St. Pierre's Episcopal Church Gautier, MS

[Episcopal News Service] The last congregation to worship regularly at the historic Grace Episcopal Church in Riverhead, New York, shut down in 2017 because of dwindling membership. Then in 2023, the Diocese of Long Island halted any use of the building out of safety concerns from the deteriorating structure. But rather than tear the building down, the diocese chose to invest in extensive renovations that built upon the diocese’s evolving Episcopal ministry to the local Latino community in Riverhead. This month, the diocese officially rededicated the renovated building and reopened it as the renewed home of Iglesia San Francisco, a mission congregation made up predominantly of Spanish-speaking families and farmworkers on Long Island’s East End. The Rev. Luis Fernando López, who has served the diocese as a missioner in East End since March 2025, will move into the church’s renovated rectory while serving as the congregation’s priest-in-charge. “This is a day of thanksgiving for our congregation,” Lopez said in a diocesan news release before the Aug. 9 rededication. “Our people never lost faith. We continued to worship, to pray and to serve our neighbors wherever we gathered. Returning to this church gives us a renewed home for our ministry and a place where we can continue welcoming all who seek God’s love.” The original structure was built in 1871, but Grace Episcopal Church’s deep roots on the East End of Long Island weren’t enough to stem the gradual erosion in membership that led to the congregation’s 2017 closure. In the years since, the site has served as a hub of activity for the diocese’s ministry to farmworkers in the area. The diocese put the building to use as a ministry center and meeting place in support of its long-running partnership with Rural & Migrant Ministry, a nonprofit agency that works throughout New York state to give voice to the concerns of farm laborers. When the diocese was forced to halt use of the building in 2023, it began considering an extensive renovation project that would go beyond merely reopening the church campus. The church was restored for worship while adapting its spaces for ministries led by Iglesia San Francisco. Goals for the church and chapel included “enhancing their beauty, functionality and hospitality,” the diocese said. The parish hall, too, was transformed into a gathering space that can host parish meetings, celebrations, educational programs and community events. And exterior work has included a new roof, accessibility ramps and other safety and accessibility upgrades. The diocese has celebrated the building’s reopening as a sign of Iglesia San Francisco’s  commitment to its mission and the community. “Even when they could not gather in their church building, the people of Iglesia San Francisco continued to be the church — serving their neighbors, worshipping together and sharing Christ’s love,” Long Island Bishop Lawrence Provenzano said in the diocese’s news release. “Today we celebrate not only the renewal of this sacred space, but the flourishing ministry that has never ceased.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Read full article →

