The “missing memorials,” as newly installed in The Memorial Church of the Prince of Peace in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The top three, a brass cross and two terra cotta tablets are originals, recently restored from damage in a 1970 church fire. Ten of the remaining tablets are replacements for memorials destroyed in the fire, while eight are memorials originally ordered between 1880 and 1900, but for reasons unknown to the parish were never completed. The church contains memorials to more than 150 individual soldiers or units of both sides in the Civil War.

[Memorial Church of the Prince of Peace -- Press Release] The Memorial Church of the Prince of Peace, Gettysburg’s Episcopal parish, has just installed 21 memorials that a parishioner found to be recorded in parish records, but not among those displayed in the church. Prince of Peace is Gettysburg’s only church dedicated to the memory of soldiers of both sides of the Civil War, and contains more than 150 memorial tablets, stones and plaques. The parish began the memorial process in 1880 with a nationwide campaign encouraging veterans and family members to recognize their comrades and loved ones by placing memorials in its future church.

Parishioner Jim Thomas, of Biglerville, Pennsylvania, discovered the “missing memorials” while preparing for the 125^th anniversary of the laying of the church’s cornerstone, which took place on July 2, 1888, timed to coincide with the 25^th anniversary reunion of veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Thomas compared original parish ledgers, receipts, and plans for the placement of memorials with those actually erected in the church, and found that 21 memorials were missing. Three of the memorials were still on hand, unrestored from a 1970 church fire, but the remainder included memorials that had been destroyed in the fire, or for reasons lost to time, been ordered but never created. The parish leadership promptly approved restoration of the three original memorials, and creation of new ones to replace those lost in the fire or never erected.

Thomas then designed the “missing memorials,” which were created by Gettysburg’s Codori Memorials, and with the help of his son Zachary, personally installed them in the nave of the church. In a separate project, Thomas is creating a display of parish historical artifacts and photographs, which will be on display throughout the remainder of the year.

Installation of the “missing memorials” is one of several projects marking the 125^th anniversary. A series of concerts is scheduled throughout the year, and a Special Service of Commemoration and Rededication will take place at 9 a.m. on June 30, the Sunday closest to the anniversary date. On the actual anniversary, July 2, Prince of Peace will open its doors from Noon until 7.p.m. for visitors to view its memorials, old and new.

The parish’s name is taken from the biblical reference to Jesus Christ as Prince of Peace, and was selected so that the church would be a symbol of the peace, reunion, and reconciliation of the nation at the end of the Civil War, a fitting memorial for the soldiers of both sides of the conflict.

A child participates in Sharing Faith at a special
family event in Pearland. Photo: Diocese of Texas

[Episcopal Diocese of Texas] More than 3500 members of churches in the Diocese of Texas and the Diocese of West Texas gathered in homes last Thursday, May 16, to share a meal and share stories of their faith. Episcopalians across Texas came together in groups of eight to 12, and engaged in a faith conversation.

Sharing Faith began in the Diocese of Texas in 2012, fashioned after Interfaith Ministries’ Amazing Faith Dinners in Houston, where people of different faiths gather for a simple meal and answer questions about their faith journeys. The Diocese of West Texas joined this year and there has been interest from the Diocese of Toronto for next year’s event.

“When this many Episcopalians gather at the same time, strategically to share stories of their faith, it is very powerful,” said Bishop Andy Doyle of Texas. “People from the same congregations got to know one another on a deeper level and met others from nearby churches.”

In its inaugural year, 25 percent of the Diocese of West Texas average Sunday attendance participated.

“This is a great number, a great representation of our members, and we are thrilled with the initial response,” said Bishop Gary Lillibridge of West Texas.

When St. Francis by the Lake in Canyon Lake decided to participate in the Sharing Faith dinner there were some uncertainties, so the vestry decided to model a dinner conversation in lieu of a sermon one Sunday in April.

Sandy McKneely reads a Sharing Faith question card
in Southwest Houston. Photo: Diocese of Texas

The vestry set up a dinner table in the front of the nave, and sat down and answered questions on the prepared set of cards that are used at each dinner. The congregation heard the questions and listened as each vestry member delivered a personal response.

