DioLog is the biweekly newsletter sent by e-mail (usually) every other week to more than 700 clergy and lay leaders across the diocese and elsewhere.
The next edition of DioLog will be sent to subscribers on Thursday, April 29.
If you have items to submit, contact Melodie Woerman, director of communications, at (785) 235-9255, (800) 473-3563 or by email.
Parishes are free to excerpt anything printed in DioLog; attribution that material is reprinted from DioLog is appreciated. Feel free to copy this and make it available to parishioners in whatever way is most useful.
Subscribe to DioLog and/or The Harvest, our bi-monthly diocesan magazine
Past issues are available for download or by contacting the diocesan office.
Current Issue: April 15, 2021
Monday chapel service now is open to worshippers
Beginning on Monday, April 19, the weekly service of Holy Eucharist offered by clergy members of Bishop Bascom’s staff will be open for in-person worship.
The service takes place in St. Mary’s Chapel of Grace Cathedral, Topeka, and begins at 12:10 p.m. every Monday except holidays.
Under current diocesan distancing guidelines, there is space for 10 people to attend. All should enter through the red doors on the east side of the building and sign in. Masks are required for all, and communion in one kind will be offered.
Called “Old Saints for New Days,” the service looks at the life of one of the people or groups commemorated in the coming week in the Episcopal Church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts and connects their life and work to the current day.
The service will continued to be livestreamed on the diocese’s YouTube channel.
Multiple calendars now are available on the diocesan website
The calendar page on the diocesan website now makes available four diocesan calendars that can be viewed together or separately:
FEMA offers help with funeral costs for Covid victims
As a result of recent federal legislation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now can help with the cost of funerals for people who died of Covid-19 after Jan. 20, 2020. Grants are up to $9,000 per funeral and a maximum of $35,500 per application.
The only qualifications are that the death had to occur in the U.S., including U.S. territories and the District of Columbia; the death certificate must indicate the death was attributed to Covid-19; and the person applying for assistance must be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national or a qualified alien.
All applications must be made over the phone, with the necessary documentation in hand before calling.
Full information is on the FEMA website.
St. Thomas’, Overland Park, to host survivor of gun violence
On Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m. St. Thomas’, Overland Park, will welcome Mindy Corporon as she discusses her new book, Healing a Shattered Soul.
Corporon’s son and father were murdered by a gunman who attacked the Jewish Community Center in 2014. When St. Thomas’ and Temple Israel hosted a vigil the evening of the shooting, she asked to speak, calling on those present to love and to life, in the midst of her unspeakable tragedy.
In her book, she explores how hate and evil lead to violence and destruction. It also describes the power of community and relationships to heal the wounds of life.
One of the chapters, co-written with St. Thomas’ rector, the Rev. Gar Demo, describes the night of the vigil.
The May 6 event will be both in person at the church, 12251 Antioch Rd., or live on the church YouTube channel.
Good News Gardens Movement offers information about rogation
Join the Good News Gardens Gathering on April 20 at 6 p.m. Central time and learn everything you’ve always wanted to know and more about rogation.
Register in advance online.
The meeting will be recorded and available later for those who are interested but can’t attend.
Good News Gardens is a churchwide movement of individuals, congregations, schools, colleges, seminaries, monasteries, camps and conference centers involved in a variety of food and creation care ministries – gardening, farming, beekeeping, composting, gleaning, feeding and food justice advocacy.
Summer camp is back for 2021
Episcopal Summer Camp will take place this year and will follow the recommendations from Camp Wood YMCA and the American Camp Association (their accrediting body) to provide as safe an environment as possible, but we cannot eliminate 100 percent of the risk.
Read more about camp-specific health protocols. This web page will be updated as our leadership team continues to meet and plan for this summer.
- When: June 6–12, 2021
- Where: Camp Wood YMCA, Elmdale, Kans.
- Who: Students in grades 3–12 for the 2020-21 school year (you must have finished third grade to attend).
– Camp is not restricted to Episcopalians or regular churchgoers. All are welcome, so feel free to invite friends and family.
– 2021 Camp will be limited to about 104 campers.
– All participants need to provide Covid-19 vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test.
- Cost: $500. Payment plans are available. If you choose this, UltraCamp will automatically divide the cost of camp over the remaining months between when you register and the start of camp
- Registration online via UltraCamp.
- Scholarships: You can apply for scholarships on the registration form. Information about your household income will be required. Scholarships are awarded by a committee. Your parish should also be able to provide some scholarship money.
- Cancellation deadline: Two weeks prior to the start of the camp session for a 100 percent refund; at any time with a doctor’s note for 100 percent refund.
Bishop Bascom to lead online justice-based Scripture study
Bishop Cathleen Bascom will be the leader for a May 11 online Scripture study entitled “Rethinking Justice.” It will begin at 6 p.m.
