Seeing The Face Of God In Each Other, the manual created by the national Episcopal Church and used by the Diocesan Antiracism Ministry, is the foundation of the trainings conducted with parish and deanery groups. The core of the program is based on scripture, prayer and spirituality. The 12-hour training is ordinarily conducted on a Friday evening and the following Saturday. Those completing the training are granted certification by the office of Bishop Gayle Harris.
It is canon law and the policy of the Episcopal Church not to discriminate on the basis of disability.
The Faith and the Environment Committee addresses the relationship between environmental issues and our Christian faith.
The Working Group on Faith and Genetics studies developments in genetic science and technology and explores their implications for Christian faith and living. Our intent is to be a source of information, not to be makers of policy.
Healthcare Ministry encompasses service to both individuals and institutions; in Boston particularly, with its hospitals that draw people from around the world, it has global reach and impact.
As providers of spiritual care, we are called to reassure those who are sick and suffering of God's love, and the healing power of that love. By engaging in this ministry, we manifest God's presence in their lives; by bringing their hopes and fears to the gathered community of faith; we incorporate them into the body of Christ.
The members of our congregations are aging. We believe that God is calling us to a ministry with the aging, first of all, to serve a group of people who are often left out of the life of parishes and of the diocese because of increasing limitations caused by declining health - or by perceived limitations. They can be and need to be served by the church - on parish, deanery and diocesan levels.
The Peace and Justice Committee serves as a clearing house and work group on many of the social issues confronting the church. It also develops task forces to carry them out. Over the past year, the committee has addressed issues concerning peace with justice between Palestinians and Israelis, persecution of Christians in the Sudan, the war in Iraq, the conditions in Iraq and opposition to the death penalty.
The mission of Refugee Immigration Ministry (RIM) is to serve asylum
seekers and those detained by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) through social services, pastoral care and advocacy. RIM
is an ecumenical/interfaith ministry with strong ties to the Episcopal
congregations in the diocese.
The story of the Margaret Coffin Prayer Book Society, a very Bostonian institution, is itself very Bostonian. Margaret Coffin was a devoted Episcopal woman of Boston in the early 19th century. As a favorite personal good works project, she liked to give away prayer books to people who could not afford them. Her project is carried on today by the group that bears her name.