Late deacon was the face of LR church

From Arkansas-

One of the Rev. Joyce Hardy's favorite things was to stand in Little Rock's Christ Episcopal Church before services and welcome the people entering its narthex.

"I'm getting lots and lots of stories ... that Joyce is the first person somebody met when they came to Christ Church," said the Rev. Kate Alexander, rector of the church, where the 68-year-old Hardy served as deacon from 2005 until her death earlier this month of melanoma. "By the next week she'd remember their name and welcome them again."

Welcoming others was one of Hardy's duties as a longtime deacon in the Episcopal Church but only a piece of her legacy. The social justice advocate has been described as a champion for the marginalized and underprivileged, and as a person who truly found her calling.

Those discerning their calling as ordained ministers in the church are called to be a deacon or a priest, Alexander said. Priests work within the institutional church, while deacons mostly focus on the world outside their church buildings, seeing and helping to meet the needs of their communities.

More here-

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/may/30/late-deacon-was-the-face-of-lr-church-2/

Obituary: Rev. Canon Richard Davies, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh’s longest-tenured priest

From Pittsburgh-

For the Rev. Canon Richard Davies, serving the church and mankind were one and the same.

The longest-tenured priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Rev. Davies 62 years ago helped to start what is now a regional program for special-needs children and more recently devoted himself to physically and spiritually restoring an 18th-century Colonial church.

Rev. Davies, 93, of Scott, died May 7 of congestive heart failure.

The son of immigrants from Llandudno, in northern Wales, Rev. Davies had a tough upbringing in Wilkinsburg.

His father, who worked as a coal miner for years in Wales, died of lung cancer, followed by his mother, who likely suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, family members said.

“He was an orphan by the age of 18,” said his daughter Glynis Carlson, of Peters, who said her father cared for his dying parents. “His history of caring and serving others, I think, was established as a teenager for him.”

More here-

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/obituaries/2020/05/19/Canon-Richard-Davies-obituary/stories/202005190150

RIP: The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris, 1930-2020

From Massachusetts-

Dear Friends,

It is with deep sadness that I write to let you know that Bishop Barbara Harris died on the night of March 13, 2020, at Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln following a hospitalization in Boston, faithfully attended throughout by dear friends and upheld by the prayers of so many.  She was 89.

Our hearts are truly heavy at the loss of one who has been a faithful and altogether irrepressible companion, pastor and inspiration to us in the Diocese of Massachusetts for 31 years.  At the same time our hearts are truly buoyed by the hope which she preached and the conviction she embodied for us throughout all these years.

Barbara once wrote, "If we can believe that Jesus, who died, rose again from the dead, ... then we can, in peace, give over those who have died—known and unknown—to a loving, compassionate and ever-merciful God who has prepared for us a better home than this Good Friday world."  
With regret but with confidence, we entrust our beloved sister Barbara to that merciful and compassionate God, just as she invited us to do.

Our prayers are with Barbara's brother, Thomas, and his family, the loved ones and friends she leaves behind and all who mourn.

More here-

https://www.diomass.org/news/diocesan-news/rip-rt-rev-barbara-c-harris-1930-2020

RIP: G.P. Mellick Belshaw, ninth bishop of New Jersey

From ENS-

The Rt. Rev. George Phelps Mellick Belshaw, who served as the ninth bishop of New Jersey until his retirement in 1995, died peacefully at his home in Princeton on Feb. 29. He was 91.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Mellick Belshaw, the ninth bishop of New Jersey,” said the Rt. Rev. William H. (Chip) Stokes, current Bishop of New Jersey. “Mellick was old-school gracious and kind. He loved the people God called him to serve from Hawaii to New York to New Jersey. His leadership in the Diocese of New Jersey was strong and stable during the years he was bishop suffragan and later bishop diocesan. When I was a seminarian at The General Theological Seminary in New York, Mellick was president of the board. 

