Four congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Newark have found ways to feed those in need, through soup kitchens, food pantries and even community gardens located right on church grounds.
“What if we wore the white collar every day?”
That was the question posed by Joe Szczesny of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wantage to a gathering of some 100+ delegates and others at a workshop entitled “Bearing Witness: Ministry in the World” at the Robert Treat Hotel’s Crystal Room during the annual convention.
The plight of more than 400,000 migrant children in the U.S. who work to help their families survive while sacrificing the birthright of childhood – play, stability, school – was the focus of a Diocesan Convention workshop led by filmmaker Susan MacLaury on Jan. 29.
In 1874, the third bishop of the state of New Jersey, William Henry Odenheimer, divided the state into two dioceses along the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. During his episcopacy, the number of congregations had grown significantly, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to visit them all due to his failing health. Odenheimer chose to remain in the newly-created Diocese of Northern New Jersey (later renamed the Diocese of Newark), which had 55 congregations, as opposed to the Diocese of New Jersey, with 72.
Young girls sold as child brides, kidnapped for prostitution, or held as indentured servants. Adolescent males kidnapped for their organs, to work in mines, or as prostitutes. These were some of the stories of women and children victimized by modern human trafficking worldwide told by the Rev. Dr. Maylin Biggadike, featured speaker at the annual Women’s Commission breakfast held Jan. 30 at Diocesan Convention.
Alvin Valentine, an eloquent and boisterous man with dreadlocks cascading below his waist, had already demonstrated that he knew how to warm up an audience. He then proved that he knew how to focus their attention, by saying he had spent more than a third of his life in prison.
“I served eleven and a half years for armed robbery, burglary and assault,” he told the suddenly quiet room.
The Diocese of Newark highlighted its new mission statement and related initiatives and ministries on Jan. 29-30 at its 136th Annual Convention, meeting in its see city for the first time in more than two decades.
Diocesan Convention approved a balanced $2.5 million budget for 2010 and revisions to the budget reporting and budget processes, after a lively discussion at a budget hearing attended by more than 100 people, and a 30-minute debate on the convention floor.
The extended discussions reflected the diocese’s struggles to reconcile funding priorities with current economic realities. The budget projects a 9 percent reduction in pledge income, the diocese’s largest source of revenue.
Budget Review Resolution
Submitted by the Diocesan Budget and Finance Committee, 01/30/10
(Adopted with amended text, in italics)
A "Mission Minute" presentation on "Equipping Congregations," a branch of the Diocese of Newark's mission statement "Equipping congregations... Empowering people... Engaging the world... with the hope and justice of Jesus." Featuring Christophany, the Acolytes Festival, and the unification of Epiphany Allendale and Good Shepherd Midland Park.
