The Harvest, May-June 2013

Inside The HarvestCanon Craig Loya

The Rev. Craig Loya, the dio-cese’s canon to the ordinary, has accepted a call to become dean of Trinity Cathedral in Omaha, Neb., starting in Sep-tember. Page 2

Interfaith Power and LightThe Rev. Sally Bingham, founder of Interfaith Power and Light and a leader in calling for churches to reduce their energy use, spoke in Lawrence on June 4. Page 3

Life-saving callWichitan Jerry Malone credits her alarm company with sav-ing her life when a fire broke out in her house, but she didn’t expect her thank-you to have such a big impact. Page 4

MegaCampTwo hundred campers and 50 adults gathered for Mega-Camp, a week of fun and shar-ing the Christian faith at Camp Wood, set amid the beauty of Kansas’ Flint Hills. Page 4

Diocesan ConventionBishop Stacy Sauls will be this year’s keynote speaker at Convention. Deadlines also are coming up for actions to be pro-posed at the annual event.. Page 6

Feeding the hungryFood pantries and summer lunch pro-grams across the diocese are responding to the need for help in stretching food budgets of the working poor. Page 6

Kansas to KenyaThe 50 people who took part in three mission teams this sum-mer in Kenya engaged in a lot of ministry projects, including construction of what is believed to be the first safe house for

abused women in the country. Page 7

Busy internsOne intern assisted in the youth office this summer, and two campus interns are ready to assist with Episcopal efforts at K.U. and K-State, as well as other cam-puses across the diocese. Page 9

Deacon awardDeacon Steve Segebrecht was honored by the Association of Episcopal Deacons during a recent meeting with its award for service. He wasn’t there to accept, though — he was

serving in Kenya. Page 9

Women bishops in EnglandThe Church of England’s General Synod has taken steps that it hopes will lead to the eventual appointment of women as bishops. Page 11

EWARM gets UTO grant for computersUnited Thank Offering

awards $24,360 to refugee agency for resource lab

Kansas, three other dioceses form new school for ministryBy Melodie WoermanEditor, The Harvest

Bishop Dean Wolfe and the bishops of the dioceses of West Missouri, Western Kansas and Nebraska on July 11 announced an agreement to merge their dioceses’ existing ministry schools into a new school, the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry, which will begin offering classes this fall.

The bishops said in their announce-ment, “Members of our four dioceses already have been studying together at the school of the Diocese of Kansas, and we have seen firsthand the great benefit of having people engage in rigorous theological education in an environ-ment of collegiality among people from different dioceses. The Bishop Kemper School will continue and enhance those opportunities.”

The Kansas School for Ministry, which has educated dozens of people

for ordination and lay ministries in this diocese since 1997, will be one of the educational offerings merged into the new school.

The Bishop Kemper School, which will be headquartered in Topeka, will have its own board of directors, made up of people from all four dioceses, and they quickly will begin the process of establishing the school as a new Kansas non-profit corporation.

The school will be operated jointly by all four dioceses, and each will make yearly financial contributions to its work. The new board will be responsible for overseeing the life of the school, as well as the work of the dean and faculty. The four bishops will serve as ex officio board members.

The Bethany Place property in Topeka where the school will meet and where student accommodations are located will con-tinue to be owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, and the cost of operating the school will be shared by all four dioceses.

Named for first missionary bishopThe school honors Bishop Jackson Kemper, the first Mission-

ary Bishop of the Episcopal Church, who was the organizing bishop when each of the four dioceses was founded in the 19th century.

He also was committed to the value of local theological education for the growth and health of the Episcopal Church in an era of westward expansion, making it fitting, the bishops said, “that this new endeavor bears his name.”

For the past two years, students from the dioceses of Western Kansas and West Missouri have studied with Diocese of Kansas students at the Kansas School for Ministry. They were joined this past year by students from the Diocese of Nebraska.

Bishop Jackson Kemper, the new

school’s namesake

(Please see School, page 2)

SuBmittEd photo

First ballpark adventure for EWARM familiesSome of Wichita’s newest residents — Burmese refugees resettled through the Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry — got their first taste of America’s pastime at the June 15 baseball game between the Wichita Wingnuts and the St. paul Saints. they were accompanied by members of St. John’s, Wichita, who helped explain the game and shared in the festivities of a night at the ballpark. v

By Melodie WoermanEditor, The Harvest

The Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry (EWARM) got some exciting and welcome news when it learned in early June that the agency had received a grant from the United thank Offering in the amount of $24,360. The money is earmarked for creation of a computer resource lab.

Shannon Mahan, EWARM’s executive director, said the computers and software the grant will provide will be a big help to new refugees in learning English and in preparing for employment.

The grant will provide for the purchase of 11 computers, as well as printers and specialized software.

The grant was one of 48 awarded by the UTO board. Each diocese can submit one application for consideration.

To date EWARM has provided a new home to 28 people in nine families, all na-tives of Burma, also known as Myanmar. They received official refugee status since they are unable to return to their home be-

cause of religious or political persecution from ongoing violence in that Southeast Asian nation.

Mahan said the new resource lab will augment the English classes offered by the International Rescue Committee of

Wichita which meet at St. John’s Episco-pal Church.

The computers also will help the refu-gees in job readiness. EWARM aids this

(Please see EWARM, page 3)

the continuing vitality and viability of many of our congregations requires that we undertake new and innovative ways of creating leaders for the 21st century. the Bishop Kemper School for ministry is one of these. — Bishops’ announcement

2 • The Harvest • May/June 2013

Publisher: The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe, BishopEditor: Melodie Woerman

A member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Communi-cators, The Harvest is published six times a year by the Office of Communications of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas: February, April, June, August, October and December.

Stories, letters and photos are welcome. They will be used on a space-available basis and are subject to editing. Send all material (preferably in electronic format or by email) to:

Melodie Woerman, editorThe Harvest

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The Anglican CommunionA global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of CanterburyThe Most Reverend and Right Honorable Justin WelbyLambeth Palace, London WE1 7JU, United Kingdom

www.anglicancommunion.orgEpiscopal seat: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England

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Presiding BishopThe Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori

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Washington, D.C.

The Episcopal Diocese of KansasA community of about 12,000 members in 46 congregations, two diocesan institutions and one school in eastern Kansas.

BishopThe Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe

835 SW Polk Street, Topeka, KS 66612-1688(785) 235-9255(800) 473-3563

www.episcopal-ks.orgEpiscopal seat: Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Topeka

(Continued from page 1)

The bishops soon saw the need for a school that is owned by all four dioceses, allowing it to expand to continue to meet the needs for locally educated parish leaders, lay and ordained. Creation of the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry was their answer.

Innovation is requiredIn their announcement the bishops

wrote, “Our four dioceses, while unique and distinct, share many common traits, including the need to provide quality leadership for small congregations in rural settings. The continuing vitality and viability of many of our congrega-tions requires that we undertake new and innovative ways of creating leaders for the 21st century. The Bishop Kemper School for Ministry is one of these.”

While each diocese’s existing edu-cational programs will be merged into the Bishop Kemper School, the bishops

said the new school “will continue the commitment of those programs to the highest level of preparation for people seeking ordination, lay people engaged in licensed and specialized ministries, lay and clergy continuing education, and general education and enrichment cours-es for all members of our dioceses.”

The bishops’ announcement also noted that the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katha-rine Jefferts Schori, will be in Topeka Oct. 5 and 6 to celebrate the creation of the new joint educational venture. She also will dedicate the remodeled Bethany Place Conference Center, which provides overnight accommodations for students of the school.

Remodeling of the conference center, which took place in 2012, was paid for from donations to the diocesan Cross-roads capital campaign.

More details on the schedule for that visit will be available in advance of her trip. v

School: Presiding bishop will celebrate new entity during October visit to Topeka

the seal for the new Bishop Kemper School for ministry features the nine

crosses of the Episcopal shield,

an open Bible and stalks of wheat,

as well as a cross and the Greek

letters alpha and omega, the first and

last letters of that alphabet.

Canon Craig Loya named dean of Omaha cathedralThe Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

The Rev. Craig Loya, who has been the diocese’s canon to the ordinary since 2009 and served as campus missioner before that, has accepted a call to become dean of Trinity Cathedral in Omaha, Neb., beginning Sept. 29.

The announcement of Loya’s new position was made by Bishop Dean Wolfe on July 21.

In it the bishop said, “When you call people of great promise and excel-lence, we give thanks that they can be of service to the wider church. It is heartbreaking to let go of such a good colleague and friend, and yet we are thrilled for Craig, Melissa and Mari and believe they will exercise the same kind of outstanding min-istry in Nebraska that they have here in Kansas.”

