The Pine Tree Clergy Newsletter
August 2022
This newsletter sent to Active and Retired Clergy
Notes from the Bishop
8 August 2022
Dominic, Priest and Friar, 1221
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,

The Lambeth Conference concluded last evening with Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral. I am VERY ready to be with you, to be home in Maine, AND I am indescribably both grateful and changed by this experience. 

There will be a thorough wrap-up in the days to come, but here’s what I’m bringing home with me:

  • What gets said in private is different from what’s said publicly. The tensions centering on human sexuality and Biblical interpretation between North America, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and New Zealand and the churches that are part of the so-called “global south” are complicated. There’s nothing monolithic here, and what we read in formal statements from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) differs greatly from what I heard bishops say to me in private. 
  • The two big concerns—a resolution from the 1998 Lambeth Conference denouncing LGBTQ people and the Episcopal Church, and the plan to have us vote on various matters—ultimately were put aside because of opaque, behind-the-curtain negotiations. I’m certain that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s courage to speak out of his own experience, with a clear mind and heart carried the day when we considered the Lambeth Call on Human Dignity. He showed up. After Archbishop Welby spoke, when we were asked to discuss the matters at our tables, the elder of the two South Sudanese bishops at my table pounded his hands on top of the document and said, “THIS IS EXCELLENT.” When I asked him why he thought it was excellent he said, “because the Archbishop is leading us, and because we should be talking about the murders and wars in my country instead of sex.” 
  • The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as well as his wife, Caroline, spoke lovingly and movingly to Tom and me about their own journey toward affirmation of LGBTQ+ people. (Tom can say more about his experience, as an officially “disinvited spouse.”) In two private conversations with the Archbishop of Canterbury, I walked away feeling heard and honored. Incidentally, the Welbys have very fond memories of their 2016 Ogunquit vacation! They spent a great deal of time regaling us about how happy they were to discover in York County a large Francophile community. Uncharacteristically, I did not have the cheekiness to say, “and did you notice any other community in Ogunquit?”
  • Colonialism remains! The dynamics of the Church of England’s authority, power, and influence are complicated despite good-faith efforts from most of the Anglican Communion’s churches to untangle these threads of domination, racism, and dependence. 
  • The friendships—new and old—are the primary blessings of my time here. I have absolutely no regrets for coming here, only thanksgiving, especially to you for sending Tom and me, and for your prayers which sustained us at every moment. 
  • A possible link between the Diocese of Maine and the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles in the Scottish Episcopal Church—about which I’ll say a great deal more—is an outward and visible sign of the primary purpose of the Anglican Communion: friendship and mission!
  • The Bishops from the Province of New England worked together to create videos each day, recapping in our own words what we experienced. Mine was on the Anglican Communion; to view the others click here. 

Until soon this comes with my love, respect, and prayers.
Faithfully in Christ,
Bishop Thomas J. Brown
Pastoral Notices, Prayer Requests & Clergy Updates
Your prayers for healing and recovery are asked for...

Tom Avila-Beck, spouse of Douglas Beck (rector, St. Augustine's Dover-Foxcroft) who continues to heal from successful surgery to remove a mass in his abdomen. 

Continue to pray for Nathan Ferrell (rector, St. Mary the Virgin in Falmouth) who is deployed as a chaplain in Bahrain.

Continue to pray for Brent Was (rector, St. Francis in Blue Hill) who is on short-term disability to treat a still-undiagnosed health problem. Pray, too, for the lay leaders at St. Francis, and in thanksgiving for all the clergy in and around the Blue Hill peninsula who are supporting the parish's ministry. 

We offer prayers and thanksgiving for Holly Hoffmann upon earning her MA in Christian Spirituality and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Directed Retreats from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

We offer prayers and thanks to the Cheneys who will retire from St. Ann's in Kennebunkport this month. Peter Cheney has served as their priest for 20 years; his wife, Kiki Cheney is the parish administrator.

Nota Bene —I am always happy to include your prayer requests in the Pine Tree; simply send me an email.
Ordination Anniversaries
Congratulations go out to:

Priesthood anniversaries:
  • The Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, 08/01/1979
  • The Rev. Abby D'Ambruoso, 08/23/2008
  • The Rev. Josh Hill, 08/28/2013
  • The Rev. John Keggi, 08/26/1984
  • The Rev. Lynn Rutledge, 08/08/2013

Deacon anniversaries:
  • The Rev. Cindy Beaulieu, 08/09/2009
  • The Rev. Judy Burleigh, 08/04/2007
  • The Rev. Jean Cavanaugh, 08/01/2020
  • The Rev. Madeline Murphy, 08/17/2021
  • The Rev. Marcia Richardson, 08/29/1998
  • The Rev. Tracy Shaffer, 08/09/2021
  • The Rev. Steve Summerson, 08/04/2007