News

With newly repaired church bells ringing a 10-bell chime above, and jackhammers blasting below, officials at Grace Episcopal Church in New Bedford talked about the restoration work they have undertaken following serious flood damage to the lower level of the adjoining building, Grace House.

Dear Friends of God's Creation, Our diocese's fifth annual Creation Care Season (from St. Francis Day, Oct. 4 through the rest of the Pentecost season until I Advent on Nov. 30) comes on the heels of the Sept. 21 global climate demonstration in New York, at which more than 300,000 people,…

St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln has announced a new series of worship services that will explore innovative ways of worshiping together.  "Come and Grow: St. Anne’s @ 5" will be offered one Sunday a month in the late afternoon through May. The services will be followed by food and…

Judith M. Lidberg, former canon for ordained vocations for the Diocese of Massachusetts, died at her home in South Windsor, Conn., on Sept. 23 as a result of ovarian cancer.For more than seven years prior to her retirement in February 2013, Lidberg helped to raise up …

Students at Esperanza Academy returned to classes as usual on Monday, Sept. 22, following a small fire at the school. The electrical fire started in an unoccupied room at about 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15. The Lawrence fire department quickly contained the fire and limited damage to an area of the…

Area Episcopalians joined an estimated 311,000 people for the People's Climate March in New York City on Saturday, Sept. 20 (New York Times).  The march coincided with the build-up to a UN summit on climate change, which is slated to take place on Tuesday, Sept. 23.  …

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church is meeting in the Diocese of Taiwan from Sept. 17 to Sept. 23. Bishop Alan M. Gates is in attendance, and sent this update from Taipei.  For full coverage of the meeting of the House of Bishops, visit Episcopal News Service.   …

During the Sept. 13 service of consecration of the new bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, colleagues and friends presented the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates with numerous vestments and symbols of his new office.These included a Bible, presented by the chief consecrator, the Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane,…

With screens and banners hung, an altar built, carpets, candles and chairs placed, and hundreds of flowers arranged by dozens of hands in the days leading up to the occasion, it was liturgy—the work of God’s people for the glory of God—that transformed Boston University’s Agganis Arena from…

The following is a message from the Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, which appeared in the Sept. 13 consecration liturgy booklet. A French proverb attributed to Jean Massieu says that “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”My heart is full of recent memories of the untold hours offered by those who have…