He also noted that the move returns Loya closer to family, since he and his wife, Melissa Tubbs Loya, both are natives of Nebraska.

In reflecting on his time in Kansas Loya said, “The years I have spent on the diocesan staff have been filled with grace and joy. I was a relatively new priest when I arrived in the diocese, and the shape of my priesthood has been largely forged by the joys, sorrows, blessings, challenges and just plain hard work that we have embraced together.”

Loya showed ‘extraordinary gifts’The bishop praised the work Loya has done in the

two positions he has held in the diocese. He noted that Loya was hired in 2007 for the first campus mis-sioner position as part of “an innovative and creative approach to diocesanwide campus ministry” and quickly showed he was “a person of extraordinary gifts.”

Loya, along with the Rev. Susan Terry, who was called as a second campus missioner, helped create “a dynamic model for campus ministry that now is

being utilized in other parts of the church,” Bishop Wolfe said.

The bishop said Loya’s outstanding service as campus missioner prompted him to appoint Loya as canon to the ordinary, which as the chief clergy assist to a bishop he called “one of the most difficult positions in the Episcopal Church.”

Bishop Wolfe said almost every parish and priest in the diocese “has benefitted from his good counsel and pastoral care during clergy transitions.”

Praise for KansasLoya praised the min-

istry that is evident across the Diocese of Kansas.

“Here in Kansas, we are doing some of the most exciting and important work being done anywhere in the church; I have been so richly blessed to share some part of that.

“I am particularly grate-ful to Bishop Wolfe, who has been an extraordinary colleague, a valuable men-tor and a good friend. He and all of my colleagues on the diocesan staff have provided daily inspiration through their professional excellence, spiritual wis-dom, dedication to the gospel and deep love for

this diocese.”Loya said of his time in the diocese, “Every day

of my work here has taught me something more of how to follow Jesus, and how to become the kind of community he calls us to be. The many things I have learned from the clergy and people of Kansas will greatly inform and enrich my ministry at Trin-ity Cathedral in Omaha.” Trinity Cathedral has a congregation of about 400 people.

Loya’s last day in the diocesan office will be Aug. 27.

Bishop Wolfe said he is creating an advisory com-mittee to assist him in the search for a new canon and anticipates “a number of excellent candidates to apply.” He said this transition also offers the opportu-nity to “rethink how this position can best serve the office of the bishop and the Diocese of Kansas.” v

the Rev. Craig Loya

May/June 2013 • The Harvest • 3

(Continued from page 1)

effort by providing a daycare for refugee children while their par-ents are in class.

Mahan said that since EWARM received its first refugee family in late July 2012, eight families have become financially self-sufficient with adults who are employed. “They are so motivated,” she said.

Two of them have even pur-chased a used car, and two other families received cars as gifts.

The ninth family, parents plus their eight-month-old daughter, arrived in Wichita on June 5.

More families on the wayMahan said she has received

word that another 11 families will be arriving in Wichita sometime over the next three to four months. Sadly, she said she has no spon-sors for any of them.

Sponsors pledge $3,000 to help cover the family’s expenses dur-ing their first six months and pro-vide volunteers to help refugees become acclimated to American culture.

So far all the sponsors have been from Wichita, but Ma-han said she’d welcome finan-cial sponsors from churches throughout the diocese. She can find local volunteers to provide the one-on-one help.

Bishop Dean Wolfe, in a mes-sage to all churches in early June, asked Kansas parishes to

help members better understand EWARM’s ministry and to con-sider donating part of the offer-ing it received on June 23 — the Sunday nearest World Refugee Day on June 20 –— to EWARM.

Mahan said she hopes many churches will come to know more about the life-changing work the Episcopal agency is doing, and she said she welcomes the finan-cial support, too. v


The Rev. Sally Bingham, founder of the national orga-nization Interfaith Power and Light, was in Lawrence on June 4 to address the annual meeting of the Kansas affiliate of the group that seeks to help faith communities be better stewards of their energy use.

Bingham, who serves as canon for the environment for the Diocese of California, shared the story of how she became involved in environmental issues, beginning with an invitation in the 1980s to serve on the board of the Environmental Defense Fund. “I learned what humans are doing to the planet,” she said.

But as a lifelong Episcopalian, she was surprised there was no connection between what her church said about caring for creation and what environmental activists were doing.

She said she then took this question to her bishop, her cathedral and to people of other faiths, and none of them said they’d ever heard protection of creation preached from the pulpit.

Her rector suggested she should go to seminary to learn why there was a disconnection between the church’s theol-ogy and its actions on this topic.

Since she had never attended college, she had to do that first, entering as a freshman at age 45. She then went to seminary with no intention of being ordained. She gradu-ated in 1994 and began working “to engage people of faith on environmental issues,” she said.

But others quickly pressed her to enter the process toward ordination, and in 1997 she was ordained a priest, a journey that surprised her. She was, she said, “a person with no background in business or leadership skills, no financial background, no previous speaking engagement, and no desire to be a priest.”

In 1998 she helped establish Episcopal Power and Light, which allowed congregations in the San Francisco area to purchase electricity from renewable energy sources. The

name changed in 2000 to California Interfaith Power and Light, reflecting the involvement of other faith groups. In 2005 it dropped the reference to California, becoming Interfaith Power and Light, as it expanded to 41 local af-filiates in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Kansas Interfaith Power and Light is one of those.

Caring for God’s creationIn an interview before her address, Bingham said that

caring for creation fulfills the first and greatest command-ment to love one’s neighbor. “You don’t pollute your neighbor’s air and water,” she said.

Beyond that, “God loves the creation, and as people of

faith we have to love what God loves.”When asked why parishes and parishioners don’t do a

better job of addressing environmental changes, she said it was generally a lack of understanding that energy and climate change are real issues. “Once people hear the mes-sage of stewardship of creation, most often Episcopalians will say, ‘I’ve never thought about it that way,’” she said.

She noted that saving energy also saves churches money “The minute you become energy efficient you save money,” she said, money that can be used for ministry needs or to go back into green technology to save even more energy.

Beyond that, Bingham said Christians should consider the moral implications of changes taking place in the earth’s climate. “The poor suffer the most and contribute the least to the problem of climate-changing greenhouse gases,” she said.

The poor are hurt the most, she said, because they don’t have the means to cope with the effects. The developing world is seeing an increase in droughts and a struggle to find food and fuel, she said. “And the poor have no place to go.”

And when people run out of trees to burn for fuel, there can be large migrations of people as they search for the means to stay warm and cook their food.

Cool congregationsOne way churches can make an impact is through the

Cool Congregation program offered by Kansas IPL. It offers a three-hour training program to encourage congre-gations and their members to agree to reduce their carbon footprint by 10 percent over the course of a year — what they call a carbon “tithe.”

Recommendations include switching to lower-energy light bulbs, such as compact fluorescents, as well as raising the thermostat in the summer and lowering it in the winter. These are, according to the program, “simple, low-cost measures that families can implement to immediately put their faith into action and reduce their carbon footprint.”

More information is on the website of Kansas Interfaith Power and Light, http://kansasipl.org. v

Environmental leader speaks in Lawrence

Episcopal priest the Rev. Sally Bingham, founder of the environmental advocacy group interfaith power and Light, speaks to the annual meeting of the Kansas IPL affiliate June 4 in Lawrence,

photo By mELodiE WoERman

EWARM: Refugees quickly are self-sufficient

WANT TO HELP?EWaRm needs sponsors for

the 11 new Burmese refugee families that will be arriving in Wichita in the next three to four months.

Sponsoring organizations contribute $3,000 toward a fam-ily’s living expenses and provide volunteers to help them become familiar with american culture.

Churches outside the Wichita area can make financial contri-butions, and EWARM officials will find local volunteers to help the families.

if interested in sponsoring a refugee family in whole ($3,000)or in part, contact EWaRm ex-ecutive director Shannon mahan at [email protected] or (316) 977-9276.

Manhattan church honors emergency personnel with a day of free food

Cars line up outside St. Paul’s on May 15 as first responders from a variety of Manhattan-area agencies stop by for a free meal. This was the fifth year the parish hosted Riley County Emergency Personnel appreciation day.

photoS By ELEanoR BLaKER

For a fifth year members of St. Paul’s, Manhattan said “thank you” to area emergency personnel in a most tangible way — with free meals available throughout the day so all could stop by to eat, no matter what shift they worked.

