Southern Cross, Jan. 2007

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/southern-cross-jan-2007 2/242 The Southern Cross January/February 2007

On the Cover: The Rev. Dr. Dabney Smith was

elected Dec. 9 to be bishop coadjutor. He will become the

fth bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida.

S

The Episcopal Church is part of the ANGLICAN COMMUNION, a

global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/

provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan WilliamsLambeth Palace

London WE1 7JU

UNITED KINGDOM

In the United States, the Episcopal Church is a community of 2.3 mil-

lion members in more than 100 dioceses in the Americas and abroad.

Presiding Bishop

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori815 Second Avenue

New York, NY 10017

(212) 867-8400

The Diocese of Southwest Florida is a community of 33,000 Chris-

tians in 11 counties serving 78 congregations, 13 schools and the

DaySpring Conference Center. Established 1969.Bishop

The Rt. Rev. John B. Lipscomb

Bishop Coadjutor-elect

The Rev. Dr. Dabney T. Smith

The Southern Cross A member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Commu-

nicators, The Southern Cross is published six times a year: January,

March, May, July, September and November. Copies are shipped freeto all congregations for distribution.

Articles, letters, calendar information and photos are wel-

come. They will be used on a space-available basis and are subject to

editing. Send all material (preferably in electronic form by e-mail) to:

Jim DeLa, editor

The Southern Cross

7313 Merchant Court

Sarasota, FL 34240

Phone: (941) 556-0315 Ext. 268

Fax: (941) 556-0321

E-mail: [email protected]

C

outhernross

The

Lent 1999A Publication of the Diocese of Southwest Florida

HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE

Mailing address:

7313 Merchant Court

Sarasota, FL 34240

Phone: (941) 556-0315

Fax: (941) 556-0321

Web site: www.dioceseswfa.org

Submission deadlines

for upcoming issues:

March/April: February 1

May/June: April 1

July/August: June 1

September/October: August 1

23 Events Calendar

One ballot!

The Rev. Dr. Dabney

Smith elected coadjutor

on Dec. 9.

6

21 30 years of women priests: Service,

celebration planned in St. Petersburg

Katrina’s legacy:

Volunteers nd

New Orleans still

in desperate need

12

3 From the Bishop

5Bishop on leave: Health concerns force

Bishop Lipscomb to take disability leave

4 Refections/Letters to the editor


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/southern-cross-jan-2007 3/24 3The Southern Cross January/February 2007

BishoptheFrom

(Continued on page 17)

Sermon by the Rt. Rev. John B.

Lipscomb at the 38th Annual Con-

vention of the Diocese of Southwest

Florida Dec. 2 in Venice:

Grace to you and peace from

God our Father and from our Lord

Jesus Christ — the Way, the Truth,

and the Life for all people.

This will be a very busy week for the clergy and people

of the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Yesterday you had the

opportunity for conversation with the candidates who are

standing for election for bishop coadjutor. I have to tell you I

am hopeful this will be one of those days where he can keep

business to a minimum, because I’m hoping we can take the

maximum amount of time, about an hour and a half during

the lunch hour, for the diocese to talk together around tablesand in small groups about what it is that God is calling us to

be and do as God’s people as we prepare for the election.

We need to have a time of conversation. We need to have

a time to reect prayerfully as we make our decisions.

Next Saturday we will meet at the Cathedral Church of

St. Peter for the election of my successor. Please hear me,

reverend clergy, this is not a commitment but a request. I

would ask the clergy of the diocese to vest and join me in

leading the faithful as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, prepar-

ing our hearts and minds for the work that lays ahead.

The Rev. Canon David L. Seger, who served as the con-

sultant for our coadjutor nominating committee, will be the

preacher and chaplain to the electing convention. Before we

move to the work of electing a bishop, I think we have to ask

the question, “Are our eyes open and our hearts ready to seek

the Lord’s will for the future of His Church?”

Today we gather under the theme, “Let the whole world

see and know.” These words are part of the concluding col-

lect at ordinations and on Good Friday. This is the invitation

of our Lord to follow Him to the Cross. Dietrich Bonheoffer

reminds us that when Christ calls us, he calls us to die. We

cannot serve as faithful ministers of Christ if we do not die to

self and allow Jesus the throne of our hearts.

As long as we are in charge and we are in control, God

cannot do with us what God would do.This convention is an invitation to come and see the life

and ministry of your Diocese of Southwest Florida and to nd

your role in building that Kingdom of God that we pray at

every Eucharist will come among us. Our work can only be

accomplished as we remain faithful to the catholic faith and

witness of the whole Church universal. We must continue in

the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread,

and the life of prayer. If we are to be the Church described by

the Creeds, then there’s no other way for us to be the Church

than to be the Church of the apostolic age.

This convention is an invitation for you to prepare for the

election of our next bishop by dying to personal agendas, that

we might be one in Christ. This is the beginning of

the Advent season, and I would call you to know

that this convention is a time to wake up and

get over our lethargy and live with our eyesfully open and our hearts fully awake.

Learning to see with the eyes of our

heart is critical to conversion. Learn-

ing to see with the eyes of Jesus is

important for the renewal of his

Church. The Gospel, Letters and Revelation to St. John are

marked by numerous invitations for us to open our eyes and

see. The rst chapter of John’s gospel says a great deal about

“seeing.” Sight requires light. The opening words of the gos-

pel remind us the source of light in this life is Jesus Christ,

who is also the light of the world. In Jesus, the Word made

esh, wrote John, “and that life was the light for all people.”

It is in the Light of Christ we live, if we are to see the realityof God at work in the world and in our own lives.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with

God. All things came into being through him, and without

him not one thing came into being. What has come into be-

ing in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not

overcome it…The true light, which enlightens everyone, was

coming into the world… The law indeed was given through

Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one

has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the

Father’s heart, who has made him known.” (John 1:1-5, 9,

17–18, NRSV)

Jesus’ invitation to discipleship was the invitation “come

and see.” Two of the disciples of John the Baptist, upon

hearing their teacher declare Jesus “the Lamb of God” who

was to take away the sin of the world, decided to follow the

Lord. When Jesus asked what they wanted, they replied, to

“know where He was staying.” He offered them his hospital-

ity saying, “come and see.” We know Andrew, Simon Peter’s

brother, was one of the two. The other is left nameless. And I

would like to believe that that is because the other person is a

mirror in which we are to look and see into our own lives as

we begin to follow Christ.

Later Philip shares with his friend, Nathaniel, that he hasfound the one of whom both Moses and the prophets wrote

— Jesus of Nazareth. “The Lord your God will raise up for

you a prophet like me from among you, from your country-

men, you shall listen to him,” promised Moses. (Acts 3:22,

NRSV) Again words on which we reect in the season of

Advent from Isaiah the prophet:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great

light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them

light has shined. … For a child has been born for us, a son

given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is

Holy Spirit’s work in Southwest Florida is something the church can rejoice in



Editor’s note: This is the sec-

ond installment of a series of col-

umns by deacons of the diocese

addressing the UN’s Millennium De-

velopment Goals.

By the Rev. Nancy Metze Smith

In the November/December 2006 is-

sue of The Southern Cross, we were

informed of the eight Millennium

Development Goals established by 191

nations including the United States.

If these goals are met by 2015,

our world will be a much better place

for millions of people, people we may

never see, talk with, hug or even know

that they have been helped by us. Each

of us can make a difference!

When our deacons’ group was dis-cussing writing these articles, one of us

said that we should all be reminded that

these Millennium Development Goals

—The Rev. Nancy Metze Smith is a

deacon assigned to the Church of the

Epiphany in Cape Coral.

MDG goal 1: Eliminate poverty and hunger

are our call from

God. If we do not

think of our giving as a

command from God to share our wealth

and blessings, then these efforts will be

another social organizational action.

You and I who are reading this

now, because we are professed Chris-

tians, know God is leading us to help

relieve poverty. The monies we give,

the prayers we offer and the spreading

of the Word are appreciated by God. Let

us make God happier with us than God

already is.

The rst goal in the list of the

MDGs is to eradicate extreme pov-

erty and hunger, to reduce by half the

amount of people living on less than

one dollar a day by the year 2015.

What does “extreme poverty”

mean to you? You have seen photos

of children and adults dying because

of lack of food and water and lack

of basic medical care. Have you

thought “What can I do to help?” The

MDG program will provide you withthat means.

The program gives you choices of

where a donation of 0.7 percent of your

yearly income donation will be used

to help eliminate extreme poverty and

hunger.

By choosing an organization such

as Episcopal Relief and Development,

Episcopalians for Global Reconcilia-

tion, ONE Episcopalian, our companion

Diocese of the Dominican Republic,

the Anglican Relief and Development

Fund, Five Talents and/or The Millenni-um Project, you participate where your

heart is. Below are brief summaries of

how we can achieve these goals.

Not only can you give of your

RR R eflections

Letters to the editor and Reectionsessays

to The Southern Cross are appreciated and

encouraged.

We ask that letters be as concise as pos-

sible — with a 300-word suggested limit

— and stay on one topic. Authors should

include their full name, parish afliation or

city of residence. Anonymous letters will not

be published.

All submissions are subject to editing to

improve clarity and to t in the available

space for each issue.

Please send correspondence to:

Letters to the Editor

The Southern Cross

Diocese of Southwest Florida

7313 Merchant Court

Sarasota, FL 34240

Or send letters by fax to (941) 556-0321; or

by e-mail to [email protected].

Letters

People are excited bynew presiding bishop

In our church we try to disagree

without being disagreeable, therefore inthe politest way I can, I disagree with

Edward Weber’s presumptions in his

letter in the Nov./Dec. 2006 issue about

the prevailing views in Southwest Flor-

ida of our presiding bishop, Katharine

Jefferts Schori. Whether he is right or

wrong, I question his authority to speak

for Southwest Florida. I for one, and

many of my Florida friends, believe she

is exactly what is needed to reassess our

taken-for-granted spiritual interpreta-

tions of God’s will and Jesus’ teachings.I also strongly object to his ac-

cusing the delegates who voted for her

as doing it to poke a stick in the eye of

traditionalists. Anyway, perhaps some

traditionalists need to be aware that

some traditions can do a lot of harm

— like jihad, for instance.

Mr. Weber’s idea of Jefferts

Schori’s “demonstrated absence of job

experience” may be his opinion, but

where is his proof? And what is his

denition? Is it the person who does not

have the same goals for the job as he

does? Compassion is more productive

than condemnation.

