ABUNDANT Times Winter/Spring 2020

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From the Editor

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From the Bishop

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Council Goes on Pilgrimage

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Get Out the Map and Plan a Ministry Pilgrimage

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Meeting Seekers on Their Way in Sheffield

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Coming Home to Liberia

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A Canterbury Pilgrimage

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Building Relationships with Children in Spite of War

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Hispanic Communities Making Connections

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Two Ordained to the Diaconate

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Welcome to Western Massachusetts

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From the Archives

On the Cover: Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in Springfield, MA. Photo: Episcopal WMA

ABUNDANT Times is the official news publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

The diocesan offices are located at: 37 Chestnut Street Springfield, MA, 01103-1787 Call us: (413) 737-4786 Visit us: www.diocesewma.org Follow us: @EpiscopalWMA

Abundant times

The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher IX Bishop of Western Massachusetts, Publisher The Rev. Vicki Ix Managing Editor Alison Gamache Layout and Copy Editor

At Diocesan House

The Rev. Dr. Richard M. Simpson Canon to the Ordinary Steven P. Abdow Canon for Mission Resources

Missioners

The Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith Missioner for Spirituality and Leadership The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas Missioner for Creation Care The Rev. Christopher Carlisle Director, Building Bridges Veterans Initiative The Rev. Jennifer Gregg Missioner for Servant Leadership The Rev. Pamela J. Mott Missioner for Congregational Vitality The Rev. JosĂŠ Reyes Missioner for Hispanic/Latino Ministries The Rev. Meredyth Wessman Ward Urban Missioner for Worcester

From the Editor

Make a pilgrimage?

The Rev. Vicki Ix Managing Editor, ABUNDANT Times

Friends, I write this the day after our bishop announced the suspension of in-person services until and including April 12—Easter Sunday—due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the whirlwind of communications in these past two weeks, we have all been bombarded with information, health directives, and the 24/7 news feed. Our work on this issue of ABUNDANT Times fell by the wayside as more urgent matters came to the fore. Now, as we are all adjusting to some kind of new normal, we have decided to push ahead and get this magazine out to the faithful people of our diocese.

We needed to adjust the theme from “Make a Pilgrimage” to “Make a Pilgrimage…Eventually”. We believe that reading these thoughtful articles about places near and far might take us all out of our boxes for a bit. This issue takes us to Canterbury, Liberia, and to the Appalachian Trail in the Berkshires. You’ll hear from real people about the impact of sacred travel and the people God brings into our lives when we’re on the move.

As we endure the strangeness of staying put for weeks, it may be good to page through and dream

of your next real vacation, or that trip to the Holy Land you promised yourself you would make. You might even stop by the diocesan offices in Springfield and visit the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden in our backyard. “Oh, the places you’ll go!” Someday. Eventually. When this time of fear and isolation is over.

It will be nearly Easter by the time this magazine is delivered. We will all have celebrated Christ’s resurrection in a different way.

We cannot know when this pandemic will end, but perhaps the daffodils and hyacinths will comfort us for now.

As you turn the page and begin a virtual journey with us, let’s all remember that there is one pilgrimage experience nothing can take from us—prayer. Even as we hunker down and physically distance ourselves from one another, we can go to our inner room and shut the door. We can journey into the heart of God with all the people we love and care for. That’s the most life-giving pilgrimage of all. ♦ Vicki+ March 20, 2020

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From the Bishop The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher IX Bishop of Western Massachusetts

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n the spirit of this issue, I want to share a few photos from the five pilgrimages I’ve made since becoming your bishop in 2012.

Photo 1: My wife Betsy and I made the journey to Iona in Scotland in 2014. This ancient “thin place” was remarkable in beauty and steeped in the richness of monastic prayer.

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Photo 2: In 2014 and 2015 I walked each corridor of our diocese on foot.

It was transformational for me to meet Episcopalians in the world of work and to find our churches like a seeker.

Photo 3: In 2017, I joined Province I faithful for a pilgrimage down the Connecticut River in kayaks.

Photos 4 and 5: Next on my list was the Camino in Spain. I made this pilgrimage with my son, Geoff, in 2018.

Photo 6: And in 2019, Betsy and I joined our diocesan pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

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Each of these pilgrimages began with a dream—a longing that took shape and moved me to make it happen.

