May Weekend: "Bad Reception, Good Connection"

Teens from around the diocese gathered at Chanco this past Friday-Sunday for May Weekend 2015.  The theme this year was "Bad Reception, Good Connection."  The EYC Board offered reflections on issues of faith and technology and small groups discussed ways in which we connect with God and the impact of social media on our lives.  Some highlights of the weekend included a special celebratory Eucharist for Pentecost and making cards for veterans in honor of Memorial Day.  Participants also enjoyed a dance at the Pavilion and access to the ropes course.

Hear what one participant had to say about the event: "I had an amazing retreat at Chanco this weekend. To be greeted like a childhood friend whom you hadn't seen for years, after just coming to one weekend, made me truly realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful community surrounding me."

The following individuals were elected by the community at May Weekend to serve on the EYC Board for the 2015-2016 program year: Thomas Davis, Audre'ana Ellis, Spencer Harrell, Charlie Marks- PRESIDENT, Christina Mason, Courtney Mason, Jimmy Murphy, Ricky Nauroth, Stephen Peabody.

Mark your calendars now for October Weekend 2015, which will take place October 2-4 at Chanco, and will be for teens in grades 8-12.  To learn more about this or other youth ministry opportunities, please contact Youth Missioner Ashley Scruggs at ascruggs@diosova.org.

Praying for the churches of Southern Virginia

As part of our liturgy at Annual Council 2015, each delegation wrote a prayer for their parish. We are sharing these prayers each week in the eNews so that we all can support one another in the upcoming year.

St. Andrew's, Norfolk

O God, we thank you for the loving, caring, healthy, inclusive St. Andrew's family and we pray that we not let our pride, arrogance and complacency cause us to simply pat ourselves on our backs for what we have done but rather we ask that you help us to focus on the many needs in our community and the world that have been left undone; and we especially pray that in 2015 each of us finds a tangible way to serve a person in need, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever, Amen.

Old Donation, Virginia Beach

O gracious God, we truly thank you for the abundance of blessings you have already given to us.

May we use those blessings and talents in a manner that benefits our neighbors and, communities and is pleasing and acceptable to you. We ask for your guidance in seeking a priest who will be an effective teacher, preacher and pastor, and will inspire us in new areas of ministry. Give our congregation vision and resources as we expand our facilities. May we use Jesus' example to fully live our mission of spreading the Gospel to a more diverse community. Holy Spirit kindle in us the fire of your love.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

YASC: A mission to Tanzania

By Andy Russell, Bruton Parish, Williamsburg

Several weeks have passed since I graduated from William & Mary. Two months to go until my mission to Tanzania.

You read correctly! The Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) has placed me in Dodoma, Tanzania starting next August. Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, Zanzibar: all incredible features of Tanzania. But hardship and suffering are realities in Tanzania as well. During my time there, I will be serving with The Carpenter's Kids, a program run by the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika that provides education to children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. In addition, these orphans are provided school supplies, shoes, a uniform, access to emergency healthcare, and two mosquito nets. So far, the program is supporting at least 6,625 orphans across 116 of the 200 parishes. But with an estimated 40,000 such orphans in the Central Tanganyika diocese alone, the need for this program very real.

It is here I would like to reiterate what mission exactly is: the work we all engage in to provide for and bring all of the members of Christ's body closer together. I would also like to reiterate another point: I really cannot do this alone. This is not my mission, this is our mission. And in Tanzania, the need for mission is clear: for most HIV/AIDS orphans, the Carpenter's Kids program is the only thing keeping them off the streets. The schools provide structure and support that would be otherwise absent in the lives of these children.

To financially support our mission, donations can be sent to Bruton Parish Church (memo line "YASC"), P.O. Box 3520, Williamsburg, VA 23187-3520. To prayerfully support our mission via a Prayer Sponsor List, please send a mail or email address to asrussell21@gmail.com. To learn more about the mission and The Carpenter's Kids, please visit asrussell-yasc.blogspot.com.

Already many of you have been so incredibly generous and supportive, and for that I am truly thankful. Let us continue to do God's work in the world!

ECW adopts 2015-2016 Outreach Project: God Bless the Children

By Nancy Smith, St. Aidan's, Virginia Beach

ECW Diocesan President, Nancy Sands, asked women gathered at the Spring Annual Meeting May 16 for a positive vote to support a project near and dear to her heart, and she got it. The women voted unanimously to support the 2015-2016 ECW diocesan outreach project, "God Bless the Children." The project will support the children and youth at Jackson-Feild Homes and Boys Home of Virginia in two ways.  First, by providing items needed on the homes' wish lists and second, by donating funds to create an endowment to help the youth with expenses when they head for college or begin a new job after graduation. Watch for more information.

The ECW also celebrated its 125th anniversary of founding in 1890 at the meeting. Historic Glebe Church in Suffolk, the host parish, was the perfect site to honor a special guest, ECW's founder Louisa Taylor Letcher, portrayed by Betty Kennedy. ECW Historian, Barbara Taylor, portraying Judy Emery, the first corresponding secretary for the Women's Auxiliary, ECW's foundation, introduced Louisa.  

 

Photo L to R: ECW Diocesan President, Nancy Sands, Christ Church, Danville; ECW Historian, Barbara Taylor, St. Francis, Virginia Beach; and Betty Kennedy, St. Aidan's, Virginia Beach.  

Bishop Hollerith's reflection on the sale of Talbot Hall

Dear Diocesan Family,

I am pleased to announce to all in the Episcopal Church in Southern Virginia that after a six year journey Talbot Hall has been officially sold to Talbot Hall West LLC. As I am sure you have heard, the new owners of the property are planning on building 12 to 14 small footprint, single family homes there. The LLC is primarily comprised of local Norfolk families who have a deep love for the area of Talbot Park and who share a commitment to the wellbeing of the property's unique character.

