Episcopal Press and News

Search the Episcopal Press and News

Year

All 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962

Enter search query

Diocesan Digest - August 31

Episcopal News Service. August 31, 2006 [083106-1-A]

ARKANSAS: Nominees for 13th bishop will be announced Sept. 1

MINNESOTA: Parish to pilot new Via Media confirmation program

VIRGINIA: Coadjutor Nominating Committee extends deadline

WEST TEXAS: David Mitchell Reed consecrated bishop suffragan

ARKANSAS: Nominees for 13th bishop will be announced Sept. 1

[Source: Diocese of Arkansas] The Nominating Committee of the Diocese of Arkansas will name 3 to 6 finalists for its 13th bishop September 1. Information about the candidates will be available at http://www.arkansas.anglican.org from September 1.

The Diocesan Standing Committee will accept petitions for additional nominations from September 2-15. "The Walk About," the opportunity for the nominees and people of the diocese to visit, will be held on October 21. The election convention is scheduled for November 11.

MINNESOTA: Parish to pilot new Via Media confirmation program

[Source: Diocese of Minnesota] St. Andrew's by the Lake in Duluth, Minnesota, is one of 15 Episcopal churches in the nation chosen to pilot new confirmation materials published by Via Media. "Confirm, not Conform" (CnC) was developed by the Rev. Scott Denman, along with Kellor Smith, the director of CnC at St. John's Episcopal Church in Oakland, California.

"One of the aspects that attracted us at St. Andrew's was the flexibility of this program and the content offered," said the Rev. Cindy Peterson-Wlosinski, rector of St. Andrew's. "We already had a fairly good program in place, but were looking for something that offered better teaching materials than what we had used so far."

The major educational program of CnC happens on Sunday mornings, twice a month from September through May. Other portions of the curriculum are conducted during youth group time during the summer. This past summer, St. Andrew's had two special events: a trip to Madeline Island (Spirituality and Prayer) and the Urban Adventure (a three-day trip to the cities to explore urban life, urban issues, the spirituality of materiality and generativity). Next summer, the Confirmation group will go on a Pilgrimage to Washington, D.C.

"CnC allows us to keep the best of what we've done while adding some exceptional new material," she continued. "It is especially useful in a smaller church that might have fewer people able to be involved in the confirmation program."

The developers of the new materials believe that "CnC will teach young people to encounter God for themselves and help them make an adult, faith-filled choice about how they want God to be present in their lives, as well as introduce them to the tools they will need for a life-time of searching for and encountering God."

"CnC is a very experiential program, with reflection that follows each experience," said Peterson-Wlosinski. "Our youth really like to be active -- and what better way to introduce them to a God who is everywhere, than to take them a lot of places where they can see and experience that very reality."

VIRGINIA: Coadjutor Nominating Committee extends deadline

[Source: Diocese of Virginia] The Nominating Committee for Bishop Coadjutor in the Diocese of Virginia has extended the deadline for nominations to September 13 to accommodate vacationing clergy and parishioners who were away in August. Screening and interviewing candidates will begin after that date.

The Committee aims to have a slate of 3-5 nominees by November 15. In addition, nominees by petition will be received until December 1.

Through questionnaires and listening events, the Nominating Committee has gathered the views of members to help discern the qualities sought in a new bishop.

The diocese will elect a Bishop Coadjutor at the 212th Annual Council January 26-27, 2007. Pending consents from a majority of bishops and dioceses, the Bishop Coadjutor-elect will be consecrated in May 2007 at Washington National Cathedral.

WEST TEXAS: David Mitchell Reed consecrated bishop suffragan

[Source: Diocese of West Texas] David Mitchell Reed, 49, was consecrated fifth bishop suffragan of the Diocese of West Texas at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in San Antonio on August 26.

About 1,000 people attended the event, which was broadcast by closed-circuit into the church parish hall and parlors to accommodate the overflow crowd who braved the 102-degree heat to attend.

Chief consecrator was Bishop Bruce MacPherson of Western Louisiana, president of Province VII.

Reed was elected at a special diocesan council March 2006, from a field of seven nominees. At the time of his election, he was rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Harlingen, Texas. Reed had also served as rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Victoria, Texas, and as assistant rector at St. Alban's.

Reed grew up in Diocese of West Texas, graduating from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin with an M. Div. degree in 1983. He and his wife, Patti, have two teenage children.

He will work with Bishop Gary Lillibridge of West Texas, serving a diocese that includes 91 congregations spread over 60 counties in South Central Texas.