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RSS News FeedConsecration of Bishop Elect Michael Vono
August 24, 2010 - 5:28 PM
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Download Consecration Parking Map
Child care: Child care will be available at the Cathedral. Parents may pull up to the east parking lot door and take their children into the nursery area. They will then be directed to park in one of the designated parking lots.
Church banners: each church should bring its church banner. This may be carried by either an acolyte or another designated person. Each church should designate in advance who will carry the banner and be responsible for getting it and the stand to the Hyatt.
RIO GRANDE: Bishop-elect Michael Louis Vono Completes Consent Process
August 24, 2010 - 5:28 PM
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's office announced Aug. 3 that Bishop-elect Michael Louis Vono of the Diocese of the Rio Grande has received the required number of consents from bishops with jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees to his ordination and consecration.
Vono, 61, was elected April 24 as ninth bishop of Rio Grande on the third ballot out of a field of six nominees. He received 150 votes of 189 cast in the lay order and 69 of 86 cast in the clergy order. An election on that ballot required 106 in the lay order and 64 in the clergy order.
His consecration and ordination is slated for Oct. 22 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The presiding bishop will officiate.
Most recently Vono served as the rector of St. Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, Italy. Vono will succeed Jeffrey Steenson, who announced in September 2007 that he was leaving the Episcopal Church to join the Roman Catholic Church. The Rt. Rev. William C. Frey, retired bishop of the Diocese of Colorado, has been serving Rio Grande as assisting bishop.
While Vono has received the necessary majority of consents, consents will continue to be accepted up to and including the Sept. 11 deadline.
As outlined under Canon III.11.4 (a), the presiding bishop confirmed the receipt of consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction (diocesan bishops only), and has also reviewed the evidence of consents from a majority of the diocesan standing committees of the church.
Episcopal Relief & Development Aids Pakistan Flood Victims
August 24, 2010 - 5:28 PM
Thank you for your concern for our people of Pakistan and our program partners there. In response to the devastating floods in Pakistan, Episcopal Relief & Development is in touch with the Diocese of Peshawar of the Church of Pakistan. There are Episcopal Relief & Development funds available in the Diocese which are being redirected for flood assistance to 1,340 families in affected areas where the church has a presence and can deliver assistance. We continue to offer our prayers and stand in solidarity with their efforts. We do not anticipate doing any additional designated fundraising at this time. Please keep the people of Pakistan in your prayers and encourage others to do likewise. Please direct any and all donations to our general disaster fund, using this example as one that highlights the vulnerability of so many of our sisters and brothers globally
Luke Fodor
Network Coordinator
Episcopal Relief & Development
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
C:(646) 220-9444
F:(212) 687-5302
E: lfodor@er-d.org
www.er-d.org
Cultures Blend at Navajoland Consecration
August 24, 2010 - 5:28 PM
By Jack Yerby
Parish Administrator
St. John's Episcopal Church, Farmington, NM
Elements of the Navajo and Episcopal traditions blended in the liturgy for the consecration of the Rev. Canon Dr. David Earle Bailey as the Eighth Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland on Saturday, August 7. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, presided as chief consecrator for the service that was attended by 13 bishops and a soon-to-be bishop, our own Fr. Michael Vono, bishop-elect of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Because the Diocese of Navajoland encompasses the Navajo reservation, the consecration took place in Kirtland, New Mexico (just outside of Farmington) in the Four Corners area of the reservation.
The multi-cultural nature of the liturgy was reflected on the altar. The Fair Linen was a Navajo rug; the chalices and patens used for communion were Navajo pottery pieces, and the water used to asperse the people was from the three states comprising the Diocese - Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
A Navajo medicine man chanted a purification song at the beginning of the liturgy as the people were “smudged” with smoke from cedar and piñon. (Smudging in the Native American culture is similar to the use of incense in the Western Church. People and objects are blessed, especially in the Navajo culture, with smoke brushed by the underside of an eagle’s feather. It is the underside of the bird that faces the earth as it flies, while the upper side faces heaven. Whether it is through smudging with the smoke of burning cedar that has been purified, balanced, and blessed or through the burning of incense, both traditions remind us of the kindling of the fire in our hearts for God our Creator.) The hymns, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Amazing Grace, and He Leadeth Me were sung in Navajo; the sermon was given first in English then translated into Navajo, and the Lord’s Prayer was said in both languages. At the conclusion of the liturgy, a Christianized Blessing Way Prayer was offered in Navajo, followed by the blessing of the congregation in English by the new bishop. The two-hour service was a marvelous combination of both Navajo and Anglican traditions.
