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January 29, 2020
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Volume 10, No. 22
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St. Anna Alexander Center for Racial Healing & Reconciliation Established
The Church of the Good Shepherd in the Pennick Community west of Brunswick had a packed house for a service of Evening Prayer to launch a center for Racial Healing and Reconciliation. First announced in Bishop Benhase's address to the 198th Convention, this new work will give focus to the Diocese of Georgia's efforts to deal constructively with the sin of racism. Benhase committed three percent of the diocese's unrestricted endowment to help form the St. Anna Alexander Center for Racial Reconciliation and Healing, saying "What we are beginning is not reparations. No amount of money can do that. What we are doing is committing significant resources to the long, slow work of racial reconciliation and healing."
The Center will not have only one location. Some of its work will take place through the diocesan office in Savannah, in terms of administration and supporting convocations and congregations, but also in Pennick, where St. Anna based her ministry, and in countless other locations where Episcopalians gather to work on reconciliation and healing.
Meanwhile, as an integral part of this effort, the Diocese seeks to support the leadership of Good Shepherd, Pennick, in restoring the buildings on their property. The work at Pennick will, of course, be completely directed by the leadership of that congregation.
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Toward these ends, Bishop Benhase appointed an initial Leadership Team for the Center comprised of Ms. Dwala Nobles, Dr. Bertice Berry, the Ven. Yvette Owens, and the Revs. Billy Alford, John Butin, and John Jenkins. That team next meets this Friday, January 31, as they continue to hone a vision for the center and set the goals. They are authorized to add additional team members as needed. In addition, the Diocese has a Resource Team with representatives from each convocation as well as further at-large members who are trained to assist in work on racial reconciliation and healing. Supporting this work, the Diocese received a grant for $6,000 from The Episcopal Church while Good Shepherd, Augusta, and others contributed $12,000 so far to a Bishop Benhase Legacy Fund to assist with lynching memorials.
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Disability insurance for lay employees
For congregations that have considered providing short-term and long-term disability plans for its staff members the opportunity to do so will very shortly become available. Church Pension Group (CPG) recently switched vendors to Zurich and is providing an open enrollment period for congregations to enroll new plans its staff starting February 1st, 2020. Information on pricing is online here. For information on plan coverage please visit the CPG website here
Why provide disability insurance?
Disability coverage protects your employees and your organization when an employee is too sick or injured to work. This coverage assures that employees have income while they're disabled and - in some cases - provides funds to your organization to hire a temporary replacement. This coverage is provided for clergy directly through their pension assessments. This is an opportunity to also provide for lay employees.
CPG is still currently working on its training and resources for the transitions. If you are interested in enrolling your employees into plans, contact our CPG representative Kirk Mason at [email protected] to get started and cc me at [email protected]. Given the tight turn around, I will be sending out updates in From the Field and other platforms with further detailed information.
-Canon Katie Easterlin, Canon for Administration
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Bishop's Visitation to Holy Nativity, St. Simons Island
Eleven persons were confirmed or received at Bishop Benhase's Visitation on January 28, 2020.
Left to right front row: Missy Smith, Gail Cronan, Mike Williams, Jim Flanagan, Jenny Gregory, Maggie Glennon, Nancy Bandy, Sandra Harper, Jerry Harper Bobbi Jernigan, Vann Jernigan.
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Schedule for the May Ordination and Consecration Weekend
More information on these events will be forthcoming including the means for clergy and their spouses to RSVP to the Friday luncheon, and full information on the Friday Evening Dinner. This schedule is to serve as the save the date information for those attending.
Friday, May 29
11:00 a.m. - Meeting with the Presiding Bishop for clergy and their spouses
L
unch follows for all
4:30 p.m. - Ordination rehearsal
at the Johnny Mercer Theater
6:30 p.m. - Dinner
Tickets will be available for clergy and lay leaders who wish to attend
Saturday, May 30
11 a.m. - Ordination and Consecration at the Johnny Mercer Theater
A reception follows in the hallway outside the theater
Pentecost Sunday, May 31
10:30 a.m. - Music begins in Forsyth Park The congregation brings their own chairs or blankets
11 a.m. - Holy Eucharist
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preach
Food trucks will be on site after the liturgy with restaurants readily available around town if those lines are long
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St. Paul's Augusta hosts Martin Luther King, Jr.
