountain Region of the ECC and Member of the Board of Directors at Colorado Council of Churches, to name a few.

Rev. Mir Plemmons of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion and Mother Grace Wilgefortis Ferris of the Catholic Apostolic Church in North American (CACINA) are partnering to minister together to those in the Transgender community. Their goal is to create a safe and supportive church space where people are free to be themselves in the context of our Catholic faith.

It is so good to know about all the good that

...has been happening,

...is happening,

…and will be happening

in our Beloved Communion! 

I encourage all of you to please let us know of any news, events, and changes going on so we can continue to celebrate how our wonderful ECC community is springing forward.

We are so blessed by the Holy Spirit of God as She moves in our midsts and calls us to be the hands, heart and compassion of Jesus in our world today.

Paz and Amor,

Bishop Paul "Pablo" Burson, M.Div., L.P.C.

Presiding Bishop, ECC

BishopPaul@ecumenicalcatholics.net



Bishop Pablo, as part of his commitment to visit each ECC faith community, visited the Emmaus Ecumenical Catholic Community of Oshkosh for the occasion of the formal installation of Rev. Mimi Maki as the newly elected pastor. 

Bishop Pablo lead the community in a blessing for our new pastor and afterwards attended a reception hosted by the community. 

The Emmaus Community extends their gratitude to Bishop Pablo for his warmth and friendliness and his special care in meeting with the Emmaus Parish Council 



Sunday Morning Breakfast with Emmaus Friends.



"Thank you to all who were praying for our ECC pilgrims as we spent time learning, witnessing, and feeling the emotions of the Truth of our history of racial injustice and violence, from enslavement to modern day incarceration. It was a powerful and moving pilgrimage."



Here is the group in front of the

National Memorial for Peace and Justice.



Mary Magdalene Church, an inclusive Church in the Catholic tradition, is seeking a full-time pastor.

We are located in the village of East Rochester in Upstate New York. We are a small, yet steadily growing progressive community that values acceptance and welcome to ALL who come, taking seriously the call of Jesus to LOVE one another.

We are a Eucharistic people with multiple service ministries. Mary Magdalene offers safe space and loving inclusion to every marginalized person, always sensitive to their needs. We have a vibrant in-person and on-line presence.

This community is seeking a collaborative leader with good communication, pastoral care and community-building skills, who is willing to serve the needs of an intensely diverse membership.

The candidate should have a sound command of scripture and liturgy and be able to:

..

+provide historical references with current relativity to the community.

+Good preaching skills

and a willingness to share the pulpit with qualified others is of importance to the community.

+A strong social justice background is helpful.

Please check out our website

at

 https://www.marymagdalenechurch.org

If interested in further discussion please forward your resume

or CV to the search committee at

pastoralsearchteam.mmc@gmail.com



Regis University in Denver

June 19-22, 2025

"“The Calligraphy of Snow and Rock and Sky”

Thomas Merton and the Spirit of Place

For more information:

https://merton.org/2025/

English:  https://conta.cc/41OdiG5

Spanish: https://conta.cc/3RuOxIN





https://conta.cc/42HRkUl



…………………………………...https://conta.cc/4jDqDaR

If you have not had the opportunity to complete the survey about moving forward with our Visioning Work at Synod 2024, please take a moment to fill it out now!

Please submit by May 15

https://conta.cc/4ljocLA

We are contracted to work only 10 hours a week,

so do not panic if you do not get an instant answer!

We are always happy to help

and WILL get back to you with an answer as soon as possible!



Friends, several years we changed our office email addresses because the old email server was being shut down.   

Unfortunately, old email addresses seem to live on forever in our address books.

The problem is, it seems that people have emailed the Administrator of the Office of Presiding Bishop and accidentally pulled up the old email address. Now those emails are floating out there in the Big Black Hole of Internet Nothingness….never to be seen again.

And you are wondering why we never responded.

The first dead email address is:

opbadministrator@ecumenical-catholic-communion. org

If there is any way you can delete from your address book, please DO!!! (*See Notes below!)

Otherwise, just double-check when you type in the name (Carolyn Sue Cecil or Administrator.)  Ever helpful "AI" likes to pop in an email address, always sure it is correctly anticipating our every need!

The current email address for the

Administrator of the Office of Presiding Bishop

is:

admin@ecumenicalcatholics.net

+ + + +



There is another email address that is probably floating around in your contact list as well…….sending emails out into the Big Black Hole of Internet Nothingness…..never to be seen again.

The second dead email address:

PabloJosephBurson@ gmail.com

Bishop Pablo used this email for a few months before we had his "official" email account set.

The current email address for Bishop Pablo

is:

BishopPaul@ecmenicalcatholics.net



We definitely want to receive your emails so…..please check your email address books and make sure you have the correct ones!



*Google how to delete an email address from your particular email server.

Here are a few we found:

*To delete a contact in Google Contacts (which is linked to your Gmail), go to contacts.google.com, select the contact, click the three dots, and then choose "Delete". 

To delete an address from your Outlook.com address book, navigate to the "People" section, select the contact you want to delete, and then choose "Delete" either from the ribbon or by right-clicking on the contact. You'll need to confirm the deletion by selecting "Delete" again. 

To delete an address from your Yahoo! Mail address book, navigate to the Contacts section in Yahoo! Mail. Then, locate the contact you want to delete, click on it, and select the "Delete contact" option. Confirm your choice to remove the contact. 

Keep those cards and letters coming!

Just make sure you have the correct email address!!

--Bishop Pablo and Carolyn Sue



Bishop Pablo Burson

BishopPaul@ecumenicalcatholics.net

Carolyn Sue Cecil

admin@ecumenicalcatholics.net

Mary Vonderheide

finance@ecumenicalcatholics.net

We are always happy to have you share our News

with family and friends!