ECW Women Articles-Poems-Announcements Archives - Page 8 of 19

A Breathless Moment

It is a breathless moment
when, coming to the edge
Of what confounds me,
I pause and ask myself
if I have courage
To trust completely
and risk failure,
Sometimes I have faltered,
Turned back into the
Wilderness of self-contained
existence and stumbled,
But when I listen to the
beating of my heart
I hear the voice of
My Creator calling me
to step outside myself,
And I am always held
safe and secure.

by C.C. Johnson

Diocese of Lexington
Parish – St. Raphael the Archangel

Episcopal Church Women2020-08-18T14:22:29+00:00July 27th, 2020|

Triennial 2021 Status Update

I wanted to bring you all up to date on the status for Triennial 2021. Basically at this time, we are not certain as to how we will proceed, whether Triennial will be rescheduled, held in a virtual meeting or exactly how it will evolve. We will keep you all informed as we know. Triennial is held in conjunction with General Convention and we cannot determine how we will proceed until their arrangements are confirmed. This has not yet been decided.

To date, General Convention’s Chairs and Vice Chairs, parliamentarians and chancellors of both houses and the executive officer have met to consider alternative plans for General Convention. The task group is working actively to consider various scenarios and will make a report to the Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements. That body will make a recommendation to the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies, who will then ask Executive Council for their advice and consent to their decision about how and when the 80^th General Convention will proceed.

All of this sounds very detailed, I know, but we must take so many factors into consideration. As many of you know, Pat Wellnitz and I serve on the Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements. The Committee, as well as others, are exploring new ways to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we go forward.

Karen Patterson Episcopal Church Women President 2018 to 2021 Karen O Patterson
Episcopal Church Women
President 2018 to 2021

Episcopal Church Women2020-07-25T19:59:46+00:00July 25th, 2020|

St. Francis Episcopal Church Sews Masks for Local Hospital

When shortages of PPE were reported throughout the nation as the pandemic took hold in mid-March, the women of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Eureka, Missouri mobilized to offer their services to St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield. The volunteer coordinator at St. Luke’s asked if they could make cloth masks for the support staff giving the quantity thought to be needed in the near future. Overwhelmed with the number given them, Donna Bernert, a member of St. Francis contacted the Diocese of Missouri ECW Board, asking if they could mobilize volunteers across the diocese to sew cloth masks.

The ECW Board approved the appeal and Deborah Caby, current president of the ECW Board, Dio.MO, made sure all logistics and safety protocols were in place and put out an appeal to the women of the diocese asking for help in sewing masks. Within the hour of being published, the phone began to ring with dozens of women from the various parishes in the diocese offering their time and talent in sewing cloth masks. The diocesan ECW Board acted as liaison between individual volunteers and the women of St. Francis, and took over the administrative details.

Donna Bernert and Sally Hader, members of St. Francis, spearheaded this pickup ministry. They designed a system where sewing materials were prepared, assembled into kits complete with all materials needed to make 25-30 masks. Delivery of kits followed stringent safety protocols to keep everyone safe during this project. Several men assisted with driving and member Charlie Coleman made meals for the women at St. Francis so they could utilize their time assembling kits and sewing masks. Not a detail was skipped. In a few short weeks, over 3100 masks were delivered to St. Luke’s.

This was all accomplished without members from St. Francis or members throughout the Diocese of Missouri leaving their home. Social contact was perhaps a wave from a window, but many times, no one saw each other’s face. While the work was solitary, the bonds of sisterhood and friendship grew.

Blessings seem to overflow when doing the work of The Lord. St. Francis is a very small parish but met the challenges of shortages of materials as businesses shut down and lack of funding for the ministry, with the belief God would provide what was needed to do the work. They found friends along the way who donated materials and money to make sure the support staff at St. Luke’s had cloth masks. There were several volunteer sewers who did not attend church, but hopefully will remember the seeds of Love planted through this ministry.

With thanksgiving, the women of St. Francis acknowledge the outpouring of love from women around our diocese. The women of St. Francis have now turned their attention to sewing cloth masks for the Episcopal churches in the diocese, as they begin opening their doors for worship. Over 500 masks were delivered to various parishes with an additional 25 specially designed masks by Sally Hader were delivered to St. Thomas Deaf Episcopal Church with clear plastic inserts added, allowing worshipers the ability to read lips.

