On this international day of giving, Giving Tuesday, I invite you to join me in supporting the Alleluia Fund for Outreach.
The week of July 25-30, 2016, Bishop Mark Beckwith and members of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark completed an ambitious, modern-day pilgrimage: they walked across the entire diocese from the Delaware River in Belvidere to the Hudson River in Hoboken, a journey of more than 80 miles.
During the six days of July 25-30, a number of people will join Bishop Beckwith in walking across our entire diocese, from the Delaware River that forms our western boundary with Pennsylvania to the Hudson River that forms our eastern boundary with New York – a journey totaling 80 miles. On this prayerful pilgrimage, the walkers will look for where God is at work in our communities and how we can join God in shaping the future of our diocese.
There are opportunities for all of us to participate directly or offer our support:
“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Every Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7:00 at Northern State Prison in Newark, the words of Matthew 25:36 are realized in the ministry of Episcopalian John Vine who for more than 15 years has lead a Bible study group for inmates at the facility. His ministry is a program of the Diocese of Newark’s Prison Ministry.
Active in Newark since 1991, Pathways to College is a national organization providing underserved students with the support they need to become the best high school students, college applicants, and college students they can be.
Marco is a typical, energetic nine-year-old from the suburbs of New Jersey. He has very definite opinions on the current crop of super heroes and he loves to play soccer. But unlike many kids his age, Marco’s favorite after school activity is, well, going back to school. Marco is one of 22 children enrolled in Success for All, an after school program hosted by St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morristown.
Through the Easter Season, the great festival stretching from the Easter Vigil through Pentecost, we in the Diocese of Newark celebrate Easter’s life-changing abundance. We are given fifty days – which, tellingly, is longer than Lent – to rejoice and experience what it means when we say Alleluia! Christ is risen!
If you are 70 ½ or older, you can make a charitable gift to the Alleluia Fund, your church, or other qualified charity from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) without recognizing the assets as income for tax purposes.
Last night, Diocesan Council ratified the Alleluia Fund grant board’s recommendation to award a total of $171,000 in grants to 38 programs.
The word “Advent” is from the Latin adventus which means coming. As we enter this season of anticipation and reflection, our ministry partners in the Episcopal Diocese of Newark are busy. Busy providing shelter to the homeless; busy serving 500 meals a day in just one town alone; busy providing a safe, loving environment for our seniors; busy teaching U.S. Citizenship and English language classes; busy fighting disease, promoting health, and responding to disasters – especially here in our seven counties in northern New Jersey but also internationally.
