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September 5, 2008
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Lets get behind Bob and Bishop Holguin to help the people of the DR
September 5, 2008 A Bulletin of the
Companions with the Dominican Republic: the Dioceses of Georgia, Quincy,
South Carolina, Southern Virginia, Southeast Florida, Southwest Florida,
Virginia, Western Louisiana and others. [Editor’s Note: Bishop
Holguín called yesterday, September 4, 2008 asking me to send out an SOS
for help for victims of Tropical Storm Hanna, and for what might come
from Hurricane Ike this weekend.} Tropical Storm Hanna
On Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday September 2, 3 & 4, Tropical Storm Hanna passed
slowly to the north of the Dominican Republic, dumping rain over the
whole country, forcing almost 11,000 persons to flee their homes,
and leaving over 2,000 homes flooded out. It cut off many rural
communities from contact with the rest of the country. These people are
mostly the poor who, for lack of resources, live in low-lying areas and
consequently bear the brunt of such storms. Hanna followed Gustav, which
also dumped a lot of rain on the DR but did not cause as much damage as
Hanna. Flood waters carried away
many lighter items out of the people’s homes, and soak beds, towels,
clothes, etc with polluted waters. Furthermore reports are that 27
percent of the country-wide electrical network was put out of order with
the electrical outages affecting the entire country. The two photos
shown here are of Hanna victims, and are taken from the September 4th
and the September 5th editions of the Listin Diario,
the DR’s most prestigious newspaper. And then there is the
fear of Hurricane Ike, which we all are watching very closely.
Currently it is a strong Category 3 hurricane, and has taken a slight
southerly turn towards the DR on its generally westward course. Its
forecast track is to past north of but relatively close to the DR
Saturday night and Sunday. Its outer bands will affect the DR, and
undoubtedly there will be more victims. As representative of the
Episcopal Church, Bishop Holguín wants to respond to the victims of
Hanna and Ike with compassion and mercy. Even with such a
devastating hurricane season facing us, Bishop Holguín is asking us to
contribute as we are able to help those in need in the DR. As always, your contributions for flood relief are tax deductible, and 100% of your contribution goes directly to flood relief in the DR. Send your contribution to The Dominican Development Group at P.O. Box 661, Ellenton, FL 34222. |
August 31, 2008
For a laugh take a look at You Might Be an Episcopalian if… sent by Ron Skweres
August 31, 2008
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Just received from Bob Stevens
David,
As per our conversation last week at the Outreach Committee meeting, attached is the report from David Johnson, the MD who is spending part time working in Batey Central in Barahona, the poor neighborhood where Emmanuel lives. This will help give you the larger picture of Emmanuel’s neighborhood. Here are the photos of the neighborhood just as you step out the door of the church, plus a photo of an on-going church service – full.
You also wanted a paragraph about Rafaelito, the driver for the Dominican Episcopal Church. Recently his dialysis was reduced from three times a week to twice a week. That is a good sign but he still needs the kidney transplant. Through the development group we have received contributions of just under $4,000 towards a kidney transplant, plus another $5,000 was received from the Diocese of South Carolina. Members of one of the medical teams he has help with over the years has said they will try to work out arrangements for the transplant in their diocese. That will be of great help, and maybe together, with the Lord’s help, we will accomplish the goal.
You may recall that I first met Rafaelito in a tenement slum right across the street from the DR diocesan office. When the diocese started church services in the office Rafaelito’s wife, Marisol, and children came to the services but Rafaelito did not. During that time I did get to know him, and as time went along he did go on a couple weekend teams to work on building churches. And then he became a Christian. A little later his wife decided she wanted to go to seminary to become a priest so she finished high school, and now is almost finished with college. Rafaelito has been very supportive. Next step is Marisol to go on to seminary. . . . There are many more details but this is the history in a nutshell.
God bless, Bob |
July 10, 2008
For those who are interested a group of photos taken during our vacation on the Queen Mary 2 can be found here.
June 5, 2008
Just received from Bob Stevens A Kidney Transplant for Rafaelito Let's all do what we can to help.
May 18, 2008
While At I conference this weekend at Dayspring, I had an opportunity to attend a session led by our Bishop, Dabney Smith. He shared with us a prayer he uses daily, and kindly allowed me to reproduce it here.
May 7, 2008
Sunday, May 11th is the International Day of Prayer. In honor of which we have gathered together some of the favorite prayers of the congregation.
May 7, 2008
Another set of photos from Alan, this time covering the Victorian Tea, and a combination of the Blessing of the Gospel Book Cover and our farewell to Rich and Gail MacAuley last Sunday. Also check out the delicious cookie recipe from the Tea from Posy Havens
March 23, 2008
March 18, 2008
Take a look at the
DR
Newsletter provided by Bob Stevens.
Attached is the first Joint CD Newsletter
for 2008. It focuses on the DR’s 50th Diocesan Convention. Again, great stuff is
happening, and it is our privilege to be involved with that dynamic Church.
March 16, 2008
As Father Jim was speaking of choices in his Palm Sunday
sermon today, I thought of a 1979 song by Bob Dylan. It seemed to cover
some of the same ground, but to also be moving in its own way. Maybe you
will remember it too.