— Betzi Abram Iona-Hope Church, Fort Myers

Enthusiasm was clearlyevident in Columbus

I wish to clarify several mislead-

ing statements contained in Edward

Weber’s letter (Nov./Dec. 2006 issue).

I attended General Convention

and was a page in both the House of

Deputies and the House of Bishops.

The committee responsible for framing

responses to the Windsor report workedextremely diligently for 10 days in at-

tempting to draft a response that would

be acceptable to both houses.

Two public hearings were held to

take testimony from those wishing to

put forth their points of view. The rst

attended by more than 500 lasted ap-

proximately one and one half hours,

and the second with more than 1,000

in attendance lasted two and one half





In Brief


Trinity conference tobe webcast Jan. 22-24

Trinity Institute’s 37th National

Theological Conference, Jan. 22-24,

at Trinity Church, Wall Street, will be

broadcast in its entirety, live on the

Web. At least one church in Southwest

Florida, Iona-Hope Church in Fort My-

ers, will be showing the webcast for all

who are interested and will participate

in group and panel discussions during

the conference.

The conference, titled “God’s Un-

nished Future, Why it Matters Now,”

will focus on what it calls “apocalyp-

ticism,” where popular apocalyptic

works such as the Left Behind series

pit the forces of good and evil in an

imminent showdown where God willdefeat the forces of evil, the earth will

be annihilated and the saved lifted up.

The claim of this conference is that this

vision is a massive and dangerous dis-

tortion of the biblical picture of God’s

purpose, supporting a politics of polar-

ization, violence and extremism.

Speakers include authors and

lecturers Jürgen Moltmann, the Rev.

Barbara R. Rossing, Th.D., and the

Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes.

Suggested fees for participating

at Iona-Hope are $25 for the entireconference or $15 per day. Register by

calling (239) 454-4778 or by e-mail to

[email protected].

Pontifax servicesset in January

Ecumenical services marking the

annual Week of Prayer for Christian

Unity have been scheduled in Janu-

ary.

On Wednesday, Jan. 19, a service

with Bishop Robert N. Lynch of theCatholic Diocese of St. Petersburg

and Bishop Edward R. Benoway of

the Evangelical Lutheran Church in

America, Florida-Bahamas Synod

invite participation in the Pontifax Day

of Prayer 2007. Bishop John Lipscomb

of the Diocese of Southwest Florida

had been scheduled to participate

before he went on medical disability

leave.

By Jim DeLa

Editor, The Southern Cross

Diocesan Council has approved a

plan designed to put an end to disagree-

ments over the nancial health of Day-

Spring Conference Center.

In an agreement brokered by a task

force led by the Rev. John Adler, the for-

mer president of the Standing Committee,

DaySpring Conference Center will pay

interest on two of its current mortgages,

pay interest and principal on a third mort-

gage, and also pay interest on a $360,000

loan taken out by the diocese to provide

the center with cash advances.

The diocese, in turn, will no longer

expect repayment of $1.6 million of

what the task force calls “investments in

the ministry” of DaySpring over the last

several years.

“What it simply says is, what’s

run under the bridge has run under the

bridge,” Adler told Council at its Nov. 30

meeting. “We recognize that for the best

interest of the diocese and the ministry

Bishop John B. Lipscomb has an-

nounced he will be on medical disabil-

ity leave, possibly for the next 6 to 12

months.

After being briey hospitalized in

late November, the bishop said in an open

letter to the diocese Dec. 13 that his doc-

tors urged him to rest.

“Since my diagnosis of Parkinson’s

Disease in 2002, and malaria in Africa

in 2004, I have experienced a continued

decline in my health with a concurrent

decline in my ability to fulll my re-

sponsibilities as the Bishop of Southwest

Florida,” the letter said.

The announcement has forced some

events to be rescheduled. Two Decemberordinations to the priesthood were held

as planned, with the Rt. Rev. William

Skilton, the bishop suffragan of the Dio-

cese of South Carolina, lling in.

The diocese’s bishop coadjutor-elect,

the Rev. Dr. Dabney Smith, is planning to

be in Southwest Florida by Feb. 1.

Smith’s consecration, originally

scheduled May 17, has been moved up

to March 10, at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral

of St. Jude the Apostle, the cathedral of

the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Pe-

tersburg, provided the required consentsfrom half of the bishops with jurisdiction

and standing committees of other dioceses

in the Episcopal Church are received by

then.

The full text of Bishop Lipscomb’s

letter is:

The Clergy and People

The Diocese of Southwest FloridaDear Friends in Christ,

Since my diagnosis of Parkinson’s Dis-ease in 2002, and malaria in Africa in 2004, Ihave experienced a continued decline in myhealth with a concurrent decline in my abilityto fulll my responsibilities as the Bishop ofSouthwest Florida. During my hospitaliza-tion in November, my physicians stronglyencouraged me to take a short-term disabilityleave.

I have spent much time in prayerfulreflection regarding the future. My family

and I have decided that I should accept the judgment of my physicians. I was placed onmedical disability Dec. 12. I pray that I will beable to regain my health and continue to serveour Lord and the Church.

I know this comes at a bad time. If myhealth permits me to return to work in 6-12months, it remains my intention to attend theLambeth Conference in 2008, and to effect thetransition of jurisdiction to the Fifth Bishop ofSouthwest Florida in 2009.

We were blessed on Dec. 9 with theelection of The Rev. Dr. Dabney Smith as ourbishop coadjutor. I will be regularly availableto him for consultation as necessary and ap-propriate.

May the Lord bless and keep you asyou continue to serve and lead the Dioceseof Southwest Florida.

Bishop Lipscomb takesshort-term disability leave

Diocese, DaySpring clear upfinancial relationship issues




Fast Forward

By Jim DeLa


If the Rev. Dabney Smith seems a bit out of breath these

days, it’s for good reason.

His name was placed in nomination for bishop co-

adjutor on Oct. 31. On Dec. 1, he and ve other nomi -

nees spent more than nine hours answering questions from

clergy and lay delegates who would decide his future.

Eight days later, he was elected after a single ballot.

He’s now preparing for perhaps the biggest transition of his

career, from rector of Trinity Church in New Orleans, to bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Southwest Florida.

Since the election, he’s been preparing his parish to

search for a new rector, answering calls from reporters, try-

ing to nd a new place to live and getting ready to move.

Once he gets here, around Feb. 1, things are not go-

ing to slow down. Since Bishop John Lipscomb announced

Dec. 12 he was going on short-term medical disability leave,

Smith’s learning curve has accelerated. His consecration

date has been moved up from May 17 to March 10.

A quick ballotFr. Smith was elected on the rst ballot Dec. 9. Del-

egates had barely taken their seats after a break followingthe rst ballot when the announcement was made.

“Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we have an elec-

tion,” said Bishop Lipscomb to a stunned convention inside

St. Peter’s Cathedral in downtown St. Petersburg.

After 45 seconds of cheers and applause, Smith’s name

was announced, triggering another 30-second burst of applause.

When reached by phone, the audio was piped into the

cathedral for all to hear. “Dabney,” said Bishop Lipscomb,

“It’s my great honor to ask you if you will accept canoni-

cal election as the fth bishop of Southwest Florida. It was

The pace of transition will be quicker than expected,but Bishop-elect Dabney Smith is ready for the challengeof being coadjutor for the Diocese of Southwest Florida


The Rev. Dabney Smith answers questionsat the Dec. 1 walkabout in Venice. Smith was

elected bishop coadjutor of the diocese in one

ballot Dec. 9.

Photos by Jim DeLa




a rst-ballot decision and we hope you

will make the right answer. Will you

accept?”

“I am pleased and honored. I would

love to, thank you,” Bishop-elect Smith

replied. “I am so blessed and honored

... and I would just like to thank theconvention and the diocese and I look

forward to a wonderful, loving relation-

ship.”

“Amen,” answered Bishop Lip-

scomb.

The winner needed 45 clergy votes

and 107 lay votes to be elected. Smith

won handily, with 50 clergy votes and

133 lay votes.

Meet the bishop-electBishop-elect Smith was able spend

a few minutes with The Southern Cross

to talk about his election and the transi-

tion to come:

What was your initial reaction to the

phone call on Dec. 9?

That morning I was in the middle

of a premarital counseling session. I

excused myself; I thought this was just

going to be the results of the rst ballot,

that it would just take a minute.

What happened was, I got the

phone call and the man said “please

hold for Bishop Lipscomb.” I kept hold-ing and didn’t hear anything and kept

saying “hello …” and nally I heard his

voice but it sounded like it was way off

in the distance. I listened more closely

and realized he was addressing the con-

vention and I was on live.

At that point I quickly tried to gath-

er my wits about me and tried to think

of something to say. I was stunned,

actually. That was my initial reaction.

Were you surprised that it took onlyone ballot? What does an election

on the rst ballot mean to you as the

bishop-elect?

It’s certainly unusual. In terms of

signicance to my ministry, I think it

means there was a sense of unity within

the life of the Diocese of Southwest

Florida which I am moved by and deep-

ly appreciate.

You’ve lived in Florida before, and

you’re a graduate of the University of

South Florida. How does it feel, in a

sense, to be coming back home to bebishop?

It feels wonderful, like a grace-

lled blessing from God. There is no

way I could have designed this, if I

could design my life, any better. It

makes me so grateful, and I feel so

humbled and pleased by it.

What excites you about answering the

call to be our bishop?

What excites me is being able to

participate in the life of the greaterchurch in ways that are vital, evangelis-

tic, holy, mission-focused and Christ-

centered.

I’m getting more and more excited

now that the euphoria has drifted away

and I’ve started to face the realities.

Once you say yes, you want to start.

What scares you about answering the

call to be our bishop?

The rst thing that came to mind is

the fear of trying to get to a congrega-

tion on Sunday and getting lost.

Clearly, I have a huge learningcurve ahead of me. I’ve not been a bish-

op so I’m not sure I would say scared,

as much as challenged, by the new ways

of being and practicing ministry that I

will be learning on the run.

In the light of Bishop Lipscomb’s re-

cent announcement to go on medical

disability, how has that affected your

plans for transition?

First of all let me say when Bishop

Lipscomb called me, I felt very dis-

tressed for him personally and know

that he is doing the right thing medi-

cally to take care of himself. I’m hold-

ing him deeply in prayers, both John

and Marcie.

In terms of what it meant person-

ally when I got the call, I realized im-

mediately that things were going to

accelerate, and that the Feb. 1 start-up

date was now completely necessary.