Bishop Bailey most recently served as Canon to the Ordinary and Deployment Officer for the Diocese of Utah. Prior to his 1998 arrival in Utah, he served as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Phoenix and chaired Native American Ministries in the Diocese of Arizona. He assisted Navajoland Bishop Steven Plummer, the first Navajo ordained a priest and the first Navajo bishop, in an administrative capacity by helping develop a mission statement and economic development plans, and as a Hogan Learning Center consultant. After Bishop Plummer’s death in 2005 from lymphoma, Bishop Rushton Kimsey, the retired Bishop of Eastern Oregon, was appointed assisting bishop, and Fr. Bailey continued to offer administrative support to Bishop Kimsey until Bishop Mark MacDonald (of Alaska) was appointed assisting bishop.
There were two Bibles presented to Bishop Bailey, one in Navajo and the other in English. The alb that he will wear as bishop was worn by Bishop Frensdorff, the interim Bishop from 1983 to 1988. The alb was found in a suitcase that survived the plane crash that killed Bishop Frensdorff. Bishop Bailey’s cope and mitre once belonged to the Rt. Rev. Joseph Heistand, and were worn by Bishop Heistand when he ordained David Bailey as priest. A second cope and mitre with traditional Navajo designs is currently being produced by Rose Sandoval, the sister of the late Bishop Steven Plummer.
Bishop Bailey’s episcopal ring is a gift from the Diocese of Utah, and the crosier is the one used by the late Bishop Fred Putnam, the first Bishop of Navajoland. Bishop Bailey was consecrated kneeling on a Navajo rug that was used in the ordination of Bishop Steven Plummer at Canyon de Chelley.
Felicidades! 1st Birthday! Hispanic Ministry at St. Bede's
August 24, 2010 - 5:27 PM
By the Rev. Juan M.C. Oliver, Ph. D.
Assistant for Hispanic Ministry at St. Bede’s
Sometime after Easter Day 2009, I met a Hispanic family with a little boy in a white tuxedo, waiting in our foyer. They were waiting for Fr. Murphy to celebrate his baptism after the 10:30 service. I offered to assist, then offered to do another, and later suggested offering a regular Eucharist in Spanish. The likely congregants met and chose 7 p.m. on Sundays, as many work during the day. I met with St. Bede´s Vestry, a mature, very capable group genuinely interested in serving Santa Fe, where over half of the population is Hispanic. They offered wonderful support, and so we began services in Spanish about a year ago, with a congregation of 10. Two months ago it reached 80. There are three central dimensions to our ministry: Worship, Christian Formation, centered on the Bible and Christian spirituality, and Service to the poor.
We Worship in Spanish, and will gradually introduce some English (and Spanish to the Anglo congregation) so we might be able to worship bilingually on special occasions. We are blessed to also have the Rev. Kim Martinez as a fellow volunteer assisting priest. Sergio Pinelas is our modestly paid guitarist. We honor Hispanic worship traditions in an Episcopal way.
Christian formation is a top priority. Persons requesting Baptisms, Confirmations, Solemn (“first”) Communions or Quinceañeras, are encouraged to embark on an exploration of the Christian faith, since most are completely unchurched, even though they were baptized in the Roman church. They grow through Bible study, active worship, prayer and service to the poor. Kids are everywhere. Guillermina Juarez is our Sunday School teacher, and we are searching for a child care person and a Hispanic youth worker. Our lay leaders are already emerging. This September we will offer a nine-month course preparing persons for leadership in the Episcopal Church.
We encourage folks to identify the social ills and needs of their neighbors and to contribute treasure, time and talent in service. Our Sunday collection, after paying music and Sunday School stipends, goes to the needy.
We have been very blessed by a caring Vestry, who earmarked some funds for this project. We have also received individual donations and a Deanery grant for this year, and are currently applying for Deanery and diocesan grants for 2011. We expect this ministry to fully defray all its costs defray its costs by 2020, while earmarking at least 50% of its income for service to the poor. Throughout, St. Bede´s will continue to be one parish with one rector, one budget, and services in two languages.
