Upcoming activities - August 2004

Monthly News from the Office of the Bishop
News & Events - October 2004
Hawai`i Episcopalians and the Windsor Report With this week’s release of the Anglican Church’s Lambeth Commission Windsor Report on strengthening church unity in a time of divisiveness, the Rt. Rev. Richard S.O. Chang, bishop of Hawai`i, urges members of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai’i to take time to read, pray, reflect and discuss the report within their congregations before moving to action. The 93-page document issued by the Anglican Communion Office in London on Oct. 18, swirled around the globe in minutes by Internet, prompting reactions from the 77-million member denomination. “The report invites us into a process,” Chang says. “The conversation marks the beginning of a discernment process in the diocese and the wider Anglican Communion. It is our responsibility to accept the invitation.” He cautions that the document is “carefully, thoughtfully crafted,” and will take careful reading to truly understand the language used by the commission and the challenges presented to the church. The bishop immediately scheduled seven meetings across the islands in November to gather clergy and lay leaders to discuss the report. He expects each person to read the report before participating. (The Windsor Report and church news agency releases are all posted on this diocesan website). “I will participate fully and attend each conversation which I clearly expect not only to be about human sexuality but also about the life of the church. This will be a model of conversation for the members of the diocese.” The bishop also will use these conversations as a fact-finding time to gather the “sense of the diocese” and take that insight to several national meetings scheduled by the church to discuss this topic. Bishops of Episcopal dioceses in the western United States (Province 8) will gather to discuss the Report before Dec. 1. In early December, Bishop Chang will meet in New York City as a member of the Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold’s Council of Advice. On Jan. 12-13, 2005 he will attend a special meeting of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City. The report, commissioned by Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, calls for healing and reconciliation of the international church whose unity has been strained by the ordination of a gay bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire of Episcopal Church USA, and the blessing of same-sex unions in one diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada. It asks all parties to the controversy to express regret for ways in which their actions have distressed others, that the churches put a moratorium on the ordination of sexually active gay clergy as bishops and same-sex blessings, and that bishops stop crossing jurisdictional boundaries to serve dissenting congregations. It also recommends several structural initiatives for worldwide Anglicanism that may take years to consider. Chair of the 17-member international commission writing the report after a year of deliberation is Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, Robin Eames. Letter to the Diocese of Hawai`i from the Rt. Rev. Richard S.O. Chang From the Presiding Bishop: A Word to the Church Schedule set for Presiding Bishop’s visit, Dec. 1-5 Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, will visit the Diocese of Hawai`i Dec. 1-5. The visit will include a Sunday service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, a Friday morning gathering with clergy and spouses and several open gatherings with people across the diocese. Phoebe Griswold will accompany him on several occasions. Tuesday, Nov. 30, the Presiding Bishop will attend 9:10 a.m. morning chapel of the St. Andrew’s Priory School for Girls at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Following chapel he will meet with student leaders of the school. At noon he will meet for lunch with retired clergy, spouses, and clergy widows, followed by a tour of Iolani Palace. He will meet at 4 p.m. with members of the Native Hawaiian Commission. Wednesday, Dec. 1, the Presiding Bishop will fly with Bishop Richard and Dee Chang to Maui where he will meet with clergy and lay leaders of all Maui churches at Trinity Church By-the-Sea, Kihei. At noon he will have lunch with Maui clergy. A public Eucharist will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Good Shepherd, Wailuku, with the Presiding Bishop as celebrant and preacher. A reception will follow. Thursday, Dec. 2, a trip is planned for the Presiding Bishop to visit Pearl Harbor in the morning. At noon, the Griswolds will lunch with the Changs followed by a 1:30 p.m. press conference at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. At 6 p.m., the Presiding Bishop will deliver a homily in a service of Evening Prayer at St. Luke’s, Honolulu, for members of the diocesan Episcopal Church Women followed by an ECW supper. Friday, Dec. 3, clergy and spouses are invited to a meeting and lunch at St. Andrew’s Cathedral from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. At 6 p.m. the Presiding Bishop will gather for dinner with youth and young adults of the diocese at the McCray Center at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa campus. Saturday, Dec. 4, is a time for lay leaders to engage the Presiding Bishop in conversation, scheduled from 10 a.m.