I will always be grateful for his warm affection then and in later years when I ended up in the bishop’s chair in New Jersey. I will miss his wise care and counsel and am eternally grateful for the legacy he left for those of us who have succeeded to the office he occupied so faithfully and well.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/03/02/rip-g-p-mellick-belshaw-ninth-bishop-of-new-jersey/

Obituary: Rev. Canon Donald A. Nickerson, Jr., D.D.

From Maine-

On Dec. 9, 2019, the Reverend Canon Donald A. Nickerson, Jr., D.D., 80, died after a 33 year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.  After his diagnosis at age 47, Don and his wife Susan Martin worked with many neurologists to successfully manage the illness and further his ministry in the Episcopal Church and to their beloved Camp O-AT-KA until his short time in hospice care at the end.

Don was born in Boston, Mass. on May 19, 1939 to Mildred and Dr. Donald Nickerson of Melrose, Mass.  After graduating from Melrose High School, Don attended Springfield College and Berkeley Divinity School (Yale) before starting his ministry in Newton Center, Mass. (1964–1966).  Don then served as parish priest for Christ Church in North Conway, N.H. (1966–1974) and St. Paul’s in Brunswick (1974–1986).  In recognition of his leadership in the church, Don was asked to move to New York City to become the Executive Officer of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (1986–1998), one of the largest legislative gatherings in the country.  Don received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Yale University for his life’s work.  In retirement, Don and Susan lived in Intervale, N.H., Castle Rock, Colo., and Brunswick, Maine.

More here-

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/12/12/obituaryrev-canon-donald-a-nickerson-jr-d-d/

In Memoriam: Bishop James Montgomery, 1921-2019

From Chicago-

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ: 

I write today with sad news. Bishop James Montgomery, ninth bishop of Chicago, died today at home after a short illness. He was 98 years old. I will preside at a solemn celebration of the Eucharist for the Burial of the Dead at St. James Cathedral in November. We will share more information as soon as it is available.

Jim was a true son of Chicago. He was born here on May 29, 1921 to James Edward Montgomery and Evelyn Winchester Montgomery, the daughter of the Rt. Rev. James Winchester, bishop of Arkansas from 1911-1931. He grew up in Rogers Park and attended Sullivan High School and Northwestern University. After service as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, he entered General Theological Seminary and was graduated and ordained priest and deacon by Bishop Wallace E. Conkling, seventh bishop of Chicago, in 1949.

More here-

https://www.episcopalchicago.org/our-stories/2019/10/23/memoriam-bishop-james-montgomery-1921-2019?fbclid=IwAR3ow8VCeuGkA7xmtpMonLx-MaAfO9aRbAf6rHEIHba3cL7KMtBPJvcuSvA

Robert Estill, Retired Bishop of North Carolina, Dies at 92

From The Living Church-

The Rt. Rev. Robert Estill, IX Bishop of North Carolina, passed away October 9 at the age of 92, the Diocese of North Carolina announced.

Bishop Estill, a native of Kentucky, earned several degrees at the University of Kentucky, Episcopal Divinity School and Sewanee, the University of the South. After a decade as a parish priest in Kentucky, he served as a rector in Washington D.C. and Dallas, and as a faculty member at Virginia Theological Seminary, before being elected bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of North Carolina in 1980.

He succeeded the Rt. Rev. Thomas Fraser as the IX Bishop of North Carolina on January 27, 1983, when he was consecrated by the Most Rev. John M. Allin. He retired in 1994.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/2019/10/11/robert-estill-retired-bishop-of-north-carolina-dies-at-92/ 

and here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/10/14/rip-robert-estill-ninth-bishop-of-north-carolina-dies-at-92/

In Rememberance of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Peter Beckwith

From Springfield-

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Peter Beckwith died on Friday, October 4, 2019 at the age of 80.

As the third longest serving Bishop of the Diocese, he shepherded our communities through challenges both large and small. He believed in the value of full-time resident priests, and initiated The Springfield School of Ministry to address the rural and small town needs within the diocese. Bishop Beckwith emphasized faithful corporate worship and sought to maintain connection to the larger church. On the ecumenical level, this included nurturing an ecumenical connection with the ELCA.

