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Diocesan News
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Diocese and Parish News

Parish News

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Johnna Fredrickson, who serves as interim director of education at Christ Church in Plymouth, had been folding origami figures to use in and around church classrooms to note changes in learning themes, but when the pandemic forced churches to move worship and activities online, making prayer cranes made sense as a parishwide activity.

Diocesan News
June 16, 2020 The landscape of the pandemic and various related matters continues to change each week.  Our hope is to keep you well-informed.  Please read the items below concerning the Spanish-language version of the “Stage Two Regathering Checklist”; property insurance; the Paycheck…
Diocesan News

As the phased reopening process progresses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts amidst the still-prevalent COVID-19 pandemic, Episcopal congregations in Massachusetts have been operating under a bishops’ directive that there be no in-person public worship services until at least July 1.  

As that date nears, Bishop Alan M. Gates and Bishop Gayle E. Harris of the Diocese of Massachusetts issued new guidance on June 15 that “strongly encourages” congregations to continue to refrain from holding in-person worship for now, but also permits congregations—in places where local conditions allow—to begin preparations for limited in-person regathering after July 1.

Parish News
In the summer of 2018, when the dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in downtown Boston, the Very Rev. Amy E. McCreath, called the Rev. Stephen Harding, the soon-to-be rector of Grace Church in Vineyard Haven, on the island of Martha's Vineyard, to welcome him to the diocese and his…
In the News
Like many other houses of worship, Grace Episcopal Church is reexamining how worship will look in the future and when it is safe to reopen. “We have what’s called an incarnational faith: we believe that God came to earth in a human body. Right now, human bodies in close proximity are a problem,”…
Diocesan News
The bishops issued the following guidance on June 15, 2020, to clergy and congregational and diocesan leadership, regarding preparations and the certification procedure required of Diocese of Massachusetts congregations before they transition to "Stage Two" in-person regathering…
Reflections
June 12, 2020 "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; … For the time is coming when people will not put…
Diocesan News
Bishop Alan M. Gates issued the following message to the diocesan community in remembrance of the late Bishop Barbara C. Harris, marking the 90th anniversary of her birth on June 12. Matthew Cavanaugh …
Diocesan News
The following update from Canon to the Ordinary Bill Parnell was e-mailed to clergy, wardens and treasurers on June 10: As businesses and public spaces are beginning to open in Massachusetts, we know you are anxious about what the lessening of restrictions will mean for our congregations and…
Diocesan News
Bishop Alan M. Gates ordained four deacons and five transitional deacons over the course of June 5 and 6.  Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the service happened in a new way this year--online and in small in-person groups. The Liturgy of the Word portion of the service took place over the…