-12 noon at the Cathedral. Sunday, Dec. 5, the Presiding Bishop will preside and preach at the 10 a.m. service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. A reception will follow the worship service. Presiding Bishop to visit Hawai`i Bishop’s office moving upstairs By Sarah T. Moore Remodeling began in late September to move the Office of the Bishop from the front offices at St. Andrew’s Cathedral to the upstairs former sexton’s apartment. This relocates the bishop and seven staff on one floor, opening the ground floor for public cathedral ministries and hospitality. “This move actually follows the 1984 original plans to have the bishop upstairs in the cathedral building,” said the Rt. Rev. Richard Chang, bishop. “The arrangement is based on ministry—the ministry of hospitality, education and administration and support.” The process includes discussion among the Cathedral, St. Paul’s Church and the Office of the Bishop’s staff, and attention to reordering space to better provide for welcoming and meeting rooms, educational programming, and relocating administration and support. The Office of the Bishop’s move happens first since each timeline triggers another segment of the construction and rearranging space. Demolition was in October, finish work in November, move in by December, and plans are to be up and working in the new space in January. Cathedral staff is spending time discussing the mission and ministry of St. Andrew’s to determine how best to relocate offices and meeting rooms. Many items fell into place that made this a propitious time to act. The cathedral sexton resigned vacating the upstairs apartment. Intentional discussion on common concerns among the Episcopal institutions that share ministry space on Queen Emma Square had been underway—the Cathedral, the Office of the Bishop, St. Andrew’s Priory School, St. Paul’s Church and St. Peter’s Church. With the arrival of a new head of school at the Priory, new canon for administration to attend to facilities’ matters at the cathedral, and new rector at St. Peter’s, the collaboration was timely. Chris Moody Construction, Inc. is in charge of the remodel. They first knocked out walls of the apartment to reconfigure the space for a new office for Bishop Chang, reception area, and administrative offices. Doors will be knocked through existing staff offices to connect them by an internal hallway to a central file room and workstation site for new MIS clerk. Diocesan treasurer’s offices will move up the hall from their existing offices into other staff’s former rooms. A new entry door, leading to the office complex, has been erected at the top of the main staircase. Though offices are not handicap accessible, Bishop Chang hopes, in time, the diocese may find a donor or raise funds to install an elevator. Meanwhile, those with accessibility concerns will be met in meeting rooms on the ground floor. Total cost of the remodel is approximately $20,000 taken from existing, unexpended funds. There will be little new purchasing. “It will be rather Spartan to start,” said the Bishop. :”It’s important to get the space right first. Then we may ask the diocese for gifts to help spiff it up.” Scheduling of diocesan meetings will be affected during the renovation, requiring patience and attention to space usage by all. Blessings Task Force appointed, begins meeting A task force to study the blessing of same sex unions has met several times this fall, after being appointed by Bishop Richard Chang in June. Members include Don Botsai, Church of the Epiphany, Mary Carpenter, Parish of St. Clement, Faith Shiramizu, All Saints, Kapa’a, Kauai, the Rev. Tom Yoshida retired clergy, and the Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick, canon to the ordinary, convener. The bishop will appoint two additional members. “The group will assist the Diocese of Hawai`i and me to study the blessing of same sex unions,” said Bishop Chang in a letter of appointment. The Bishop noted he announced at last year’s 35th Annual Meeting of the Convention that he would appoint such a group. “ Since I did not believe that our Diocese had consensus on the issue and was not ready to accept such blessings without