Do join us in worship! We celebrate la Santa Eucaristía every Sunday at 7 p.m., and who knows, you may meet a boy in a white tuxedo!
Christian Formation Grants Available Now!
August 24, 2010 - 5:27 PM
The Christian Education Resource Center is offering up to four $400 grants to individual congregations in our diocese. These grants are intended for the purchase of Christian formation materials, and furnishings, or for funding the training of lay volunteers in the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Would you like to build on your Godly Play program with some new stories? Maybe you would like to send a volunteer youth worker to a regional training event? Could your youth room could use paint and a few chairs? These are exactly the projects the CERC Grants would like to foster.
Please submit a one page request letter including the following: an explanation of how you would use the grant, the name of the contact person, and the signature of your parish clergy, senior warden or bishop's committee chair. Send requests to he Christian Education Resource Center c/o Cathedral of St. John, PO Box 1246, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103. Grants will be fulfilled on a first come first serve basis for appropriate requests. The deadline is September 23, 2010.
Jane Alice Gober, jgober@stjohnsabq.org
Director of Christian Formation, Cathedral of St. John
Coordinator, CERC, Diocese of the Rio Grande
Albuquerque, New Mexico
505.247.1581 www.stjohnsabq.org www.cathedralformation.typepad.com
Wings of L.I.F.E. Roswell is awarded a UTO Grant
August 24, 2010 - 5:26 PM
By Rickie Sherrill, UTO Coordinator
All the children, their mothers and fathers, grandparents and teachers in the Wings of L.I.F.E. program at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Roswell, send their warmest thanks to every UTO contributor in the Diocese of the Rio Grande and the United Thank Offering organization for the grant money that has been awarded to them.
The program is a special educational opportunity created for the elementary school children of incarcerated parents. The boys and girls are provided a haven where they learn how to understand and cope with their difficult situation and are taught skills necessary for healthy development.
Every participant in the United Thank Offering can rightfully be proud of contributing in the life-enriching work of Wings of L.I.F.E., right here in our own diocese. An appreciative mother wrote, "The school’s caring and positive classes are making all the difference in the world to my children and me."
Deepest thanks to one and all for being there for these deserving children.
Church of the Holy Spirit, Gallup, Gets an Overhaul
August 24, 2010 - 5:26 PM
By the Rev. Roger S. Perkins, Co-Vicar
Church of the Holy Spirit, Gallup
For the last few weeks the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Gallup has been in a state of disarray. The pews are stacked in the front of the church, while new earth-tone ceramic tiles are being laid to complement the newly painted walls. New lighting and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system are being installed, which has necessitated the renovation of the 1950’s-era wiring system.
Our extensive renovation project started with discussions and a general consensus about our carpets needing to be replaced. The thirty-year-old carpets, while not too badly worn, were moldy and dusty, and it was agreed that it was time to lay down new flooring. With that in mind, parish members began suggesting ideas: “As long as the church will be ‘torn up’ for re-flooring, why not paint the walls?” Then the idea came up: “As long as the light fixtures are removed for the walls to be painted, why not replace them with brighter, more attractive light fixtures? And couldn’t we get rid of the fluorescent light fixtures in the ceiling?” Finally, there was a feeling that: “If we are ever going to do it, this might be the time to put in an air conditioning system.”
We’ve been holding our Sunday morning worship sessions in our Fellowship Hall, while we eagerly await the completion of the nave refurbishment in mid-August. Each Sunday, the nave is open so that our parish family members can see the progress being made.
A special service of rededication at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 22, combined the 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. services. The invitations went out to the entire community, especially all of the folks who used to attend Church of the Holy Spirit, to come and see the renovated nave. This special service was followed by a Pot Luck Fellowship Brunch to celebrate the rededication as well as all the birthdays and anniversaries that have happened in June, July and August
We are planning a special service of rededication for Sunday, the 22nd of August, and are inviting the community, especially all of the folks who used to attend Church of the Holy Spirit, to come and see the renovated nave. It will be a Sunday when we combine the 8:00 and 10:30 services into one large service to be held at 9:30 am. This special service will be followed by a Pot Luck Fellowship Brunch to celebrate the rededication as well as all the birthdays and anniversaries that have happened in June, July and August.