Submitted by Deborah Caby, President

ECW Board, Diocese of Missouri

Episcopal Church Women2020-08-18T14:20:16+00:00July 18th, 2020|

ECW Province 5 news – New Website

I am pleased to inform you that the ECW of Province 5 has a new website! You may reach us at www.ecwprovince5.org Our intention is to have the most up-to-date information about programming across the region. As so many events will be held via videoconferencing, we’re seizing the opportunity to share events that otherwise would be more local in attendance. Our annual meeting was held online in April and our attendance was a bit higher than our previous year’s meeting, but it also included women who would not have attended an in-person meeting.

The Diocese of Chicago also has a website, www.ecwchicago.org. The fall programs are still in development so it’s not as updated as it will be later this summer.

And the third news item is our Province 5 video on the women in the Episcopal Church. “Connecting with History, Shaping the Future” is our 4 ½ minute video including historical information about women in the church, affiliated women’s organizations and current/recent service projects from several dioceses in the province. We presented the first version of this program last summer at the Province V “Big Provincial Gathering” as part of the ECW workshop but it has been improved and background music has been added. You may link to it with this link as well as find it posted on YouTube. https://youtu.be/-Rthbg2JwPs

We’ve been busy and we have no plans to slow down!

Beth Petti

VP Province 5

Episcopal Church Women2020-07-17T15:12:16+00:00July 17th, 2020|

St. Gregory’s ECW Awards Scholarship

Three years ago the Episcopal Church Women of St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton, Florida started a scholarship program that we offer each year assuming we are blessed with successful ECW fundraising efforts which include the generous donations of our greater church parishioners. We started this program in support of the National ECW organization. We were particularly interested in aligning to the mission’s goals of bringing aid to women to help them become equal partners within their communities; and to provide an opportunity for women to improve life for themselves, their families, and their communities. This scholarship was created to support all women aspiring to complete an education in whatever training/academic program they choose and women of any age can apply.

Our scholarship initially began with an award of $500.00 and then we were able to raise the offering to $1,000.00 for 2020. Each year potential award winners complete an application and send supporting documentation to our committee and chair for review and consideration. If an applicant is selected, the recipient is notified and we arrange to award the scholarship in church. This year, however, due to Covid, we were still able to provide an award in a virtual Town Hall via facilitated by Reverend Andrew Sherman.

Thank you! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Blessings,

Kathryn (Kathy) Cottrell

Boca Raton, Florida

Episcopal Church Women2020-07-17T15:06:11+00:00July 17th, 2020|

Annual Province V ECW Meeting on May 2020

I attended the Zoom meeting of the Annual Province V ECW Meeting on May 1st and 2nd. The presidents met on May 1st. We had 57 members for the May 2nd Zoom meeting. It started with the Business Meeting, where we elected the 2021-2024 Reps. To CPC, NECW and UTO. Then we had 15 minutes of music between our speakers. Our speakers were The Rev. Rosalind Hughes, “Responding to Gun Violence”, Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio; for more information about gun violence you can go to Bishopsagainstgunviolence.org; Ms. Shelby Kretz, “Little Justice Leaders”, littlejusticeleaders.com, she creates books for children; and the Rev. Kay M. Houck, “Her Way of Love”, herwayoflove.com. I highly recommend you look at their websites. Ms. Kathy Mank, Province V ECW President and Ms. Beth Petti, Province V ECW Vice-President did a great job putting this meeting together.

On June 10th, the Diocesan ECW had a Zoom meeting titled: “Diocese of Missouri Zoom Connections Event”. The Rev. Dr. Maria Evans is interim rector at Christ Church in Rolla, MO and is also a pathologist, a laboratory medical director, and has served on hospital infection control committees for more than 30 years. Her topic title is “Living Life on the Fly: Holy Humor & Absurdities”. She showed us where there is humor in the Bible. We participated in 2 break-out groups and discussed the humor we have experienced during the pandemic. They are planning more of these “Zoom Connections Event”.

Jan Goossens

Province V Rep.

Episcopal Church Women2020-07-17T13:47:24+00:00June 25th, 2020|

Announcing our New Website

Over the past three months we have rebuilt our website. We’ve included a lot of upgrades that allow us to share what our members are accomplishing and provide you with timely news about the Episcopal Church Women. One of the lessons we’ve learned during this pandemic is that our members want to feel connected with each other and learn about the trials and successes of our ministries.

It’s been a daunting task to take the old website and upgrade it to modern standards but in this process, we’ve learned so many wonderful things about our past.

