“I’d like you to be the next Archdeacon”, my new Bishop said to me when I had been a Deacon for only three years. The Bishop who had ordained me three years prior in December 2016, had retired, and I was very aware that the previous Archie had done a lot of scheduling of deacons…
This past Wednesday, I began the season of Lent with ashes by engaging in the nearly 2-decade old taking-it-to-the-streets practice of “Ashes to Go.” While most of those who drove or walked up were parishioners or Roman Catholic neighbors who could not be at an Ash Wednesday service for one reason or another, the encounters…
Back in December, the woman who cleans the Ministry Center discovered a fox curled up beside the building in the courtyard, apparently deciding that our property was just the right place for a winter nap. For days afterward, the staff at the Center—mostly Canon Cathy—became entirely, unapologetically obsessed. Naturally, the fox was given a name:…
The warming center at Christ Episcopal Church welcomed five people last night, another bitter cold day. Three of those people are unhoused without a place to stay and two others lost their electricity from the powerful winds yesterday and wanted a warm place for the night. The Clarendon fire station also opened as a warming…
With the holidays approaching, it is more important now than ever to be in tune with ourcommunity and the people surrounding us. To be a human is to have relationships with thosehumans around us, and that is ever present in a spiritual context within a diocese such as ourown.On Saturday December 6th, the new bishop…
About 15 years ago, the former All Saints Church in Amherst merged with St. Mark’s Church in Buffalo’s Riverside neighborhood, leaving the diocese with an unused church building. Rather than let it sit vacant, a group of Episcopalians in recovery began to dream. What if this space could become a home for healing? A place…
Bishop Steve and Canon Cathy visited Holy Apostles’ Perry and Trinity Warsaw on Sunday, November 16, where they learned about a heart-warming ice cream contest that took place in Wyoming County this past spring. What began as a fun community activity revealed an unexpected—and very Christ-like—act of generosity from two local third graders. Each year,…
Stitching isn’t just needlework. It’s a bit of art, good fun, and a nice way to relax – and also the makings of a good church fundraiser. Twenty-five people gathered Saturday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church for the annual cross-stitch retreat. The funds raised are benefitting the church in its role of serving the wider…
On Saturday, October 25, a group of 35 youth and adults from across the diocese gathered for a meaningful and educational journey to the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center. This trip offered participants an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of those who courageously sought freedom and those who helped make that freedom possible….
On October 23rd, at Rich’s Atrium in Buffalo, The Rev. Luke Fodor, Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown and founder of the New Neighbors Coalition, received the Community Partnership Award from Journey’s End Refugee Services during the organization’s 40th Anniversary Celebration. In his acceptance remarks, Fr. Fodor reflected on how one simple “yes”…
The ministry of our churches often extends far beyond the Sunday services we most readily imagine—coffee hour fellowship, powerful preaching, and the sacred gift of receiving the Eucharist. Increasingly, congregations across our diocese are also discovering that their buildings can be vital resources for the community, places where the baptismal covenant is lived out in…
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, LeRoy was awarded two grants this summer that helped address a long-standing roof issue that caused disintegrating plaster and discolored paint above the altar inside the church. A further concern was the possible damage to the very large and notable “Resurrection Window,” designed by the Rev. Bishop John Barrett Kerfoot (1816-1881),…