As you read about the many pilgrimages described in these pages, I hope you will consider making one of your own. Whether it is a journey to a sight of great holiness or a trip across our diocese to learn about an innovative ministry, it’s good to remind ourselves that followers of Jesus are always pilgrims on the way to deeper faith and deeper life. ♦ +Doug

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Photos: Episcopal WMA and Betsy Fisher

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A BUNDANT TIMES Photo: Pexels @kaboompics

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ave you ever wondered what Diocesan Council does? We elect them at convention and then they go to work for us. They meet regularly at Diocesan House with the bishop and canons to oversee the mission of our congregations and our community-based ministries.

It’s not glamorous ministry. It’s roll-upyour-sleeves work, but it is grounded in common prayer and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

large, as opposed to just our own little silos.”

“I think, if nothing else, it’s giving those of us on council a chance to talk to people in churches that we typically wouldn’t talk to,” Janet added. It is about discovering who’s doing what where.

Recently, I sat down with two members of Diocesan Council, Wende Wheeler and Janet Walsh Young, to talk about the council’s Pilgrimage Project—a virtual visit to every congregation via phone interview or email.

It was Mark Rogers’ idea, according to Janet. It bubbled up at the 2019 council retreat. Mark suggested that the best way for the council to help congregations would be to find out what’s going on in each congregation. Council members would call every congregation and interview the leadership—lay and ordained—to learn about the great ministry going on out there. The second stage would be to make this information available to parishes so that new ideas could grow and be shared. The idea was overwhelmingly approved.

The 51 congregations were divided up and council members began their “pilgrimage” last spring.

Thursday Café All Saints Episcopal Church, Worcester

As part of the pilgrimage project, every congregation is being asked about the ministry that has the most energy right now, that is engaging members and meeting some need.

Both Janet and Wende noted that, of the responses so far, the signature ministry isn’t always some innovative, out-of-the-box idea. “Some churches are doing small, consistent work of some sort that they feel the need to do,” Janet said. “There are really good things going on and they’re not all huge bells-and-whistles going off.

They’re just quiet, good ministry.”

What began as an effort to deepen and enrich the relationship between council and congregations can now become a source of inspiration for congregations. When the Pilgrimage Project is complete, council will share these ideas for ministry with the diocese. In the meantime, they hope that congregations will go on pilgrimage themselves and be inspired by the ministry happening here in our diocese.

The project is ongoing. Phone calls and emails are being exchanged, and as connections are made and interviews completed, each council member submits a report of what they have learned. “The data is coming together to form this rich document,” Wende said. “We can be a more effective council when we know more about the diocese at

Here's a sample of what some churches have shared with council so far:

For more about this, check out page 9 for using The Episcopal Asset Map as a tool for “visiting” our congregations. In The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning, Ernest Kurtz reminds us that the journey does not have to be long. “[A] journey becomes a pilgrimage as we discover, day by day, that the distance traveled is less important than the experience gained.” ♦

"We open our doors on Thursday afternoons and welcome the underserved in our community. We provide warmth, warm and cold meals, beds to sleep on, fellowship, hygiene products, clothing, and community.

We’ve had as many as 170 guests come through the doors. This ministry runs from September through May."

Traveling Church Trinity Episcopal Church, Ware "We have three different elder homes in which we celebrate Eucharist each month. But this is truly a group ministry. Members come along, provide snacks for fellowship, and help residents find their way in the BCP. Some weeks, we even have more members worshiping than residents."

Helping Hands Ministry St. Francis Episcopal Church, Holden "This is a group that goes out into the community to do odd jobs for people that no longer have the physical capability, or the financial resources to hire people to do things such as fall and spring cleanup or something as big as build a wheelchair ramp on a house."

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Photo: Christopher Sikkema

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ow much do you know about the other churches in our diocese? We are 51 congregations within two hours’ drive of each other.

There’s a lot to know!

us from double-planting. If a nearby parish has a food pantry, then consider joining them instead of starting your own. Combining our efforts and resources is always more fruitful.

The Episcopal Asset Map is the easiest way to tour our diocese and learn about the exciting things other congregations are doing. You can find whatever you’re looking for easily by using the map’s robust search function and filters. If you are interested in starting a garden ministry, you can search for congregations who have a garden. Then, pay them a visit (or send an email) and learn about how they do their garden ministry. Learning from another’s experience will help your ministry get off the ground sooner.

If you want to breathe some new life into an existing ministry, search for churches across the diocese with the same ministry. Get together with them (virtually) to talk about your common challenges and share the solutions that have worked for your congregation.