The Rev. David Chalk, rector of St. Francis, said that the pre-event went “very well.” One church member told him, “You should have warned us there would be tears this morning.” Chalk said, “We had a visitor that Sunday who stood up and told us she had not been to church in five years after her son was killed by a drunk driver. She said she’d never seen anything like this in church, but on hearing our conversation, she found the courage she needed to return to church.” This was the visitor’s first time to attend St. Francis, and she has met with Chalk and the vestry and plans to join their community.

Held on the Thursday evening before Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit was given to God’s people, the Sharing Faith Dinners are modeled as a time for participants to answer what difference the Holy Spirit has made in their lives; what impact faith has had on their lives. Questions are fashioned to help people articulate their experiences in a thoughtful way.

At an event in southwest Houston, parishioners of Grace Episcopal Church gathered at the Rev. Gena Davis’ home. Ten participants shared a Mexican food dinner at two tables and then gathered in the living room to share their stories.

Sandy McKneely was relatively new at Grace before she agreed to take part in the dinner.

“I’m a pretty assertive person, so I don’t know if every newcomer who had only been to church two times would have the courage to sign up and go to somebody’s house that you hardly know. But for me — I am at a point in my life where I am needing friendships in the faith community, and I thought that would be a good way to start to make some friendships,” McKneely said.

Participants shared stories of great joy and pain, moments when they questioned their faith, and moments when they were affirmed in their beliefs. Friends shared tears and tales as they learned about each other in a new, deeper way.

“On Saturday night before I went to bed, I was thinking about going to Grace the next morning. I was thinking about seeing those people and I knew their names,” McNeely said. “That was an indicator to me that I made some connections, and it certainly makes going back more comfortable. I learned that Grace is a place that I want to return to.”

At Christ Episcopal Church, San Antonio, a group of young adults and College Missioner Allie Melancon attended and took some college students from other denominations. Melancon said what they took away the most is the determination to gather again and not wait for the church to say, “OK it’s time to share faith again.”

In Pearland, south of Houston, organizers at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church adapted special questions for children and held family style Sharing Faith dinners throughout the weekend. Children were even given time to create a response to questions through drawing pictures.

In the small East Texas town of Henderson, young children came to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in their pajamas, were fed dinner and had a program of their own while their parents participated in a Sharing Faith dinner in the parish hall. The Rev. Patsy Barnham said it was important to make it possible for young families to participate and allowing kids to come “ready for bed” was helpful to her congregation.

In homes and churches, and other creative places, Episcopalians across Texas learned a great deal about each other as well as themselves through the simple act of sharing a meal and sharing their faith.

The Sharing Faith dinners tradition will continue to grow in Texas and beyond. Visit epicenter.org/sharingfaith to learn more about the program. Or contact Carol Barnwell at cbarnwell@epicenter.org.

-Luke Blount is a staff writer and communications specialist in the Diocese of Texas; Laura Shaver is the communications officer in the Diocese of West Texas.

Despite promising improvements in the Millennium Development Goals, an estimated one billion people still live on less than $1.25 each day, 870 million people are chronically undernourished, and 2.6 million young children die each year from malnutrition. Meanwhile, extreme poverty is growing in the United States. Between 1996 and 2011, the percent of families living on less than $2 a day more than doubled, totaling 1.65 million households (including 3.55 million children) in 2011.

By strengthening domestic nutrition programs and enhancing U.S. food assistance to the world’s most impoverished, lawmakers considering the Farm Bill have an opportunity to alleviate the cycles of hunger and poverty that deprive millions of the food that they need to survive and thrive.

Unfortunately, the Senate has proposed over $4 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. SNAP currently supports 45 million people in the U.S. every year with benefits to purchase nutritious food. These cuts would rob nearly 500,000 households of essential SNAP benefits.

Food for Peace provides approximately 1.4 million metric tons of food each year, saving lives in dire emergencies and combating chronic hunger in poor communities around the world. The Senate is considering reforms that would expand the reach of Food for Peace, making it an even more effective vehicle for global food security.

As Episcopalians, we advocate for programs that support needy American families and those at risk of hunger around the world. Now more than ever, your voice is crucial to ensuring that SNAP and Food for Peace are fully funded.

Urge your Senators to support a strong Farm Bill that feeds the hungry by fully funding SNAP and Food for Peace. Send them an email TODAY.

There are no words to express the agony and grief that lie in the wake of killer tornadoes this week in Oklahoma.

As we gather today as representatives of the 37 member communions of the National Council of Churches, we and the millions of members in our congregations weep for those who have lost loved ones and property. Our prayers go out especially for the bereaved whose losses cannot be overestimated.