Interfaith Service
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The Rev. George Muir leads gathered clergy
in prayer before the service
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The nave of historic Saint Paul's, Augusta, was filled last Thursday, January 23, as the church hosted Augusta's 13th Annual Interfaith Service of Celebration for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Progressive Religious Coalition's President, Andy Reese, says that having ten faiths joining in worship makes the event the only one of its kind in the country.
The theme of the 2020 service was, "Keeping the Dream Alive: Why Doctor King's Message Still Matters."
Keynote speaker, the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, is the
pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church (
Disciples of Christ
) in
Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 2018, Barber was named a
MacArthur Fellow
for "building broad-based fusion coalitions as part of a moral movement to confront racial and economic inequality."
The service also included a powerful short play about Anne Frank and Emmit Till and the Davidson Fine Arts School Chorale singing "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."
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Deacons from around the diocese, together with those in discernment or formation for the diaconate, gather at Good Shepherd, Pennick on the occasion of establishing the St. Anna Alexander Center for Racial Healing and Reconciliation.
Left: Acolytes at King of Peace, Kingsland. At right, the Very Rev. Ted Clarkson holds a yellow snake as he moves the reptile from St. Cyprian's, Darien, where the snake had been wrapped around the alms basin during the offertory. The altar party decided not to mention the issue to the congregation and then the priest took matters into his own hands following worship.
 
St. Matthew's Rector, Rev.
Guillermo Arboleda was the presider and (bilingual) preacher Sunday morning at La Iglesia Episcopal San Esteban (St. Stephen's Episcopal Church) in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. He is joining the Gift of Sight Eye Clinic Mission Team, sponsored by St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Savannah, and the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. At right, some of the mission team is pictured in the service. The clinic expects to treat nearly 1,000 patients this week. They will also identify around 100 people needing surgery which will be performed next week. We will report more fully on this trip in next week's
From the Field.
 
The Rector, the Rev. Al Crumpton (above at left) and parishioners from the Church of Our Savior, Martinez, took part in the Family YMCA's A Place to Dream program in Barnwell, South Carolina, on January 25 by delivering and setting up eight beds and one crib for two families. They were teaming up with fellow Christians from the First Baptist Church in Barnwell, SC, to deliver and set up a total of thirty-six beds and three cribs on that one day.
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Join us on Friday, April 17th for a celebration honoring Bishop Benhase and Kelly Benhase. The Starland Yard is a food truck park in the historic Starland District of Savannah with rotating food trucks, a pizzeria, and yard games. This is a self-funded event.
Please let us know you are coming by clicking
here
.
Parking is free but limited in the Starland neighborhood, so please plan to carpool or Uber/Lyft if you are able. Click
here to view the map on their website.
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Diocesan Office Update and News
T
he Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase,
10th Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia, will make his visitation to St. Margaret's in Moultrie. To see the Bishop's complete visitation schedule, go here:
Visitations Calendar
Bishop-elect Frank Logue will travel Sunday with his wife, Victoria, to Richmond, Virginia, for the first session in his training with the College for Bishops' Living Our Vows Program which assists newly elected bishops through their first three years in the episcopacy. February 3-6 will be the first of three residencies in the program. The Episcopal Church's Office for Pastoral Development also provided Logue with a 90-day companion. The Rt. Rev. Terry White is meeting regularly by phone with the bishop-elect as a sounding board and to go over key transition issues. The Episcopal Church will also provide a bishop as coach for the first three years following ordination.
The Rev. Kevin Kelly, rector of St. Michael and All Angels, will preside at the noon service at St. Anna Alexander chapel, Diocesan House, on Thursday, January 30, 2020.
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Helpful data available to Episcopal churches at no cost
 Congregational and diocesan leaders in The Episcopal Church have access to a new online resource offered here and
here
for understanding history and visioning the future with the data collected through the Parochial Report. The General Convention Office has contracted with Datastory Consulting to create a web-based, interactive tool to map data. The Diocese of Georgia worked with Datastory through a grant from the Episcopal Church and we have been using their data as a part of the Church Development Institute (CDI). These new web-based reports offer data to all our congregations.