The church invited all the first responders in Riley County: police, firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, Kansas State University police and volunteer firefighters.

In all 97 people stopped by during the day; when the project started five years ago, the church served 60.

Parishioners signed up to provide a variety of food suitable for breakfast, lunch and din-ner. They also were asked to volunteer to help with set up and clean up, serving guests, and providing a friendly greeting for those who stopped by.

The event was headed again this year by El-eanor Blaker, who made sure all the emergency departments were aware of the day honoring their efforts. Blaker said she hopes even more people will stop by when the parish offers its appreciation again next year

— Melodie Woerman vhomemade food drew 97 people to the Emergency personnel appreciation day.


First ESS 5K encourages community kindness

The first-ever 5K race sponsored by Episcopal Social Services–Venture House in Wichita was a big success, raising money to help the agency and connecting with many people who hadn’t heard of ESS before.

But beyond that, the June 15 event, dubbed “Kindness Moves Me,” helped the participants be more aware of kindness in their lives, as well as showing kindness toward themselves by promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Jennifer Wise, ESS’s director of development and public relations, said 225 runners and walkers participated in the event, which began in front of the ESS building near downtown Wichita and wound its way for 3.1 miles through nearby Riverside Park before ending back at the start line.

In addition to the timed 5K, there also was a 1K family walk/run.

Wise said, “The culture of the event was truly unique in that all of the participants really were thinking about how they can support and show kindness to others.”

Each of the runners and walkers was asked to perform an intentional act of kindness on race day.

“We received very positive feedback about the event,” Wise said, “and next year’s event is sched-uled for June 14.”

The event also raised $21,000 for ESS’s pro-grams, which include employment help, representa-tive payee services, aid to youth and food support.

Since 1983 Episcopal Social Services has served people in need especially in the downtown Wichita


Jerry Malone says it’s just good manners to say thank-you when someone has done something helpful for you. But in her case, that help went beyond common courtesy. It saved her life.

That thank-you went to the alarm company ADT, whose smoke detector and prompt dis-patcher got Malone out of her house after a devastating fire.

Screaming smoke alarmMalone, a member of St.

James’, Wichita, awoke in the early hours of April 23 with her smoke detector “screaming,” she said. A minute later Cherry Smith, a dispatcher from ADT, was on the phone, telling her that her house was on fire.

Thinking it had to be a mistake, Malone left her second-floor bed-room to check and encountered heavy smoke in the hallway. She ran back to the phone and yelled, “My house is on fire!”

Smith said she was dispatch-ing the fire department and told Malone to leave the house im-mediately, so the Wichitan ran barefoot outside in her nightgown.

More than 20 firefighters in seven trucks arrived quickly and extinguished the blaze before it had spread much beyond the basement, where it had begun as a result of a lightning strike, Malone said. Smoke and water damage was extensive, however.

Wichita woman thanks company that saved her life

Jerry malone (left) reaches out to greet Cherry Smith, the dispatcher for the alarm company whose quick notice helped save malone’s life after a fire at her Wichita home April 23. The two met at an event sponsored by the company on may 16.

SuBmittEd photo

Company took noticeLater that day, she called the

ADT headquarters to thank them for saving her life. Her heartfelt message got the attention of ADT corporate executives, who decided to arrange a “LifeSaver” event in Wichita on May 16.

They flew Cherry in from the dispatch office in Irving, Texas, where she works, and for the first time in her 12-year career with the company, Cherry got to meet in person someone she’d helped over the phone.

ADT presented LifeSaver Awards to Cherry and to three technicians who have serviced Malone’s alarm system since it was installed 18 years ago.

The event also included the presentation of a $5,000 check to the Wichita Fire Department in recognition of their heroic work to save Malone’s house.

Malone said she also was vid-eotaped telling her story as part of a training film the company plans to use with its employees. “It will help them understand they really do save lives,” she said.

Malone said repairs to her home are underway, and she hopes to move back in August. Insurance is covering the cost.

Since the fire, she has become a fierce advocate for smoke detec-tors. “Check your smoke detector batteries once a month, not once a year,” she said. “Smoke detectors can save lives, especially in the middle of the night, when you are vulnerable.” v

SuBmittEd photoS

Runners take off from the start line June 15 for the first-ever “Kindness Moves Me” 5K race sponsored by Episcopal Social Service-Venture house in Wichita.

three of the 225 participants in the race use a picture frame prop to emphasize that promoting kindness was a key element of the race.

area, as a broad-based social service agency. It is an official institution of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.

— Melodie Woerman v


ted Wheeler, a high school student from St. aidan’s, olathe, paddles hard during the annual cardboard boat race, trying to keep afloat his boat made from cardboard, plastic sheeting and duct tape.

Junior high students gather for some quiet time in their family group on an outcropping rocks at the camp, set in the beauty of the Flint hills.

An Episcopal flag that had belonged to the late Archdeacon Jim upton and was used when he was junior high director flew again at Camp Wood, after Racine Zackula, junior high counselor from St. John’s, Wichita, came to have it. upton’s daughter, megan upton-tyner, was this year’s director of junior high camp.

Sharingfaith

Flint Hillsin the

MegaCamp 2013the Rev. david Lynch, curate at St. James’, Wichita, leads a procession of elementary students to the joint Eucharist, known as megaEucharist, for all campers, counselors and staff at megaCamp.

Story by Melodie WoermanPhotos by David Lynch, Megan Tyner and Caitlin Canaday

For a third year, students from elemen-tary through senior high gathered for a single week of summer camp, known as MegaCamp. Two hundred campers were joined by 50 adult counselors and staff June 2-8 at Camp Wood, a YMCA camp near Elmdale, southwest of Emporia, in the heart of the Flint Hills. For more than 70 years it has been the site of summer camps sponsored by the Episcopal Dio-cese of Kansas.

The theme for each of the age groups — elementary, junior high and senior high — was “Found, Known and Loved.”

It formed the basis of daily worship, music, small group discussions and prayer. The groups were housed in separate sections of the camp, al-lowing each to provide age-specific activities.

But on June 5, everyone came together at the amphitheater near the camp’s beloved High-Y hill for MegaEucharist, a joint communion celebration.

Campers also had the chance to participate in a variety of activities provided by the YMCA camp staff, including canoeing, sports, horseback riding, swimming, games and the climbing tower

While this year’s camp experience carried on many traditions — cardboard boat races, talent night and kissing a fish plaque at lunch when you receive three pieces of mail — much about this year’s camp was new.

It was the first year as director for diocesan Youth Missioner Karen Schlabach, who assumed her duties in January. She’d been on staff for senior high camp for six years, but she said her new role gave her the chance to be part of what all groups were doing.

“It was nice to worship with the elementary campers, learn from junior high camp program, and spend time in workshops for all age groups,”

she said.But Schlabach wasn’t the only

new staff member. She said the three camp directors and program directors all were first-timers, as were two of the three chaplains and the camp nurse. She gave much of the credit for a successful camp to them.

“Without their courage to step up and be excellent leaders, camp would not have gone as well as it did. They worked hard, acted professionally and were a lot of fun!”

Campers from 31 churchesSchlabach said campers came

from 26 Diocese of Kansas Episcopal churches and five from outside the diocese — Grace, Hutchinson; St. Paul’s, and St. Andrew’s in Kan-sas City, Mo.; St. John’s Cathedral,

Jacksonville, Fla.; and St. Andrew’s, Roswell, N.M. Twelve campers were not Episcopalians.

Of the 200 campers, 65 were elementary stu-dents, 83 were junior high and 52 were senior high.

Nine high school seniors were honored at their final year of camp, and they shared memories from their previous summers at Camp Wood.

She said that 33 percent of the cost of sending youth to camp — more than $26,000 — was pro-vided by scholarships or other fundraising means by 19 churches.

A total of 97 campers got scholarships from their parishes, and 22 of them also received dioc-esan scholarship funding. Another seven campers received diocesan financial help only. v


Churches provide food help as needs of the working poor grow

Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe and West Missouri Bishop Martin Field will be featured during a “Bishops Open Forum” Sept. 12 sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Integrity.

It will take place from 7-9 p.m. at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, 415 West 13th St., in Kansas City, Mo.

The event is designed to help clergy, lay leaders, as well as anyone who is interested, look at where dioceses and parishes stand following the decision by the 2012 General Convention to authorize use of a rite to bless same-sex unions.

According to Larry Bingham, one of the event’s organizers, participants will have the chance to discuss a variety of questions:

� Has there been any change in your parish as a result of this resolu-tion?

