Churches

Youth and chaperones from the St. James, Upper Montclair attended the National Acolyte Festival on Saturday, October 8 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, retired bishop of New Hampshire, preached and presided at the morning service of re-dedication and Holy Eucharist, which included a festive procession of acolytes, clergy, and vergers. Workshops were held in the afternoon.

[Bloomfield Life] Christ Episcopal Church, bordering Bloomfield and Glen Ridge, dedicated its renovated nursery school on Tuesday, Oct. 4, during an open house and ribbon cutting by Bill Seemen and Jane Bannon.

 The Right Rev. Mark Beckwith , bishop of the Diocese of Newark, blessed the spaces.

“YOU DON’T NEED A HOME TO VOTE!” was the slogan for Christ Church CDC’s initiative to encourage voter registration by the homeless guests at their Next Step drop in program in Hackensack.

Held in conjunction with National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, September 27, the event commenced with a presentation on the importance of voting and how to register by Bergen County Clerk John Hogan. Members of the CCCDC board, staff, interns and community partners distributed registration forms and answered questions. The event concluded with a voting booth demonstration.

[Glen Ridge Voice] It was a packed house in the auditorium at Christ Episcopal Church Thursday night in Glen Ridge and Bloomfield, as Glen Ridge's police department hosted a community forum for area residents and law enforcement.

A lot of the topics on the agenda had shown up frequently in the news across the country in the last few years: police-involved shootings, implicit racial or ethnic bias, and the need for better communications and relationships between citizens and law enforcement, especially in communities of color.

[Observer-Tribune] Syrian refugee families soon to arrive in New Jersey will benefit from clothing and kitchen ware donated by the thrift shop at the Church of the Messiah.

The church is providing assistance to families arriving under the auspices of Church World Service (CWS) In Jersey City. CWS was established by 17 Christian denominations after World War II with a mission to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, comfort the aged, and shelter the homeless, a statement said.

Newark Shared Ministries, an alliance of urban and suburban congregations and other partners, is launching its most ambitious effort to date: a program helping adults in Newark prepare to earn their high school equivalency diplomas.

“We’re looking at six to eight students to begin the program,” with the hope of expanding later, said Chris Whitaker, who has been hired as the startup manager for the effort. Whitaker also serves as youth minister at Christ Church Short Hills, one of the participating congregations.

The Parish Choir of Christ Church in Short Hills recently returned from a week-long trip to the United Kingdom, where they were choir-in-residence at Bristol Cathedral in the Cumbria section of England.

In addition to singing at Bristol Cathedral for six days, the Christ Church choir also sang Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral. Dr. Andrew Moore, who is also the Music Department Chair at the Pingry School, leads the choir.

Is there enough freshwater in the world for others to live as Americans do? What is life like for kids in a water-scarce place like Mozambique? What role can faith play in how we view water and our responsibility toward conserving it? These are a few of the topics explored at a week-long Water Science day camp sponsored in August by House of Prayer in Newark.

[Hudson Reporter] On the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the city will host its annual 9/11 Interfaith Memorial Service at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11 at Pier A Park.

According to Juan Melli, spokesman for the city of Hoboken, “The ceremony will include readings and reflections from clergy from various faiths, along with songs and a reading of the [57] names [of residents who died in the attacks].”