"This tool provides a robust platform for communities to understand and use their data in new and exciting ways," says deputy executive officer, Rev. Molly James. "While much of this information may already be known, there is something particularly enlightening and profound about seeing all the information collected and mapped out in one place. This tool will help our communities to better understand the neighborhoods and contexts in which they are situated, as well as providing wonderful possibilities for future collaboration."
 "In previous years, we have only published reports to show trends churchwide," says Iris DiLeonardo, research & language specialist, "It takes time and technical know-how to create specialized reports. Rather than having to request and wait for a report, this new tool will enable congregations and dioceses to interact with their own data at the local level. Now graphs and trends are only a few clicks away."
The "Know Your Neighborhood" resource will be available on the General Convention and Episcopal Church websites.
When a parish is selected, a pop-up window will offer brief stats on membership, attendance and income. The user will then have the opportunity to "Explore Trends" and "Explore Neighborhood."
Explore Trends
In the trends area, a user can access graphs of the past 10 years of data for a parish, a grouping of parishes, a diocese, or a group of dioceses. Toggle buttons in the upper left enable users to search for parishes that have similar sized membership, pledge & plate, or attendance. The graph at the bottom will initially show membership. Clicking on tabs will show additional graphs of pledge & plate, and attendance.
Explore Neighborhood
 Clicking on "Explore Neighborhood" opens an interactive PDF that provides basic demographic data about the neighborhood within a 15-minute driving radius of a parish. Each box has clickable data. Users who want to know more about the age breakdown or the generational "segments," for instance, simply click on that box to dive into more information. The second page of the PDF provides a link to additional consulting services to help Episcopal communities use and better understand their data.
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Prayers for Weekly Liturgies
Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic.
January 26 - February 1
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregations in Augusta, especially, Good Shepherd and St. Alban's. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Augusta, especially the Catholic Churches of St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Joseph, and St. Mary on the Hill. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Barahona - Jesus the Pilgrim (
Jesús Peregrino), Redemption (
La Redención), and Lamb of God (
Cordero de Dios).
February 2 - 8
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregations in Augusta, especially, St. Augustine's, St. Mary's, and St. Paul's. We also pray for our ecumenical partners St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Adel, and St. Ann Catholic Church in Alapaha. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Boca Chica -Grace (
De la Gracia), Mount Zion (
Monte de Sión), and St. Joseph (
San José).
Additional Prayer Cycles
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Aslan Awakes
The Rev. David Lemburg polishes the lion door knocker at Diocesan House. His thoughtful polishing revealed
the cross already present in the design while the brightly shining lion brings to mind the Christ figure, Aslan,
in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.
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Events
Thursday, February 20 (for staff, participants arrive Friday) to Sunday, February 23, 2020
Honey Creek
For students in grades 10 to 12
Register
here.
EQHR for Clergy Only
5:30 PM, Monday, May 4 to 1 PM, Wednesday, May 6
Honey Creek
Ordination and Consecration of the 11th Bishop of Georgia
11 AM Saturday, May 30
Johnny Mercer Theater
Savannah, Georgia
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preaches at Eucharist in Forsyth Park
11 AM Sunday, May 31
The Bandshell, Forsyth Park
Savannah, Georgia
High School Camp at Honey Creek
Camp St. Joseph & Mary I at Honey Creek
June 14-20, 2020
For those who have completed grades 3-5
Register
here.
Parent & Child session I at Honey Creek
For those who have completed Kindergarten thru 2nd grade
June 21-27, 2020
For those who have completed grades 6-8
Register
here.
Camp St. Joseph & Mary II
July 5-11, 2020
For those who have completed grades 3-5
Register
here.
Parent & Child session II at Honey Creek
For those who have completed Kindergarten thru 2nd grade
Camp St. Peter II
July 12-18, 2020
For those who have completed grades 6-8
Register here
.
Episcopal Youth Event
July 6-14, 2020
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Participants must be in grades 9-12
Register by going here:
199th Convention of the Diocese of Georgia
November 5-7
Jekyll Island Convention Center
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