Loading...Plans are coming together and all is being readied for next weekend's diocesan convention, which will be all about "Coming Together" - with a touch of Mardi Gras.
The 183rd Convention of the Diocese of Kentucky will meet at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 330 N. Hubbards Lane, in Louisville on Friday, February 25, and Saturday, Feb. 26.
The annual gathering will bring together Episcopalians and friends from 34 congregations and various ministries across the western half of Kentucky. As in previous years, it will begin on Friday afternoon with registration and clusters of workshops between 2 and 5 p.m. (EST). The opening Eucharist will begin at 5:30 p.m. (EST), during which the Rt. Rev. Terry Allen White will deliver the first part of his convention address, his first address and convention in the diocese. (The second half will be given at Morning Prayer, which begins at 9 a.m., on Saturday.)
Workshops and more
Two clusters of workshops (four each) will be held concurrently Friday afternoon: the first cluster of workshops will meet from 2 to 3 p.m., and the second, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
The workshops will include a conversation with the diocese's new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Terry Allen White, on "Christian Formation Hopes for the Diocese." Also offered during the first cluster of workshops are sessions about the Digital Faith Community with the diocese's website consultant Dave Hagan and communications director Mary Jane Cherry; eco-ministry with the Rev. Jerry Cappel; and peace and justice with the Rev. Mary Abrams. During the second cluster of workshops, the following topics will be covered: changes to The Episcopal Church's health insurance canons with the Rev. W.R. "Rusty" McCowan of The Episcopal Medical Trust; radical, inclusive hospitality for all in parish ministry with Martha Bourlakas; Sister Emily Cooper, Kentucky's Florence Nightingale, with the Rev. Ken Thompson and Callie Hausman; and ecumenical clergy peer learning groups with the Rev. Marion McClure Taylor with the Kentucky Council of Churches.
Saturday will be devoted to diocesan business, beginning with a budget conversation from 8 to 9 a.m. (EST). Business sessions will begin after Morning Prayer and will conclude that afternoon. During the lunch break, deputies and visitors may participate in an annual convention event: packing Easter boxes for the Seamen's Church Institute's "Ministry on the River."
Not all will be work
The first convention to be held before Lent in several years, St. Matthew's organizers have seized this opportunity and are promising a festive convention that makes a nod to Mardi Gras and New Orleans, hometown of rector Lucinda Laird. Entertainment that evening will be provided by Swing 39, a string group performing jazz and blues (though not necessarily music of New Orleans).
Not to be outdone, Episcopal youth leaders have planned an "Episcopalooza" for all diocesan youth (not just the youth deputies) on the opening evening. The event will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. (EST) Friday at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2822 Frankfort Ave. On the agenda are dinner by Q'doba, games, ice cream and worship. Parents and youth leaders are responsible for their transportation, and each church ought to have an adult representative to help with supervision. RSVP to church youth/Christian formation director, who should, in turn, contact Beth Bojarski (bethb@episcopalky.org) with numbers of those planning to attend.
Convention organizers also promise good food throughout the weekend with dinner, breakfast and lunch catered by the parish's Cooks and Bottle Washers team, and word is out that one cook will be supplying his much loved homemade scones. Continuing the precedent set by Grace Episcopal Church in Paducah, host of last year's convention, St. Matthew's wants this to be a "green" convention. Recycled bags with convention materials are being assembled; coffee mugs are being collected and dinnerware obtained so that all meals are served without using plastic or paper ware.
Diocesan officers, canonically responsible for updating convention participants on diocesan business, have also gone "green" this year. Now, for the first time, all pre-convention materials once mailed to participants have been posted online at the diocese's convention website and packets of the materials will not be available at convention.
Amounting to about 100 pages of copy, these materials include the convention agenda, the 2011 proposed budget, reports of the various diocesan offices and ministries, a description of the convention workshops, and all other pre-convention materials. Participants wishing to have the materials with them should plan on bringing a computer or other media tools with Internet access (St. Matthew's parish hall, where the business sessions will meet, is equipped with WiFi), or they should bring their own copies.
Links
Convention of the Diocese of Kentucky 2011: //www.episcopalky.org/Convention%202011/convention-2011.html
Advance Reports Online Packet: //www.episcopalky.org/Convention%202011/convention-2011-advance-reports.html
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church: //www.stmatt-ky.org/
St. Mark's Episcopal Church: //www.stmarksepiscopalky.org/
Episcopalooza: //youth.episcopalky.org/episcopalooza.html
Seamen's Church Institute: //www.seamenschurch.org/
Seamen's Ministry on the River: //s3.amazonaws.com/dfc_attachments/public/documents/1953/RiverMinistryX.pdf