It is sponsored by an interfaith group including Topeka JUMP, Douglas County Justice Matters and a new interfaith justice ministry for Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
The Zoom-based event will explore three questions:
- What is the scriptural imperative for people of faith when it comes to issues of justice?
- What is the difference between doing justice and providing mercy?
- How can people of faith effectively do justice in their local community?
Registration is online.
There will be a second study on May 13, with a leader still to be named.
Creation Care liturgies now are available
As spring approaches, the Creation Care subgroup of the Liturgy, Music and the Arts Task Force, and the Spirituality subgroup of the Care of Creation Task Force, have compiled resources for these upcoming dates:
- Earth Day (April 22, but traditionally celebrated on the Sunday before, April 18)
- Rogation Sunday and Rogation Days (the sixth Sunday of Easter and the two days following)
- The Season of Creation (Sept. 1–Oct. 4)
These new liturgical resources are available in a Dropbox folder and can be accessed through a link on the diocesan website.
Additional resources are being added, so check the link frequently for the latest updates.
A caution as indoor worship with livestreaming begins
Many churches are beginning to have services in person and indoors, while also livestreaming those services for people to watch online.
For a variety of reasons, people attending worship may not want their image to appear in online videos. It is wise to alert people that videotaping is taking place and to have space set apart for those not wishing to appear on camera, where they can be seated and remain unseen.
Bethany House and Garden seeks oral care items
Bethany House and Garden would like to encourage dental health in the at-risk population in the neighborhood surrounding Bethany House.
If anyone has sample-sized toothpaste, dental floss or toothbrushes that can be included in the “Grace Bags” distributed on Saturday mornings, please contact the Rev. Jennifer Allen at email@example.com or (913) 620-7773 to arrange a pick-up.
Sign up now for a regional Youth Campfire
After Easter, diocesan youth ministries will host two regional youth campfires with fellowship, prayer and s’mores.
- Kansas City-area Campfire, Sunday, April 18, 6:30–8 p.m. (for all those in the Northeast and Northwest convocations)
- Wichita-area Campfire, Sunday, April 25, 6:30–8 p.m. (for all those in the Southeast and Southwest convocations)
Open to those in grades 6–12 and the adults who minister with them.
Masks are required at both events. Attendance is free, but please sign up so we can bring enough s’mores supplies, have enough adults present and do contact tracing just-in-case.
Campus ministry news
Campus peer ministry applications for 2021-2022 now are open
If you are a full-time college student (or know one), have demonstrated ministry leadership experience and seek more of it, and you’re passionate about deepening your own spiritual journey and serving others by sharing the love of Christ with those you meet, peer ministry might be right for you.
As a peer minister, you work collaboratively with parish leaders as well as the Formation Team to design and lead program opportunities that highlight faith formation, Christian community, discernment and leadership development in your campus community. At K-State and KU, there is the opportunity to live in-residence at one of our Canterbury Houses (for free).
Episcopal Church Archives closes for relocation
The Archives of the Episcopal Church is closed to the public and to extensive research requests until Aug. 1 as it relocates to a new facility in Austin, Texas.
For the past 60 years, Seminary of the Southwest in Austin has hosted the archives. A campus renovation scheduled to begin in June necessitated the need for the archives to relocate.
The move to a new facility in Austin’s Highland neighborhood is expected to be completed by Sept. 1. As the physical archives are packed for transit starting April 15, the staff will only be able to access common reference items and documents of known business operation. The staff hopes to begin processing inquiries again by Aug. 1.
Archives users are asked to plan accordingly and to consult the digital archives.
Delaware diocese, Boston hospital seek participants for pain/prayer study
A new research study has launched to study the successful treatment of long-term pain through the power of prayer. The study aims to develop a scientifically validated method, rooted in prayer, to serve anyone with pain-related chronic conditions. It could help provide a valid drug-free intervention for chronic pain.
The Prayer and Pain Scale Project is a joint effort between the church and the medical community, co-led by the Episcopal Church in Delaware and researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard School of Medicine in Boston.
Participation is easy through a confidential online questionnaire taking no more than 30 minutes to complete.
Anniversaries of ordinations
Congratulations go to these people as they celebrate the anniversaries of their ordination in the next two weeks:
April 25: The Rev. Avelina Baguyos, retired (55 years)
April 29: The Rev. Susan Sawyer, retired (35 years)
Stay in touch with the diocese on social media
You can find news, features and updates from the diocese on social media. We’re on Facebook – EpiscopalDioceseofKansas; Twitter – @EpiscoKs and Instagram – @EpiscoKs.
You can find diocesan youth and campus ministries on Instagram, too:
- Youth: @edokyouth
- Canterbury House of Lawrence: @canterburylfk
- Canterbury at K-State: @canterburyatkstate
Bethany House and Garden, one of the newest ministries of the diocese, offers these ways to stay connected:
- Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/bethanyhouseandgarden/)
- Instagram: @bethanyhouseandgarden
- Twitter: @garden_bethany