There are few things in life more painful or more difficult to understand than natural disasters over which we have no control. We beseech a loving God to be a powerful presence in the lives of those who have lost so much.

We know millions are already seeking ways to offer tangible support to the victims of Moore. Church World Service is preparing ways to reach out to the victims of this disaster, and we urge all persons to be as generous as possible in supporting these efforts: http://www.cwsglobal.org/

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s 37 member communions — from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 40 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, cruzandjenks@gmail.com

“At its meeting in York the House of Bishops of the Church of England has committed itself to publishing new ways forward to enable women to become bishops.

“In its discussion on the issue of women in the episcopate, the House received and approved for publication the report from the Working Group on Women in the Episcopate which was set up on 11 December to prepare new legislative proposals following the General Synod’s rejection of the last legislation on 20 November 2012.

“The report of the Working Group presented four new options as a way forward and proposed that the General Synod should consider those options at its meeting in July. The Working Group also proposed a timetable which would involve the legislation starting its formal stages in the Synod in November and receiving Final Approval in 2015.

“The House of Bishops has agreed that the report of the Working Group should be published with a separate report from the Archbishops on behalf of the House setting out the House’s recommendations to the General Synod.  The House has also asked the Business Committee of the General Synod to arrange for a substantial amount of time to be available at the General Synod in July for facilitated conversations in small groups before the Synod comes to a decision on the way forward.

“The House also approved the necessary changes in its standing orders to ensure the attendance of senior women clergy at its meetings. These changes were proposed following the House’s decision at its meeting in December to ensure the participation of senior female clergy in its meetings until such time as there are six female members of the house, following the admission of women to the episcopate.”

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May 21, 2013

Episcopal Relief & Development has been in contact with local partners in the Episcopal dioceses of Fort Worth and Oklahoma following tornadoes on May 16 and May 20 that caused severe damage and loss of life.  These devastating events were caused by a large storm system that set off tornado alerts from Texas to Minnesota.  Weather threats continue, with severe thunderstorm advisories in place from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago, and the highest likelihood of tornadoes in the area between Dallas and Little Rock.

At this time, Episcopal Relief & Development encourages prayers for those impacted, and for first responders who are providing immediate assistance.  Donations to Episcopal Relief & Development’s Tornado Response Fund will support outreach efforts in affected areas and help meet urgent needs.  Because local capacity to receive and house volunteers is currently very limited, interested individuals are requested to sign up via the US Disaster Program’s “Ready to Serve” volunteer database to be contacted down the road when help is needed.

Local responders and authorities are currently assessing the situation in Moore, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City, where a two-mile-wide tornado leveled neighborhoods and destroyed two elementary schools on the evening of May 20.  Of the 24 deaths currently confirmed, seven were children at Plaza Towers Elementary School.  According to reports, debris and road damage are hampering search and rescue efforts.

The Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma posted the following message on their website: “Thank you to all who have reached out to us in response to the devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma. We are in the process of assessing the situation and coordinating assistance to our communities.”

Katie Mears, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Director of US Disaster Preparedness and Response, has been in contact with the Rev. Canon José A. McLoughlin, Canon to the Ordinary, and anticipates partnering with the diocese to assist those most vulnerable following this disaster.  “We’re prepared to do what we need to do and we’re going to do what we can,” McLoughlin told Episcopal News Service in a story published on May 21.

Earlier, on May 16, an EF-4 tornado hit the town of Granbury, Texas, killing six people and destroying dozens of homes in the neighborhood of Rancho Brazos.*  Other tornadoes touched down in Cleburn and Millsap, south and west of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.  The Rt. Rev. Rayford B. High, Jr., Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, posted a message on the diocesan website asking for prayers and noting that the diocese will work with the local Episcopal congregation in Granbury to determine how best to use collected funds.

“Let us be the hands and feet of Christ,” he wrote, “reaching out to help our sisters and brothers affected by these devastating storms. Please join me as we hold up in prayer those who have suffered bodily injury, loss of home and especially those who have died. And please continue to pray for all the public servants who are there to serve.”