[Religion News Service] From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Christ for a gardener, cultivated green spaces have long held a special place in Christianity. Now, in a corner of west London, England, an Anglican church is using its proximity to one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, Kew Gardens, as a reason for a new venture linking theology and nature. St Anne’s Church launched a new charity, Kew Theology & Gardening, to help deepen people’s connection with nature, develop theology of the environment and explore climate change. The project started small in 2024 with talks for the local community but has since expanded to holding retreats, partly held in Kew Gardens and partly in St Anne’s. Now the charity is hosting major lectures. The most significant so far will be held this September, when Carmody Grey, professor of integral ecology at Radboud University in the Netherlands and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, will talk on Sept. 30 on “What Are We Here For? Gardening and the Human Vocation” in the garden’s lecture theater. A previous lecture was given by the then-director of gardens at Kew, Richard Barley, while another future lecture will be given by environmental biologist Martin J. Hodson, a visiting researcher at Oxford Brookes University. “In Britain gardening is just about the most popular activity there is,” said St Anne’s vicar, Giles Fraser. “People spend so much time with their hands in the soil. It’s how they connect with creation — and the story of creation began in a garden. “We garden on our knees, we pray on our knees. That’s the image I had in my mind when this started,” he added. Fraser, who is well-known as a broadcaster in Britain and has just completed a series on church-going for BBC radio, said that his parish was keen to find more ways to connect with its neighbor, Kew Gardens, which is known throughout the world for its research and attracts millions of visitors every year. The connection between St. Anne’s and the gardens, the parish believes, will help people reflect not only on creation but on the environment and threats to it, such as climate change. The Kew Theology & Gardening project comes at a time when the Church of England is increasing its work on environmental matters. In July, the church published a major teaching document on care for creation called “Hope for All Creation: A Theological Response to the Environmental Crises.” The document argues that creation care is not an option but a core part of Christian belief and mission. It sees environmental action as an expression of hope and roots care for the planet in the biblical story of creation, redemption and renewal, structured around the themes “See, Reflect, Respond.” In their foreword to the document, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally and Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell say that “we inhabit a world groaning with the growing impact of the climate and environmental crises. Their scale is daunting, and the devastation and suffering they bring — to which more and more people are increasingly vulnerable, especially those in poverty — are growing in scale and intensity. We can feel powerless and overwhelmed in the face of these things and our fears for the future.” But they also write, “To care for creation in partnership with others, to show solidarity with the vulnerable, to be prophetic in speech and action on these issues — locally, nationally and globally — is to live out this faith and hope. It is an essential part of following Jesus and sharing the Gospel today.” The Church of England’s General Synod has also just approved a new annual Festival of Creation in Christ to be celebrated in Church of England churches on the first Sunday of September — traditionally a time when churches mark the harvest season, reminding people of both their responsibility for stewarding the earth and to express thankfulness for God’s abundance. According to Grey, who is preparing her Kew lecture, humanity has two vocations that can be expressed in biblical terms: to be fruitful and multiply and to till and keep — both of which can be expressed through gardening. “Tilling and keeping and fruitfulness are defining marks of the human life and so are at the core of theological anthropology,” she said. “We have sometimes made too great a difference between beauty and utility, but these two aspects of life show how they are connected. We have children partly for survival but also as an expression of joy. The same is true of gardening — they overlap.” Grey also expressed concern that people do not appreciate the importance of plant life enough, citing the example of people being shown a photo of animals in a landscape. When asked to point out life in the photo, they almost always indicate the animals, and when shown a photo of a landscape, they almost always say there is nothing there. “The Bible highlights the importance of all life, including plant life, and the imagery of the tree is a key focus of the Bible,” she said. Kew Theology & Gardening has devised a walk called Stations of the Trees, based on the Christian devotion of Stations of the Cross, with each station or stopping point in the gardens focusing on a particular aspect of the environmental crisis. Among the stations is the carbon garden, focusing on the importance of carbon and problems associated with excessive carbon; boards highlighting Kew’s role in collecting seeds, with a reflection on the parable of the sower; and the rose garden, where prayers reminding pilgrims of the rosary are offered to Mary. Also included is a visit to olive trees, representing the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prayed with foreboding before he was arrested while his disciples slept. Pilgrims are urged to wake up and are given a […]

Read full article →

[Episcopal News Service] The Standing Committee of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic on Aug. 7 released a slate of four candidates for bishop coadjutor. The candidates are:   The Rev. Milquella R. Mendoza, a priest based in the Dominican Republic’s Santiago Province.  The Rev. Marivel Natera Milien, associate rector of Spanish and Families Ministries for St. George’s Episcopal Church in Summerville, South Carolina.  The Rev. Isaac Emilio Pringle Mejía, a priest who serves various parishes in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.  The Rev. Vanel Saint Juste, a priest who serves various parishes in San Pedro de Marcorís and Consuelo, Dominican Republic. The bishop coadjutor will eventually succeed the diocese’s fourth bishop, the Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota, who has led the diocese since 2016. The Santo Domingo-based Diocese of the Dominican Republic, which is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province IX, has about 5,000 members and 67 missions throughout the Caribbean nation on the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola.

Read full article →

[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Bob Gordon Jones, the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Wyoming has died. He was 93. Jones led the Diocese of Wyoming from his consecration in 1977 until he left the diocese in 1996 to become dean of St. George’s College in the Diocese of Jerusalem. He later became assisting bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf and also had served dioceses and churches in Arkansas, Alaska, Florida and Hawaii. “His life and ministry was marked by both faithful service and an adventurous spirit,” the Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley, bishop provisional of Wyoming, told the Living Church in a story about Jones’ death. Jones was born in 1932 in Paragould, Arkansas. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, he served in the Navy during the Korean War. After attending the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, he was ordained a deacon in 1959 and a priest in 1960, serving as assistant to the dean of Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas. From 1962 to 1967, Jones was priest-in-charge of St. George’s-in-the-Arctic in Kotzebue, Alaska, and also served congregations in Nome and the small Iñupiat village of Noatak. In 1967, he started the new congregation of St. Christopher’s Church in Anchorage, where he served as rector until he was elected bishop of Wyoming. As bishop, he also served on the Executive Committee of the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief and General Convention’s Program, Budget and Finance Committee. Jones is survived by his wife, Mary Page Jones, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Judith Edwards, and a brother.