Born in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1939, he attended Hillsdale College where he received a BA in 1961, having majored in Philosophy and Religion. Bishop Beckwith attended seminary at University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, earning his Master of Divinity in 1964. He also earned a Master of Sacred Theology from Nashotah House in 1974. In addition, he held several honorary degrees including a Doctor of Theology from Hillsdale College and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Nashotah House.

More here-

https://www.episcopalspringfield.org/in-rememberance-of-the-rt-rev-dr-peter-beckwith/?fbclid=IwAR12bQBr2f2i-AKl_QctY7cco6cZZMTc8p3lei11MTXqy09HldKuGaaqous

The Rev. Alison Cheek, first female Episcopal priest to celebrate Eucharist, dies at 92

From ENS-

The Rev. Alison Cheek, one of the first female priests in The Episcopal Church and the first to publicly celebrate the Eucharist, died on Sept. 1 at her home in Brevard, North Carolina, according to friends. She was 92.

Cheek was one of the Philadelphia Eleven, the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church. She and 10 other women were ordained at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia on July 29, 1974, two years before the ordination of women was officially authorized by General Convention. The highly controversial ordinations were later affirmed as valid.

“I sort of risked everything to do it,” she recalled on the 40^th anniversary of her ordination. “I would do it again.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/09/03/r-i-p-rev-alison-cheek-first-female-episcopal-priest-to-celebrate-eucharist-dies-at-92/

Frank Allan led church through challenging times

From Atlanta-


In the late 1960s, while rector at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Macon, the Rev. Frank Allan, who’d later become the eighth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, stood squarely at a crossroads. St. Paul’s already had a smattering of black members. But during a sermon one Sunday, Allan told his congregation that further integration and shifts were imminent and critical.

He was interrupted in mid-sentence by a woman named Hazel Burns, who reportedly stood up and asked, “Are you saying that [as an all-white church) we’ve been wrong all these years?”

He abandoned his sermon and engaged Burns in a dialogue that other parishioners joined. Though she wasn’t present that day, Allan’s longtime friend and colleague, the Rev. Martha Sterne, said the congregation “discussed, argued, discussed some more and some even cried.”

More here-

https://www.ajc.com/news/local-obituaries/frank-allan-led-church-through-challenging-times/NvlPALGDpMYnFg6DySQQwL/

Rachel Held Evans, Christian writer of honesty and humor, dies at age 37

From RNS-

Rachel Held Evans, a popular progressive Christian writer and speaker, died Saturday morning (May 4) at age 37 after a brief illness.

Evans had been in a medically induced coma for several weeks and never returned to an alert state.

Writer and collaborator Sarah Bessey tweeted that Evans was surrounded by close friends and family at the end, and the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber shared that friends were at Evans’ bedside Friday night, offering “our touch and tears and song. I anointed her with oil.”

Her husband, Dan, informed followers and supporters of his wife’s death on her website.

“This entire experience is surreal. I keep hoping it’s a nightmare from which I’ll awake. I feel like I’m telling someone else’s story,” her husband Dan Evans wrote in an update on Evan’s blog.

More here-

https://religionnews.com/2019/05/04/rachel-held-evans-christian-writer-of-honesty-and-humor-dies-at-age-37/

Episcopal Church mourns leader from Franklin Lakes who fought for women's rights

From Newark-

The Episcopal Church is mourning the loss of Marge Christie, a relentless activist for the rights of women and other excluded groups in the church.

Christie, who resided in Franklin Lakes, died on April 14 at age 90 of natural causes, said her family.

The mother of four never worked in a formal career: Her life's passion was the church, and her mission was inclusivity, a crusade that gave her national recognition.

Over six decades, she served the Episcopal Church in numerous capacities, including as lay deputy at 12 national General Conventions, where church policy is decided. She was part of the first group of women to be seated in the House of Deputies — one of two legislative houses in a General Convention — and was the first woman to sit on the national church's Executive Council, a body that administers policies adopted by a General Convention.