� Has your parish been asked to bless any same-sex unions? � If your church has done so, what has been the reaction? � If your church hasn’t been asked, has your vestry and congregation

discussed the issue in anticipation of such a request?Bingham said the gathering also will discuss ways churches can reach

out to the gay and lesbian community so they know what the Episcopal Church has to offer them as members.

“Like all evangelism efforts,” he said, “we cannot sit back and wait for potential members to walk through our doors.”

Bingham said that since Christian churches over the centuries have been a primary institution passing negative judgment on gay and lesbian people, “it is going to take a special effort and a lot of radical hospitality to convince them that we really mean it this time.”

Noting that the Episcopal Church has been discussing the role of gay and lesbian people since 1976, Bingham said that simply passing a resolu-tion doesn’t guarantee an inclusive church. “That can only happen with actions by our bishops, congregational leaders and individual members.” v

Kansas, West Mo. bishops to discuss an inclusive church

Diocesan Convention set for Oct. 25-26 in Topeka

The keynote speak-er for this year’s Di-ocesan Convention will be Bishop Stacy Sauls, chief operating officer at the Episco-pal Church Center in New York. He previ-ously had served as bishop of the Diocese of Lexington.

Convention will take place Oct. 25-26 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Topeka.

The theme for this year’s Dioc-esan Convention is “Frontiers of Faith,” calling to mind the diocese’s frontier past as well as new frontiers that await faith communities in the 21st century.

Deadlines are Aug. 15Aug. 15 has been set as the

deadline to submit a variety of items for action at this year’s Diocesan Convention, Oct. 25-26 in Topeka.

NominationsElections will fill several offices,

including deputies to General Con-vention and members of the Council of Trustees:

� Four clergy and four lay deputies to General Conven-tion and Provincial Synod

� Four clergy and four lay alternate deputies to General

Convention and Pro-vincial Synod

� One clergy and one lay at-large mem-ber of the Council of Trustees

� One clergy at-large member of the Council of Trustees, unexpired term (1 year)

N o m i n a t i o n s should be sent to Nominations chair Ashley Petty, 654 South Poplar, Wichita, KS 67211.

A required form for use by all nominees is on the convention page of the diocesan website, www.episcopal-ks.org.

Convention also will ratify lay members of the Council of Trustees who will be elected by convocations at their September meetings.

Debatable resolutionsAny proposed debatable reso-

lutions should be sent before the deadline to Resolutions chair the Rev. Jan Chubb, 1329 Grand Ave., Parsons KS 67357-4256.

Amendments to canons or constitution

Any proposed changes to the diocesan constitution or canons should be directed to the chair of the Constitution and Canons com-mittee, Frank Taylor, P.O. Box 550, Olathe, KS 66051. v

Bishop Stacy Sauls

Volunteers from St. paul’s, Clay Center, move produce from large bags into boxes of food that they distribute to anyone who stops by a local parking lot during a monthly food distribution.


Food pantries and parish-based food ministries across the diocese are seeing an increase in demand for food, most of it coming from people organizers classify as the working poor.

While that designation of-ficially means someone who is employed but falls below the official poverty line ($11,490 for an individual or $23,550 for a family of four), many seeking aid may make more money than that but still struggle to make ends meet.

Part-time workersRoss Warnell, manager of

the food pantry at St. Paul’s, Kansas City, said the diocese’s largest pantry sees a growing number of people who are working part-time or seasonal jobs. Many tell him they are looking for steadier work but can’t find anything.

“There are lots of reasons for that,” Warnell said. “Many are poorly educated, and there are fewer jobs available for these people.”

Barry Molineux, of the Trin-ity Interfaith Food Pantry in Lawrence, said the largest group that comes seeking aid is “families who are employed but need to extend their food dollars.” The Trinity pantry has seen significant increases in requests for help in January and April, but other months have remained steady, he said.

Both Warnell and Molineux say they hear reports of hungry children at home during the summer, when school lunches aren’t available. Warnell said he sees a “bump in numbers with kids out of school.”

Molineux noted that seven locations in Lawrence serve free breakfasts and lunches to school children during June and July.

Helping kids eatSt. Paul’s, Clay Center, for

six years has provided a free lunch to any child in town who wants to eat, and this summer they have expanded to two loca-tions. Both are in parks where young people spend summer hours.

Donna Long said the church, which has a membership of about 90, this summer is feed-ing free, healthy lunches to about 60 to 80 children a day, Monday through Friday from June 3 through July 26. The church prepares all the food.

Because it is an approved U.S. Department of Agriculture lunch site, the church receives a modest reimbursement per child for food costs. Grants and donations cover the rest.

In addition, St. Paul’s over-sees another food program for the town of 4,500 people.

Harvesters, the large food bank in Kansas City, once a

month delivers about 10,000 pounds of fresh food to the parking lot of a local retail store. St. Paul’s members then place it into bags and hand it to people as they drive through the parking lot.

They are serving about 760 people a month through this program.

Hunger in KansasFeeding America, a network

of regional food banks of which Harvesters is a part, has com-piled a Map the Meal Gap, a n online map of the United States color-coded to show areas of hunger insecurity.

It notes that 16.4 percent of all Americans are eligible for some kind of food assistance program.

In Kansas, that number is 15.1 percent, but it jumps to 22.6 percent of all Kansas

a woman looks through boxes of cereal as a volunteer helps her shop at the food pantry at St. paul’s, Kansas City.

photo By RoSS WaRnELL

photo By mEL GRiGGS

children, higher than the U.S. average.

The Map the Meal Gap lists the five counties with the high-est levels of food insecurity for both the overall population and for children.

All of the Kansas counties listed, whether for children or the overall population, are within the Diocese of Kansas.

Wyandotte County, home to Kansas City, is on both lists, and both show significant food issues in parts of southeast Kansas.

The map shows that 51 per-cent of food-insecure Kansans earn too much money to qualify for federal nutrition programs and instead must rely on chari-ties for help.

While overall food insecu-rity is concentrated in eastern Kansas, children at the highest risk of hunger are spread across the state. v


New space offers room for enhanced ministries

young members help rector the Rev. Gar demo (right) use a Star Wars-style light saber to cut the ribbon opening the new parish hall at St. thomas, overland park, as Bishop dean Wolfe (left) looks on.

the event took place on pentecost, may 19.the parish’s building project began in July 2012 and included the

new 5,000-square-foot parish hall, as well as a new 800-square-foot sacristy, a remodeled kitchen and narthex, and an enlarged parking lot. a new exterior entrance with landscaping tied the new and old parts of the building together.

according to the rector, the Rev. Gar demo, the old parish hall could only seat 50, leaving no space for parish dinners or wedding and funeral receptions. the parking lot also was inadequate, resulting in unsafe conditions as people dodged cars on their way into church.

in 2011 the congregation undertook a capital campaign and pledged $1.55 million toward the project, which had a final cost of about $2.5 million.

demo said since the new space opened, there have been several large funerals and weddings, “as well as a renewed sense of ministry.” he notes that in 2012 the average Sunday attendance was 267, and in 2013 it has risen to 312. “We are seeing many new households join each week,” he said.

he said the new space opens the possibility for a training program for adults with disabilities, before- and after-school arts programs, more feeding ministries and enhanced adult formation activities. v

50 people offer ministry through Kansas to Kenya

three members of the college team (from left, Emily huff, student at K-State, Caitlin Gilliland at K.u. and Charmetra Walker at Emporia State) help move large stones that became part of the privacy wall around agatha’s house, a safe house for abused women in the region of Naivasha, Kenya. It is believed to be the first such safe house in the country.

photo By patRiCK FunSton

Fifty people in three teams traveled to Kenya this summer to engage in a variety of ministry needs in conjunction with the diocese’s Kansas to Kenya (K2K) ministry.

Some ongoing projects in the region around Maai Mahiu received enhance-ments, and patients in that area were seen by the health care professionals who made up the medical team.

Safe house and new libraryTwo highlights of this summer’s work

were construction of Agatha’s House, a safe house for abused women that is believed to be the first of its kind in the entire country, and the dedication of the Osborne Library, which opened last November.

A team of college students and adults helped complete interior and exterior work, landscaping and a garden at the safe house, which is located Naivasha. They even helped haul nine tons of large stones that were used for a privacy fence surrounding the property.

Members of the community team

developed rain water and drip irrigation systems for the garden.