Read full article →

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal leaders are calling for prayers and offering support after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Aug. 10. At least 224 people are dead and at least 1,246 people are injured. “We lift up our prayers for the communities and families affected by this earthquake,” the Bogotá-based Diocese of Colombia said in an Aug. 10 Facebook post. “May God grant them strength, protection and comfort, and help us remain united in solidarity and hope.” At 7:34 a.m. Central, the earthquake‘s epicenter was in the Chocó Department on the Pacific coast, which is Colombia’s poorest region and home to the country’s largest Afro-Colombian population. At least 3,000 people have been reported missing, and an estimated 5,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, according to Colombia President Abelardo De La Espriella, who was sworn in three days earlier. Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, and other cities have also reported fatalities and structural damage. The earthquake struck near what is Colombia’s “Eje Cafetero,” also known as the “Coffee Axis” or “Coffee Triangle,” a UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists annually. Coffee is both a significant part of Colombia’s cultural identity and one of the South American country’s largest exports. The Houston-based Diocese of Texas said in an Aug. 10 Facebook post that “We stand with Colombia in prayer. “We keep the people of Colombia in our prayers after the recent earthquake,” it said. “We pray for those who lost loved ones, those who are hurt and all the families and communities affected. May God give strength to those helping, comfort to those in pain and hope to everyone during this difficult time.” The Diocese of Colombia, which is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province IX, has 12 churches and 11 missions in 15 cities throughout the country. Episcopal News Service attempted to reach out to Colombia Bishop Pastor Elias Garcia Cardenas via WhatsApp, and coverage will be updated upon receiving a response. Puerto Rico Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado said in an Aug. 10 Facebook post that he has been communicating with Cardenas: “I expressed our solidarity and our readiness to help in any way needed,” Maldonado said. “We are praying for Colombia, for the victims and for the affected families. We stand with you!” The earthquake happened less than two months after back-to-back major earthquakes struck Colombia’s neighbor to the northeast, Venezuela, near Caracas on June 25, killing more than 6,300 people. Some leaders from the Diocese of Colombia collected money, medicine and other goods and crossed the border to deliver the aid in person to diocesan leaders in Venezuela. Dozens of countries, including the United States, have offered Colombia financial and recovery assistance. The U.S. State Department announced on Aug. 10 that it will commit $15.5 million in funding for emergency shelter, food, earthquake assessments and more. In a prayer posted Aug. 10 on Facebook, the National Episcopal Church Women called for comfort, healing and guidance. “Gracious God … bring comfort to those who are frightened, healing to those who are injured and strength to those who have lost homes or loved ones. Guide the hands of rescuers and surround every family with your peace and presence,” the organization’s post said. “May hope rise from the devastation and may the people of Colombia know that they are not alone.” -Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

Read full article →

The Grapevine, the monthly newsletter of the parish of St. John, Ocean Springs, is available online.

The Grapevine in available online.

St. John's: a community at prayer. Come pray with us.

8:00 a.m. Morning Prayer (bulletin) (join on Zoom)

12:00 p.m. Noonday Prayer (bulletin) (join on Zoom)

4:00 p.m. Evening Prayer (bulletin) (join on Zoom)

8:00 p.m. Compline (bulletin) (join on Zoom)

Meeting ID: 503 801 018

Password: 047095

Never "Zoomed" before? Click here

Yoga classes will start back on Wednesday, September 10

• Chair yoga - 10:30 a.m.
• Gentle mat yoga - 12:00 noon

Wednesday afternoons from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Children (K – 3) are invited to participate.  For more information contact Mary Chaffe Brooks or Jonathan Mitchell.  Cherubs sing about once every 6 weeks, usually at the beginning of the 9:00 a.m. service.