Newsmakers
Episcopal News Service. November 17, 2005 [111705-4-A]
* NEW YORK, NEW YORK: New director of church relations ready 'to take their ministries outside their walls'
* BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA: Three Episcopal priests receive honorary degrees
* CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: Phoebe Griswold speaking in South Carolina
* DENVER, COLORADO: Indian theologian and activist Vine Deloria, Jr. dies at 72
New director of church relations ready 'to take their ministries outside their walls'
[Source: Episcopal Relief and Development] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) welcomed the Rev. Kedron Jarvis to its staff in the newly created position of Director of Church Relations.
Jarvis will be in charge of all the activities and services ERD carries out with churches, including volunteer trips and developing youth and Sunday school curricula, while supporting and encouraging churches to be involved with ERD.
"This is exciting because there isn't a blue print," Jarvis said. "I think what ERD is looking for is to have someone who can be out in parishes answering questions and sharing what we are doing in God's name. I will work on how individuals and parishes can partner with ERD to take their ministries outside their walls. Our churches need a point person at ERD. I hope to be that."
Jarvis, a cradle Episcopalian, is a native of Columbus, Georgia. She went on her first short-term mission trip at 13 years old, which ignited her passion for sharing God's love through action.
While attending the University of Georgia, where she earned her degree in anthropology, Jarvis went through the discernment process in the Diocese of Atlanta. After graduation, she worked for Church of the Saviour, an ecumenical outreach-minded organization of small churches in Washington, D.C. From there, she entered seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary, was ordained deacon and priest in Atlanta, and served a parish there.
Most recently, Jarvis was the associate rector at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Herndon, Virginia, where she focused on adult education and mission and led the 137-year old parish on its first international mission trip to Botswana last summer. Her mission experience also includes trips to Mexico, Fiji, the Dominican Republic, and Greece.
Three Episcopal priests receive honorary degrees
[Source: Church Divinity School of the Pacific] Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) recently honored three Episcopal priests, all alumni/æ of the seminary, with honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees.
The Very Rev. Dr. Donald G. Brown '98, the Rt. Rev. Bavi Edna Rivera '76, and the Rev. Dr. Katherine L. Ward '94 were recipients of the degrees awarded at CDSP's fall alumni/ae convocation, October 13, 2005.
"Ministry is not simply about faithfully and steadfastly focusing on presently well-defined tasks, on received visions and clearly articulated missions, but also about being open to the 'new,' open even to change and transformation, even to turning around if need be," CDSP president and dean Donn F. Morgan said. "Our (honorary degree recipients) lift up this priority, each in their own way."
Brown served as dean of Trinity Cathedral, in Sacramento, for 18 years. During his tenure, the congregation more than doubled in size. Under his leadership, the cathedral served as the catalyst for ecumenical and inter-religious cooperation in addressing the city's social problems.
He co-chairs the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee, and is a member of the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. He is an active member of the Compass Rose Society, which supports the work of the Anglican Communion, and he has represented his diocese as a deputy at the last five General Conventions. Last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed Brown to chair the Council of Advice to the Anglican Observer at the United Nations.
He also served on CDSP's Board of Trustees for 11 years, chaired the Board's Development Committee, and served as a member of its Executive Committee.
Bishop Suffragan Rivera of Olympia, the first Latina bishop, carries on a family tradition. Her father was an Episcopal priest and later bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin.
She is the 12th woman to be elected bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church USA. Previously, she served as rector of St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, in San Francisco and in churches in Salinas, Ross, and San Rafael, California.
Active in ethnic ministry, faith formation and evangelism, Rivera served for many years as a deputy to General Convention, and a delegate from Province VIII on the Executive Council.
Drawing on the inspiration of the women in her family, Rivera recently gave the second annual St. Margaret's Lecture at CDSP. The periodic lecture series supports the effort to establish the St. Margaret's Chair for Women and Ministry at CDSP.
Ward's dedication to education led her to work for the advancement of her students in public schools, first in Mississippi, then in California. In the Oakland Unified School District, she rose from teacher to counselor to principal, and finally, central office administrator. Following her retirement, she graduated from CDSP, and was ordained to the priesthood the following year. She was rector of St. Augustine's Parish, Oakland, for eight years. Ward has also served as president of the Diocese of California Standing Committee, a board member of St. Paul's Episcopal School, and was the African-American Network Coordinator for Province VIII.
Presently, she is interim pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, in Oakland and remains actively involved in furthering many causes including the Union of Black Episcopalians, the Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership (CALL) at CDSP, the Episcopal Women's History Project, and the Oakland Alliance of Black Educators.
Phoebe Griswold addresses global mission in South Carolina
[Source: Episcopal Forum of SC eNewsletter] Phoebe Griswold, dynamic advocate for the global mission of the Episcopal Church and wife of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, will be the featured speaker at Grace Church in Charleston, South Carolina, November 30 at 6:45 p.m.
Her presentation about worldwide connections in the Anglican Communion promises to be a positive, uplifting story of the ministry of the entire church.
Earlier in the day, she will meet with members of the local chapter of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross (SCHC) of which she is an active member.
The program is open to the public. For information call 843.723.4575.
Indian theologian and activist Vine Deloria, Jr. dead at 72
[Sources: New York Times 11-17-05/Indian Country Today 11-14-05] Vine Deloria Jr., a Standing Rock Sioux who burst into the American consciousness in 1969 with his book "Custer Died for Your Sins" and later amplified his message through 20 more books about the Native American experience, died November 13, 2005, in Denver. He was 72.
Deloria was born in Martin, S.D., on the border of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Although his lineage was predominately Yankton Dakota, his grandfather Philip, an Episcopal priest, had enrolled the family in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where he was stationed.
Deloria was drafted, as he put it, to be executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in 1964. He was a founding trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian when it consisted of the Gustav Heye collection in New York City, and helped guide its sale to the Smithsonian Institution. He was a major thinker for the movements for sacred land protection, for treaty rights and for the protection and repatriation of Indian remains.
Deloria served in the U.S. Marine Corps and received a master's degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Rock Island, Ill. After his stint at the NCAI, he pursued an academic career, culminating in the position of professor of history at the University of Colorado.
He also served for a time on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church and as its first Native American missioner.
"He was influential for so many of us at a time when Native Americans needed a voice, to hold onto for hope and validation," said Janine Tinsley-Roe, missioner of Native American Ministries for the Episcopal Church of the United States. " He gave me courage to proclaim my birthright. It's an honor for me to now follow in his footsteps within the national church office."
TIME magazine once called DeLoria one of the 10 most influential theologians of the 20th century. In March 2005 he received the second annual American Indian Visionary Award from Indian Country Today.
He remained an incisive writer and social critic to the end. He refused an honorary degree from the University of Colorado because he disapproved of its performance during an athletic scandal. During his last year, he was at work on a major book on the miraculous deeds of Indian medicine men.