Fast Forward(Continued from page 7)

The Rev. Dabney Smith was one of six nominees who met clergy and parishioners at

the Dec. 1 walkabout in Venice. Smith’s wife, Mary Ellen, is at the far right.



At a glance:

The Rev. Dr. Dabney T. Smithhas been rector of Trinity Church, NewOrleans, La., since January 2005. Thechurch, with about 2,500 members andseven associate clergy, includes TrinityEpiscopal School (pre-K through eighthgrade with 329 students), and a counsel-

ing and training center.Earlier he served at Holy Trinity

in Melbourne, Fla; St. Michael and All Angels in South Bend, Ind.; and GraceChurch in Port Orange, Fla. He earneda B.A. in broadcasting production fromthe University of South Florida, Tampa(1980); an M. Div. from Nashotah House,cum laude (1987); and a D. Min fromSeabury-Western Theological Seminarywith special focus on congregationaldevelopment (1999).

Dr. Smith, 52, grew up in Florida.He and his wife, Mary Ellen, married in1975 and are the parents of three grownchildren, two daughters and a son. Hishobbies include music (he played guitarand keyboards in various groups formany years), and reading history andbiographies.

In post-Katrina New Orleans, heserves on the Jericho Road EpiscopalHousing Initiative that exists to createdesperately needed housing for hur-ricane victims. He is also on the steeringcommittee of Common Good, a publicpartnership of faith-based, nonprot,

civic and higher-education organizationsthat brings the voice of the citizens ofNew Orleans to the table with the politi-cal and business sectors. He served onthe Diocesan Rebuilding Committee forthe Diocese of Louisiana and on thediocesan executive board.

In his own words: “What excitesme about the possibility of becomingyour coadjutor is my sense of leadershippurpose that involves teaching, preach-ing, challenging, and encouraging thebaptized to live faithfully as enthusiasticChristians. I am convinced that impas-sioned Christianity is contagious andhelps the Church grow. The opportuni-ties for evangelism in Southwest Floridaare immense. Clear diocesan commu-nication, vibrant congregations, healthyclergy leadership, and the pastoral pres-ence of the bishop all unite for healthymission and ministry. I am honored tobe considered to share in the service ofOur Lord with you.”

The particular issues that I thought

about were nding a place to live,

knowing that I wasn’t going to have as

much of a cushion of transition as I had

thought — jumping out of the plane, as

it were.

I’m also feel-ing a sense of

God’s guidance,

and I know that

our Lord will put

the right people

in my path to help

me along. I rec-

ognize that I will

make mistakes

and just lean on

the gracious good-

will of the people

the Diocese ofSouthwest Florida

to help me along

and keep me up in

prayer.

How has your

congregation

in New Orleans

dealt with your election?

They have been so wonderfully

gracious. Clearly there’s been sadness

and a modest amount of anxiety butthat’s dissipating. They’ve been con-

gratulatory and grateful for our time

together. Appropriately sad, but happy

for Southwest Florida.

How can the people in Southwest

Florida help you prepare for your

episcopate?

Two things: First, hold Mary Ellen

and me up in prayer as we make this

transition to something that I think is

going to be a wonderfully exciting and

challenging new adventure in servingthe Lord.

The second thing is simply prag-

matic — please don’t assume I remem-

ber your name after you’ve told me one

time.

Lastly, during the walkabout, you

only had ve minutes to tell people a

little about yourself. Consider this a

second chance. What did you leave

out of your presentation that you

wished there had been time to say?

When I was in my rst year of

seminary, I took janitorial care of this

little parish in Watertown, Wisc., as part

of a living arrangement. I got to live in

the house and take care of the church.

One day I was sweeping up the

front walk of the church and found

stuck underneath the door of the church

a little note, in a child’s handwriting. It

was a prayer. I’vekept it in my desk

ever since. The

child was getting

ready to take a

test, and it said,

“Please, God, help

me do the work I

don’t know how

to do. Amen.”

And I thought,

that’s a pretty

good prayer for

somebody start-ing into life as a

bishop. I’m glad

I kept that prayer

all these years.

I greatly look

forward to getting

to know the dio-

cese in a deeper,

more signicant way. I am so pleased to

serve our Lord and am very grateful to

be able to do so there.

I’m convinced that God has suchgreat use for the Episcopal Church, and

all we need to do is live into a sense of

obedience to his call and claim upon us

so that we may continue to live as the

healthy Body of Christ.

Fast Forward(Continued from page 8)

Consecration dateis set for March 10

What: The Rev. Dr. Dabney T. Smith

will be consecrated as

bishop coadjutor ofthe Diocese of Southwest Florida(pending consents from diocesan bishops

and standing committees).

When: Saturday, March 10, 2007,

at 10 a.m.

Where: Cathedral of St. Jude

the Apostle, 5875 5th Ave. North

in St. Petersburg.

A reception will follow.



By Jim DeLa


The Diocese of Southwest Florida

will reduce its giving to the Episcopal

Church in 2007 by more than $200,000 in

order to bring the amount in line with the biblical concept of the 10 percent tithe.

At the diocese’s annual convention

Dec. 2 in Venice, clergy and delegates

voted 149–128 to amend the diocese’s

2007 budget to reduce the amount to

be given to the Episcopal Church from

$529,262 to $314,017.

Convention also saw an end to a

three-year-old arrangement to allow

congregations to request the percentage of

their diocesan apportionment that would

go to the national church be diverted to

the companion diocese of the DominicanRepublic.

However, Diocesan Council may

revive that option when they consider a

proposal at its Jan. 20 meeting.

Convention also approved a $3.1

million budget for 2007 and elected candi-

dates to ll seats on various committees.

Biblical standard?The Dec. 2 budget amendment was

introduced by the Rev. John Hiers, rector

of the Church of the Ascension in Clear-

water. Hiers has pushed for a reductionin giving to the Episcopal Church for

several years.

As a deputy to the national church’s

General Convention, he introduced reso-

lutions to change the national standard to

10 percent in 1997, 2000 and 2003. Each

time, the idea was soundly defeated in the

House of Deputies.

Hiers pointed out that congregations

in Southwest Florida give only 10 percent

of their budgets to the diocese, and the

diocese is healthy.“The biblical principles of tithing

have worked very well in this diocese,

and I think it’s time that we continue to

follow that for health of our diocese,” he

said on the oor of convention. “I think

this also applies to the diocese and the

national church.”

Several delegates unsuccessfully

urged defeat of the amendment. “The

Old Testament tithe was never intended

as anything other than an individual’s

obligation to God,” said the Rev. Doug

Remer, rector of St. John’s Church in

Tampa.

The current formula used by the

Episcopal Church applies to everyone,

he said. “For this diocese to attempt to

opt out of that unilaterally, I think, is a

denial of our obligation to the national

mission and ministry to which we are

committed,” he said.

Two votesWhen the question was called and a

voice vote taken, Bishop John Lipscomb

initially ruled the amendment had been

defeated. Supporters immediately pro-

tested and called for an actual count,

which yielded the 149-128 result in

favor of amending the single “Episcopal

Church Asking” line item from $529,262

to $314,017.

After the vote, Bishop John Lipscomb

expressed his displeasure. “As a rector ofa parish, I never thought it was appropri-

ate to not pay a full apportionment. I must

say as bishop I am somewhat disappointed

and that it’s only appropriate to pay your

full apportionment,” he said.

Each of the 100 domestic dioceses

in the Episcopal Church is asked to

give 21 percent of its budget to fund the

wider church’s mission and ministry. The

percentage is actually calculated using

budget gures from two years prior, after

a at $100,000 deduction.

Diocese votes to slash giving to Episcopal Church

Attempts at flexibilityUntil recently, the diocese had

paid the full asking. In 2003, diocesan

convention approved a plan to address

concerns of congregations and individu-

als unhappy with what they perceived as

an unacceptably liberal theological drift

of the Episcopal Church. These churches

were able to request the fraction of theirdiocesan apportionment earmarked for the

national church go instead to the Diocese

of the Dominican Republic.

The plan was originally approved for

one year and was renewed through reso-

lutions at convention over the next three

years. That practice ended at December’s

convention, when the resolution to keep

the plan alive was ruled out of order after

a technical challenge from the oor. The

resolution had not been distributed to

clergy and delegates at least 30 days priorto convention, a violation of diocesan

canons.

But that ruling may not be the last

word on the subject. At its Jan. 20 meet-

ing, Diocesan Council will be asked to

approve a plan that would allow congre-

gations and individuals to designate their

apportionment dollars to go either to the

Episcopal Church or to the Dominican

Republic.

Bishop John Lipscomb (far right) celebrates the Eucharist at the start of diocesan

convention Dec. 2 at the Venice Community Center.

Photo by Jim DeLa




The request is being formally made

by Bishop Lipscomb and two Sarasota

rectors, the Rev. Ted Copland of St. Boni-

face Church and the Rev. Fred Robinson

of Church of the Redeemer. They drafted

a statement after a conference call involv-

ing the bishop and nine priests.In a letter to the St. Boniface vestry,

Copland said the new plan “indicate(s)

our common support of the consciences

of individuals and congregations, some

of whom are unable to support the Epis-

copal Church and some who are unable

to support the reduction in funds to the

Episcopal Church. We anticipate that the

statement will indicate a pastoral, rather

than a legislative, way of dealing with

these issues of conscience for calendar

year 2007.”

The new plan would only be in effectfor 2007, and congregations following the

plan will not be considered in arrears on

payment of its apportionment and will

be entitled to the usual canonical status

with seat, voice and vote at diocesan

convention.

Many dioceses fall shortSouthwest Florida is one of at least 47

other dioceses that pay less than the full

asking by the Episcopal Church. Accord-

ing to the most recent gures provided by

the church, 46 dioceses were on track to

pay the full asking or more in 2006; 30

dioceses were paying between 10 percent

and 20 percent of their yearly income; and

17 others were giving between 1 percent

and 9 percent. Some dioceses do not

provide budget data, making percentage

calculations impossible.

Where will the rest go?The responsibility of deciding what

to do with any of the $215,245 that will

not be going to the national church or the

Dominican Republic now falls to Dioc-

esan Council. Bishop Lipscomb said he

plans to ask Council to consider using

those funds outside the diocese, “for the

mission of the wider church.”

“I hope this will go to ministry at

least outside the diocese and not be used

for operations,” he said.

ElectionsConvention also elected the follow-

ing people to various ofces:

Standing Committee: The Rev.

Diocesan convention(Continued from page 10)

Youth from St. Luke’s Church in

Fort Myers and St. John’s Church on PineIsland participated in an outreach program

Nov. 4 to children at Pink Citrus Mobile

Home Park on Pine Island.

