Clergy

[The Express-Times] For the fifth year in a row the Phillipsburg Ministerial Alliance, convened by the Rev. Thomas Mathews, rector of St. Luke's Church in Phillipsburg, celebrated National Day of Prayer on May 1.

“Darkness and danger – they’re not the only things that live here,” said the Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of the Diocese of Newark, after praying the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at 14 sites of violent crimes in Jersey City.

Jersey City’s three Episcopal congregations – St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Church of the Incarnation and Grace Church Van Vorst – organized the procession, which drew more than 80 participants. Worshipers included members of neighboring churches, city officials and local police, who spent nearly two hours walking, praying and singing together along the 2.25 mile route.

[Episcopal News Service – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] The Rev. Joseph Harmon, rector of Christ Church, East Orange, New Jersey, in the Diocese of Newark describes an effort to get state and local law enforcement agencies to discuss safe-gun technology with their firearm vendors. Harmon says that, after the U.S. military and other federal law-enforcement agencies, state and local police form the largest single group of gun buys in the United States and, thus, could be a strong advocacy voice.

[Episcopal News Service – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] Diocese of Newark Bishop Mark Beckwith discusses the growing epidemic of violence and how he and other Episcopal Church bishops have come together to form Bishops Against Gun Violence to begin to stem the tide.

Saturday, April 5 was a busy day in the Diocese of Newark, with educational events on Stewardship and Latino/Hispanic ministry drawing attendees from throughout the diocese.

On Good Friday, April 18, Bishop Mark Beckwith will participate in two public Stations of the Cross processions as four congregations “take the altar into the world” to focus attention on issues that challenge or enliven their communities.

At 9:30 a.m. the clergy and members of the three Jersey City congregations – St. Paul’s in Bergen, Church of the Incarnation and Grace Church Van Vorst – will start at the intersection of Clinton and Bergen Avenues and visit fourteen street corners that have been the sites of violent crimes. At 3 p.m. Christ Church in Bloomfield/Glen Ridge will hold a procession to locations in their two communities where they feel Christ is present, both in need and in hope.