We are also creating a weekly Women in Action – News Blast email. This allows us to keep everyone informed about ECW news. We’ve been doing this for several months with our Facebook page and the response is overwhelmingly positive. As we send out these news blasts, we are also including articles, poems, prayers, and other stories that speak to our desire to serve Christ.

Our goal is 3000 monthly visitors to the website by the end of this Triennial. At present, we average about 600. This is a bold challenge and one we’ve discussed for several months. Can it happen? Yes, and here’s how…

We need your stories: short articles, poems, prayers, photos from your weekly meetings.

Are you making masks—we want to hear about it.
Did your group raise scholarship money—tell us and we’ll post the story on the national website.
Did your local newspaper do a story on your group—send us that too.

*******************

Tell us what you’re doing and we’ll share your accomplishments around the world.
Send stories, poems… to editor@ecwnational.org

Are you ready to see the new website….

National Episcopal Church Women
ecwnational.org

Karen Patterson Episcopal Church Women President 2018 to 2021

The NECW Board hopes that each of you will enjoy the new website and our weekly news blast.

You all amaze me in all that you do and try.

Never forget that there is no failure in trying, you come out a better person in the end for it. I am so proud to be your National President. It is a joy and a pleasure to serve!

Ms. Karen O Patterson

Episcopal Church Women2020-06-03T20:37:57+00:00June 4th, 2020|

Province II continues to serve in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic

Jennifer Kenna, Province 2 Representative
National Board of Episcopal Church Women

As I write this article, I hold in my heart many of our ECW members in the New York City, Long Island and New Jersey communities where COVID-19 is running rampant – it is the national epicenter of the virus outbreak. Therefore, my information is limited but there are some bright spots.

Diocese of the Virgin Islands ECW President Edith Haynes-Lake reports that all of their ECW groups continue to hold all those affected by this deadly outbreak in their prayers,” covered by the saving embrace of Jesus Christ.”

Diocese of Central New York – my home diocese. St. Matthew’s Church, Liverpool, just outside of Syracuse, NY continues to be actively ministering in the midst of this pandemic.

Making Masks

Several of our parishioners have been making face masks, a great project for folks with sewing skills and time on their hands. Some patterns and information about people and agencies looking for masks can be found here: syracusemaskproject.org. If you make masks for parishioners, they can be left at the drop-off spot at church. Penny Dugas and Linda Chambers are happy to answer questions and provide advice for people who would like to make masks. Many thanks to Penny and Linda for their donation of masks for use by parishioners; they can be picked up in the drop-off spot at church as they are available. Let me know if you need one and we’ll figure out a way to get it to you.

Do you know anyone who could use some help?

Thanks to everyone who has generously donated food and supplies to our Emergency Food closet and the Samaritan Center. Last week, The Outreach Committee delivered food to the Liverpool Central School District’s food pantry, personal items to the North Syracuse Central School District’s pop-up food pantry, and supplies to the Samaritan Center for their to-go meal program. If you know of anyone in our congregation or in the community who could use a couple of bags of emergency food, please let me know.

They are caring for each other and those outside the walls in many ways. All three Diocese of Central New York delegates to Triennial 2021 are from St. Matthew’s.

Diocese of Long Island

From the Diocese of Long Island, President Lois-Johnson Rodney sends sad news that in her parish alone there are 5 deaths per week. Her husband Dennis was hospitalized for 2 months with COVID-19, but thankfully has been sent recently to rehab. Our prayers continue for Dennis and all those in LI suffering from the effects of this deadly virus.

Diocese of New Jersey

We are planning a “virtual” UTO Ingathering and Annual Meeting! With the expert help of our ECW Chaplain, Rev. Amy Cornell, and our Worship and Spiritual Development Chair (and Acting Vice President), Allie Graham, we will soon be publicizing information on how our ECW around the Diocese can participate via Zoom, either with a computer, smart phone, or even by plain old regular phone! All will be able to join in! The date and time are the same as previously announced; June 6, 2020, beginning at 10:00 AM. We are pleased that The Rt. Reverence William Stokes will be joining us during this event also, and we will get registration information out to all parishes in the next week or so.

The Diocese of NJ ECW will also award their annual Student Service Awards, monetary gifts presented to deserving high school seniors and underclassmen in honor of their service to the church and the world. This year, the board also voted to return to publishing a yearbook!

