Diocese of Newark News
Announcing GreenFaith Energy Services Program and Upcoming June Webinars
At the 2013 Convention this past January, we adopted a resolution calling on the congregations of the diocese to work with GreenFaith, the interfaith environmental organization which the diocese helped found, to reduce their energy use and costs and their carbon footprint. This is a response to a dual reality – that congregations can realize real energy savings at a time when church budgets are tight, and that we should model responsible energy use in response to climate change.
In order to address these needs, we are pleased to announce the GreenFaith Energy Services Program, a partnership of GreenFaith and the Diocese of Newark for congregations of the diocese. The Program will begin with the first 20 congregations that sign up to take part.
Planned Giving Workshop
Are you interested in starting a Planned Giving program at your congregation... but don’t know what it entails or where to start? Or do you have an existing Planned Giving program, but are having some challenges? Or do you just have questions about Planned Giving. If so, this workshop is just what you are looking for.
Pentecost: gathering in and sending out
The Holy Spirit brings people together – so that we can see and understand each other at the deepest level. And the understanding is, for Christians, that we are all connected through that same Spirit.
On Pentecost afternoon, the Holy Spirit brought many parts of the diocese together to sing, to pray – to have our ministries blessed – and to be fed and freed by the Spirit.
Jubilee Center of Hoboken celebrates 10 years
[The Jersey Journal] The Jubilee Center of Hoboken began its 10-year anniversary celebration Friday morning with the unveiling of new bricks for the commemorative walkway around the building at Jackson and Sixth streets.
The event was one of several that will take place this year to celebrate 10 years of success for the center. The Jubilee Center is a project of All Saints Community Service and Development Corporation [which was created in 1995 by All Saints' Episcopal Parish in Hoboken - ed. note].
Go to the full article and photo album >>The Holy Spirit, comforting and mysterious, is ‘never neat’
[Episcopal News Service] The Holy Spirit comes, for some, as a comforting presence. For others, it’s a disturbing upsetter. And still, for others, it is mysterious, even scary.
But don’t confuse it just with Pentecost – the 50th day after Easter – which the church observes this Sunday (May 19) and which “challenges us to focus at least one day on the Spirit’s activity in our life,” according to the Rev. Janet Broderick, rector of St. Peter’s Church, in Morristown, New Jersey.
Go to the original article >>Big Changes Coming to EfM - Come, Discuss, Learn
Since its founding in the 1970s, EfM (Education for every Christian's Ministry) has used textbooks developed by the faculty of an Episcopal Seminary. Starting this autumn, we'll be using standard text books used by colleges and seminars around the world. They'll have rich pictures, color, and web links! And yet your books-included tuition will still be a low $350 per year.
Join the new Diocese of Newark LinkedIn group
The Diocese of Newark now has a presence on LinkedIn, the world's largest online professional network. Join the Episcopal Diocese of Newark LinkedIn group and find postings and links to important information for the support and operations of your congregations. Expand your own networks by finding colleagues and friends from thoughout the diocese. Resources for congregational requirements can be found here, as well as information on other resources to assist you in supporting your congregation. Join today!
Church Communications Training Day
On Friday, June 14, Episcopal House will sponsor a Church Communications Training Day with the two foremost authorities on Episcopal church communications, Canticle Communications co-founders Jim Naughton and Rebecca Wilson. Find out more about Jim and Rebecca.
Pentecost: Understanding one another at the soul level
The feast of Pentecost commemorates the release of the Holy Spirit. It is long thought of as the birthday of the church. Scripture records the first Pentecost as happening when people were gathered in one place (Acts 2:1). My guess is that they gathered outside, partly because there were far too many people to be contained indoors and partly because the Spirit, which in Hebrew is Ruah (or breath or wind of God), is most manifest outside.
Diocese of Newark girls raise money for Afghan School Project girls' high school
On Saturday, April 20, the girls connected with the Afghan School Project of St. Luke’s Church in Hope held a community spaghetti dinner to raise money to buy 50 tables and chairs for the Yakawlang Central Girls High School in Afghanistan. The dinner, which raised $643 of the $3550 needed, took place at St. Luke’s sister church, St. Mary’s in Belvidere.