How about a prison ministry, or a food pantry, or a diaper dispensary?

There’s a parish happy to share its knowledge with you about each of those. When you’ve found something you think your congregation might want to start, set a date for your pilgrimage.

Have an idea for ministry and want to see if any other churches are already doing it? Check the map! It keeps

tomize it with videos, links to articles about our congregations, photos, and stories of God working through us. It is a critical platform for reaching out—just as important as the homepage of your website or that free Facebook page.

An important feature of the Asset Map is that it is crowd-sourced. That means than anyone in your congregation can “take the survey” and add to the community story. Any member can suggest a ministry story, a link to a local news story about the congregation, or a relevant photo.

And while you’re using the map to find other churches to visit, don’t for(A diocesan map administrator will get that other churches are also using review the information before publishthe map to decide if they should ing it.) This is a good thing. This means come visit you. What knowledge and that it’s everyone’s ministry—not just experience are you able to share the rector or the parish administrawith ministry pilgrims? tor's. It can be shared by all.

Seekers now see what projects and ministries your church has posted on its map pin. It’s more important than ever to make sure the information on your congregation’s page is accurate and representative of the scope of your ministry.

This map is our welcome mat. It’s a free-to-use website within The Episcopal Church’s care and we can cus-

We’ve only been using the map for four years, but it is already changing our visibility and our mission plans. At any given time, the wider church is available to the world—every diocese, congregation, and ministry. I hope you will check it out and update the story of your congregation.

It’s an important tool for telling our stories and offering visitors an invitation to come and see. ♦

www.EpiscopalAssetMap.org Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, The Episcopal Church has made it possible to list services that are streamed so that Episcopalians everywhere might find a service online in the midst of physical distancing.

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Hikers at the Corner of Kindness in Sheffield.

Photo: Erik Karas

Meeting Seekers on Their Way in Sheffield The Rev. Erik Karas Christ Trinity Church, Sheffield

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eople who set out on the Appalachian Trail are pilgrims, whether they would call themselves that or not. Everyone who steps onto a path like that is searching for something. They may know what they are searching for (or think they do), or have no idea whatsoever. The journey itself will undoubtedly reveal much more along the way than just the end of a trail.

But it isn’t our ministry to help them find what they are looking for. Our ministry is simply to support them with generous and unconditional hospitality along their way.

Caring for pilgrims “Along the Way” is an ancient, holy, and powerfully rewarding ministry. On the Camino de Santiago in Portugal and Spain (a

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pilgrimage recently taken by our own Bishop Doug), volunteers have been caring for the pilgrims walking that trail for over a thousand years.

Here in the Berkshires, we give that ministry our own special twist by doing that ancient and holy work from comfortable chairs in the shade on a beautiful summer day.

Two years ago, we received a Ministry Development Grant from the diocese to set up a Corner of Kindness next to the Appalachian Trail in Sheffield. With money for tents, chairs, tables, a grill, cell phone chargers, food, and water, we set up this little outpost in the summer of 2018 with our UCC friends from across the street and waited for hikers to happen upon our spot.

With a bit of research, we knew that most northbound hikers (which are the vast majority), start at the beginning of the trail in Georgia in March. They continue north, coming through Sheffield between the middle of June and the middle of August, on their way to the end of the trail on the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine. We also learned that the hikers who use the camp site just to our south would arrive at our little spot between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. With those target dates and times, we set up twice a week during that first season.

Each day, we saw between 6 and 30 hikers. We welcomed them under the shade, gave them snacks, cooked them a burger, had them sit in a chair with a back, and listened to their stories. Some had just graduated high school. Others were transitioning from the military into civilian life. Some had quit their jobs to hike the trail, and still others were fulfilling a retirement dream. We met hikers from literally all over the world, like a couple from Ireland who needed to finish the hike before their six-month visa expired.

Each hiker has a unique story, and

Hiker at the end of the Appalachian Trail.

Photo: submitted

most were happy to share it with us.

In our 2019 season, we added an additional day on the trail because of the enormous support we had from local people volunteering for the project. The support of local volunteers and the interest in the project from other faith groups is wonderful. It seems that many people today are looking for a way to inject some kindness into our troubled world. This project provides a simple, local, and easy-to-wrap-yourmind-around way to do that in a clearly defined place and time frame. It also provides instant gratification for the volunteers when hikers come in; they are always overjoyed to find us.