Pink Citrus is a community of fami-

lies who work primarily in the island’s

plant and tree nurseries.

The youth groups helped the children

at Pink Citrus create special friendship

boxes. The theme for the program was

leaving old friends, the acceptance of

new friends and keeping memories of all

of our friends. A total of 30 young people

and children participated.After the program concluded, St.

Luke’s youth joined St. John’s youth in

Comfort Hall at St. John’s for a pizza

supper.Outreach to the Pink Citrus commu-

nity began in the summer of 2005 when

the Rev. Jim Kelly, rector of St. Wilfred’s

Church in Sarasota, brought his youth

group to Pine Island for a mission trip

after Hurricane Charley.

A Kids’ Club story time program fol-

lowed by a craft project became a reality

when the youth of St. Wilfred’s returned

this past summer for their second mission

trip to Pine Island. Since July, the children

of Pink Citrus have met monthly on site in

the Mobile Home Park with Deacon Di-ane Millott and the Rev. Ann McLemore,

vicar of St. John’s.

Youth groups spreadcheer on Pine Island

Youth from St. Luke’s, Fort Myers, and St. John’s, Pine Island, help make friendship

boxes for children at Pink Citrus Mobile Home Park on Pine Island.

Georgene Conner, the Rev. Douglas

Zimmerman and the Rev. Fredrick Rob-

inson.

Diocesan Council: The Rev. Glad

McCurtain and Mr. Wayne Farrell.

Ecclesiastical Trial Court: The Rev.

Read Heydt, the Rev. Margaret Koor and

Mr. Jonathan Smith.

Diocesan Review Committee: The

Rev. Barbara Muller.

Trustee, University of the South:

Mr. Roger D. Schwenke.

Trustee, Bishop Gray Inns Foun-

dation: No nominations were received.

The seat will be lled by appointment by

Diocesan Council.



By Jim Stewart

Eleven pilgrims set out from St. Peter’s Cathedral Church in

St. Petersburg on a journey the day after Thanksgiving to

respond in a tangible way to the need that remains unmet

in New Orleans, 15 months after the rst of two hurricanes

devastated the region.

We picked the particular sponsoring group and place because

they were what was presented as an opportunity in an ocean of needsponsored by a part of our church’s denomination. We now know the

suffering and loss far exceed anything any of us imagined before see-

ing it rst-hand.

I’m also sure that, while many worthwhile efforts continue to ad-

dress the area’s wounds, none can possibly be staffed or administered

by more loving, caring or compassionate men and women than this

one sponsored by the Diocese of Louisiana.

It’s tough getting folks to understand the scope and desperate

nature of what continues to happen to those still left in New Orleans

and along the northern Gulf Coast. People listen and are dismayed

Washing away Katrina’s legacy A work crew from

St. Petersburg discoversthat more than a year

after Hurricane Katrina,

New Orleans is still indesperate need of help

Hundreds of houses like this one, seen here in November, have not been touched 15 months after Hurricane Katrina blew

through New Orleans.

Photos courtesy of the Rev. Gigi Conner




that things are still wrecked 15 months

later. Some neighborhoods seem very

normal while just a few blocks away there

are no lights or phones or running water

for miles. There are other places that are

simply memories for those who used to

live and work there.Many of the people are gone also,

some without a trace.

We’re told that the four- to eight-

foot-high “bathtub ring” so prominent

on many building exteriors tells the tale

that the ood waters stayed for weeks,

because that’s how long it took to repair

the breached levees and return to service

the pumps that keep the city dry.

Pumps are needed continuously

because much of the city is below sea

level. What is not widely known is that

the storm surge from Katrina pushed thewater some two feet higher than the “ring”

and then quickly receded to settle at the

level recorded so graphically on each

building. As that water swiftly exited the

city with enormous power, it took with

it people, pets, belongings and parts of

buildings. It’s believed that many of the

persons never located disappeared at this

terrible time.

The city was broke before the storm.

So was the state. Now half the city’s tax

base is gone and jobs go begging becausethe workers who might return to ll them

have no place to live.

In the four years ending this summer,

the Iraq war will have cost in real terms,

adjusted for ination, the same as our 20

years of armed conict in Vietnam. Halli-

burton has very lucrative no-bid contracts

to supply our military, yet the independent

contractors hauling the toxic trash from

in front of gutted houses in New Orleans

have learned that FEMA soon won’t pay

them any longer.

In the section of the city called East

New Orleans, where we worked for threedays, there are blocks and blocks of

wrecked houses. Now and again there’s

one or a couple that have been rehabili-

tated sitting next to another one or two

with a FEMA trailer in front providing a

place to live while rebuilding. They seem

very small, hardly more than a couple

of rooms and a toilet. At least they have

running water and electricity.

The physical work we did was very

hard and dirty. I feel pretty capable physi-

cally but don’t believe I could have done a

fourth day. None of the rest of our groupthought so either. Some were younger,

a few older. We all ran out of gas after

three days.

The work of separating salvageable

belongings from everything else was emo-

tionally difcult. But the interaction with

the owners of the ravaged houses was both

enormously rewarding and heart-rending.

I encountered absolutely no bitterness or

anger, just amazing grace.

We were careful to look for and

separate personal items and photographsfrom the rest. We found little that could

be salvaged. The primary job consisted of

removing all the contents (waterlogged

furniture, bedding, carpets, appliances

and clothes) followed by the wooden trim

and cabinets, then the drywall, ceilings,

and insulation. All the appliances (water

heaters, washers, dryers, refrigerators,

freezers) were full to the brim with putrid,

toxic liquid. So were some of the bathtubs.

Almost everything that could absorb wa-

ter was still wet after 15 months.

The weather was pleasant, but the

inside of the houses was dark and hotand full of mold and roaches. Sometimes

we strayed from the prescribed order of

doing things and poked holes in the dry-

wall to let in some light and air. It was

lthy work but nobody complained or

betrayed the smallest part of reluctance

or queasiness.

We were well-supplied with tools for

moving heavy loads and deconstructing

the walls. Everything that could be was

loaded into wheelbarrows and hauled to

the curb. The rest we carried by hand. A

single 1,200 square foot house producesa prodigious pile, as wide as the house

and as high as we could get it, between

ve and six feet, and from the curb back

toward the house maybe 15 to 20 feet.

Independent contractors with large dump

trucks and front-end loaders picked it up

the same day.

Ten of my workmates were women

who toiled as hard and as productively

as any man next to whom I ever labored.

That upper-body strength difference many

say is important just wasn’t in this context.On the third day, our crew boss, a young

college woman a third of my age and

half my weight, one of the women from

our group and I wrestled a refrigerator, a

water heater, and a washer all full

of vile liquid onto a hand truck

and out to the curb. I think each

appliance outweighed all three of

us combined. It felt good.

Once gutted, a house is ready

for mold abatement and decon-

tamination. Only then can the

homeowner nish the inside andfurnish it. It’s an agonizingly

slow process. We’re told that the

FEMA funds for hauling the trash

away will soon stop. If that can-

not be replaced, the program we

were part of will have to stop.

Other things I learnedWhen I got back home I

needed time to decompress and

process. My body was tired but

Katrina’s legacy (Continued from page 12)

Volunteers from St. Peter’s Cathedral spent time in New Orleans “deconstructing” houses. (Continued on page 14)



sturdy shell,” I offered. She replied, “We

have a very nice shell — but there are

so many poor people.” She sees that she

has options that many of the poor do not.

Her heart is full of compassion for others

in the face of the destruction of all the

property she owned except the clothes in

which she ed the ood waters.

The value of the work we did is

estimated at between $6,000 and $8,000 per house. So far, this program sponsored

by the Diocese of Louisiana has gutted

about 450 houses and has a waiting list of

more than 200. If those houses are done,

volunteers will have contributed labor

worth more than $4.5 million through this

effort. Seems like a lot, but it’s a drop in

the ocean in light of the size of the need.

If the government won’t do more,

then many more volunteers need to go

and help. I don’t think New Orleans will

die no matter what we do or don’t do, but

she needs more, much more, than we’ve provided thus far.

Of 79,000 grant applications for

assistance in 15 months, our federal

government has approved 48, averaging

about $50,715 each, acording to The New

York Times. Half the population of the city

that gave us jazz and Dixieland, Creole

food, Cajun cuisine and Zydeco music

has vanished. More than half the dwelling

places are in worse shape than if they’d

been bombed.

David Brooks of the Times said in

the immediate aftermath of Katrina, “…it

is a national humiliation to see bodies

oating in a river for ve days in a major

American city…, they [the government]

violated the social fabric, which is in the

moments of crisis you take care of the

poor rst. That didn’t happen; it’s like

leaving wounded on the battleeld.” He

angrily declared that Americans just don’t

do that. Only we did, and the people of New Orleans struggle on mostly without

bitterness or anger. It’s a terrible and beau-

tiful thing to see. And we continue to do

very little. Rather than speak of recovery,

they say the disaster continues.

We know that one of the givens in life

is that even in the family and the church,

people will let you down. Jesus asked his

disciples to watch a while — and they

napped instead. They were challenged to

stand up for him — and they denied him

and ed in fear. In response, He thanked

God for giving him these men to love.There are people in New Orleans

with nothing left but their grit and de-

termination not to be defeated and who

continue to soldier on while thanking God

for the people who let them down. That’s

a faith-based community. I’m going back

when I can. We can do better.

—Jim Stewart is a parishioner at St.

Peter’s Cathedral.

not injured in any signicant way and

didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to.

My frame of mind was and is a mixture

of serenity, anger, satisfaction, disappoint-

ment and optimism tempered by a sense of

the enormity of it all. My head feels like

a storm-tossed living room full of brokenand soggy furniture. I feel fragile and de-

termined and broken and full of hope.

I know about a dozen people who

understand concretely how I feel, whose

lives will never be the same because of

our shared experience, who care and un-

derstand in new and important ways how

others suffer and deal with loss.

Because of the toxicity of the interi-

ors of the houses, we were admonished to

never enter without a protective mask. We

never did. The second day home, I sum-

moned enough courage to clean my work

boots. It made my throat sore. I realized

then that my throat had been sore from the

rst hour of the rst day of work, despite

the mask, and didn’t return to normal until

I’d been back a day or two. The junk in

those houses really is toxic. We were able

to leave, but those still in New Orleans

have to live with a poisonous environment

for the foreseeable future. Without more

money to clean it up, the only option may

be to bulldoze huge areas of the city. If

that happens, those whose insurance orgrant claims have not been acted upon

never will be.