She was also founder of The Diocese of Newark's LGBTQ ministry and its Dismantling Racism Commission.

More here-

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2019/05/03/episcopal-church-mourns-leader-franklin-lakes-fought-women/3610233002/

How the math works

From Denim Spirit-

I helped bury a friend and colleague last week in Detroit, an amazingly joyous sendoff for a man who lived a big and long life.

He was a retired Episcopal priest. As a young man he rushed to join the brave throng crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge a second time in Selma, Alabama in 1965. It was just three weeks after Bloody Sunday, that cruel riot of police brutality that mercilessly attacked unarmed demonstrators.

Later, he was fired from a wealthy suburban congregation for his civil rights witness, which included him and his wife bundling up their small children to be part of the massive Poor People’s March in 1968. I should mention, because it is relevant, he was neither poor nor African-American.

More here-

https://www.fltimes.com/opinion/denim-spirit-how-the-math-works/article_6447c166-3fc1-5863-aea3-9febc17cb56d.html

Lord Habgood obituary

From The Gaurdian-

As archbishop of York, John Habgood, who has died aged 91, pushed through a compromise position on the ordination of women in 1992 that many in the Church of England felt to be a betrayal.

Although he was intellectually and theologically in favour of women priests – telling the General Synod to remember that God was neither male nor female – he nonetheless led the bench of bishops and the General Synod to support his idea that “two integrities” should be allowed within the church: one that could accept women priests and another that could not. It was an awkward squaring of the circle that left women to pay the price.

Over the years Habgood had consistently voted in favour of female priests, but in the final analysis it felt as if his heart was not with his mind. At the crucial General Synod decision on the matter he voted again in favour, but then immediately took action to appoint a group of provincial episcopal visitors – the famous “flying bishops” – who were assigned to minister to those who refused to accept the ordination of female priests. 

More here-

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/07/lord-habgood-obituary

Austin Ford, priest and 1st director of Emmaus House, became neighbor

From Atlanta-

In 1967, the Rev. Austin Ford, an Episcopal priest, moved into a run-down, two-story house in the Peoplestown area.He was a strange sight at first. The white man in his late 30s rode his bicycle through the predominantly black community and knocked on doors to talk to residents about ways they could work together to improve the area.

The polished but affable Ford, who grew up DeKalb County, moved into what is now Emmaus House, an Episcopal Church mission, with the aid of at least two nuns and a seminary student.
“He didn’t just drop in,” said longtime Peoplestown resident Columbus Ward. “He moved in. He became a neighbor. He made it known that this Southern white man had no problem fighting the system.”

And that he did, even at times if it meant butting heads with city powers-that-be and even some diocesan authorities. 

Ford, of Grant Park, a tireless advocate for Atlanta’s disenfranchised and poor, died Saturday at 89.

More here-

https://www.ajc.com/news/local-obituaries/austin-ford-priest-and-1st-director-emmaus-house-became-neighbor/4jFDT0qC9tfyiehYlnD3AJ/

Richard Sipe dies

From The New York Times-

A. W. Richard Sipe, a researcher, psychotherapist and former priest who spent his life studying the roots of sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, becoming one of the subject’s leading experts, died on Wednesday in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. He was 85.

His wife, Marianne Benkert Sipe, said the cause was multiple organ failure.

Mr. Sipe’s research into celibacy and sexuality within the clergy helped establish a foundation for those studying, investigating and responding to the sexual abuse crisis of the 2000s. Along with describing how celibacy was lived, his work resulted in several striking estimates arrived at in the 1980s.

One was that fully 6 percent of all priests were sexual abusers of children and minors. Another was that at any given time, only 50 percent of priests were celibate — an estimate that the church said was overblown.

More here-

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2018/08/richard-sipe-dies/ 

also here-

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-death-of-richard-sipe/

Hill Riddle, 19-year rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans, dies at 82

From Louisiana-

The Rev. Hill Riddle, an avuncular Virginian who preached a pragmatic message of Christian love and community over 19 years of nurturing social justice at New Orleans' Trinity Episcopal Church, died Sunday (July 29) at his home. He was 82.