The house is the brainchild of Nyakio Kaniu-Lake, a native of Kenya, where

violence against women only recently has been recognized as an issue, she said. “Women who are abused and endure vio-lence have nowhere to go,” she said, but

Agatha’s House will help change that.Bishop Dean Wolfe made his third

trip to Kenya and while there dedicated the Osborne Library, located in Maai Mahiu. The library, which opened last November, was given in memory of his parents by John and Renee Osborne,

formerly of St. James’, Wichita, who now live in Florida.

The library is filled not with books but with 37 e-readers, electronic devices like a Kindle that allow cheaper and easier distri-bution of greater numbers of books to the 1,200 students the facility serves.

Members of the college team helped participate in educational programming at the library, aided by college-aged students from the Anglican Church of Kenya.

A medical team, made up of nurses, doc-tors, dentists, pharmacists, and pre-med and pre-dental college students, treated patients in Maai Mahiu as well as in the nearby re-gion of the Maasai tribe. They also handed out medications and used eye glasses.

The community team undertook a number of development projects, includ-ing nutrition and health instruction, student achievement enhancements, construction of food dehydrators to preserve garden produce, introduction of the Alcoholics Anonymous concept, and construction of two houses for members of All Saints Anglican Church in Maai Mahiu.

They also added a drip irrigation system to the garden at the house of a priest at All Saints Church..

Deacon Steve Segebrecht, Trinity, Law-rence, is the director of K2K.


Bishop dean Wolfe watches as a student demonstrates use of an e-reader at the osborne Library in maai mahiu. Bishop Wolfe dedicated the library during his trip to Kenya in June.

photo By BoB BaSoW

photo By SCott Gunn

an interpreter (center) translates for a patient receiving an examination and a doctor who was in Kenya through the Kansas to Kenya ministry.

SuBmittEd photo


Around the diocese � St. John’s, Abilene invited members

of the community into the church for “Red Door Sunday” on Pentecost, to find out what the church is like behind its doors. Members provided a variety of red foods for coffee hour.

� Trinity, Arkansas City hosted the joint Vestry meeting with Grace, Winfield on June 5.

� Trinity, Atchison has a newly repaved parking lot to welcome worshippers. Do-nations were being sought to help defray the cost.

� St. Mark’s, Blue Rapids joined with other community churches to provide a Vacation Bible School in June. The parish donated money toward the purchase of ma-terials, and members helped furnished food items and paper goods that were needed during the week.

� St. Paul’s, Clay Center was one of the sites on this year’s Clay Center Garden Tour. The meditation garden is located next door to the church and is open to the public.

� St. Andrew’s, Derby asked members with any musical talent to help provide of-fertory anthems during the summer months, when the choir is on vacation.

� St. Martin’s, Edwardsville member Al-versa Milan has published a book, Raising Children is as Easy as 1, 2, 3. It’s available for purchase via Amazon.

� Trinity, El Dorado is collecting a variety of household items to help equip apartments for refugee families that soon will be relocating to Wichita through the Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry.

� St. Andrew’s, Emporia benefited from

the work of parishioner Andrew Leigh Bul-lard, who digitized more than 600 photos of parish activities into a database. Bullard accomplished the project as part of his requirements for graduation in May with a Master’s in Library Science.

� Epiphany, Independence priest the Rev. Kathi Babcock now offers a Bible study on “Women of the Old Testament” on Thursdays during the summer months.

� Covenant, Junction City has a parish garden this summer, thanks to the efforts of parishioner Julia Adams. A variety of produce, from tomatoes to watermelons, will be donated to the local Open Door agency; members were encouraged to help themselves, too.

� St. Paul’s, Kansas City has restarted a youth group, which members have named “The Workshop of Souls.” Youth leaders aim to get teens who have attended church recently involved, with plans to start a par-ish soccer team.

� St. Margaret’s, Lawrence served as the host location for Family Promise, a program that provides overnight shelter for homeless people and families. The church opened its doors June 9-15, and members filled a variety of volunteer roles.

� Trinity, Lawrence has two canine mem-bers that attend church regularly. Hepa, who is in training to become a service dog, joins John Broholm. Joey, a Pekinese, is a registered therapy dog who accompanies Annalise Lawrence.

� St. Paul’s, Leavenworth awarded a col-lege scholarship to Peter Gardner, a long-time parish member and senior acolyte. He will use the award when he attends Kansas State University.

� St. Paul’s, Manhattan isn’t taking the summer off, with men’s and women’s groups offering several fellowship activi-ties. Men were invited to gather for break-fast once a month in June, July and August, and the Episcopal Church Women’s “Lunch with Friends” potluck was schedule for June and July.

� St. Paul’s, Marysville members volun-teered their time in March at the Marshall County Food Pantry, with duties ranging from transporting donated goods to stock-ing shelves to assisting clients at the distri-bution center.

� St. Michael’s, Mission welcomed the Rev. Scott Gunn, executive director of Forward Movement, for the Bigger Bible Study July 22-25. Classes for adults also included stories of transformation from parish members, as well as the history of Operation Breakthrough from Sister Berta Sailer.

� Ascension, Neodesha marked its patro-nal festival with an Ascension Day service May 9 at the church, featuring the Rev. An-toinette Tackett from St. Paul’s, Coffeyville. A supper followed the service.

� St. Matthew’s, Newton Vestry solicited input from members about small groups they’d like to see started, as they seek to expand the small group ministry already in place.

� St. Aidan’s, Olathe added the singing stylings of The Sensations to its June 15

gathering of the Holy Smokers. Burgers and hot dogs were grilled up following the Saturday 5 p.m. service.

� Grace, Ottawa Vestry announced that plans are underway to build a new gathering room, containing a restroom and a small kitchen, on the west side of the church building.

� St. Thomas, Overland Park took a special springtime collection for the Kansas City diaper bank, HappyBottoms. Parish members were asked to bring a variety of disposable diapers to help supply people in need.

� St. John’s, Parsons has asked members to consider becoming a “Prayer Warrior,” who will gather each week to pray for how the church should proceed with an evange-lism program.

� St. Peter’s, Pittsburg is continuing to study how to replace the sound system in the church, including amplification devices for hearing-impaired members.

� St. Luke’s, Shawnee has begun an in-formal worship service on Saturdays at 5 p.m. A discussion on how to read the Bible is included.

� Grace Cathedral, Topeka asked mem-bers to bring their cell phone to church on Pentecost, with the request that they post photos to a variety of social media to let friends know what worship at the cathedral is like.

� St. David’s, Topeka raised more than

$8,300 for the American Cancer Society as the church’s team, St. David’s Crusaders, participated in the ACS Relay for Life walk at a local high school May 31-June 1.

� St. Luke’s, Wamego offers a weekly Tuesday morning Bible study that follows an hour of quilting and crafts. Both take place in the Guild Hall.

� Good Shepherd, Wichita has under-taken a “Shepherd’s Project,” designed to improve the church building, including painting the church interior, replacing nave carpeting, refinishing concrete floors, up-grading the sound system and installing a new outdoor sign with LED-lighting.

� St. Bartholomew’s, Wichita celebrated the parish’s 50th anniversary June 8 with a potluck supper, bingo and cake.

� St. James’, Wichita offered an evening of fellowship June 23 with a Hymn Sing in the nave, featuring selections suggested by members, followed by an ice cream social.

� St. John’s, Wichita member Max John-ston visited monuments and memorials in Washington. D.C. thanks to the Honor Flight program. Johnston is a veteran of World War II, and Honor Flight organizes trips for veterans to see historic sites in the nation’s capital.

� Grace, Winfield member Michelle Stout-Zakharov organized an evening of music June 29 to honor longtime Winfield High School choral director Betty Mullett. It included a choir of former students, some from as far away as Thailand. v

Artist crafts statue for Derby church

SuBmittEd photo

Wichita artist denise irwin has created a statue for St. andrew’s, derby, of its patron saint. the depiction of one of Jesus’ apostles includes the X-shaped cross on which legend says Andrew was crucified.

The statue is made of fired clay finished with stains and waxes. it will be displayed in the church sanctuary.

irwin, who is an Education for ministry student at the parish, serves on the boards of a number of local arts institutions and calls herself an “arts activist.” She also is the marketing coordinator for KmuW-Fm, Wichita’s public radio station. v

Cathedral Fourth service draws a big crowdSuBmittEd photo

Boy Scouts carry the American flag into Grace Cathedral, Topeka, for the church’s annual independence day service. the communitywide celebration this year drew more than 760 people, including a volunteer choir of 110 drawn from throughout the topeka area.

the service featured prayers and readings, as well as patriotic music. this year’s speaker was topeka attorney pedro irigonegaray. v


People

Clergy newsThe Rev. Shawn Streepy has accepted a call to become priest in

charge at St. Aidan’s, Olathe, beginning Aug. 1. He has been an assist-ing priest at St. Luke’s, Shawnee.