I’ve learned that people really can go

on without their stuff. All their stuff, every

shred. They may have acquired some new

stuff, but their old stuff and their old life

are gone forever — and some of them

know they’ll be all right, never again

restored to the wholeness of pre-Katrina

days, but OK nonetheless. They hide

their grief for those who perished and talk

mostly about their stuff.

If the people I met there had beenfull of anger and resentment I would have

readily understood. Instead I encountered

kindness and compassion toward those

who were there to help and those who

weren’t and never had been.

A woman whose house was destroyed

and watched us pile all her belongings

along with those of her babies on a trash

heap, shared that ood insurance had been

enough to cover about 20 percent of her

monetary loss.

“At least you still have a very nice,

Katrina’s legacy (Continued from page 13)

Gutting houses creates huge piles of trash and debris that must be hauled away.



St. Peter’s Cathedral will host a

special observance of the 30th anniver-

sary of the ordination of women to the

priesthood on Saturday, Jan. 6, beginningat 11 a.m..

Preaching at the service will be the

Rev. Tanya Beck, transitional dean and

rector of Christ Church Cathedral in

Indianapolis.

Historical perspectiveIt was 30 years ago that the 65th

General Convention, with much trepida-

tion, voted to allow women to be ordained

to the priesthood. The 1976 convention

faced nearly 50 resolutions addressing the

question of ordination, with most callingfor canonical change that would open the

priesthood and episcopate equally to men

and women.

On June 15, 1976, 67 bishops an-

nounced they would co-sponsor legisla-

tion at convention to permit the ordination

of women to the priesthood. Fifteen other

bishops announced they would vote for

the legislation, thus forming a majority

in the House of Bishops.

Since then, an entire generation, both

in chronological age and in terms of theirmembership in the Episcopal Church, has

known nothing but a church in which

women serve as priests.

“I can go through a whole year now

with nobody having a problem that I’m

a priest,” the Rev. Carol Chamberlain of

Philadelphia, one of dozens of women or-

dained to the priesthood in January 1977,

told Episcopal News Service in 2001.

“I’m proud of our church. We’ve

come a long way. We’ve led the way.

Wonderful ministry is being done around

the country by ordained women and menworking together.”

In the fall of 2005, among 16,523

Episcopal clergy, there were 4,607 women

priests with 2,033 actively employed,

332 retired and 913 considered inactive

because they were not working in orga-

nizations that contribute on their behalf

to the Church Pension Fund. There are

1,329 women deacons. Of the church’s

292 bishops, 12 are women.

Many, if not most, in the church have

“come to the conclusion that there is a

30th anniversary of women’s ordination to be celebrated in St. Petersburg

The 30th Anniversaryof the Ordination

of Women to the Priesthood

Saturday, Jan. 6, at 11 a.m.

St. Peter’s Cathedral140 4th Street North

St. Petersburg, Florida

Preacher: The Rev. Tanya Beck, tran-sitional dean and rector, Christ Church

Cathedral, Indianapolis

Reception following the service

rich diversity brought by women to the

church,” said the Rev. Margaret Rose, di-

rector of the church’s Ofce of Women’s

Ministries.

Rose suggested that women, both

lay and ordained, are continually chang-

ing the Episcopal Church by “the way in

which they exercise ministry in a hier-

archical church.” She said that women

have a relational style of ministry to the

church. “I think the whole church is richerfor it,” she said.

Remaining work Yet, Rose and others say, there is

more work to be done. Calling herself

a “pathological optimist,” Rose said,

“I want to be realistic about where we

aren’t.”

Of 5,829 parish clergy listed in a

2004 study using various church re-

sources, slightly more than 29 percent

were women, and 23.2 percent of the

senior or solo clergy were women. Therewere 813 men in the “senior” category and

133 women. In the “solo” category there

were 2,664 men and 918 women. There

were 653 female associates and curates,

and 648 males.

In 2004 the median salary for women

clergy was about $10,000 less than for

men. Among senior clergy the gap was

about $13,000, about $6,000 for solo

clergy and about $4,000 for associates,

assistants and curates. The latest compen-

sation report by the Church Pension Fund

details the differences between the way

male and female priests are paid.

At a gathering a few years ago of

women who had been ordained 20 years

or more, one priest said that women hadto decide either to stand for election as

bishops “or forget it,” Rose said. The

attitude was “the church is worth it, let’s

take it.”

As of 2006, only the dioceses of

Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin do

not permit the ordination or deployment

of women as priests. Women seeking

ordination in the Diocese of Fort Worth

are transferred by arrangement to the

neighboring Diocese of Dallas.

On the last day of the 1976 conven-tion, ENS reported that the convention

had dealt with “the most controversial

and potentially explosive issues to come

before the supreme legislative body of the

church since the very rst such meeting

in 1785.”

“It dealt with them, despite ominous

forecasts of schism and disruption, in

an atmosphere of marked restraint and

mutual respect for opposing views, often

reecting profound depth and passion,

and with a general spirit of acceptance

of majority rule. With a handful of excep-tions, both clerical and lay champions of

defeated causes reacted to their losses in

a spirit of professed Christian acceptance,

pledging continued loyalty to the Episco-

pal Church,” ENS reported.

Yet it was also reported that some

people were considering “the formation of

a separate, non-geographic diocese within

the Church, within which its adherents

could continue to reject women priests

and use only the 1928 Prayer Book.”

The current version of Book of Com-

mon Prayer got the rst of two needed

approvals at the Minneapolis convention

four days after the approval of women’s

ordination. It was approved for the second

time in 1979.

—Episcopal News Service



Middle schoolerslearn lessonsabout service

Students at St. John’s Middle

School in Tampa got some frst-

hand experience in servant

ministry last fall when the entire

school took a day to volunteer

at various locations, including

soup kitchens and daycare

centers. Above, students serve

lunch to toddlers at the RosaValdez Center.

At r igh t, the se rv ice day

organizer, teacher Dwayne

Varas, talks to students in the

school chapel at the end of

the day. “This is the Christian

mandate,” he said. “We’ll

be working with them in the

next few weeks to get the

connection with what we do in

here and real life.”

Episcopal News Service

Bishop Peter Lee of the Episcopal

Diocese of Virginia said Dec. 17 that he

was saddened by the fact that Nigerian

and Ugandan congregations were “oc-

cupying Episcopal churches.”Lee’s statement came as eight of

Virginia’s 195 congregations announced

that their members had voted to sever ties

with the Episcopal Church and afliate

with the Anglican Church of Uganda or

the Anglican Church of Nigeria by way

of the Anglican District of Virginia, part

of the Convocation of Anglicans in North

America (CANA). The members of the

eight congregations amount to about

8,000 of the diocese’s roughly 90,000

Episcopalians.

The Episcopal Church includes some7,200 congregations in its 100 domestic

dioceses, and about 150 in its 10 overseas

dioceses and one convocation.

“We are saddened when individuals

decide they must leave the Episcopal

Church, for we are diminished when any

brother or sister departs from the commu-

nity,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts

Schori said.

“We live in a time and a society that

is easily drawn to polarities. These depar-

tures are taking place in most mainline

denominations, and are an expression ofthe anxiety of our times and the discom-

fort many people feel in trying to live in

tension. Anglicanism has always held that

living in the tension of comprehensive-

ness is our vocation. God gives us a gift

in the midst of that diversity, and we more

fully know both truth and God’s will for

us when we are able to embrace that diver-

sity. The quick x embraced in drawing

lines or in departing is not going to be an

ultimate solution for our discomfort.”

The Associated Press reported that

the vote margins were 90 percent at TheFalls Church, Falls Church and 92 percent

at Truro Church, Fairfax.

A joint meeting of the diocese’s Ex-

ecutive Board and Standing Committee

of the diocese, with legal representation,

was planned for Dec. 18 “to consider the

full range of pastoral, canonical and legal

obligations of the Church and our respon-

sibilities to those faithful Episcopalians in

these congregations who do not choose

to associate with the Church of Nigeria,”

Lee said.In the meantime Lee has asked the

leaders of “these now Nigerian and Ugan-

dan congregations occupying Episcopal

churches to keep the spiritual needs of all

concerned uppermost in their minds at this

difcult moment in our Church history,

especially continuing Episcopalians.”

He said that he will direct diocesan

personnel to work with departing mem-

bers and those who remain loyal to the

Episcopal Church to work out agreements

about sharing congregational property

until those disputes can be settled.“Our polity maintains that all real

and personal property is held in trust for

The Episcopal Church and the Diocese,”

Lee continued. “As stewards of this his-

toric trust, we fully intend to assert the

Church’s canonical and legal rights over

these properties.”

Congregational property is held in

trust for the diocese, and the diocese holds

property in trust for the wider church.

Canon 15.1 of Virginia’s diocesan canons

concurs with the national canons.

Va. parishes vote to leave Episcopal Church



named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty

God, Everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace. His authority shall grow continu-

ally, and there shall be endless peace for

the throne of David and his kingdom.

He will establish and uphold it with

justice and with righteousness from thistime onward and forevermore. The zeal

of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (Isa-

iah 9:2, 6-7, NRSV)

Notice that the prophet tells us that

justice and righteousness are the twin

arms of the revelation and the work of

the kingdom. Now Nathaniel was reti-

cent to receive and respond positively

to Philip’s enthusiastic witness. Philip

must have shrugged his shoulders and

given a wry smile as he offered the

same invitation, “come and see.”

There are other invitations to openour physical and spiritual eyes. John the

Baptizer, in a single moment of grace,

had his eyes opened when he was al-

lowed to see the Holy Spirit in the form

of a dove descending on Jesus at his

baptism, conrming, “This is the Lamb

of God.” The Gospel tells us it was the

next day as Jesus is walking by and

John was watching him that he pointed

him out to his own disciples exclaiming,

“Look, here is the Lamb of God.”

In the Eucharist, one of the GreatThanksgivings asks God to open our

eyes to see God’s hand at work in the

world about us. Many sing the petition,

“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open

the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.

I want to see you.” Unless the eyes of

our hearts are opened, we will not see

the Lord.

Robert Barron in his book, And

Now I See, writes, “Christianity is,

above all, a way of seeing. Everything

else in Christian life ows from and

circles around the transformation ofvision. Christians see differently, and

that is why their prayer, their worship,

their action, their whole way of being in

the world have a distinctive accent and

avor. Thomas Aquinas said that the

ultimate goal of the Christian life is a

‘beatic vision,’ an act of seeing God in

the fullness of his glory.”