The journey that has culminated in this final sale has been, quite frankly, an arduous one. It has demanded many hours of hard work from members of the Diocesan Property Committee, the Talbot Hall Task Force, the Standing Committee, members of the Executive Board, the diocesan staff, and our Diocesan Chancellors. Likewise, these last six years have been punctuated by events such as intensive Town Hall meetings in the Talbot Park neighborhood, various meetings with city officials, and multiple court appearances by both our chancellors and the Property Committee co-chairs. It has also been a journey that has received significant local media coverage - both accurate and inaccurate at times. Needless to say, we have come a long way in the last six years and it hasn't always been easy or painless.

Yet, from my perspective, I believe we have arrived exactly where we had hoped to arrive - and done so in a manner that fully reflects the initial goals and objectives set by our Diocesan Council in 2012. We have ensured that the property will be used in a manner that is in keeping with the nature of the local neighborhood. We have ensured that the waterfront environment of the property will be well cared for. And we have conveyed the property with respect for the historic nature of the Manor House. But, above all, we have accomplished these goals while still being good stewards of a very important diocesan financial asset. The Talbot property was - from the very beginning, as a gift of the Talbot family - an asset conveyed in trust to all the people and parishes in the Episcopal Church in Southern Virginia. To that end, in conveying the property, we have practiced healthy Christian stewardship across our entire diocese.

While selling Talbot Hall may be cause for celebration, it is also - from where I sit as your bishop - cause for grief. The beautiful live oak trees, the expansive lawn from the Manor House, the Gunn Center and the Episcopal Residence are all places that are part of a whole host of wonderful memories shared by so many. Talbot Hall has represented the stately, established, presence of the Episcopal Church in our part of Virginia. It has been a symbol of faith experience for earlier generations of Episcopalians, and as such represents the Church of the past and, perhaps even for some, the Church in simpler and surer times. To sell Talbot Hall is to lose something special, to let go of a place that possesses emotional and spiritual value. This fact must be acknowledged by all of us.

In the years ahead, there will be those who will continue to struggle with what we have done, and those who will believe that the sale is an act of responsible stewardship. Most of us will feel some of both, I suspect. But, regardless, all of us will share in the same responsibility - the responsibility to answer the high calling of our Lord Jesus to follow him - to follow him into a new era of faith and mission. With that in mind, I pray that we can now move forward - and do so with the assurance that all things can and will be made holy for those whose hearts remain fixed on him.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Holly Hollerith 

Advancing to General Convention 2015

Bishop Hollerith and a deputation from Diocese of Southern Virginia will head to Salt Lake City, UT, June 25 - July 3 to take part in the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Over the next few weeks, we'll be giving you some background on General Convention, explain how it works, and introduce our deputation. While we are in Salt Lake City, you can follow the action on our General Convention blog and the diocesan Facebook page.  

 

Electing a new Presiding Bishop 

At the 78th General Convention, a new Presiding Bishop will be elected. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman elected to head a national branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, is not seeking a second nine-year term in office.

"I believe I can best serve this church by opening the door for other bishops to more freely discern their own vocation to this ministry," Jefferts Schori, said in a statement, "I will continue to engage us in becoming a more fully diverse church, spreading the gospel among all sorts and conditions of people, and wholeheartedly devoted to God's vision of a healed and restored creation."

Previously Bishop of Nevada, Jefferts Shcori is the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Her term as Presiding Bishop ends at the conclusion of General Convention this summer. She was elected at the 75th General Convention on June 18, 2006, and invested at Washington National Cathedral on November 4, 2006.

More than 165 people representing over 60 dioceses submitted names to the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop (JNCPB) during the nomination period last fall. The JNCPB is composed of a lay member, a priest or deacon, and a bishop elected from each of the nine provinces of the Episcopal Church, plus two youth representatives who were appointed by the President of the House of Deputies, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings.

Under church law, presiding bishops must be able to complete a full nine-year term before hitting the mandatory retirement age of 72, limiting candidates to those under age 63 at this year's General Convention. The JNCPB, after a two year discernment process, announced its nominees on May 1, 2015:

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio

The Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry, Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut h

The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith, Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida

The election process

On Saturday, June 27, members of the House of Bishops with seat, voice, and vote will convene in St. Mark's Cathedral in Salt Lake City, where the election will occur in the context of prayer and reflection.  Once an election has taken place, current Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will send a deputation to the House of Deputies for confirmation of the election. 

The Rev. Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, will refer the name to the House of Deputies legislative committee on the Confirmation of the Presiding Bishop without announcing the name to the full House. The legislative committee will make a recommendation to the House of Deputies whether to confirm the election or not confirm, and the House of Deputies will immediately vote on the recommendation. President Jennings will then appoint a delegation from the House of Deputies to notify the House of Bishops of the action taken.

The Presiding Bishop serves for a nine-year term.  The Presiding Bishop is Primate, Chief Pastor of the Church, Chair of the Executive Council, and President of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

Praying for the churches of Southern Virginia

As part of our liturgy at Annual Council 2015, each delegation wrote a prayer for their parish. We are sharing these prayers each week in the eNews so that we all can support one another in the upcoming year.

St. Christopher's, Portsmouth

Loving and compassionate God, Bless our Outreach to the hungry and homeless and help us to increase our compassion as we endeavor to follow you. We ask this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Redeemer, Midlothian

Dear Heavenly Father, we ask for guidance during the coming months. Help us to remember that, though our transition process may be difficult at times, as we gather in discussion and discernment, you are in our midst. Help us also to understand that we do this, not to better ourselves, but to continue the command to proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.