Now, in preparation for our 2020 season, we’ve already held a Beer & Hymns fundraiser at our local brewery to help us stock the coolers with water and keep burgers on the grill. Our local Catholic neighbors have asked to get in on the project, and we’re

looking for congregations like yours from farther away to fill a car with three to six people and drive out to Sheffield for a day by the trail.

All it would take is a small group of friends, a drive out to the Berkshires, and a few hours sitting in this Corner of Kindness welcoming those who pass by “On the Way.” Our goal is to supplement the three days staffed by our local volunteers with some days staffed by groups like yours so that one day, we will have every day

Hiker napping at the Corner of Kindness in Sheffield.

Photo: Erik Karas

covered during the season!

Our local volunteers currently staff Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. If you would like to take on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday, we’ll meet you at the site at about 10 a.m., get you set up, and show you how it works. When you feel comfortable, we’ll leave and then come back to help you close up at the end of the day around 2 p.m. If you don’t want to staff the site on your own just yet, you can always come out and join one of our local groups for a day to get your feet wet before you dive in on a day of your own.

We look forward to sharing one of those days with you and your group this coming summer! ♦ For more information or to schedule a day this summer, email Rev. Erik Karas at pastorkaras@gmail.com.

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Coming Home to Liberia Two Brothers, Two Countries, One Church The Rev. Dave Woessner St. Michael's-on-the-Heights, Worcester

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r. Edgar Freeman is a determined and faithful man. Sometime in the winter of 2018/2019, he bellowed: “This summer, I am going to take you to Liberia, my brother!” Over our years together as friends and fellow priests, he has exuberantly made this offer several times. I had heard many of his stories of growing up there: of his family, of the devastation of their decades-long civil war, of his ministry to small towns in the bush in the aftermath. But it always seemed so far away. So, when he offered yet again, I smiled, nodded, looked at my feet, and offered a non-committal “Sure, sure….”

So last July, I boarded a plane with Edgar, his son Emmanuel, and his grandson Christian. We arrived at the height of the rainy season, which is aptly named. Throughout our time, it poured. Here in America, this would have been an inconvenience. But in Liberia, it radically changes all aspects of life, because entire portions of the country can become inaccessible overnight when roads wash out.

While Liberia enjoyed rapid development and modernization in the middle of the 20th century, the country’s infrastructure is being rebuilt slowly and unevenly in the recovery after years of violence. So a drive the distance from Springfield to Worcester could take a day or more, and need to be aborted half way, due to a critical bridge being unsafe to cross.

Nevertheless, we forged on, hopeful of visiting Edgar’s childhood home, his sponsoring church, and the communities he served in his early ministry.

But when I looked up, I saw that this time he was completely committed, that he had heard something from the Spirit: “I want to show you my home, where I am from.” He was asking me to join him on a pilgrimage.

And that was that. From that time forward, I simply said “yes” to everything he proposed, trusting that God would show us everything we needed to see together.

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spices), along with jollof rice and chicken. These particular dishes were truly a taste of home; they are the beloved recipes of Cape Mount County, where Edgar’s family has lived for generations. And I experienced firsthand an amazing Liberian custom: an outrageous abundance of food!

I thought this first evening would be “overdoing it,” in honor of our arrival.

But no, it turns out it is just normal! It truly is an amazing amount of food; Thanksgiving at every meal. While this is a sign of their generous hospitality, many people are also still celebrating social stability and having enough to eat, after years of deadly danger and uncertainty. The abundance of food is only surpassed by the abundance of joy around the table.

Our first trip and main focus was a visit back to Edgar’s hometown, Robertsport, where Edgar was celebrated as a returning son and hero, and I was welcomed as a member of the Edgar’s children reunited in Monrovia community. St. John’s Church, which for his return. John, Edgar-Lynn, Agnes is both the parish church for the town (Ayo), and Shannon (whom Edgar and the chapel for the local boardadopted during the civil war), joined ing school, is guided with care by Fr. their Liberian-American brother, EmRichard Kpehe, the vicar. Both the manuel, in celebrating Edgar’s return school and the church were damand welcoming Christian and me. aged greatly and nearly destroyed Edgar’s grandchildren visited as well: during the war.