Episcopal Relief & Development’s US Disaster Program offers resources for churches, parents and teachers ministering to children after disasters:

• Working with Children After a Disaster: Tips for Parents and Teachers
• Ministering to Children After a Disaster (Grades K-5)
• Ministering to Youth After a Disaster (Grades 6-8)
• Ministering to Teens After a Disaster (Grades 9-12)

Katie Mears posts tips for advance preparedness and appropriately timed response on Episcopal Relief & Development’s blog, and the US Disaster Program’s preparedness planning guides are available in the online Resource Library.

Contributions to the Tornado Response Fund will assist dioceses responding to recent disasters, and donations to the Global Needs Fund will help sustain vital year-round preparedness and response work in the US and around the world.  Gifts can be made online at www.episcopalrelief.org, by calling 1.855.312.HEAL (4325) or by mailing a check to Episcopal Relief & Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.

Blessed are you, Lord, God of mercy, who through your Son gave us a marvelous example of charity and the great commandment of love for one another. Send down your blessings on these your servants, who so generously devote themselves to helping others. Grant them courage when they are afraid, wisdom when they must make quick decisions, strength when they are weary, and compassion in all their work. When the alarm sounds and they are called to aid both friend and stranger, let them faithfully serve you in their neighbor. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

— Adapted from the Book of Blessings, #587, by Diana Macalintal

Members of St. Catherine of Sienna Episcopal Church in Missouri City, Texas, arrived at a Diocesan Council meeting earlier this year dressed in red and waving red flags to celebrate the completion of their 14-year journey from mission to parish.

[Episcopal Diocese of Texas] A sea of red – that’s how one might describe the nearly 150 members of St. Catherine of Sienna Episcopal Church in Missouri City as they marched into the Episcopal Diocese of Texas’ 164^th Diocesan Council meeting. They proudly displayed their church banner and sang “Soldiers of the Savior,” an original composition by their music minister, Barbara Vestal. Smiles were on their faces, and joy was in their hearts – the congregation had waited nearly 14 years to be elevated from mission to parish.

“Having been at St. Catherine’s since November of 1999, first as children’s minister and now as music director, I can honestly see that the hand of God has been moving us forward spiritually, creatively and lovingly in his time,” Vestal said.

The congregation’s journey began with a Eucharist celebrated the evening of July 3, 1999, at the vicar’s home in Sienna plantation. Twenty people gathered for that first celebration of a newly formed church, which would live into the “via media” theology of the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Vincent Uher, the founding vicar, loved music, so it always was an integral part of services. Hospitality time followed worship. And the new congregation expanded quickly: After several weeks, it outgrew the vicarage and moved to the YMCA in Missouri City for Sunday worship, spending time before each service changing a bare space into prayerful area.

Occasionally, when there was another event at the Y, the congregation had to worship elsewhere – someone’s home, a local park – wherever members could find a place. They called themselves the “church on the run.” This was before the prevalence of Internet use, e-mail and texting, so phone trees were the preferred method of communication about where the congregation would meet each week.

Stability came when the church moved to a storefront location – an old Tuesday Morning site – on Cartwright Road in Missouri City in the spring of 2000. Members scrubbed, painted and cleaned out the former store and, in time, created a respectful worship space.

The congregation worked together to furnish the new church. One member built an octagonal wood altar. Another painted “stained-glass” windows on the wall. Another member covered the walls with pen-and-ink stations of the cross. An organization in New York donated items such as candlesticks, crosses and vestments.

In August 2006, the congregation moved into its current location, a 25-acre property in the Sienna Plantation subdivision of Missouri City. It contains a sanctuary, four classrooms, a kitchen and office space for support staff.

During the transition from home-based worship to their current facility, the people of St. Catherine’s demonstrated faithfulness and endurance.

• As an infant church, they survived the serious illness of the founding rector in the fall of 2000 and were led by lay leaders and an interim rector, the Rev. Karl Choate, for many months.
• They welcomed a female priest, the Rev. Stacey Fussell, and also saw the departure of some members because she was a woman.
• The congregation was saddened when she moved out of state in 2008, leading to a period of self-governance through the bishop’s committee and another interim priest.

The church celebrated its new status at the council meeting on Feb. 9. St. Catherine’s Church now has almost 400 active members. Its school has an enrollment of 85 children, ages 2 through 5, with extended hours available for youngsters who need after care.

Among the many outreach programs now in place are Samaritans’ Purse, mission trips by youth and adults to the North American Indian Ministry in South Dakota, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Nets for Life, Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry, Rainbow Room of CPS, and canned food and pop tab collections for Ronald MacDonald House.