“Episcopal Church Women in the Diocese of New Jersey, and indeed, around the world, are working to help others during these trying times, whether sewing face masks, leading on-line prayer groups and bible studies, calling shut-ins, feeding the hungry, or being prayer warriors, we are serving as we discern God calling us to do. It is often the worst of times that shine a light on the best in people, and that is especially true of our Episcopal Church Women!” (quoted from the report of Diocesan President Donna Freidel).

Province 2 ECW had looked forward to holding their annual meeting in the Diocese of the Virgin Islands, hosted by their ECW groups, under the leadership of President Edith Haynes-Lake and in collaboration with Dianne Roberts, Diocese of New York and Vernese Smith, Diocese of Long Island, who worked long and hard to make arrangements. Since that will not be possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, plans are in the works to hold a “virtual” Province 2 ECW meeting in the next few weeks, as there is business to be tended to.

Please continue to hold in prayer all those in the dioceses of New York, Newark, New Jersey and Long Island especially as they struggle through the deep waters of this painful time in our lives.

Episcopal Church Women2022-09-28T17:38:56+00:00May 6th, 2020|

Nebraska Province VI make Covid-19 masks and hold Zoom meetings

Lynn Fitzgibbon, Province V Representative, sent a note on what their group at St. Martha’s in Papillion are doing:

A team of people from our church, St. Martha’s in Papillion, NE are making masks for whoever needs them. Whoever includes a nursing home in the area. They are continuing to do this, delivering them to those who need them.

She also included an inspirational method she and others in Province V are using to stay in touch.

From Women’s Ministries in the Diocese of Nebraska:

As with everyone across the nation, our plans for gatherings have changed and we are exploring different ways of keeping in touch. One thing we have done is to sponsor a Zoom meeting for anyone who would like to join to discuss various topics. Our first one was on April 3. We offered two sessions, one afternoon and one evening, taking into account the two time zones in our diocese. Our topic was “Missing Holy Week” where we talked about how it felt to be alone, without our church families, in this most special week of the Christian year. We are planning more sessions in the weeks to come.

In our parishes we are helping where needed – making masks, serving meals to those who need them, operating food pantries and working with food distribution centers. We watch worship services either from our own parishes, or take the opportunity to watch services from other churches within or outside our diocese. We take part in Zoom gatherings to celebrate Morning Prayer, virtual coffee hour, Centering Prayer, and study time together. Our prayers are for those affected by the virus, directly or indirectly, and for our nation.

Episcopal Church Women2020-07-17T13:39:35+00:00May 5th, 2020|

Living with COVID-19

Being confined at home and keeping physical distance from dearly loved ones as are our families, friends and faith community, more than ever has revealed to us our vulnerabilities and how much we depend on each other and belong together in this globalized broken and hurting world.

In Spanish we say: “nuestras vidas penden de un hilo” (our lives hang from a string) which means that at any time an accident, a grave illness, or any type of violence out of our control, can cause us to lose our life. Believe or not, right now our lives and the lives of the entire five continents hang by a thread at the hands of a novel virus called the coronavirus that has practically paralyzed most of human activity. Those of us still alive, desperately cling to the hope that our last hour will not come.

In the silence of our homes that have become our refuge, we try to make sense of these unprecedented times praying for all of us. We reach out to our loved ones, writing and calling friends from the present and past. We are moved to tears when we hear any story related to this pandemic, stories of great and humble deeds for other human beings generously offered by men, women and persons of all ages. Those we will never meet but for whom we will be forever grateful.

During this time of turmoil another side of our nation has surfaced. We can no longer hide it under any pretense: this land is not the land of opportunity for all. This microscopic colorless lethal virus has brought to our astonished gaze each one of the social inequities and inequalities we knew existed, and for which many conscientious souls tried to offer solutions to end the suffering, but as this pandemic advances we see them clear as the morning light.

Desperately embracing the hope to survive this pandemic, we try to imagine what the future will be after the Covid-19 virus is under control and or after a vaccine is developed to protect us from this horrible plague. Right now, all we can do is follow guidelines we are told will keep us from exposing ourselves, and protect our neighbors, our loved ones, and everybody from the virus. We can also offer prayers and connect with one another to listen and to offer amiable advice to calm the anguish, the grief, and the uncertainty that has become the normal in our lives.

Rev. Ema Rosero-Nordalm

Social Justice Representative

Episcopal Church Women2020-04-20T18:55:57+00:00April 20th, 2020|