Ibrahim (Edgar-Lynn’s son), and “Little Debbie,” (Ayo’s son, who is named A year ago, St. Michael’s-on-theafter Edgar’s wife Dr. Deborah HarHeights held a fundraiser and made mon Hines, whom many readers will a donation to St. John’s, that they know from our own diocese). might rebuild their roof, which had sustained severe damage. This Ayo prepared a feast: line fish with union between our churches across an ocean and two continents was waterleaf (a strongly flavored fish deepened by my visit, which the cooked with greens in palm oil and

people of St. John’s took as a great honor. During the service, their Senior Warden, Mr. Kormah, extended an invitation to officially become “sister churches.”

Edgar and I concelebrated Eucharist, and I had the honor of preaching.

Because of the American origins of Liberia, first as a colony and then as a new home for freed slaves, the primary church of the country was the Episcopal Church. Though they are now an autonomous national church, they still use our American Book of Common Prayer, so the prayers and liturgies of our churches are identical.

To be so far from home, yet to be welcomed and named as a brother, to pray the very same prayers that we pray every Eucharist…these experiences truly made me feel as if I were a man with two homes, thousands of miles apart. The Church is the Body of Christ. And the Body of Christ is real: we truly are united as one, by the One. After our homecoming in Robertsport, Edgar led us on many adventures in ministry, witnessing, and the duties of our office. We trekked upcountry across rickety log bridges, anointed the ailing, blessed school students, prayed in the rubble of destroyed churches, led worship and prayer (everywhere!), received live roosters as gifts of honor (twice!), learned with a local imam (Christians and Muslims live in total peace here, interwoven in family and community), chatted with village elders, munched kola nuts, watched children play and laugh, snuck across the border into Sierra Leone, ate freshly caught fish with Haji and Uncle Momo, paid respects to the Diocesan Bishop and the Dean of the Cathedral, and spent many evenings with the President of Cuttington University, the oldest college in sub-Saharan Africa. And everywhere we sang, sang, sang, and danced, danced, danced.

Liberia is a magical place, a new home which I had not known before. I do hope you might come visit sometime. ♦ Images from the pilgrimage to Liberia.

Photos: Dave Woessner

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Canterbury Cathedral.

Photo: © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons

A Canterbury Pilgrimage J. Scott Jackson and Leah Gregg

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his past January, we traveled to England to visit the Canterbury Cathedral.

The two of us had traveled separately to Canterbury before, many years ago, before we knew each other.

Neither of us was raised in the Episcopal Church, though we both embraced the Anglican way as adults.

But Canterbury is special for us in a distinctive way, for it is a birthplace of the Anglophone Christianity that has nourished and formed both of us.

With this trip, we hoped to connect or reconnect our own life stories with a larger one.

The Christian life, from beginning to end, requires living on the move, a pilgrimage by faith into that country we have never seen. Our model here is Abraham, who responded willingly to God’s call to leave the familiar comforts of his life in Mesopotamia to head for an as yet unknown destination (see Heb. 11:8-10). Though our journey of faith thrusts us into the unfamiliar, we know that we do not walk alone; like the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, we travel in communion with a “great cloud of witnesses” (12:1)—the saints of God across countless generations. Our model and guide is Jesus himself, whose vocation culminated in his final pilgrimage from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he would endure rejection, shame, suffering, and death “for the sake of the joy that was set before him” (12:2).

Our fundamental journey is a spiritual

one; still, physical travel can play a crucial role in the life of faith. Exploring new places and meeting new people challenges our preconceptions and expands our vision for life, offering us a new perspective on our everyday lives at home.

The goal for pilgrims is not the same as the voyeurism of the tourist, who seeks to capture or domesticate the otherness of distant places by collecting photographs for a slideshow or trinkets for the mantelpiece. As pilgrims, we submit to the belief that God may be acting in places, in people, and in ways we have never imagined, and we enter in a small way into that saving drama.

our hosts, who greet travelers from all over the world on a daily basis, and we were inspired by joining in prayer with a community that has worshipped at this site for 1400 years. ♦ J. Scott Jackson is a writer and independent scholar, and Leah Gregg is an outreach and campus minister.

They live with their son in Northampton and are members of Christ Church Cathedral in Springfield.

For 1400 years— since Canterbury’s first archbishop, the Roman missionary Augustine, first landed on the southern shores of Kent and founded a cathedral and monastery—pilgrims have sought peace, comfort, and strength on these sacred grounds.

Two aspects of this trip, in particular, affected us—we were moved by the warm hospitality of

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Make the pilgrimage of a lifetime in 2021 with...

The Rev. Dr. Richard Simpson and The Very Rev. James G. Munroe

Holy Land Pilgrimage 2021

May 11 - May 23 Stay tuned for more information and a new grant process for parochial clergy & licensed lay preachers!