Now that St. Catherine’s is a parish, some things have changed: The congregation will no longer receive financial support from the diocese; its priest is now the rector instead of the vicar; and the governing board is now the vestry, instead of the bishop’s committee.

“There are many things that we have learned from this amazing experience; far too many to name here,” said the current rector, the Rev. Mike Besson. “At the top of the list? That there is nothing that we cannot do as a congregation, with God’s help, no matter how impossible it may seem.  We know that this has happened so that we may be bold and fearless in our life with Jesus Christ … who knows what he has in store for us now?”

North America’s largest mariners’ service agency, the Seamen¹s Church Institute (SCI), debuts new garb for mariners this winter. Earlier this year, SCI asked the world to outfit the next generation of mariners with an original knitted hat pattern based on feedback chaplains received while visiting vessels in port. Mariners said their ears were cold.

Mariners must dress for the extremes of the world’s temperatures. Common shipping routes take them through exceptionally cold climates, which feel even colder on the water. In the North Atlantic, winter temperatures drop down to -30%C (-22%F); and in the United States, mariners on the inland waterways work outside for hours in temperatures hovering below -20%C (-4%F).

Each year, volunteer knitters for SCI’s Christmas at Sea program knit and crochet tens of thousands of hats and scarves for mariners working on the water during winter months. These handmade gifts connect mariners with land dwellers, who, as the beneficiaries of mariners’ sacrifices to deliver goods from all over the world, offer a sign of thanks.

Workplace safety restrictions mean that mariners must wear specially designed apparel; those restrictions even include the “extras” mariners don to stay warm. Accordingly, SCI’s knitting program, a venture of the Institute that began 115 years ago, developed patterns to meet these requirements. The patterns exclude features like pom-poms and tassels commonly found on store-bought winter knitwear.

Up until now, seafarers wearing handknit hats supplied by SCI have topped their heads with the sea’s most famous hat: the watch cap, a pattern almost as old as seafaring itself. SCI pairs that with a scarf (also specially designed by SCI for the maritime workplace environment) and delivers it to mariners working at Christmastime. If you imagine mariners as hardened old sea dogs, their faces at the delivery of these knitted gifts will change your mind.

Curiously, while visiting ships this past winter, SCI’s intern, 24-year-old Jania Billups, lost three hats. The wind did not take them nor did the sea. Rather, seafarers — seeing her wooly hat — asked Jania if they could have it because it had earflaps.

SCI’s Christmas at Sea Program Manager Paige Sato took this as a directive for the 4,000+ volunteer knitters she coordinates from across the United States. Sato inaugurated a contest for a new mariners’ hat pattern to supplement the watch cap — a special design that would meet workplace safety requirements and also incorporate the ear-warming features that mariners requested.

Called the 1898 Hat (in honor of the founding year of the Christmas at Sea volunteer knitting program), the winning design of the contest features a double-knit earflap that stays put without tying below the chin. Chosen from a pool of 12 submissions, the hat should keep mariners¹ ears sheltered from the cold. Seafarers themselves evaluated the various designs, trying them on and offering feedback to the contest judges. They told the judges they liked the design because it looks good on, and, “The hat feels warm over my ears,” said one seafarer of the MV Ever Refine, traveling up the East Coast of the United States.

The 1898 Hat pattern goes into circulation this month to the joy of mariners everywhere. Knitters can download the pattern from SCI’s website at seamenschurch.org/cas and submit finished products throughout the year. This winter, SCI hopes that, while providing a new, warming style for seafarers, its interns get to keep their own hats.

About SCI
Founded in 1834 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church, though nondenominational in terms of its trustees, staff and service to mariners, the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York & New Jersey (SCI) is the largest, most comprehensive mariners’ agency in North America. Annually, its chaplains visit thousands of vessels in the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Port of Oakland, and along 2,200 miles of America’s inland waterways and into the Gulf of Mexico. SCI’s maritime education facilities provide navigational training to nearly 1,600 mariners each year through simulator-based facilities located in Houston, TX and Paducah, KY. The Institute and its maritime attorneys are recognized as leading advocates for merchant mariners by the United States Government, including the US Congress, the US Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and maritime trade associations.

Those who gathered for the provincial representatives’ meeting reflected on the Faith, Health and Healing conference and on their own ministries and experience. We realised that this was an important watershed moment and that there were very important messages to be shared widely in the Communion, hence this communiqué which has been drafted by the group.

