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

October 25, 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The turnout for the first two Deanery visits has been excellent and I have found them to be enjoyable and the discussion fruitful. I am looking forward to the remaining visits. The routine for the visits is First day – meet with the clergy and laity for Evening Prayer, dinner, and discussion; Second day - meet with clergy for morning of prayer and worship, lunch, discussion, and individual meetings. Your Dean will be sending out more detailed information.

Nov 1 St. George’s, Clifton Park Upper Hudson Deanery
Nov 2 Calvary, Burnt Hills

Nov 19 & 20 Grace Church, Canton St. Lawrence Deanery

Nov 26 St. Eustace Lake Placid Northern Adirondack Deanery
Nov 28 Christ & St. John’s, Champlain

Dec 4,5 St. James, Lake George Southern Adirondack Deanery

Dec 13,14 St. John’s, Delhi Susquehanna Deanery

Dec 17 Christ Church, Hudson Hudson Valley Deanery
Dec 18 Christ Church, Coxsackie

Please RSVP by the dates requested by your deanery to assist in the planning of the event and to cut down on undue stress on the host parish caused by discovering at the last minute that they either have far too much or too little for the people attending.

This past Saturday I went to St. Andrew’s in Scotia to attend the funeral of Mother Ellen Neufeld’s mom, Catherine Koenig Hirsch. It was a beautiful service. Immediately afterwards, I was off to Grace Church, Waterford to celebrate the Eucharist and attend the farewell celebration for Mother Carola vonWrangel, who has accepted a position in Washington State, near her family. It was aptly named a celebration of ministry. We will greatly miss Mother Carola’s ministry in this Diocese.

Sunday morning I visited St. Luke’s, Chatham, and their new vicar, Mother Ellen Neufeld. I greatly enjoy all my Sunday visitations. After leaving St. Luke’s I headed further south out of the Taconic Mountains into the Hudson River Valley to Hudson for the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Christ Church. It was a wonderful service followed by a beautiful reception. We were honored to have the Right Reverend Herbert Donovan, assisting bishop for the Diocese of New York and his wife Mary with us for the celebration. Bishop Donovan, who has past ties with Hudson, shared a message of greeting.

The Women’s Cursillo begins today, Thursday and continues through Sunday. I will be with them on Friday afternoon and then for the closing on Sunday at 4 pm. All Cursillistas are invited to the closing. Please keep them in your prayers.

This weekend Christian Education is sponsoring Walk Through the Bible for the parishes in the North Country. Trinity Church, Potsdam is the host. If you haven’t registered and would like to attend, please contact Mother Laurie Garramone-Rohr here. WTTB begins at 9 and ends at 4. Cost is $25 per person (ages 13 and up) and includes lunch and materials or Buy One Get One (BOGO) - Register yourself and a friend at the same time and pay $25 for two!

This Saturday, October 27, St. John’s, Delhi is having a day of healing prayer day. I will be there and am looking forward to the opportunity to join them in prayer and healing. On Sunday, Bishop Ball and I will be joining Deacon Bill Clark and the people of Christ Church, Greenville, for the 150th Anniversary of the Consecration of Christ Church.

To date 166 individuals have signed up for the Crown Financial Ministry Small Group Leaders Training. If you still want to attend one of the sessions on Saturday, November 3 at CTK or Sunday, November 4 at Trinity, Potsdam, please call Crown Financial Ministry at 1-800-727-1976 and select option 2. They will add an expedited handling fee so you can have the course material in time to complete the pre-course assignment. You can register online for the November 10 course at St James’, Oneonta by going to http://crown.org/CrownEvents. You can also register by telephone. After Friday, October 26, you must register by telephone and they will charge the expediting fee. I hope to see many of you on the 3rd at CTK.

Christ Church, Schenectady is holding a Joy Conference led by Allyson Jones Tomkins on Saturday November 3, 2007. Registration begins at 8:30. Conference is from 9 – 4. Cost for the day is $25 and childcare is available for children 5 and other. To register, contact Lorraine Coleman here

If any of you want to contribute to relief efforts for those who have been devastated by the wildfires in San Diego, we have been made aware of two options; one through the Diocese of San Diego (www.edsd.org - annotate donation: Fire Relief), and one through the American Anglican Council for Anglican Communion Network parishes and partners affected by the wildfires (here - annotate donation: California Wildfire Relief)

Faithfully yours in Christ,
+Bill
Bishop of Albany

Back to Index

Disciples Making Disciples