Rev. Riddle retired as Trinity's rector in 2003 after doubling the size of its Lower Garden District physical property, which includes a church and an elementary school, and fostering dialogue and understanding across socioeconomic differences. With a mostly white, well-to-do, old-line New Orleans congregation worshiping three blocks up Jackson Avenue from the St. Thomas public housing development, Riddle's church ran summer camps for poor, black children, taught parishioners to recognize racism in themselves and society and established medical missions to Nicaragua and Honduras.

All the while, Trinity thrived with education ministries, a rich and storied music series, the Trinity Counseling and Training Center, conventional worship services and what for the Episcopal Church at the time were unconventional spiritual offerings such as Taize services and a labyrinth. With some 3,000 members it was the largest Episcopal church in Louisiana and one of the 25 largest in the United States.

More here-

https://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2018/07/hill_riddle_19-year_rector_of.html

George Councell, 11th Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, dies at 68

From Princeton-

George Edward Councell, the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, died Monday evening. He was 68.

He was transferred to hospice care at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton in the afternoon and died at about 6 p.m., surrounded by famil
y and friends, New Jersey Bishop William Stokes wrote in an email announcing Councell’s death.

Councell retired as bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey in the fall of 2013, five years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. After his diagnosis, he was determined not to let the disease hold him back, and he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2008.

He was elected bishop of the diocese on May 3, 2003, and consecrated on October 18, 2003, at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton. He was known as a gentle spirit who helped stabilize the Diocese of New Jersey, the eighth largest diocese in the Episcopal Church, after a period of turmoil during a previous bishop’s tenure. He was also a supporter of gay rights in the church and gay marriage.

More here-

https://planetprinceton.com/2018/05/21/george-councell-11th-episcopal-bishop-of-new-jersey-dies-at-68/

Loren Mead, author, teacher, and priest, has died

From Episcopal Cafe-


Born in Florence, South Carolina, on February 17, 1930, Loren B. Mead, graduated from the University of the South, and later earned an MA from the University of South Carolina.  After teaching in the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School for Adults for two years, Loren attended Virginia Theological Seminary and received his Masters in Divinity in 1955 and was ordained an Episcopal priest.

He was an educator, consultant, and author who worked to strengthen religious institutions, especially of local congregations. Mr. Mead collaborated with lay people, clergy, executives and bishops, teachers, and others committed to ministry.  A pioneer in congregational studies, he brought together the methods of organization development consultation and applied research for working with congregations.

Born and raised in the segregated South, Loren worked for racial justice and reconciliation throughout his career. Besides marching with a delegation of white pastors in support of Martin Luther King after the death of Medgar Evers, he played a leading role in the desegregation of Chapel Hill.

More here-

https://www.episcopalcafe.com/loren-mead-author-teacher-and-priest-has-died/ 

and here-

https://livingchurch.org/2018/05/07/rest-in-peace-rise-in-glory-loren-b-mead/

Esteemed Anglican military chaplain and priest dies after motor vehicle collision

From Canada-

Canon Robert Fead, a priest in the diocese of Niagara, died after a vehicle collision Monday, April 30.

Fead, 54, was the rector of St. Jude’s Anglican Church, in Oakville, Ont., honorary canon of Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton, Ont., and a chaplain with the Anglican Military Ordinariate.

A statement released by diocese of Niagara Bishop Michael Bird and Bishop-elect Susan Bell requests prayers “for Canon Rob’s wife, Veronica, and his mother, Pat; for his friends and family and colleagues; for the clergy and people of St. Jude’s, Oakville and for all the churches and military units where he served.”

Fead served as the canon reservist on the Military Bishop’s Council, representing all Anglican Reserve Military Chaplains throughout Canada. He was also senior chaplain for 31 Canadian Bridgade Group, overseeing an ecumenical team of up to a dozen reserve chaplains.

More here-

https://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/esteemed-anglican-military-chaplain-and-priest-dies-after-motor-vehicle-collision/