Key messages:

• Health and Healing are a Mission imperative.
• The assets of faith communities represent enormous spiritual and social capital that makes an impact on the health of the people.
• Supportive family and social relationships are a very important ingredient of mental, physical and spiritual health.
• Thankfully there is increasing evidence for the value of holistic care; this needs to be widely publicised.
• The importance of faith and churches in healthcare has not been sufficiently documented—what we take for granted really matters but is not widely understood.
• Evidence-based documentation of our contributions to health in our communities will help us gain access to partnerships with governmental and non-governmental agencies.
• Churches need to re-assert their value as healthcare partners with governments. The advocacy of Bishops is vital.
• The health mission of Anglican churches would benefit from being connected within the Anglican Communion and through networking with other churches.

The Faith in Health and Healing conference in Birmingham focused on much of this evidence and shared powerful stories of the difference faith and churches can make. The communication tools which are being set up following the conference will enable all Provinces to access this information and share their own good news. (See below.)

Some facts about the Faith in Health and Healing Conference:

Almost 200 people took part, and around 60 different sessions were presented. With a strong following among professionals from churches and health services from the UK, participants also came from the United States, Canada, Barbados, Palestine/Israel, Norway, Germany, Ireland, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. A range of Christian traditions was represented and it was a privilege to hear from an innovative Sikh project also.

Some facts about the AHN Provincial Representatives’ Meeting

At the two day meeting in the Anglican Communion Office, London, that followed the conference in Birmingham, the following Provinces were represented: the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church of Ireland, the Church in the Province of the West Indies, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, the Church of Ceylon and the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia. On the final afternoon of the meeting, the group was joined by four Anglican health administrators who, facilitated by the Anglican Alliance, were participating in a Commonwealth Fellowship scheme in the UK. This added representation from Tanzania, Kenya and Pakistan.

As well as considering the learning of the Faith in Health and Healing conference and how that might inspire work in our various churches, the group consulted further with Sally Keeble of the Anglican Alliance, Jan Butter, Director for Communications at the Anglican Communion Office (ACO), John Kafwanka, Director for Mission at the ACO, Janette O’Neil, Chief Executive of Us (formerly USPG) and Helen Stawski, Archbishop of Canterbury’s Deputy Secretary for International Development.

The future development of the Anglican Health Network was discussed and plans made. The powerful role of web-based resources and social media for facilitating the all-important connections around the Communion was recognised, some existing websites were identified, new ones commissioned and social media links created.

See: http://faithinhealth.net/  www.anglicanhealth.org/; www.anglicanhealthnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow @faithhealthnet on Twitter

We are exploring the possibilities of using Facebook and LinkedIn.

We warmly invite you to promote these resources and communication tools in your Province and to encourage interested parties in your Province to join the Anglican Health Network. The representatives listed below will help to steer the future of the Network. They would welcome the involvement of other provincial representatives to develop further the impact of the Network.

For further information contact:

The Revd Paul Holley, Coordinator, Anglican Health Network paul.holley@anglicanhealth.orgor The Revd Terrie Robinson, Networks’ Coordinator, Anglican Communion Office terrie.robinson@anglicancommunion.org

Yours in Christ
Robin Paisley, Scottish Episcopal Church
On behalf of the AHN provincial representatives

Through pastoral care to members of our congregations and our ministry to resettle refugees, Episcopalians across the country bear daily witness to the profound joy of reunification for families long separated, as well as the devastation of families kept apart. This is why we welcome the changes in the immigration bill that offer significant streamlining and expediting of the reunification process for citizens and green-card holders that will allow many families to reunite without undue delay, a central tenant of the Alien Among You Resolution adopted by General Convention in 2006.

This understanding of the hardship families’ face under immigration law, however, is why we are gravely disappointed to see that even as many families are poised to experience the joy of reunification, there are families and family members who have been removed from or intentionally excluded from the family immigration system by this bill.

If this bill were to be made law today, U.S. citizens would lose the ability to sponsor a brother or sister or a married child above the age of 30, and the discrimination against same-sex partners and their families under immigration law would continue.

No reform of our immigration system can truly be called comprehensive unless it includes all immigrant families, including the families of same-sex spouses and partners, including our brothers and sisters, and including our adult children.

Ask your Senator to protect families today by supporting amendments that promote and protect every family’s right to unity.