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Photo by Pontus Wellgraf on Unsplash A BUNDANT TIMES

Building Relationships with Children in Spite of War Donna Barten Senior Warden, Christ Church Cathedral

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n 2016, Christ Church Cathedral, in partnership with NuDay Syria and six other communities of faith in the Greater Springfield Area, held a fund raiser to help build a school for children in a displacement camp in Syria.

Asi camp is less than a mile from the Turkish border, so it is in a relatively safe location.

Each year, additional funds have been sent to help support the school through grants via the Christ Church Cathedral Outreach Committee and the Diocesan Global Missions Committee. In 2019, there were 178 girls and 168 boys enrolled, and they

hope to add several more classrooms to allow more children to attend, as the camp population has grown.

In addition to sending money and supplies, we have also sent messages of encouragement to each other. In the summer of 2019, original artwork from children in the school was displayed in the cathedral’s Brooks Foyer, along with photos of the children.

What strikes each person who looks at these hand-made treasures is the happy themes. It is heartening to see how resilient children can be,

even after they have lost their towns, homes, and often family members. In response, children from our Sunday School made a poster for them with our well wishes, along with non-perishable food donations. ♌ If you would like to display the artwork and photos in your church or other public space, contact Donna Barten at barten.d.m@gmail.com. If you are interested in helping to support these children, donations can be made to NuDay Syria at www.nudaysyria.net.

Sean Asante, Maame A. Asante, and Tasha Lynn Mensah Brown show their poster for children in Syria.

Photo: Donna Barten

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Hispanic Communities Making Connections The Rev. José Reyes Missioner for Hispanic/Latino Ministries

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et’s rewind time for a moment. I grew up in our diocese and it was a wonderful experience. I have so many fond memories of connecting with youth of other congregations through Bement Camp, Happening, local and international mission trips, and youth group events.

It was inspiring to grow up feeling connected to something bigger than just my church. What was an

unattainable goal for one congregation, like a mission trip to Dominican Republic, became possible because we were working together with other congregations. Our diocese has over 50 congregations and what a gift it is to partner with other churches to make those parts of Jesus’ mission that seem so colossal, like “feeding the poor and healing the sick”, a reality.

At the same time, I grew up in the

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Hispanic congregation at the Cathedral, a congregation that continues to be a loving and vibrant expression of the Episcopal Church. I learned how to play different instruments and lead a choir, how to build Christian education programs for children and adults from the ground up, and how to evangelize in our neighborhood.

This congregation formed me in into the person and priest I am today. It was a truly amazing and life-giving

experience.

It was also a lonely experience sometimes. For 27 years, we were the only Hispanic congregation in our diocese and sometimes this felt isolating.

Because of differences in language, culture, and the general perspective of churches doing things on their own at the time, it was hard to find other churches that would partner with us. If we wanted to have a retreat, a training, an event, or create a

ministry, we had to figure it out on our own most of the time. While empowering, at times it seemed like we were reinventing the wheel over and over again.

Now, let’s fast-forward to Ash Wednesday of this year. As we began the holy season of Lent this year, remembering that our lives are a gift and bending the knee to our God of Love, there were three congregations in our diocese that were worshiping in Spanish. One at the Cathedral celebrating with our Bishop, one in the intimate setting of the home of a parishioner in Worcester, and a third at St. Paul’s in downtown Holyoke.

In the very DNA of the Hispanic Ministries in our diocese, is the bedrock truth that in ministry we are called to work together. In the last year: • We have held two Three Kings Celebrations, one at All Saints, Worcester where over 120 people from all over the diocese came, and the other at St. Mark’s, Worcester to commemorate the Hispanic congregation in Worcester’s move to St. Mark’s where we invited the whole neighborhood of Main South to participate.

• We have collected food and raised money to help families in need during Thanksgiving.

• We held joint trainings between the three congregations for Lay Eucharist Ministers and Acolytes.

• We celebrated an Advent Music Festival where the choirs of the Hispanic congregations in Worcester and the Cathedral came together and made a joyful noise as we welcomed the Christmas season.

Ministerio Hispano en San Marco at St. Mark's, Worcester.

Photo: José Reyes

While it is true that I am your Diocesan Missioner for Hispanic Ministries, at some point I will need to change my title because it makes it seem like I only work with the Hispanic community. The reality is that the work I do isn’t only “Hispanic Ministry”, it is simply ministry and this ministry of reaching out into the neighborhoods where our churches already are to invite new brothers and sisters into the Episcopal Church is only possible because churches in our diocese are working together.