in-depth study of the issue, I reaffirmed my policy prohibiting the blessing of same sex unions in this Diocese in that same address,” he said. The issues of family and marriage, blessing, and covenant (relationship/union) must be addressed by the Task Force in light of the diverse opinions held among the members of our Diocese, the bishop said. For example, what do we mean by “blessing”? How is one’s understanding of blessing influenced by one’s culture or ethnicity? It is hoped the Task Force will develop a simple process that congregations and other discussion groups might use to discuss the issue. Sign up now to attend Hawai`i State Day in DC Hawai`i State Day will be celebrated Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005, at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Officially known as the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the National Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of the Diocese of Washington D.C., the Rt. Rev. John Chane. Every four years in turn, a state is highlighted with a program of special welcome to the people from that state. The diocese has secured 20 rooms at the Savoy Suites, Georgetown, the hotel closest to the Cathedral, for Jan. 7-10, at a discounted rate of $119 per night. The rooms can be reserved from now until December 7, at the discounted rate. To reserve a room, either E-Mail info@savoysuites.com or phone: 800 -944-5377, and state you are a member of the Hawaii delegation from St. Andrew's Cathedral. Plane reservations also are to be done individually. The Saturday preceding the Sunday celebration at the Cathedral will begin with an early dinner, and then proceed to the Cathedral's Prayer and Pilgrimage Center. From 6-9 pm, with a spiritual director from the Cathedral, we will have an opportunity to pray and meditate together to prepare for the Sunday service. Sunday morning, the service will begin with a 20-minute choral prelude, followed by procession with Hawaii state and church flags. Our four Congress Persons, as well as the Governor, have been invited to attend and participate. Following the service there will be a reception and private tour of the Cathedral for us. For more information or to indicate your interest in or commitment to the DC trip: Phone: Beverly Amjadi at 946-8974 E-mail: amjadid@aol.com Or write: Beverly Amjadi, 2306 Aina Lani Place, Honolulu, HI 96822
Announcements - October 2004
World AIDS Day Dec. 1 World AIDS Day will be observed Wednesday, Dec 1, 2004 with an annual memorial service at 5:30 p.m. at Saint Andrew's Cathedral. With the title "AIDS Isn't Over Yet,” the focus on this year’s awareness day is women and AIDS. A reception will follow the service in the cathedral’s Davies Hall. Kamehameha and Emma Feast Day On Sunday, Nov. 21, at 9 a.m. the Cathedral Church of St. Andrew will hold a special service of Holy Communion to observe the 142nd anniversary of the confirmation of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma by Bishop Thomas Staley. The King and Queen invited the Anglican Church to Hawai`i. Their confirmation by the Bishop, in November 1862, marked the official beginning of the Anglican (now Episcopal) Church in Hawaii. King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma are remembered as the monarchs who did much for the Hawaiian people. A special guest speaker has been invited, as well as members of the Hawaiian Societies. At the conclusion of the service, there will be a reception on the lanai. Frankfurt accepts new position The Rev. Dawn Frankfurt, ordained to the diaconate recently by Bishop Richard Chang, has accepted a call as assistant to the rector at Trinity Church, Staunton, Va. beginning Oct. 18. Stevens moves to Hawai`i Preparatory Academy The Rev. Walter A. Stevens III is now chaplain at Hawai`i Preparatory Academy in Kamuela, Hawai`i. He will supply at Sunday services at St. Augustine’s, Kapaau, during the transition until the appointment of a new vicar. Church leader, educator, Pua Hopkins, dies Alberta Pualani “Pua” Hopkins, church leader and professor of Hawaiian language for more than 20 years, educator, author, and advocate of indigenous peoples, died Sept. 15 of cancer in her home in Kaaawa, Oahu, Hawai`i. She was 65. A celebration of life was held Sept. 25 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. More Priest, former diocesan editor, John Englecke dies The Rev. Canon John Paul Englecke, Episcopal priest, teacher, writer, editor, educator and intellectual, whose ministry spanned five bishops in the Diocese of Hawai’i, died Sept. 23. He was 72. A celebration of life was held Oct. 6 at St. Peter’s, Honolulu. More Windward Habitat House dedicated Oct. 30 Saturday, Oct. 30 is the dedication of the Kapahea family house build in Waimanalo from Honolulu Habitat for Humanity, supported by the Windward Regional Council of the Diocese of Hawai`i. The Windward Region’s participation in Habitat has been coordinated by Chan and Nancy Rowe of Emmanuel Church, Kailua. Episcopal Church Women meetings The Annual ECW meeting will be held Oct.29 beginning with registration in the Von Holt Room at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 8:30 a.m. Morning Prayer with Bishop Richard Chang and UTO in gathering is at 9 a.m. in the cathedral’s Parke Chapel. A business meeting will follow in Tenney Theatre with keynote speaker the Rev. Frank Chun of Epiphany Church. The meeting will adjourn at 11:45 a.m. with lunch to follow in Davies Hall. Cost of lunch is $10. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Nov 13 at Good Samaritan, Honolulu. Beginning at 9:30am Derrick Shimabukuro will share helpful hints on cleaning jewelry. On Dec 11, the annual holiday luncheon will beheld at the Radisson Prince Kuhio in Waikiki. Cost is $21.00 for a sit down lunch with games and prizes for all. Contact Louise Aloy for time and further information: louise.aloy@verizon.net. One-third of Hawai’i’s National Merit Semifinalists from Iolani Iolani, one of four Episcopal prep schools in the diocese, announced 23 members of the Class of 2005 have qualified as National Merit Semi-finalists. Semifinalists represent the top one half of one percent of each state's high school graduating class. Iolani's 23 semi-finalists represent 33 percent of Hawaii 's total of 69 semi-finalists for 2005. This constitutes the highest number of winners from any single school in Hawaii. Other schools with multiple semifinalists include Punahou with 21, Kamehameha with four, Mid-Pacific with three, Waiakea with three, and Kealakekua with two. Of the 69 semifinalists in the state, 32 attended the Iolani Summer School P/SAT prep class, some on special scholarships available to students from the community. Semi-finalists now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $33.9 million, that will be offered in the spring. To qualify as National Merit Semi-finalists, high school seniors took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in October of their junior year. There are three sections of the PSAT, each worth a maximum of 80 points: Verbal, Math, and Writing with a top possible score of 240. The cut-off for Hawaii students this year was 216, one of the highest in the nation. Iolani students scored two of the top three scores in the state. Operation Backpack, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2-5 p.m., St. Andrew’s Cathedral It’s time to start bringing those gifts for those in need. Throughout October, we will be collecting items to fill the backpacks and tote bags that will be given to those in need here in Hawaii. The bags will be distributed to: • Elderly individuals living in low income housing areas around the island. • Families living in a homeless transitional housing unit near Barber’s Point. • People who are homeless and living on the Beaches near Waianae, and • Families associated with Angel Network (part of the ministry at Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church) How it works: Members of congregations belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and Episcopal Diocese around Oahu are collecting the items that are needed to fill the bags. Teams from each congregation will bring them to the “In Gathering” on October 31. (Reformation Sunday) afternoon. From 2 – 5 p.m., Davies Hall at St. Andrews Cathedral in downtown Honolulu will be transformed into “giving central.” Since this is also Halloween afternoon, the Youth Groups who will be filling the bags are invited to come dressed in their favorite costume, and there will games, candy and goodies galore! Thanks to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, this event promises to be a great time for all, and God’s Aloha will be spread to those in need. Items Needed: New Clothing: socks, shoes, shirts, pants, shorts, packaged undergarments. Hygiene: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, comb, washcloth, shampoo, deodorant, denture cream, adult diapers, small hand lotions, hand sanitizers. Household: small towels, small blanket, sewing kits, laundry soap (small containers) Baby: diapers, bottles, baby clothing, canned formula, jars of baby food, baby shoes, baby blankets, cleansing cloths/wipes, Stationary: pens, pencils and sharpeners, crayons or markers, stamp and ink pad sets, coloring books, writing pad or paper, solar calculators. Items Wanted: Toys: Dolls, small cars, stuffed animals, small learning toys, books Goodies: wrapped candy, gum Sundry Items: sunglasses, ball caps, flashlights, sunscreen, t-shirts, hair items, wallets, purses, beach mats, beach bags, slippers/aqua shoes, beach towels, bottled water.
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