The Sisters of St. John Baptist celebrate 100 years of ministry
On April 27, a brilliant, sunny Saturday, the Sisters of St. John Baptist, a religious order for women in the Episcopal Church, celebrated one hundred years of ministry at their historic convent building in Mendham Township. About 180 friends, Associates and local residents joined the Sisters for a service of thanksgiving, followed by a joyous procession to the cornerstone itself where prayers of thanksgiving were offered.
Hetrick-Martin Institute benefit at Grace, Newark honors gay composers
[The Star-Ledger] Through the Hetrick-Martin Institute, LGBT youth receive support with after-school programs that range from counseling and crisis management to health and wellness education as well as academic enrichment and career preparation.
On Sunday, Grace Church in Newark will honor the program with a benefit concert celebrating the achievements of gay composers. HMI, which started more than 30 years ago in Manhattan, began offering services in Newark in 2011.
Go to the full article >>Vestry University
A day for all wardens, vestry members, treasurers, clergy and other congregational leaders to learn, network and celebrate your ministry. Saturday, October 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Church in Ridgewood.
Introducing Sally Muscarella, Interim Alleluia Fund Coordinator
Sally Muscarella has begun consulting with the Fund Development Committee and the staff at Episcopal House on an interim basis to coordinate the Alleluia Fund, while we continue to search for a part-time Advisor to the Bishop for Fund Development.
The discipline of hospitality in the face of violence
I have never owned a gun. I last fired one when I was about twelve years old, at a rifle range while at summer camp. I am not part of the gun culture, and know very little about it - except for the flood of resistance released by a portion of that culture toward any legislation that intends to reduce gun violence.
Gun Sanity Rally at Christ Church, Ridgewood Criticizes 'Failure' Of Congress
[Patch.com] With the failure of proposed gun control measures to pass the U.S. Senate this week, gun control proponents turned their focus to the state level in a rally on Sunday.
“Stand Up for Gun Sanity,” sponsored by the Bergen County Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence and held at Ridgewood’s Christ Episcopal Church, featured Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-9), Joseph Chuman, leader of the Teaneck-based Ethical Culture Society, State Senators Loretta Weinberg (D-37) and Robert Gordon (D-38), as well as several speakers from around the county.
Go to the full article >>Video: Praying for immigration reform, in Morristown
[MorristownGreen.com] On the eve of the introduction of a federal immigration reform bill, supporters marched across Morristown from St. Margaret's Roman Catholic Church to St. Peter's Episcopal Church to pray for its passage.
Go to the full article >>After the Boston bombing, finding - and sharing - Christ's peace
The violence continues.
On Monday afternoon, three people were killed and scores were injured in Boston. Details are still emerging, but it has unleashed a level of fear – and brought our psyches immediately back to the tragedy of 9/11. We talked with our children last night; and they said that all their friends who had run on Monday reported that they were all right. A priest friend of mine from Massachusetts told me this morning that both of his sons had been at the finish line cheering on friends, but they left before the explosions.
Interfaith group pledges to "not stand idly by," urges gun-violence reduction covenant
Speaking to more than 200 members of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh congregations from around northern New Jersey, Bishop Mark Beckwith said, "...never in my 34 years [of ordained ministry] have I seen an issue that's surfaced so quickly and so urgently, ...that's galvanized people in such a powerful way," as the issue of gun violence.
The interfaith group assembled at Christ Church in East Orange on Sunday, April 14 to support a national effort to negotiate a multi-party covenant to reduce gun violence in America.
At Church of the Atonement in Tenafly, interfaith panel discuss women's role in religion
[Northern Valley Suburbanite] Religious leaders and community members attended an interfaith forum on Sunday to discuss women's role in religion.
The program at the Church of Atonement in Tenafly was the first such event the Interfaith Women's Initiative has organized in Bergen County. The group plans to hold similar events in the future.
Go to the full article >>
Follow us on Facebook
Subscribe to our listservs
Submit news for publication