The very reason that there is a new Hispanic congregation in Holyoke is because the members of St. Paul’s and the Cathedral worked together for almost a year to bring it to life.

At St. Michael’s-on-the-Heights in Worcester, we have been working together with Marie’s Mission, their amazing diaper ministry for the city of Worcester.

At St. John’s in Williamstown, we joined in their beautiful festival of Las

Posadas, a carnival observing the coming of Christmas that many countries in Latin America celebrate.

vanquished death, then the Church can’t die away. There will always be resurrection.

At St. Matthew’s in Worcester, we participated in their joyous Community Dinners.

However, I do believe that it will look different from what it is today.

Perhaps we will have worship communities that speak a whole host of languages, not just English and Spanish. Perhaps we will become experts in welcoming people of different ethnicities and cultures into the communion of saints. Perhaps our ministries will grow so strong and influential that we will not just be helping those in need, but actually changing the laws and culture that create those disparities in the first place. Perhaps our divisions will grow so small that we will be specialists in reconciliation and unity and we will help heal our divided country. Of course, this all seems improbable, insurmountable, and even impossible. Nevertheless, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4:13).

Working together we can do more than we can ever hope or imagine. ♦

The Hispanic Ministry in Worcester moved to St. Mark’s parish because we are working together to build a new Community Center for the neighborhood of Main South.

This year, the Episcopal Churches in Worcester, which include the Hispanic Ministry and Walking Together, are leading a bilingual Stations of the Cross throughout the city of Worcester.

Let’s be adventurous. Let’s fast-forward 30 years from now. What will we see? I refuse to believe the pessimistic outlook that the Church will die out.

At a time where the Church is supposedly dying, our diocese is building new congregations. If the Church is the Body of Christ and Christ has

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Around the Diocese

Two Ordained to the Diaconate

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he Rev. Jason Burns was ordained to the vocational diaconate on March 7, 2020 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in South Hadley. Jason’s call to ministry was nurtured by the people of St. Andrew's Turners Falls and then St. James' Greenfield prior to their merger, and then, even more so by the people of Saints James and Andrew, Greenfield. He served as a Licensed Lay Preacher, Lay Worship Leader, and Vestry member in his home congregation before beginning his discernment for the vocational diaconate. Prepared by the Province I School for Deacons, Jason was an intern at St. John’s, Northampton and at St. Philip’s, Easthampton.

He is a history teacher by trade, but his ministry passion is for suicide prevention, which has led him to become an advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). He participates in several Out of the Darkness walks each year to raise funds to find better treatments for mental illness and to raise awareness that mental illness is no different than any other treatable illness.

In addition to being a full-time teacher, Jason is a fulltime dad of two teenage boys and has been happily married to his wife, Erica, for nearly 18 years. ♦

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he Rev. Kevin Antonio Smallwood was ordained to the transitional diaconate on March 7, 2020 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in South Hadley. Kevin Antonio was baptized and confirmed in the Diocese of Washington. His journey toward priesthood began as a youth member of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC, where he was involved in community service, youth events, and social justice initiatives.

The call deepened as he served two years in the Lawrence House Service Corps program during which he interned at Christ Church Cathedral, Springfield. His life in Western Massachusetts led him into the discernment process and eventually to seminary.

He attended The School of Theology at The University of the South: Sewanee, where he obtained his Master of Divinity degree, trained for ordained ministry, and served as an intern at Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville. Upon graduating in 2019, he now serves as the Associate Rector for Families and Youth at Grace Episcopal Church, Silver Spring, MD. ♦

Welcome to Western Massachusetts The Rev. Charlotte H. LaForest St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Longmeadow The people of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Longmeadow, called the Rev. Charlotte H. LaForest to serve as rector, effective January 6, 2020.

Charlotte holds graduate degrees in Social Work (Boston College Graduate School of Social Work), Pastoral Ministry (Boston College School of Theology and Ministry), and Divinity (Yale Divinity School).

She was ordained deacon in the Diocese of Massachusetts in June of 2015, and made priest on December 15, 2015 by the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.

Photo: submitted

Most recently, Charlotte has served as Assistant Rector at St. James's Episcopal Church, West Hartford. Prior to that she served for three years, in the same capacity, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Essex, CT.