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music
I ran across a book called Episcopal Haiku, which present poems in the Japanese
Haiku style (3 lines - 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables). Here are
some
that I wrote:
Jesus Lamb of God:
At the table I'm in awe
How great was the gift
During Eucharist
I hear echoes of the saints
Who were here before
December 28, 2007
On Christmas Eve the children of our church gave us a gift. A they told us a story, old and yet very new of a woman, her husband, a star and a gift unlike any gift before or since. I have heard the story many times since learning it as a child, and yet, each time it is fresh. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son ...
November 29, 2007
While surfing the web I came across a series of videos by Fr. Matthew Moretz , an Episcopal priest from Rye, Ny. Click Here to see his video on the sacrament of Baptism.
November 29, 2007
Please look at the report provided by Bob Stevens concerning a new project to provide latrines for people in the Dominican Republic
November 22, 2007
The
Third Annual Thanksgiving Dinner was held at the church with 13 people in
attendance. As usual everyone enjoyed the festivities, and all look
forward to repeating the celebration next year.
October 22, 2007
Sometimes we all need a good laugh. Take a look at the top ten reasons to be an Episcopalian from a Robin Williams HBO special in 2002
June 12, 2007
Last last month Fr. Jim and several of the men of the church went to a dinner meeting at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Osprey to attend a meeting concerning Men's Ministry in the Episcopal Church. Here is a report of that meeting.
June 3, 2007
I've asked our music director, Russell Kennedy, for some explanation and background on singing the psalms during our service. The roots are deep in our Anglican heritage.
May 10, 2007
Posy Havens describes the process of designing the church banner which was first used at the consecration of Bishop Dabney Smith.
April 24, 2007
The first of hopefully many reports from Gail MacAuley's friend Karen Carroll about her work with the elderly in the Dominican Republic.
April 6, 2007
An article by Gail MacAulay about her friend Karen Carroll. You may remember that Karen was working in the Dominican Republic establishing a hogar or residence for older people and Gail brings us up to date on Karen's progress. We have also made arrangements with Karen to provide us with periodic reports on her progress which will soon be available on our site.
March 18, 2007
For everyone who has wondered what has become of Sami Paulino, Bob Stevens has provided us with an update.
February 25, 2007
The Stations of the Cross were dedicated today in the memory of Paul Stedman. Our article includes photos and the service to be said at each of the Stations extracted from the Book of Occasional Services
February 10, 2007
Jim Stroup has provided us with a copy of the Episcopal Church in Florida by Rev. John W. Thomas. He has additionally been kind enough to add a time line of important events in the history of St Mary Magdalene to which we have added some photos. Within the next several week I intend to make publish the 38 pages of pictures which Jim has made available.
February 1, 2007
Alyce Faye Ross has written a description and history of the church's collection of fabric and textiles. Find out by reading Textile Collection of St. Mary Magdalene.
January 4, 2007
David and Martha Horrocks share with us the story of their foster son, Scott whom they have not seen in over thirty years.
January 1, 2007Some reflections on the New Year by your Webmaster.
November 28, 2006
Our author-in-residence Patda Jim Delatorre tells us about her family, her latest book, and her dog, Scottie.
November 28, 2006
Jim Stroup reminds us of the upcoming Advent season with a poem by Todd Jenkins.
November 13, 2006
John Steinmeyer expresses some thoughts about being a Christian in today’s world. He advocates the formation of a Christian peace group here that will dig deep into what Christ’s teachings entail.
November 6, 2006
Last month Tricia and I had an opportunity to visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York city. Read about our experience.
October 24, 2006
Each of us is called to service in our church. What we do is our personal ministry. If your ministry has not been actualized, you may find it here.
October 17, 2006
This marks the end of a journey... a journey first taken by Gail MacAuley in July, and then vicariously by the rest of us over the last 9 weeks. This week Gail will share her Reflections on the significance of her mission. Thanks to you Gail, for taking us along.
October 3, 2006
As you are all aware, the youth of our church participated in a mission trip to the Florida Keys this summer. An article, dealing with the trip, which was originally published in The Net, the diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, can be found here.
October 3, 2006
Russell Kennedy has provided us with an extended version of the article written for the September Newsletter on how the invention of musical notation for religious music aided in the development of secular music in the western world.
September 27, 2006
Bob Stevens has again provided us with an article about the Dominican Republic, this time about the Bishop Isaac Home for the Elderly which opened in July. Gail MacAulay also visited this location and will provide further insight in Day 8 of her journal to be published next week
September 17, 2006
Sometimes there's nothing better than a warm beverage. Read the article about the Victorian Tea by Tricia Moppett.
September 10, 2006
We all know about the origin and symbolism of the American flag, but what about the Episcopal flag? Jim Stroup has written an article on the history and meaning of our flag.
August 26, 2006
Tricia and I were moved when during Mother Michelle's last month as our
Vicar, a new and simple song , Ubi Caratas, was introduced as the Communion Hymn. We found the words to help us
move closer to God as we approached the altar, took communion and returned to our seats.
Our Director of Music, Russell
Kennedy has been kind enough to provide some background
concerning Taizé where this
version of Ubi Caratas was written.
Ubi caritas et amor
Ubi caritas, deus ibi est
August 15, 2006
While listening to the Prayers of the People last Sunday, I found myself wondering about Isamar Paulino whose nick name is "Sami". Bob Stevens was nice enough to provide this report on how she is doing. Thanks Bob.
August 13, 2006
Gail, Deacon Kathy, and the group from the Dominican Mission Trip gave a moving description of their trip. But there is more to come. Look at Gail's daily journal . She has promised to give us an additional day each week.
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