In 1802, Absalom Jones, born into slavery in Delaware, became the first black priest in the Episcopal Church, co-founding and serving what became the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – the present-day church website is here. Jones’ feast day is February 13, and this year Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has invited the church to give Absalom Jones Offerings on February 9 to the two remaining Episcopal HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), St. Augustine’s University in […]
Cara Modisett
Cara Modisett lives in Roanoke, Va., where she serves as music director at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church and staff collaborative pianist at Radford University. She is also an adjunct English instructor and literary magazine advisor at Ferrum College. From 2014 until 2016 she served as Minister of Communication for Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal) in Memphis, Tennessee and prior to that, she was communications advisor and editor of Epiphany for the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
The Episcopal Church offers two digital Christmas Eve programs
From the Episcopal Church:
[December 17, 2019] The Episcopal Church is offering two, digital Christmas Eve programs on December 24. Available on both the Episcopal Church website and the Episcopal Church Facebook page, these programs makes Christmas Eve worship accessible to those not attending a service or program at a local church.
Both services will be available beginning on Christmas eve: St. Thomas’ at 4:00 pm and St. John the Baptist’s at 12:00 pm as well as at 6:00 pm (all times […]
AdventWord 2019 begins Sunday
AdventWord combines word and image, hashtag and meditation in a 24-day digital journey through Advent, sharing out an official reflection each day in three languages as well as inviting and collecting reflections from around the world. Participants can sign up to receive daily meditations at AdventWord.org, and can contribute to the “global Advent calendar” by sharing images and words with hashtags – #AdventWord, and a hashtag for each particular day’s theme (see below).
AdventWord launched in 2014 as a project of […]
Digital Advent! Materials now available from the Episcopal Church
From The Episcopal Church:
[October 30, 2019] New and updated Advent resources for congregations, dioceses, and communities of faith are now available: Way of Love Digital Invitation Kit, updated Journeying the Way of Love Advent calendar and curriculum, AdventWord 2019, Sermons That Work compilation of Advent and Christmas selections, Advent reflections from Episcopal Migration Ministries, and bulletin inserts. All are available here.
Also offered again this year are digital Christmas Eve services.
Digital Invitation Kit for Advent (available […]
Anglican bishops speak up against South American deforestation
Anglican News reports that eight South American Anglican bishops have spoken up against deforestation.
Further Action on Bishop Love’s Nov 10, 2018 Pastoral Letter and Pastoral Directive
Presiding Bishop Curry: “I am aware that Bishop Love’s conduct in this regard may constitute a canonical offense.”
Two Episcopal leaders lost this week
The Episcopal News Service reported two losses in the Episcopal Church in the first few days of September:
The Rev. Alison Cheek, one of the first female priests in The Episcopal Church and the first to publicly celebrate the Eucharist, died on Sept. 1 at her home in Brevard, North Carolina, according to friends. She was 92.
Cheek was one of the Philadelphia Eleven, the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church. She and […]
Events commemorate 400 years of the slave trade in America
A series of events the past two weekends, Episcopalians have commemorated and remembered the beginning of the slave trade in what would become the United States of America, in August 1619 when the first ship landed near Jamestown, in the British colonies in the New World.
Friday and Saturday, August 16 and 17, the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia partnered with Virginia Theological Seminary for a remembrance and silent march in Alexandria (the location of the VTS campus). It began at […]
Episcopal Church response to crisis on the border
“We are children of the one God who is the Creator of us all,” said Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. “It is our sisters, our brothers, our siblings who are seeking protection and asylum, fleeing violence and danger to children, searching for a better life for themselves and their children. The crisis at the border is not simply a challenge of partisan politics but a test of our personal and public morality and human decency.”
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offers Pride Month statement
“You have helped the church to be truly catholic, universal, a house of prayer for all people. You have helped the church to truly be a reflection of the beloved community of God. You have helped the church to authentically be a branch of the Jesus movement in our time.”