The training of the early disciples

was about a new way of seeing. Seeing

as Jesus taught us to see often brought

moments of sheer clarity, as on the

Mount of the Transguration, or in the

Upper Room on the day of Easter, or

by charcoal re at dawn by the Sea of

Galilee, or on the road to Damascus.

The goal of salvation history is

given concrete expression in the vision

of John on Patmos that reaches its apex

in a vision of hope for those who are the

heirs of the Kingdom of God.

“And I saw the holy city, the NewJerusalem, coming down out of heaven

from God, prepared as a bride adorned

for her husband. And I heard a loud

voice from the throne saying,

‘See, the home of God is among

mortals. He will dwell with them as

their God; they will be his peoples, and

God himself will be with them; he will

wipe every tear from their eyes.Death

will be no more; mourning and crying

and pain will be no more, for the rst

things have passed away.’

“And the one who was seated onthe throne said, ‘See, I am making all

things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this,

for these words are trustworthy and

true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I

am the Alpha and the Omega, the begin-

ning and the end. To the thirsty I will

give water as a gift from the spring of

the water of life. Those who conquer

will inherit these things, and I will be

their God and they will be my children.”

(Revelation 21:2–7, NRSV)

There is wisdom in the saying,“there are none as blind as those unwill-

ing to see.” I think that sometimes we,

as Episcopalians, love to do violence to

the Word of God when we seize it out

of context and use it, as an old friend

of mine used to say, as a pretext for the

sermon that we want to preach. I think

all of us have been guilty of that at one

time or another.

I want to suggest this morning that

we do that quite often when we cel-

ebrate and read it in church, because we

always stop at these words, “and theywill be my children.” But the proclama-

tion of the Good News of Jesus Christ

is a word of judgment as well as a word

of hope, redeeming love in the context

of eternity and God’s judgment. By

cutting a verse here or by not reading

whole passages in context, we fail to

remember that our hope is built on the

judgment that will come. The words of

Revelation continue:

“But as for the cowardly, the faith-

less, the polluted, the murderers, the

fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters,

and all liars, their place will be in the

lake that burns with re and sulfur,

which is the second death.” (21:8,

NRSV)

That is why when I get to the

throne of Grace, I am asking for mercy

and not for justice.

Paul serves notice that selective

fundamentalism in reading of God’sWord is the path to hell for the Church

and the world. If we only read what we

want to read, what makes us comfort-

able, and fail to speak of the task of

God’s judgment on the world, we are

not being the church of Jesus Christ.

Now we love to read the phrase,

“Live by the Spirit… and do not gratify

the desires of the esh.” And we go on

to talk about the fruit of the Spirit be-

ing love and joy and peace and all those

wonderful things. But what that passage

also reminds us is that if we are lead bythe Spirit, we are not subject to the law.

Now the works of the esh are obvious:

fornication, impurity, licentiousness,

idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jeal-

ousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, fac-

tions, envy, drunkenness, carousing. All

these things are not of the Kingdom of

God. “Those who belong to Christ have

crucied the esh.”

And what is the Gospel being

preached among us? What will the

world nd if it accepts our invitation to“come and see” in Southwest Florida,

which is a microcosm of the Episcopal

Church? I think what they will see is

that we are like any other people in this

country. We are people deeply divided

on issues that will not be solved in our

lifetime.

Please understand that issues of

human sexuality began in the Garden

of Eden. And as a professor of ethics

once said, when asked when will we

stop being tempted by the sins of the

esh answered, “three days after we’redead.” They will probably be with us

forever.

I think it is important that we learn

that we have been God’s people mov-

ing in strength because we have had our

eyes on the common mission that Jesus

has given us, and not the divisions and

the things that divide us. But to ignore

them, however much we want to, will

not do us any good. Divisions ignored

From the Bishop(Continued from page 4)




will be like a cancer within the soul of

the Church.

The Diocese of Southwest Florida

has an opportunity to be a laboratory in

mission and healing and reconciliation,

and we do have the opportunity to tell

the whole church, “come and see.”Our faith is expressed in many and

varied ways. One of my great joys is

to see St. Francis in Tampa mature as a

congregation and take a place of leader-

ship in the diocese. It will be our joy to

ordain the rst deacon raised up by this

faith community in mission through this

center of outreach. We should rejoice

that we now have ministry among Span-

ish-speaking people not only in Tampa

but also in the other areas of the dio-

cese. If I’m correct, we now have more

than 20 clergy that can celebrate theEucharist in Spanish and can minister to

those communities. That is good news,

and to the world I would say, “come and

see.”

We have a edgling ministry to

the Haitian community in Immokalee.

This new work will need strong support

if it is to ourish. To see this ministry

strengthened and grow we will need re-

sources from beyond our diocesan mis-

sion budget, which is already strained.

We need to remember that the larg-est diocese in the Episcopal Church is

the Diocese of Haiti, and we now have

the opportunity to be linked with them

in the work of mission.

Our diocesan prole stated the

diocese hopes the fth bishop of South-

west Florida will be involved in the

Councils of the Episcopal Church and

Anglican Communion. It is not enough,

however, for the bishop to be the only

link between the diocese and the wider

Church. Our diocese has offered many

of its members for service as leaders inProvincial and National Church work. I

am pleased that this year the Rev. Ray

Bonoan has been asked to serve on the

Standing Commission on Ecumenical

and Interreligious Relations. The Rev.

Hayden Crawford will continue to serve

the Jubilee Advisory Committee. Paul

Neuhauser will continue to serve on the

Executive Council Committee on Social

Responsibility in Investing. We have

many others who serve the Anglican

Communion through the Compass Rose

Society. I say to the world, “come and

See.” A rm foundation has been laid

on which the diocese may continue to

build.

In the space of 17 short years, since

the rst woman priest was licensed to

be a priest in our diocese, we have seen

the ministry of ordained women our -

ish. Women presbyters now serve as

rectors of parishes, convocational deansand as members of Standing Commit-

tee and Council. On the Feast of the

Epiphany, we will celebrate 30 years of

women in the Order of Presbyter. Le-

gal sanction was given by the General

Convention of 1976. And I would ask

everyone to join us at the Cathedral for

that celebration.

I should also note the Diocese of

Southwest Florida has its rst woman

president of the Standing Committee.

Karen Patterson has assumed the ofce

at a critical moment in the life of ourdiocese. Karen, I thank you for your

years of faithful service to this diocese

and the national church. I pray that God

will continue to bless you in this new

ministry.

We have work in Uganda. We are

working for the peace of God’s people

in northern Uganda. Bishop Ochola,

welcome back to the convention. God

bless you for what you’re doing for

God’s people.

We’re also deeply involved in mis-sion in the Dominican Republic. The

churches of this diocese have contrib-

uted countless dollars and energy to

raising up ministry in that diocese. The

bishop in that diocese, Bishop Holguin,

has had a vision for the Kingdom of

God that is powerful and infectious.

Wherever we have gone as a dio-

cese in these last years, we have pro-

claimed the Good News of Jesus Christ,

and so I would say to the world, “come

and see.”

Locally, hundreds of our commu-nicants participate weekly in programs

that feed the hungry and give shelter

to the homeless. Many of our congre-

gations are involved with Habitat for

Humanity and other community initia-

tives to care for those through whom we

know we are ministering to Christ.

We have a concrete plan to do

church planting and renewal that goes

out to the year 2020. We are assisting

existing congregations with needed ex-

pansions. At present, we are nding new

avenues for mission as we live into the

eight Millennium Development Goals

and support the work of Episcopalians

for Global Reconciliation. All this takes

place in a diocesan community where

the apportionment rate is among the

lowest in the country. In the last ve

years we have gone from nancial dis-

comfort to nancial health. And that is

a good thing. These are tangible resultsof our life together and to the world I

would say, “come and see.”

In the next few minutes, it is my

hope that this convention will support a

resolution for the expansion of our work

with the farm workers in Immokalee.

We have begun a new work in partner-

ship with the Diocese of Southeast

Florida and the Coalition of Immokalee

Workers in the Alliance for Fair Food.

It does us little good to eat the pro-

duce of our land if that produce is being

gathered in by slave labor. I think it istime for the church to stand up and say

the people who work the elds and are

the rst to provide the rest of us bread

on our table, they deserve a living wage.

From this time on, I pray that the

Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Fran-

cis will be Farm Workers Sunday in our

two dioceses. To the world I would say,

“come and see.”

Let the whole world see and know

that this is a diocese that engages in

the work of evangelism. Evangelismis alive and well even if Episcopalians

have trouble getting the “E” word

across our lips. This past year we had

our rst “Believe in a Miracle” day of

evangelism.

And what a day it was. More than

500 women gathered at DaySpring

to hear the Rt. Rev. Stephen Charles-

ton call for conversion of heart as the

ground for our life in Christ. This year

“Believe in a Miracle” will move to this

convention center with the expectation

of doubling last year’s attendance. Thatis exciting and I would say to the world,

“come and see” the work of evangelism

in this diocese.

The “Welcome, We Care” program

will challenge “God’s Frozen Chosen”

to remove the insulation, thaw a bit and

give a warmer welcome and nurture

to all newcomers and members of our

congregations. I think one of the things

we need to remember is that it is very







difcult to break into the congregational

systems of this diocese. We need to

open our hearts and minds to the strang-

er that God brings to us — we have

been told that by so doing, we have

welcomed angels unaware.

We were blessed during the Great

50 Days to have with us two evangelists

from Nigeria. We are planning now for

a continuation of their work during the

coming Easter season. They shared in

the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost

as millions gathered around the world

to pray for the renewal of the Church.

There will be information about the

Global Day of Prayer made available

to our congregations early next year. I

encourage each congregation to partici-

pate in this ecumenical opportunity.This past May “Equipping the 70,”

a program under the direction of Epis-

copal Men’s Ministry, completed the

rst series of training events for per -

sonal evangelism and witnessing. This

program has moved beyond the bounds

of the diocese to become an ecumenical

work encompassing several different

denominations and fellowships. This

year Episcopal Men’s Ministry will

offer several new programs to support a

growth in our discipleship.

Let the whole world see and knowthat we are blessed in the Diocese of

Southwest Florida with faithful women

and men who are engaged in the mis-

sion and ministry of the Kingdom of

God. Renewal, evangelism, church

growth and Matthew 25 ministries are

the heart of the life of this diocese.