The Rev. Laurie Lewis has accepted a call to become priest in charge at Trinity, Arkansas City, and Grace, Winfield, beginning Sept. 1. She most recently has been assistant priest at St. Stephen’s, Wichita.

The Rev. Lavonne Seifert will become the priest in charge at St. Paul’s, Clay Center, beginning Oct. 15.

The Rev. David Cox is the new assistant rector at St. Michael and All Angels, Mission, beginning June 2. He previously taught at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo.

The Rev. Steve Mues, rector of St. Stephen’s, Wichita, since 2005, has announced his retirement, effective Sept. 30.

The Rev. Susan Sawyer, the current rector of St. Paul’s, Clay Center, will retire in late September or early October. A celebration honoring her ministry in Clay Center is set for Oct. 18.

The Rev. Jim Cook, who has been rector of St. Luke’s, Shawnee, for the past 18 years, accepted a call to become rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Stillwater, Okla., beginning Aug. 1.

Bishop Dean Wolfe has made the following parish assignments for four deacons: Sandy Horton-Smith to St. Paul’s, Manhattan; Rex Matney to Church of the Covenant, Junction City; Beth Drumm to St. Michael and All Angels, Mission; and Peggy Flynn to St. James’, Wichita.

Condolences go to the Rev. David Jenkins, priest in charge at Covenant, Junction City, on the death of his mother, Polly, on July 4. v

Lawrence deacon receives national award for service

Deacon Steve Segebrecht, Trinity, Lawrence, was announced as a recipient of the Stephen Award by the Association of Epis-copal Deacons in recognition of his leadership and work on behalf of the diocese’s Kansas to Kenya ministry, for which he serves as executive director.

This year’s awards were pre-sented on June 14 during the meet-ing in Williamsburg, Va.

Because Segebrecht was in Kenya on a mission trip at that time, his award was accepted on his behalf by Archdeacon Charles Pearce.

The award, named for St. Ste-phen, the first deacon, is given by the association to recognize those who particularly exemplify the

charges given to deacons in their ordination to “follow Jesus” and to“show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serv-

ing Christ himself.”In all, 26 deacons were recog-

nized at this year’s convention.This is the third time a Diocese

of Kansas deacon has received this award since it was first presented in 1995. Others were Deacon Bob Parker in 1995 and Archdeacon Jim Upton in 2005. Both are now deceased.

Dioceses nominate deacons for the award. The association grants them once every three years at the group’s convention.

According to statistics kept by the association, there are 2,955 deacons serving in dioceses of the Episcopal Church.

The Diocese of Kansas has 46 deacons, some of whom have retired from active service. v

deacon Steve Segebrecht

Iola priest named ERD coordinator for diocese

The Rev. Jan Chubb, vicar of St. Timothy’s, Iola, has been named by Bishop Dean Wolfe as the Di-ocese of Kansas coordinator for Episcopal Relief and Development.

ERD is an in-ternational relief and development agency and a response to hu-man suffering on behalf of the Episcopal Church.

In naming Chubb to the post, Bishop Wolfe said, “Jan is an extraordinary priest and deeply committed to caring for those in need. She has done exemplary work in our diocese in collecting

resources to assist Hurricane Sandy victims.”

The ro le o f ERD diocesan co-ordinator is one of education and encouragement, according to infor-mation provided by the agency.

They are to make sure that in-

formation about the agency is shared throughout the diocese and to encourage others to be-come involved in “a network of caring individuals” through contributions, and establishing parish representatives to help share information and raise awareness of what ERD does. v

the Rev. Jan Chubb

Youth intern has a busy summerAnnie Unruh is

finding that running youth events is a lot harder than attend-ing them.

The soon-to-be college junior, a member of St. Mi-chael and All An-gels in Mission, is serving as an intern in the diocesan youth office this summer.

Unruh said learning the ropes of what it takes to run a youth program has been “a really eye-opening experience.” She said she’s attended lots of youth events (including 12 years of church camp), but that “staffing an event and attending it are very different experiences. You get different things out of it.”

Unruh served as a family leader

and staff person at the junior high section of MegaCamp and helped with the annual MissionPalooza sum-mer urban ministry experience in Kansas City.

Karen Schlabach, diocesan youth mis-sioner, said Unruh also

is putting to good use her graphic design major at California’s Chap-man University.

She has redesigned the camp staff manual, created of a volun-teer manual for MissionPalooza, designed postcards to notify stu-dents about upcoming events, and designed the T-shirt and flyer for Fall Fun Fest.

The diocese has sponsored 13 summer youth interns since 2005.


annie unruh

Campus interns ready for new school year at K.U. and K-State


There will be one new and one familiar face among the campus interns serving

for the 2013-2014 school year.New intern Caroline Howard

will be living at St. Anselm Can-terbury House at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Returning for a second year is Taylor Mather, who is in residence at St. Francis Canterbury House at Kansas State University in Manhattan.

Howard is a native of Pittsburg, where she has been a lifelong member of St. Peter’s. She gradu-ated from K.U. in the spring with a degree in textile design.

While at K.U. she had served as a campus peer minister. She was named a Postulant for Holy Orders in May.

Howard said she is looking forward to working with the new and returning peer ministers who will be living in the house this fall. She also looks forward to forging new bonds among Episcopalians in the city.

She said, “I think the main goal

of my internship this coming year will be to really encourage interac-tion between the ministry at the house and our local parishes.”

She said she also hopes to re-sume a monthly Eucharist at the house, led by area clergy.

Taylor is a native of Mose Lake, Wash., and a graduate of Washington State University. He served as campus intern at K-State last year and also was one of the leaders of college team that worked in Kenya this summer.

Both interns will serve as men-tors to the undergraduate peer ministers and will help oversee their work. They also will work with peer ministers on other cam-puses across the diocese.

They will help organize events specifically for students on the campuses where they work and will help create service projects for peer ministers and other stu-dents on campus.

This is the seventh year the Diocese of Kansas has hired graduate campus interns. They are paid a modest stipend for the academic year and are provided housing at the Canterbury house on their campus. v

taylor mather, K-State campus intern

Caroline howard, K.u. campus intern

Ordinations set for Aug. 24 in TopekaTwo people will be ordained in a diocesanwide

service set for Saturday, Aug. 24 at 10:30 a.m. at Grace Cathedral in Topeka.

The Rev. Lavonne Seifert, who was made a transitional deacon in January, will be ordained to the priesthood.

She recently was named priest in charge of St. Paul’s, Clay Center, beginning Oct. 15.

Originally from St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, she has been serving an internship at St. Aidan’s, Olathe.

She holds a degree from the Episcopal Theologi-cal School in Cambridge, Mass., and also has been

attending the Kansas School for Ministry.J. Ted Blakley, a member of Good Shepherd,

Wichita, will be ordained a transitional deacon. Blakley holds a doctorate in New Testament from the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland.

He also has been a student at the Kansas School for Ministry.

He recently was named part-time curate at St. John’s, Wichita, beginning Sept. 1.

All clergy who attend the service are invited to walk in procession, with red stoles.

A reception to honor the newly ordained will take place after the service. v


National and international newsAnglican news briefsEpiscopal News Service and Anglican Communion News Service

�Two Illinois dioceses vote to reunite. Members of the dio-ceses of Chicago and Quincy unanimously agreed June 8 to re-unify, something that no other dioceses have done in the Episcopal Church for 70 years. The reunified diocese, to be known as the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, will include the 125 congregations and chaplaincies and more than 36,000 members of the existing Diocese of Chicago in northern Illinois, and the nine Quincy con-gregations and 755 members in west central Illinois. In November 2008, about 60 percent of the members of several congregations in the Diocese of Quincy left the diocese and the Episcopal Church to join the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. The only other time an Episcopal Church diocese has reunited with its “parent” diocese occurred in 1943 when the then-Diocese of Duluth re-joined the Diocese of Minnesota.

�Massachusetts bishop undergoes treatment for brain cancer. Bishop Thomas Shaw, SSJE, bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, is undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for brain cancer. The diagnosis came on May 24, just a few days after he underwent surgery to remove a mass on his brain that had been discovered through tests only a day before. In January he had called for the election of a bishop coadjutor, noting he has been bishop of the diocese for 19 years. The election is scheduled for April 5, 2014.

