Farewell to Bishop Sisk - Episcopal Diocese of New York

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Diocesan Convention The 236th Diocesan Convention Delayed for the second year in succession by extreme weather (in 2011 it was an early heavy fall of snow, this year the devastation of Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy) the 236th Convention of the diocese, originally slated as a two-day event to take place November 3 and 4 in Tarrytown (the weekend after Sandy’s arrival), eventually took place in telescoped form at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saturday, November 17. As Bishop Sisk observed in his address, “This is the year that, on March 10, Andrew Dietsche the next Bishop of New York, was consecrated. This coming February, the Feast of the Purification, he will be installed and become the 16th Bishop of New York.” Bishop Dietsche, in his own address later in the day (available in full at www.dioceseny.org>The Diocesan Convention>The 236th Diocesan Convention), called on Episcopalians to give up saying “The Church is dying” and asked for “a diocesanwide commitment to an Internal Indaba” in which every parish will be invited to join in Indaba conversations with other churches wholly unlike themselves. “[We have been] forgetting that growth in the Church whenever it happens is a movement of the Holy Spirit, and growth when it comes is always a grace and a gift,” Dietsche told a receptive audience. “…I am convinced that we are doomed to fail at the start [in all the practical matters of running the Church as an institution] if we approach those questions in any way except along the path of the mission we have been given by God.” Major points: Call for election of a Bishop Suffragan Bishop Dietsche asked Bishop Sisk (because he could not, until he becomes Diocesan Bishop, canonically do so himself) to call for the election of a bishop suffragan “sometime around the end of 2013.” Second assistant bishop position created To be filled “for up to two years” by the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen, retired Bishop of Maine The Rev. Deborah Tammearu to succeed the Rev. Canon Thomas Orso as Canon for Transitional Ministry A Canon for Pastoral Care to be appointed in due course Bishop Dietsche announces Internal Indaba In which dissimilar parishes will be joined in conversation. No parish or individual obliged to participate, but committees working on budget, finance and assessment questions to be drawn only from those that do Tribute video to Bishop Sisk screened and available online A beautifully-produced video was shown in which members of the diocese—both lay and clergy—expressed their appreciation of Bishop Sisk’s qualities. The video will be available online for viewing until mid May at http://vimeo.com/edny/sisktribute. CONVENTION DETAILS ONLINE Please go to www.dioceseny.org > The Diocese > The Diocesan Convention > The 236th Diocesan Convention for Both Bishops’ addresses Resolutions passed The Diocesan budget for 2013 The tribute video to Bishop Sisk will be available online at http://vimeo.com/edny/sisktribute until mid-May. Sister Faith Margaret, Bishop Drew Smith, Bishop Sisk and Chancellor George Wade applaud Bishop Dietsche at the conclusion of his address. Photo: Nicholas Richardson “If the questions which underlie our diocesan life and conversation are first and primarily about self-preservation and about whether or not we will survive, I promise you that we will not. But when we are driven by a common shared understanding of our mission and ministry, and a driving vision of God, we will grow if God wants us to grow and we won’t if God doesn’t want us to, but either way we will thrive.” —Bishop Dietsche Assistant Bishop Named The Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen, retired Bishop of Maine, will become Assistant Bishop on April 15. “Bishop Knudsen and I go way back,” said Bishop Dietsche as he announced the appointment in his address. “When I was a seminarian, she was a recently ordained graduate of my same seminary, serving a church in the area. We came to know each other then, and continued that warm relationship over the decades which have followed. We are mutually excited by the prospect of working together, and I certainly hope that you will view the prospect of Bishop Knudsen coming to New York with the same excitement and anticipation which she and I do. I know we will be blessed as a diocese.” 10 THE EPISCOPAL NEW YORKER Winter 2013 www.episcopalnewyorker.com
Bishop’s Crosses Bishop’s Crosses were awarded at the Convention to the Rev. Bertram Bennett, Jr. and to the Rev. Canon Petero Sabune. The following are the official citations: BERTRAM BENNETT, JR. The Prophet Isaiah tells us to, “Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear…”(Isaiah 58.6- 7). In the life and ministry of The Reverend Bertram Bennett, Jr. we see the Church responding to this scriptural mandate with admirable and impressive dedication. Father Bennett has deep roots in this Diocese. Having been Baptized at The Church of the Crucifixion and raised at The Church of St. Edward the Martyr, after Ordination he served at St. Margaret’s Church in the Bronx, and then as the Curate at The Church of St. Matthew & St. Timothy in Manhattan, before becoming the Priest-in-Charge of St. David’s Church in the Bronx, where he has worked tirelessly since 1980. He has been a leader in the South Bronx Inter-parish Council, particularly as the Chair of the South Bronx Church’s Housing Task Force. Among his notable achievements are the creation of a Nehemiah Housing unit, two alternative public high schools and eighty housing units at a neighboring senior center. In fulfillment of the call to the Priesthood that he heard when he was only 10 years old, he has been a beacon of pastoral care, community organizing and relief to those in dire need, and in this he has been an effective example of proclaiming the Gospel in deed, as well as Word. Therefore, in recognition and gratitude for his service to his community, his diocese and the larger Church offered to the glory of God, we, on this 17th day of November 2012, in the fifteenth year of our consecration, do award him THE BISHOP’S CROSS The Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk Fifteenth Bishop of New York PETERO A. N. SABUNE In the Book of Proverbs (31.8-9) we learn that we are to “Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless….Protect the rights of the poor and needy.” God has blessed the Church with the voice and witness of The Reverend Canon Petero Sabune, who has displayed stunning consistency in his advocacy of the helpless, the persecuted, the marginalized and the forgotten. His rich ministry has stretched from parish priesthood to prison chaplaincy, and has included service on the diocesan, national and international levels. He has toiled diligently in his pastoral duties, balancing these with praiseworthy leadership in the mission of the New York State Council of Churches, the Religion Labor Coalition, the Business and Technology Institute of Haiti, and as a Trustee of Union Theological Seminary. He has spoken for the powerless to the powerful and been an instrument of peace and compassion. He bears, in his life, the marks of the Crucifixion but has transformed those he has worked with, and for, by a life of peace, justice and joy. Therefore, in recognition and gratitude for his service to his community, his diocese and the larger Church offered to the glory of God, we, on this 17th day of November 2012, in the fifteenth year of our consecration, do award him THE BISHOP’S CROSS Photos: Nicholas Richardson The Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk Fifteenth Bishop of New York www.episcopalnewyorker.com Winter 2013 THE EPISCOPAL NEW YORKER 11
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