The Rev. Dr. John P. McGinty St. Matthew's Episcopal Church Worcester The people of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Worcester, called the Rev. Dr. John P. McGinty to serve as rector, effective March 1, 2020.

John was the rector of the Church of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Shoreham, NY since 2016. He served as Dean of the George Mercer Jr. School of Theology, Garden City, NY, and Canon for Formation, Diocese of Long Island from 2012-2016.

Photo: submitted

Ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1983, John was received into the Episcopal Church in 2011 by the Rt. Rev. Larry Provenzano, Bishop of Long Island. He holds the S.T.D., Doctor of Sacred Theology, from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.

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1926 issue of Pastoral Staff.

Photo: Episcopal WMA

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From the Archives

A Berkshire Experiment Karen Warren Diocesan Archivist

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n the June 1925 issue of Pastoral Staff (the former title of ABUNDANT Times), the Rev. Latta Griswold, rector of Trinity Church, Lenox, reported on a new diocesan endeavor to help our small churches. It was hoped that this experiment could be a solution to the long-standing problem of small town parishes and country churches, which were unable to attract and retain clergy.

Further complicating the issue at that time was the challenging New England winters. Residents of small towns and rural areas were often isolated over the winters due to bad weather, lack of transportation, and impassable roads. It is possible that these small congregations at times had no access to a parish priest at all. It was not unusual for congregants to meet together in homes, to read the Gospel and pray together. An increased number of cars and bus lines over the 1920s would facilitate travel and be a great improvement.

Then-Bishop Thomas Frederick Davies recognized that without clergy, our small parishes were unable to spread the Gospel to the residents in outlying areas. Bishop Davies envisioned and proposed that the smaller, more challenged parishes be united with the larger, stronger nearby parishes under the direction of one person, thus unifying them. This proposal would be called the Country Church Department, and it would be a trial of a few years. The Berkshire region was chosen to host the test program as the towns of Lee, New Lenox, and Otis had difficulty keeping a rector.

Bishop Davies outlined his program to diocesan clergy, and the plan was accepted “with much enthusiasm”.

The new project began in Lenox, an already well-established, adequately supported parish. The Lenox rector already had jurisdiction over New Lenox, and he was chosen to oversee Lee and Otis as well. The congregation in Lee elected him as their rector, and the Bishop appointed him Minister-in-Charge of Otis.

With this plan in place, the rector and his assistant priests were able to maintain services in Lenox, New Lenox, Lee, Otis, and East Lee. Early results showed that the plan appeared to be working well. Subsequently, parishes were able to make better use of material resources, such as their parish buildings and rectories. An additional benefit of this program was a sense of community that extended out geographically—parishes considered themselves allies, and were able to see a much larger vision of their work.

didates from many different towns were presented to be confirmed by Bishop Davies.

By the second summer, 1926, services were being held every Sunday in each center—Blandford, Chester, Middlefield, Huntington, and Russell.

Services of the Country Church Department continued through the summer of 1928, with services still being held at St. Andrew’s, Washington, and at a schoolhouse in Blandford.

Additionally, St. Paul’s, Stockbridge was reported as holding regular Sunday evening services in West Stockbridge, where the priest from St. Paul’s was accompanied by his choir and congregation. Treat continued as director of this project, stressing to the clergy the importance of visiting families in their districts who may be especially in need following the long hard winter.

In December 1925, Bishop Davies appointed a newly ordained priest, the Rev. Wolcott C. Treat, to serve as Director of the Country Church Department. He was placed in charge of St. Andrew’s in Washington, MA, designated the Key Church in this project, and carried out his responsibilities with assistance from Mr. Harris Hall and Mr. William Cole, candidates for Holy Orders. The June 1926 Pastoral Staff states “Another Ford car is to be put into service in the pioneer work—and a very active summer’s campaign has been planned.”

It is difficult to know what degree of success the Berkshire Experiment resulted in. The November 1928 issue of Pastoral Staff is the last to mention it. Mention is made, however, that vicars were appointed to New Lenox and Lee in the summer of 1928.

Perhaps the Berkshire Experiment enlivened the region enough to attract clergy to those parishes. ♦

Programs were planned at St. Andrew’s, Washington, in order to unify the people. Events included a picnic, square dances, and a Labor Day barn dance. Everyone was invited to attend a service in which 20 can-

Karen has served as diocesan archivist since 2010.

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The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts 37 Chestnut St. Springfield, MA 01103-1787

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The 119th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts November 7, 2020

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