�Canadian church votes to restructure committees. On July 4 the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada voted to abolish all but two of the national church’s standing committees, as part of proposed changes to its governance structures. The pension committee and the financial management committee will remain as standing committees. The change also creates five co-ordinating committees, with membership limited to five people, down from the previous seven to 12.

�Sudanese primate calls for unity. The Primate of the Epis-copal Church of Sudan has called on the people of South Sudan to be “united in order to achieve lasting national healing, peace and reconciliation.” The Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul made the call in a strategic paper developed by his office to help guide the peace process. Archbishop Deng was appointed chairperson of the national Reconciliation Committee by the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, in April this year to facilitate the “healing the mental wounds” in the country. Archbishop Deng acknowledged that South Sudan’s long track record of successive initiatives, combined with deep and fresh emotional wounds from the civil war, suggests that the road to national healing, peace and recon-ciliation will be difficult.

�New primate for Papua New Guinea. Bishop Clyde Igara from Dogura Diocese was elected as the new Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea in June. He takes over from Archbishop Joe Kopapa, who retired late last year.

�Irish ordinand runs equivalent of 52 marathons. Church of Ireland ordinand Alastair Donaldson has begun his epic challenge to run the equivalent of 52 marathons in eight-and-a-half weeks, spreading the Gospel as he goes. Donaldson’s 1,298 mile journey will take him on a lap of the island of Ireland. He has taken part in five marathons over the last seven years, but his summer challenge will see him run an average of 26 miles a day, six days a week, for eight-and-a-half weeks. He will be supported by other runners at various stages on the route and is inviting local runners to join him along the way. The 31-year-old just finished his first year at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.

�Rhode Island church serves neighboring students. St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Kingston, R.I., has been busy caring for their next-door neighbors, students of the University of Rhode Island. In early March, students and parishioners gathered to assemble 35 boxes of food to support needy students with a week’s worth of meals. The church also has been holding monthly “feed a friend” dinners, where parishioners cook students their favorite meal, and they handed out hot cross buns at the end of Lent. During exams, St. Augustine’s handed out Smarties to go. The stressed students especially appreciated the attached prayer card. v

photo By dioCESE oF WEStERn nEW yoRK

Western New York church responds to vandalism with graceThe Episcopal Diocese of Western New York

Residents of Randolph, N.Y., awoke May 20 to a villagewide rash of vandalism. Buildings had been spray painted with graffiti — some malicious and some an apparent cry for help.

Across the side of Grace Epis-copal Church was painted a ques-tion of the second type: “Can I still get to heaven if I kill myself?”

As the Cattaraugus Sheriff’s Department spent the day investi-gating, the Rev. Tom Broad, Grace Church’s priest, pondered what

the church’s immediate response might be. His idea was an uncon-ventional one.

After conferring with two of the church’s lay leaders, he bor-rowed a can of spray paint from a neighbor and added the church’s reply: “God loves you with no exceptions!”

The question is a very real one in this town that has had its share of teen suicides.

According to the CDC’s Na-tional Youth Risk Behavior Sur-veillance Survey (YRBS) 2011 survey, 19.3 percent of female respondents and 12.5 percent

of male respondents seriously considered attempting suicide in the 12-month period preceding the survey.

The YRBS monitors priority health risk behaviors that contrib-ute to the leading causes of death, disability and social problems among youth and adults in the United States.

The national YRBS is con-ducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade students in public and private schools throughout the United States. v

Contributions from diocese for tornado relief top $13,000

Financial contributions from parishes across the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas have provided $13,363.42 to help victims of recent tornadoes in Oklahoma.

On May 21, following the twisters that ravaged the area around Oklahoma City, Bishop Dean Wolfe called on each congregation in the diocese to take up a special collection for the tornado relief fund established by Episcopal Relief and Development.

In his letter asking for help, Bishop Wolfe said that Kansans are no stranger to the force of these storms. “We all have been watching the pictures of devasta-

tion coming to us from our neighbors in Oklahoma,” he wrote. “We who live where the cool, dry air from the west meets the warm, moist air from the south know the destructive results of powerful tornados in a populated area.”

Episcopal Relief and Development is an interna-tional relief and development agency and a compas-sionate response to human suffering on behalf of the Episcopal Church. It works to heal a hurting world and is guided by the principles of compassion, dig-nity and generosity.


Anglican archbishops pledge ‘committed solidarity’ with Christians in EgyptLambeth Palace

The archbishops of Canterbury and York have joined the call for prayers for unity, reconciliation and an end to violence in Egypt.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Arch-bishop of York John Sentamu wrote to the Coptic and Anglican leaders in Egypt on July 11 pledging their “committed solidarity” amid the recent turmoil in the country.

The two men are the top prelates in the Church of England.

Writing to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and to the Most Rev. Mouneer Anis, the president bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the arch-bishops said they had been “very mindful of recent

developments taking place in Egypt” as they presided over the Church of England’s General Synod in York in early July.

They added they were “very grateful” for the pres-ence at synod of Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, who attended as an ecumenical observer and spoke powerfully of the present situation in Egypt and his hopes for reconciliation.

The archbishops wrote, “As presidents of the General Synod, we are sending this message of com-mitted solidarity with you at this time. We join in the call to pray for Egypt for unity and reconciliation and the ending to all violence, praying that all parties may be able to work together for a common future.”

They added: “May the Lord grant you grace and strength in this ministry of reconciliation.” v


Mississippi church forms canned-food labyrinth

photo By Shannon manninG

Parishioners at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Jackson, Miss., created a unique labyrinth out of canned goods to benefit Stewpot’s Food Pantry. The event took place during the church’s annual spring picnic.

Members donated more than 1,700 cans of food and then used them to create a seven-circuit labyrinth. Cans of beans, mandarin oranges, car-rots, tuna, peanut butter and tomatoes lined the path to the center of the labyrinth and out again.

Both adults and children walked the winding food-lined path of abundance to the center. A small table with an empty white bowl at the labyrinth’s center served as a reminder that there are many empty bowls and stomachs in the community and state.

Two groups at St. James’, the Sparking Our Spirit Task Force and the Friends of the Labyrinth Committee, partnered to offer this experience to the parish.

Sparking Our Spirits is a task force charged with sparking enthusiasm and nurturing commu-nity through spiritual growth that leads to ministry. The Friends of the Labyrinth sponsor regular contemplative labyrinth walks using the church’s new canvas labyrinth.

— Carolyn Ray for Episcopal News Service v

By Matthew DaviesEpiscopal news Service

The Church of England’s General Synod resumed the debate on women bishops, calling for the cre-ation of a steering committee that would prepare draft legislation in time for synod’s next meeting in November.

A motion passed July 8 also asks that a draft Act of Synod, or draft declaration, making provisions for those who as a matter of theologi-cal conviction are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops, be prepared for syn-od’s February 2014 meeting. The motion passed with 319 voting in favor, 84 against and 22 abstentions.

The July 6-9 sessions in York were the first time synod had met since last November, when previous legislation to enable women to become bishops narrowly failed to secure the required majority of votes in all three houses (laity, clergy and bishops), despite a 73 percent majority overall. The legislation failed in the House of Laity by six votes.

‘Matter of urgency’The July 8 legislation, which was drafted by the

House of Bishops during its May meeting, reaffirmed its commitment to admitting women to the episcopate “as a matter of urgency.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby reminded the synod that “this is not about whether but about how. ... The approach before us is a radical way forward ... provides the possibility of building trust, creates space for imagination,” and commits “to or-daining women on exactly the same basis as men and both flourishing together in all parts of the church.”

The Church of England opened the priesthood to women in November 1992, five years after women first were ordained to the diaconate. More than 5,000 women have been ordained as priests in England since 1994 and today they represent nearly 40 percent of all clergy.

In July 2005, the General Synod began its steady course toward allowing them to become bishops

when it passed a motion to remove the legal obstacles to ordaining women as bishops.

Long path toward women’s ordinationThe long path toward accepting women’s ordained

ministry in the Anglican Communion began in 1920 when the Lambeth Conference called (via Resolu-

tions 47-52) for the diaconate of women to be restored “formally and canonically,” adding that it should be recognized throughout the communion.

The first female priest in the communion, the Rev. Li Tim-Oi, was ordained in Hong Kong in 1944. Due to outside pressure, she resigned her license but not her holy orders, following World War II. In 1971, the Rev. Jane Hwang and the Rev. Joyce Bennett were ordained priests in the Diocese of Hong Kong, though their ministries were not recognized in many parts of the Anglican Communion.