There are concrete expressions of this

work all around us if we are willing to

open our eyes and see. They are expres-

sions of the faith that we share. This is

our prologue to the future of the dio-cese.

And what of that future? The coad-

jutor Nominating Committee has done

superb work for this diocese. I do want

to take this opportunity to express my

sincere appreciation to the co-chairs,

Judy Stark and the Rev. Michael Bas-

den. Along with the Nominating Com-

mittee, they have given long hours of

prayerful service to the diocese as we

engage the discernment process regard-

ing our future. Judy, Michael, members

of the committee, the Lord bless you

and bring to completion the good work

you have started.

In the Committee’s report to the

diocese on the survey taken in June

2005, they wrote:

“…it was rewarding to see that

ministries to youth and young adults

were overwhelmingly important (82 percent ranked them highest or sec-

ond-highest). So was development and

support of existing congregations (88

percent) and to new congregations (71

percent). Whoever becomes our next

bishop will lead a diocese that wants to

grow and realizes that young people are

our future.

“Our new bishop will head a dio-

cese that has made it clear: We want to

remain a part of the worldwide Angli-

can Communion. (93 percent ranked it

highest or second- or third-highest). Wewant to participate in the dialogue on

human sexuality, and we want our bish-

op to participate in the councils of the

Episcopal Church and the worldwide

Anglican Communion.”

Our desire to remain a constituent

member of the Anglican Communion

was conrmed by the last convention.

The delegates voted overwhelmingly to

adopt the Windsor Report as the process

to move the Communion to the Lam-

beth Conference of 2008 and into the

future God is preparing for us.

That report was not just about

structure. Remember it was also about

being an inclusive church, about open-

ing our lives to those who are different

from us that we might learn from them

and they might learn from us.

I’m always a little bit leery when

I hear people championing the Wind-sor Report, wondering have they the

whole thing. To be a part of the Windsor

church is to accept the whole document,

not just the parts that we like.

It is vital to the work of the Diocese

of Southwest Florida to remain a con-

stituent member of the Anglican Com-

munion. Without the Communion, we

lose the global vision necessary for the

21st century.

There was a banner on the wall of

the Chapel at the Convent at Sewanee

that showed a Church building stand-ing alone in the middle of a eld with

a padlock on the front door. Across the

top was printed, “The Seven Last Words

of the Church.” Down the side, “We

never did it that way before.”

Brothers and sisters, we have to

look for new ways, and we have to look

past the present and be less than content

with the way things are. We are living in

a radically new and different period of

Bishop John Lipscomb delivers his sermon at the 2006 diocesan convention Dec. 2

at the Venice Community Center.

Photo by Jim DeLa



life where globalization asks us to be a

partner in the work of the church, not to

necessarily be the church.

I think old premises and ways of

being will not sufce in the future. We

may have signed on for one kind of

church, but brothers and sisters, we arenow living in a new reality. And there

will be a continued evolution and revo-

lution in our understanding of our rela-

tionships within the Episcopal Church

and within the Communion. There will

be avenues for strengthening the bonds

of affection between the provinces and

the diocese of the people of God.

And I would say to those who won-

der if a Windsor diocese also can be a

diocese that includes all sorts of condi-

tions, come to Southwest Florida. Open

your eyes and see.There is a renewal of the vision

that has been held by this diocese. As

you have heard many times, from many

studies that date back long before my

predecessor was here, there has been a

consistency among God’s people of this

diocese, the things they thought were

important. And I can tell you the things

you thought were important in the past

were the things you think are important

for the future.

There is a renewal of the visionheld by this diocese. Of great impor-

tance are the following rst steps to a

vision for the future. Survey respon-

dents were asked to list the top three

things the diocese should focus on in

the next 10 years. These are the 10 top

areas participants said were important:

l Church growth/evangelism

l Reconciliation/unity/remain in

Anglican communion

l Youth

l Human sexuality issues

l Outreach/charity/mission workl Traditionalism/Biblical values

l Social issues/justice

l Expand, support, strengthen par-

ishes

l Inclusiveness

l Spiritual growth

My experience of our diocese

would conrm the work of the Nomi-

nating Committee. I believe that they

accepted the invitation, “come and see”

and offer the diocese a clear vision of

who we are and where we dream the

Lord might take us. The question will

be, “Does the diocese have the will and

the faith to live out this vision?”

I can also say from my experience

there will need to be a radical change in

attitude and behavior if these areas of

importance are to be more than “God,

mother, and apple pie” statements of

what we think we should say when

asked what is important in the life ofthe Church. To be an inclusive church

means to be an open and inviting com-

munity where people are allowed to

grow in faith and service. Too often, our

congregations are closed systems that

do not welcome the stranger.

It will be the task of the fth bishop

of Southwest Florida, as it has been

mine, to take these hopes and dreams

and fashion them into a vision for the

future. In all of this there was awareness

(90 percent of those responding) that a

primary task for my successor will beto “guard the faith, unity and discipline

of the Church.” It is perhaps in this that

our next bishop will feel the greatest

tension and stress.

I look forward to a collegial part-

nership with the bishop coadjutor. The

coadjutor will assume responsibilities as

the fth bishop of the diocese at a point

in time when by mutual agreement we

believe it is appropriate.

At that time, we will form a team of

diocesan leaders to support the transi-tion process. The canons provide for 36

months from the date of the coadjutor’s

consecration for the completion of the

transition of the leadership of this dio-

cese to its fth bishop. I pray that we

will do all our work in the Lord’s time.

Times of transition call for reec-

tion and a time to renew commitments

and covenants as God’s people. At a

time of transition in the life of Israel,

Joshua called the people together and

said to them:

“Now therefore revere the LORD,and serve him in sincerity and in faith-

fulness; put away the gods that your

ancestors served beyond the River and

in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Now if

you are unwilling to serve the LORD,

choose this day whom you will serve,

whether the gods your ancestors served

in the region beyond the River or the

gods of the Amorites in whose land you

are living; but as for me and my house-

hold, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua

24:14–15, NRSV)


I want to suggest to you this morn-

ing that nothing could be more critical

to the church than to know what God

it is that we serve. Years ago the story

was told of Dr. James Stewart, who

taught philosophy at the University of

North Carolina. A student came in and

said, “Dr. Stewart, I no longer believe

in God.”

Dr. Stewart said, “Well, tell meabout this God you don’t believe in.”

And for the next 30 minutes, the young

man waxed eloquent. And at the end

of that time, Dr. Stewart said, “I don’t

believe in that God, either.”

And he pulled his Scriptures off

the shelf and walked that young man

through the story of salvation, showing

him that God is a community, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit, that calls the whole

to the table within the Kingdom.

Folks, we are not Unitarian Uni-

versalists. We believe there will be a judgment, that Christ will come again.

We believe that God is Father, Son

and Holy Spirit, one God, a trinity of

persons and a unity of substance. We

believe that God has revealed himself in

the Word made esh, Jesus Christ, cru-

cied and risen from the dead.

As for me in my house, that is the

Lord that we will serve. My brothers

and sisters in Christ, the time has come

for us to do the work that God continues

to call for us to do. And to you and tothe world I would say “come and see.”

Let us pray:

O God of unchangeable power

and eternal light: Look favorably on

your whole Church, that wonderful and

sacred mystery; by the effectual work-

ing of your providence, carry out in

tranquility the plan of salvation; let the

whole world see and know that things

which were cast down are being raised

up, and things which had grown old

are being made new, and that all things

are being brought to their perfection by him, through whom all things were

made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord;

who lives and reigns with you and the

Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.



On Jan. 24, Our Lady Queen of Peace

Catholic Church, 2002 Allamanda Dr.

in New Port Richey, will host a 10 a.m.

service with Bishop Benoway preaching.

Hospitality begins at 9:30 a.m. in the

parish hall.

On Sunday, Jan. 28, another serviceis scheduled at ?? a.m. at the Episcopal

Church of the Good Shepherd, 1115 Cen-

ter Rd., in Venice.

The theme for this year’s services is

based on the Mark 7:31–37 passage of

Scripture and is summarized as “open our

ears and loosen our tongues.”

Pontifax is a Latin word for “bridge-

builder,” and this annual celebration is

led by representatives of the Episcopal,

Catholic and Lutheran women’s orga-

nizations.

Altar Guild meetingdates change

The Diocesan Altar Guild has

changed their usual annual meeting dates.

The north branch meeting has been moved

to March 10, 2007, and the south branch

will be March 31, 2007.

Thelma Wallis and Ann Neller will be

retiring and the bishop will be installing

new co-presidents.

Fundraising seminarset for Jan. 19

The Episcopal Church Foundation

and the Diocese of Southwest Florida

offers “Foundations For Fundraising” on

Jan. 19 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

513 Nassau St. South in Venice.

Foundations for Fundraising offers

three separate curriculum tracks, each fo-

cusing on one of three critical fundraising

areas: capital campaigns, annual giving

and planned giving. You choose whichof these courses most ts your needs, and

presenters will deliver an intense seminar

that will help you develop an effective

program for your parish in that area.

This event is free of charge, but the

diocese must have advance registration

before Jan. 5.

Seminars will be taught by faculty

from the Episcopal Church Foundation

and the Episcopal Network for Steward-

ship. Contact Jean Bordeaux at jbor-

[email protected] for details.

Beers to speakon state of the church

David Booth Beers, the chancellor

to the presiding bishop of the Episcopal

Church, will speak on the state of the

church Feb. 5, 2007, at St. Boniface

Episcopal Church in Sarasota.Beers’ presentation, “A check-up

on where we are as a church,” will befollowed by questions, answers and con-

of DaySpring, that we go together, arm

in arm, from this moment on.”

The 92-acre conference center and

summer camp facility on the Manatee

River near Ellenton has been operated by

the diocese since 1979.

At the meeting, Adler read a list of 11goals the task force had prepared:

1. A goal of increasing diocesan par-

ticipation in DaySpring;

2. All money previously advanced

to DaySpring will be considered

an investment in the ministry of

DaySpring;

3. All parties shall work together so

that DaySpring can raise money

outside of the diocesan budget,

including capital fund drives;

4. A goal is for DaySpring to be nan-cially independent, without taking

funds from the diocesan budget;

5. Management will manage;

6. Council will set policy;

7. There are no current plans to sell

any or all of DaySpring;

8. In recognit ion of the diocesan

investment in the ministry of Day-

Spring, the management of Day-

Spring shall begin to contribute to

the cash ow of the diocese.

