Episcopal Diocese of Albany - Priests and Deacons Update

Business Office: 68 South Swan Street - Albany, NY 12210 - (518) 465-4737
Christ the King Spiritual Life Center: 575 Burton Road - Greenwich, NY 12834 - (518) 692-9550

March 16th, 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am writing to you from Camp Allen, where I am attending the House of Bishops’ Meeting. I arrived Wednesday afternoon in the midst of a raging lightening and thunderstorm. I pray that is not a sign of things to come in the days ahead. All day yesterday was spent in a special meeting dealing with Title IV Ecclesiastical Discipline – something I hope we will never need in the Diocese of Albany. The actual meeting of the House of Bishops gets underway later today (Friday). Three major items are scheduled to be discussed: 1) The Primates’ Communique from Tanzania; 2) The Anglican Covenant; 3) The Millennium Development Goals. While these items will be discussed, it is unlikely that any final decisions will be made in regard to the Episcopal Church’s response at this meeting.

Please keep me and all the bishops in your prayers. May our Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, speak to us and through us, guiding us in all that is said and done, that this meeting might be the beginning of the healing process in the Church and bring honor and glory to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Come Holy Spirit, come now and come with more power. Amen.

I would like to share with you the following scripture passage, which the Lord placed upon my heart the other night as Fr. Nigel and I were returning from the Lenten Healing Service in Malone. I invite each of us to pray that God’s word, as revealed below, will be fulfilled in each of our lives, our parishes, the Diocese and throughout the Church:

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will
forgive their sin and heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)

As John reminds us, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). As we continue in this season of Lent, may the Lord Jesus Christ reveal to each of us, those areas in our lives where we have fallen into sin, in order that we might repent of those sins and turn back to Him, seeking His face, receiving the fullness of His forgiveness and healing grace, and growing ever stronger in our faith and relationship with Him.

The last of the Deanery Lenten Healing Services took place this past Monday at St. Mark’s, Malone. We had a wonderful turnout for each of the four healing services. I want to thank each of the host parishes (Church of the Messiah, Glens Falls; The Cathedral of All Saints; St. James, Oneonta; and St. Mark’s, Malone), Fr. Nigel and the prayer teams, and all those who came out in support of the services. The Holy Spirit showed up in a mighty and powerful way at each of the services. The healing power of Jesus Christ is still just as real today as it was 2000 years ago. I invite any of you who experienced our Lord’s healing grace in a special way at one of these services to share it with others. We need to encourage one another in our faith.

Speaking of healing, we give thanks to God for bringing Fr. Ted Monica safely through his heart by-pass surgery yesterday. He had a four way by-pass at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. Please keep Fr. Ted and Teri in your prayers. We also give thanks for the continuing healing in Fr. Dan Moore. He is now home and doing much better. Please continue to keep Fr. Dan and Pat in your prayers as well as those countless others throughout the Diocese that are in need of God’s loving and healing grace.

We have three Chrism Mass services scheduled as follows:

Monday, April 2nd, 6 p.m. at The Cathedral of All Saints, Albany
Tuesday, April 3rd, 6 p.m. at St. James, Oneonta
Wednesday, April 4th, 12:00 noon, St. Thomas, Tupper Lake

While everyone is invited to the services, I ask that all the clergy make a special effort to attend the service closest to you or whichever one works best with your schedule. The clergy are asked to please notify the host parish if you are coming for the clergy dinner following the service.

Wonderful progress is being made on the Retreat Lodge at Christ the King Spiritual Life Center. The foundation is in, the exterior walls are up and the roof is going on as we speak. I am very appreciative to all of you who are helping to make this possible. We are hoping to have the Lodge complete and operational by the beginning of July. Check the progress at http://www.christ-the-king-center.org/CurrentProjects/RetreatLodge.cfm which is updated daily, Monday - Friday.

The Twenty-Six Steeples Project, designed to raise funds to furnish each of the Lodge’s 26 rooms, is doing very well. I believe 21 rooms have been spoken for. If your parish, deanery, or church organization would like to sponsor a room, you still have time, but don’t wait much longer, other wise they may all be spoken for. If interested, please contact Shirley Parker at (518) 692-9550.

My Sunday visitations the last few weeks have been at St. Paul’s, Troy; St. Paul’s Kinderhook; and St. Mark’s, Hoosick Falls. I greatly enjoyed being in each parish and am very appreciative to Fr. Michael Gorchov, Fr. Walcott Hunter, Mother Lorie Lyons and all the parishioners for the warm welcome I experienced at each. While it is still taking some getting use to being in a different parish every Sunday, it is a true blessing to be with you.

St. Mary’s, Lake Luzerne, has called Bruce Mason to be their next rector. Bruce is studying at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, and is scheduled to graduate this spring. Bruce and his wife, Shay, and their two children will be a wonderful new addition at St. Mary’s. We wish the Mason family and St. Mary’s the very best as they begin this new life together.

Following the House of Bishop’s meeting at the end of next week, I will be going to visit my mom and sisters and the people of St. Dunstan in Mineola, Texas, (the parish church I grew up in as a child). I will return to Albany on Monday, March 26th. May you continue to have a blessed and holy Lent.

Faithfully Yours in Christ,
+Bill

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