We’ve got a jam-packed, two-for-one Standing Committee update for you this month! Watch this short video to hear about:
- 🌊 Meetings with staff in the Presiding Bishop’s office to prepare for our search for our first bishop.
- 🌊 The special appeal for storm recovery and safety at Camp Chickagami. (Give here!)
- 🌊 Approved ordinands for the priesthood and diaconate!
- 🌊 A preview of the results of the survey from the Ministry of the Episcopate working group.
Transcript:
Speaker 1:
Hi! I’m TaMara Oertel, a representative from your Standing Committee, coming to you from the sanctuary of historic St. Paul’s in Flint.
I’m at my favorite window. It is a certified Tiffany and we are very proud of it. But I just love the colors and the richness that it brings for meditation and for worship.
I’m here to update you on our most recent Standing Committee meeting. We meet twice a month and we met the fifth. We meet for approximately three hours each time and we get a lot done.
So highlights of Monday’s meeting:
We met with a representative from the Presiding Bishop’s office about the journey of a timeline, searching for a bishop and an assistant bishop.
We met with McKenzie Knill to discuss and approve a special appeal to help support and maintain Camp Chickagami after the ice storm that ravaged through there. If you haven’t already seen this appeal, you will soon and please share it with anyone who shares the importance of this holy space for the youth of our diocese.
We also approved the following people for ordination to the priesthood or the diaconate – transitional and/or vocational (Please excuse any mispronunciation!): As for the priesthood, Matt Roney, Jonathan Bratt Carle, Kris Veldheer, Jay Barrett Lee, and Ann Marie Warner. And for one of the diaconates: Jessica Hart, Julianne Lark, Theresa Williams, Jennifer Frechette, Catherine Christian, Stephanie Cote, and Cathy Stevens. Congratulations to these candidates, and please keep them in your prayers and your Standing Committee as well.
Speaker 2:
Hi, I’m Sister Diane Stier. I’m the rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. And I’m also on the Standing Committee for the Diocese of the Great Lakes. The Standing Committee meets twice a month, usually actually for about at least three hours each time, which is a lot!
This past Monday evening, we discussed several things, but one of the things we did was to meet with the staff person from the Presiding Bishop’s office to talk with us about the process of calling our new bishop. So we discussed the timeline. We’re working on setting up the the process for establishing the search committee and the transitions committee that will be involved in selecting our new bishop. We look forward to sharing more about this process at least by mid-June.
We also heard a report from the Committee on the Episcopate. That’s the group that conducted the survey that began back at the last – our first convention in October. The report will be sent out to the whole diocese shortly. But in the meantime, we want to thank all the folks who responded to the survey and participated. We had over 500 responses, which is a great number for our diocese. We’re most grateful to all of you, and we look forward to being able to give you the results of that survey.
You’ll keep getting updates from the Standing Committee as we go along. In the meantime, we ask for your prayer for us, for our diocese, but for all the people of God. And that really means everyone, yes? Peace to you. Thank you.