When the Episcopal Church gathers for its 76th General Convention July 8-17 in Anaheim, Calif., the range of issues coming before it will be seemingly as broad as the church itself, with its 2.1 million members in 110 dioceses and 16 countries.

ECM Photo: Metro Design Homelessness is either a crisis to be managed or a problem to be solved, longtime activist Phillip Mangano told 230 Episcopal City Mission [ECM] supporters in a keynote speech at the organization’s annual meeting at Boston University on June 9.  He urged them to be “homelessness abolitionists” in the tradition of past generations of activists who ended slavery, male-only suffrage, segregation and apartheid.

Photo: Peter Paradise The Diocese of Massachusetts ordained three deacons and six transitional deacons on Saturday, June 6 at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston.

With a newly simplified formula in place for calculating parish assessments, the diocesan Budget Committee will continue its work over the summer toward a 2010 budget to propose to the Diocesan Council in September.  The committee invites any interested persons to attend its next meeting on July 2, 8 a.m., at Emmanuel Church (15 Newbury Street) in Boston.

Photo courtesy of Diocesan Youth Council Church of the Redeemer in Biloxi breaks ground: DYC members from Massachusetts helped celebrate the occasion and are pictured here with retired bishop A.C. “Chip” Marble (center left) and the Rev. Harold Roberts, Redeemer’s rector. Every spring break since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, Diocesan Youth Council members have been making their way to Mississippi, where a volunteer worker camp becomes their home away from home, the Church of the Redeemer their church family and hurricane survivors, still rebuilding homes and lives, their neighbors in need. 

This year, April 18-24, they went to celebrate as well as work.