9. DaySpring management shall

present a plan to provide funds tothe diocese in recognition of the

diocesan assumption of mortgage

debt, which we believe to be pos-

sible at the current payment levels

shown on the 2007 budget;

10. That $30,000 shown in the 2007

diocesan budget payable to Day-

Spring shall remain for that year.

11. We have agreed to work together

cooperatively in furtherance of

both diocesan and DaySpring

goals.

“It was felt by all of us participat-

ing in this conversation, that it would be

appropriate for DaySpring to recognize

that investment by making, sometime in

the future, some contribution to the cash

ow of the diocese,” Adler said.

Task force member Ted Tripp, who

is also president of the DaySpring Board

of Trustees, agreed. “We believe the man-

agement of DaySpring can provide cashto the diocese in lieu of those mortgages

and other payments that will reect the

fact that the diocesan funds provided the

asset in the rst place,” he said.

Adler also told Council while the

11 stated goals cover most of the big is-

sues, there are still details to be worked

out. “There is a great deal of negotiation

and compromise going on,” he said.

One sticking point that has been solved,

he added, was the debate over whether

depreciation should be factored into

DaySpring’s nancial reports. ”One ofthe things that will happen is that a de-

preciation schedule will be drawn up in

2007,” he said, although it’s not known

when DaySpring would be able to begin

payments.

The diocese’s chief nancial ofcer,

George McLaughlin, added that while

DaySpring will pay the interest on two

mortgages and the loan, the diocese will

pay back the principal.

“That’s the compromise we reached,”

he said. “DaySpring will [also] pay for theVBS building (Pavilion 2, near the youth

cabins) totally, given the fact they’re using

it and earning revenue from it.”

Finance Committee chairman Allen

Getz, who also sat on the task force, said

the process simply divided responsibility.

“We just kind of said ‘this is yours and

this is ours,’” Getz said.

The task force also included Day-

Spring’s executive director, Rosemary

Benoit.

DaySpring (Continued from page 5)

versation. The day is for both clergy and

lay leadership.

The program runs from 10 a.m. to

2 p.m. Lunch will be provided for a $5

donation. Register in advance by e-mail

to [email protected].

St. Boniface Church is at 5615

Midnight Pass Road, Siesta Key, in

Sarasota.

In Brief(Continued from page 5)



Reflections(Continued from page 4)

blessings but you can encourage others

to do so. If you are a student, a teacher,

a parent or in any other way involved

with children, you can introduce these

young people to what they can do for

others. A club could be formed whereby

the members can choose a project andraise money to support others much less

fortunate than they. Schools can also

participate. Visit www.er-d.org/school

for more information.

Gifts For Life is a program through

Episcopal Relief and Development. The

Gifts For Life catalog gives sugges-

tions of what a donation can supply. For

instance, $75 can provide a well that

could supply water to an entire com-

munity.

“Chickens are an important sourceof food and money for many families,”

the catalog says. “Just one hen can lay

nearly 200 eggs per year. The families

can eat some of the eggs and also sell

extra chickens at the local market.

When you buy a family a ock of chick -

ens, we (Gifts of Life) will also teach

the family how to take care of them.”

Education also reduces poverty.

Many have given $250 per year to the

scholarship program for children in our

companion Diocese of the Dominican

Republic to attend an Episcopal school

run by the diocese.

You might want to study the differ-

ent organizations working toward these

goals. The following web sites will give

much information:

1. The ofcial UN MDG web site:

http:/www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2. The Millennium Project: http://

www.unmillenniumproject.org/index.

htm

3. The World Bank (Data and Re-

search): http://www.worldbank.org/

4. Episcopalians for Global Rec-

onciliation: http://www.e4gr.org/index.

html

5. The ONE Campaign: http://

www.one.org/

6. ONE Episcopalian: http://www.

episcopalchurch.org/ONE/

7. Episcopal Relief and Develop-ment: http://er-d.org/

8. The Anglican Relief and Devel-

opment Fund: http://www.anglicanaid.

net/

9. Five Talents: http://www.vetal-

ents.org/ (Matthew 25:14-30)

Blessings to you and yours and

may we all use our talents and gifts to

reduce extreme poverty in our world.

hours with some 70 people testifying,

including Bishop John Lipscomb.

By late Tuesday afternoon,

with no proposals coming from the

Windsor committee and with the

convention scheduled to conclude

Wednesday evening, PresidingBishop Frank Griswold called a joint

meeting of both houses stating he

was appointing a committee to pre-

pare a Windsor response that would

be presented to a joint meeting of

both houses Wednesday morning,

when each house would then vote

separately on the resolution.

Each house passed the resolu-

tion overwhelmingly, and it was the

best that could be done by a divided

constituency. It was not a perfect

response but a good starting point.To say that Bishop Jefferts Sch-

ori’s election was not greeted with

enthusiasm is an absolute misstate-

ment of fact. I was present when the

Nominating Committee of the House

of Deputies announced her selec-

tion by the House of Bishops and

the deputies, both clerics and laity,

exploded with enthusiasm. The af-

rmation of her election by the depu-

ties was almost by acclamation, and

she was greeted by a standing and

prolonged reception when introduced

to the house shortly thereafter.

I subsequently met her and was

impressed by her strength and desire

to bring unity to the church. She

should be a great bishop.

— Richard F. Gerhart

Church of the Nativity, Sarasota

Letters(Continued from page 4)

All Faiths Food Bank holiday driveThe Rev. James Hedman receives bags of food from children at St. Mary Magdalene

Church in Bradenton Nov. 19. The church donated 7,698 pounds of food for individuals

and families in crisis in the Sarasota/Bradenton area.



Training/Workshops/Retreats

CCalendar Special EventsThe 30th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women to the

Priesthood. Jan. 6, 11 a.m. at St. Peter’s Cathedral, 140 4th

Street North, St. Petersburg. A service to mark the 30th an-

niversary of women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church.

Preaching will be the Rev. Tanya Beck, formerly of this diocese

and currently the transitional dean and rector of Christ Church

Cathedral, Indianapolis. A reception will follow the service.

Contact St. Peter’s Cathedral at (727) 822-4173.

David Booth Beers on the State of the Church. Feb. 5, 10

a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Boniface Episcopal Church, 5615 Midnight

Pass Road on Siesta Key in Sarasota. David Booth Beers, the

chancellor to the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church,

will give a presentation titled, “A check-up on where we are as

a church,” followed by a question-and-answer session. Lunch

will be provided ($5 donation). He will also speak on Sunday,

Feb. 4, at the 9 and 11 a.m. services and the forum at 10:10 a.m.

Register in advance by e-mail to [email protected]

Believe in a Miracle. Feb. 10, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Venice

Community Center, 326 Nokomis Ave. S., in Venice. A day of

renewal for women. Special guests include Bishop Stephen

Charleston, dean of Episcopal Divinity School, and music by

Dr. Horace Boyer. Cost is $10; lunch is included. Registration

is required. Contact Jackie Robe by e-mail at jrobe 18413@

aol.com.Webcast: National Theological Conference. Jan. 22–24. Trin-

ity Institute’s 37th National Theological Conference at Trinity

Church, Wall Street, will be broadcast live on the Web and shown

at Iona-Hope Church, 9650 Gladiolus Drive in Fort Myers. Local

attendees will participate in group and panel discussions during

the conference, titled “God’s Unnished Future, Why it Matters

Now.” It will focus on what it calls “apocalypticism,” where

popular apocalyptic works pit the forces of good and evil in an

imminent showdown, where the earth will be annihilated and the

saved lifted up. Suggested fees for participating at Iona-Hope are

$25 for the entire conference or $15 per day. Register by calling

(239) 454-4778 or by e-mail to [email protected].

If your group or congregation is planning an upcoming

event of interest to the rest of the diocese, please send the

information to:

The Southern Cross Calendar

7313 Merchant Court

Sarasota, FL 34240

or e-mail it to [email protected]

The 2007 diocesan events calendar is also available on our

web site:

www.dioceseswfa.org

“Safeguarding God’s Children” Trainer Recertication. Jan.

6, 9 a.m. to noon at Iona-Hope Episcopal Church, 9650 Gladi-

olus Drive, in Fort Myers. Required for all trainers. Day includes

review of existing material, introduction of the new elder-care

module and additional resources. Contact: Tana Sembiante at

(941) 556-0315, ext. 274, to register.

Facilitator Training for Walking the Mourner’s Path. Jan.

11–13 at Trinity-by-the-Cove, 553 Galleon Dr., in Naples. The

program is a Christ-centered, scripturally sound and church-

based ministry. Walking the Mourner’s Path is not group therapy

but is spiritually directed. To offer the program, a priest and two

lay people are required to offer the course. Cost is $350 for onefacilitator; $250 each for two or more. Contact the Rev. Alice

Sadler at (239) 262-6581, ext. 206.

12-Step Retreat. Jan. 12–14 at DaySpring Conference Center

near Ellenton. For all people in a 12-step recovery program.

Meetings, meditation, fellowship and relaxation amid nature.

Sponsored by the Committee on Recovery Ministries. Contact:

Jean Bordeaux at (941) 556-0315, ext. 271.

“Safeguarding God’s Children” Trainer Recertication.

Feb. 24, 9 a.m. to noon at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 1200

Snell Isle Blvd. NE, in St. Petersburg. Required for all trainers.

Day includes review of existing material, introduction of the

new elder-care module and additional resources. Contact: TanaSembiante at (941) 556-0315, ext. 274, to register.

Happening # 57. March 2-4 at DaySpring Conference Center

near Ellenton. Weekend retreat for rising 10th-12th graders.

Contact: Tana Sembiante at (941) 556-0315, ext. 274.

New Beginnings #41. April 13-15 at DaySpring Conference

Center near Ellenton. Weekend retreat for 6th-8th graders.

Contact: Tana Sembiante at (941) 556-0315, ext. 274.

“Foundations for Fundraising.” Jan. 19 at St. Mark’s Epis-

copal Church, 513 Nassau St. South in Venice. A program for

clergy and parish treasurers sponsored by the diocese and the

Episcopal Church Foundation. Curriculum tracks include stag-

ing successful capital campaigns, the latest thinking on annual

giving and the power of gift planning. The seminar is free but

reservations must be made no later than Jan. 5. Contact Jean

Bordeaux at (941) 556-0315, ext. 271.

12-Step Retreat. March 23–25 at DaySpring Conference Center

near Ellenton. For all people in a 12-step recovery program.

Meetings, meditation, fellowship and relaxation amid nature.

Sponsored by the Committee on Recovery Ministries. Contact:

Jean Bordeaux at (941) 556-0315, ext. 271.


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