In 1974, there was an “irregu-lar” ordination of 11 women in the U.S.-based Episcopal Church, which officially authorized wom-

en’s priestly ordination two years later.Bishop Barbara Harris, now retired, was elected

bishop suffragan of Massachusetts in 1988 and be-came the Anglican Communion’s first female bishop after her consecration and ordination in 1989.

The Rt. Rev. Penelope Jamieson made history in 1989 when she was elected bishop of the Diocese of Dunedin, New Zealand, and became the first woman to serve as a diocesan bishop in the Anglican Com-munion.

The Rt. Rev. Mary Adelia McLeod, who was or-dained a priest in 1980, was consecrated in 1993 as bishop of the Diocese of Vermont, becoming the first female diocesan bishop in the U.S.-based Episcopal Church. She retired in 2001.

The Rt. Rev. Canon Nerva Cot Aguilera became the first female Anglican bishop in Latin America when she was consecrated bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Church of Cuba in June 2007.

The Rev. Ellinah Ntombi Wamukoya on Nov. 17, 2012, was ordained as bishop of Swaziland and became the first female bishop in any of the 12 An-glican provinces in Africa. v

Church of England considers plans for women bishops

First Hmong priest in Anglican Communion ordained in MinnesotaBy Haddayr Copley-WoodsEpiscopal news Service

Toua Vang was ordained June 27 by Diocese of Minne-sota Bishop Brian N. Prior as an Episcopal priest.

Vang, a member of the Hmong-majority Holy Apos-tles Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minn., is not only the first Hmong Episcopal priest but also the first Hmong priest in the entire Anglican Communion.

The Rev. Winfred Vergara, Episcopal Church missioner for Asiamerican Ministries, believes the significance of this ordina-tion goes beyond simple demo-graphics. “It demonstrates that the Episcopal Church welcomes all people,” says Vergara. “The Hmong, Nepalese, Cambodians and the Laos in the United States are probably some of the most marginalized, underprivileged communities here.”

Inspired by a conversation with the Rev. Joseph Constant from Virginia Theological Semi-nary about racial minorities in the church, Vang went through a self-awakening.

After much reflection and prayer following the visit with Constant, Vang felt that the Holy Spirit wanted him to think about his life.

Hardship of seminaryFor a Hmong man with a fam-

ily of four children to support, going to seminary was an enor-mous risk and hardship, explains the Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard, the vicar of Holy Apostles and Vang’s sponsoring priest.

“This is a really important part of the story of this group of Hmong coming to the church,” she says. “In the 55 years since

they were first introduced by French Catholic missionaries to Christianity, only a few Hmong ever pursued the priesthood because being married with children is so important — it’s as if not doing that would be giving up a part of your human-ity. Family is so deeply a part of the Hmong culture ... family is so critical, and to give up having children and being married — it was almost unthinkable.”

Leaving the c lose-kni t Hmong community in St. Paul, even temporarily, for Virgin-ia Theological Seminary was equally difficult to contemplate.

“The thought of leaving fami-lies, jobs and responsibilities is too hard [for most Hmong to imagine],” she says. “It was a huge sacrifice for Toua and his family to do this. There are some Hmong working in Washington, D.C., but otherwise there is no community out there.”

His home congregation, Holy Apostles, is as unique as he is: its transformation into the only Episcopal Hmong-majority church was an unusual conflu-ence of a Catholic Hmong com-munity needing a worship home, fortuitous friendships, and a lot of hard work on the part of Hmong elders and Episcopal Church leaders.

“It’s interesting [now] that Holy Apostles has been en-gaged in translating the Book of Common Prayer in the Hmong language,” says Vergara.

“I would commend them in being our spokespersons for the Hmong as part of the total people of God.”

Haddayr Copley-Woods is missioner for communications for the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. v

photo By KEith BLundy

archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby addresses the General Synod of the Church of England.

12 • The Harvest • May/June 2013Th

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Diocesan CalendarSharing the Good News

Reflections on faith and life

September 20136 youth peer ministry fall retreat, St. andrew’s, Emporia

(through Sept. 7)

7 Southeast Convocation meeting, St. John’s, parsons

Southwest Convocation meeting, trinity, El dorado

8 Bishop Wolfe at St. John’s, Wichita

10 Council of trustees meeting, Bethany place Conference Center, topeka

12 Bishops open Forum with Bishop dean Wolfe and West missouri Bishop martin Field, Grace and holy trinity Ca-thedral, Kansas City, mo.

14 northeast Convocation meeting, trinity, Lawrence

northwest Convocation meeting, Grace Cathedral, topeka

Bishop Kemper School for ministry classes, Bethany place Conference Center and Grace Cathedral (through Sept. 15)

15 Bishop Wolfe at trinity, Lawrence

17 Bishop Wolfe at house of Bishops meeting, nashville, tenn. (through Sept. 26)

21 youth Fall Fun Fest, St. margaret’s, Lawrence (through Sept. 22)

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For more news and information, as well as calendar listings, visit the diocesan website:

www.episcopal-ks.orgFollow the diocese on Facebook:

EpiscopaldioceseofKansasand twitter:

EpiscoKS

August 20132 Vocationers’ Retreat, Grace Cathedral and Bethany place

Conference Center, topeka (through aug. 3)

10 Bishop Kemper School for ministry classes, Bethany place Conference Center and Grace Cathedral (through aug. 11)

17 youth Commission meeting, St. andrew’s, Emporia

20 Council of trustees meeting, Bethany place Conference Center, topeka

24 ordinations to the priesthood and diaconate, Grace Ca-thedral, topeka

Spiritual homelessnessBy Laurie Gudim

Not too long ago I was reminded of the period in my early 20s when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I was a little slower than most, bottoming out of my first year of college because I had no idea what sort of career I wanted.

So I dropped out and went back to the town where I had gone to high school, a ski resort, lived by myself and worked as a motel maid and a custo-dian at the local Episcopal church.

There were drifters in those days — I don’t know if this is still true — who would make the circuit through Wyoming in the summer. They were homeless people who migrated with the seasons, taking odd jobs here and there to keep themselves in food, taking shelter where they could find it. The church in my town used to take them in, let them sleep and shower in the basement of the rectory.

I used to hang out with them on the wide church lawn on long summer evenings when none of us was working, and play gin rummy with them. They would tell stories. And, to paraphrase a song, they always had some mighty fine stories. Some were probably even true.

Rootless flexibilityThey were for the most part

likable and interesting, a diverse lot. One guy, Willie, played the banjo — blue grass — and he got gigs at one of the local bars. Another, Francis, was a house painter, and he helped me paint the parish hall.

He could take a regular four inch wide brush, dip it in paint, and create a beautiful straight edge just by moving that brush steadily along, clear and straight. I could never understand how he did it — he had the DTs, and his hands shook like anything. But when it came to painting, he was steady as a rock.

These people were homeless, rootless — not the sorts of folks a parent would want her 20 year old daughter hanging out with. But I have to say they taught me something important that helped me discern how I wanted to live my life.

They taught me that being rootless gives a person flexibility. They could pick up and go anywhere, and did, trusting in the wide world to take care of them. They daily tested the edges of possibility.

I don’t want to glorify this life style. It was excruciatingly hard, dangerous, painful and short. All I want to say is that it taught me something. It taught me the importance of holding my “stuff” — the possessions in my life: houses, cars, jobs, money, the identity that comes with having a certain career or living in a certain kind of house — loosely. They taught me a kind of spiritual homelessness.

God, not things, at the centerPutting a relationship with God at the center of

our lives means holding loosely to the things of this world. You cannot serve two masters, Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospels.

You cannot love the stuff of your life and God also. You have to let go of the house, the insur-

ance, the esteem, the position, the things that keep you bound, inflexible and unable to serve God, in order to follow God.

God has a dream for each one of us. God wants us to put the particular talents and skills with which we were born to work for the good of the world. Building our relationship with God and learning to follow where God leads is a journey of a lifetime. It takes learning prayer and discernment, learning to focus

on God, and God alone. And that takes clearing all other issues out of the way.

It is risky and foolish to follow the scruffy homeless man who is our Messiah. He takes us right out of the world, right away from our bond-age to things, to attitudes, to others’ expectations and demands of us.

Our relationship with God is the most important thing. Let us hold all other possessions loosely

Laurie Gudim is a religious iconographer and liturgical artist, a writer and lay preacher living in Fort Collins, Colo. This reflection first appeared in the “Speaking to the Soul” section of episcopal-cafe.org. Reprinted by permission. v

our relationship with God is the most

important thing. Let us hold all other

possessions loosely.

Documents

The Harvest, May-June 2013