Blog - The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia

Electing Convention

The Bishop Transition Committee is pleased to share details about the special Electing Convention for the Ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia. Previously elected delegates will gather at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle on Saturday, May 18, 2024, to consider a slate of four nominees presented by the Joint Board for Bishop Transition after receiving the recommendations of the Bishop Search Committee. Those not designated as Electors are encouraged to view the proceedings via the Saint Mark’s live-stream (www.saintmarks.org/livestream).

Easter 2024: A Message from Bishop Skelton

Greetings, People of the Diocese of Olympia As a young person growing up in the American South, as a person only marginally involved in the Church, I thought Easter was about pastel colors, baby chicks, easter eggs, and an occasion for some to wear hats. But you and I know better. More than any other feast in the Church, Easter is about the power of God to overturn the negative, life-limiting things that can have dominion over us, over others,

Cathedral Day 2024

https://youtu.be/n6inQcdvdtk Cathedral Day is a “family reunion” for Episcopalians from across western Washington. It’s a time for connecting across congregations and experiencing all your cathedral has to offer. This year’s Cathedral Day celebrates the idea of pilgrimage, with Saint Mark’s serving as your sacred destination. Our Christian tradition holds dear the spiritual practice of making pilgrimages that profoundly shape our understanding of what it means to follow Christ. One need not travel across the globe to do so; one need

The Joint Board for Bishop Transition Announces Preliminary Slate of Bishop Nominees

The Joint Board for Bishop Transition in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia is pleased to announce that, after receiving the recommendations of the Bishop Search Committee, we have approved a preliminary slate of nominees for the Ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia. The Reverend Phil LaBelle The Reverend Doctor Hillary D. Raining The Venerable Jordan Haynie Ware The Reverend Kate E. Wesch More information about each nominee can be found on our Bishop Transition website at the link below. MORE

Updates from the Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness

From Don Fornoff, Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness: I have enjoyed writing this column on behalf of the Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness because I want to keep all of our parishes up-to-date on current outreach efforts. That is faith-based outreach, social, non-profit, and governmental efforts. I am constantly on the lookout for ideas and for what is being published about the extent and reasons for homelessness. I use numbers that I myself haven’t vetted but that can be relied

Updates from the Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness

From Don Fornoff, Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness: Over the past several written pieces for the Diocesan Enews, I have misspelled the word homelessness as I type and corrected it each time so that it wasn’t written homelessmess. At one time, I wanted to leave it alone as homelessness in the geography of our diocese IS a mess. It is a mess for many reasons- but not for reasons that point to faith communities and our parishes as not doing

Updates from the Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness

From Don Fornoff, Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness: It’s time to guide ourselves away from the advocacy emphasis of the first part of the calendar year and back toward what our parishes do so well- Christian service to help others. As a member, I and others on the Taskforce were quite disappointed that rent stabilization did not pass- despite its’ broad-based support. The heavy-handed approaches of those against must be called out for their selfish interests, which hurt lower-income people

Clergy Transitions in the Diocese of Olympia

It is a time of transition within our Diocese, and we have a new clergy transition to announce. The Rev. Elizabeth Riley is delighted to join the people of St. Dustan’s, Shoreline, as their interim beginning April 1. She began her ministry in the Diocese of Alaska, where she was raised and ordained. Elizabeth received her BA from Saint Mary’s College of California and her Master of Divinity from Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She served in the Diocese

Bishop Skelton’s 2024 Chrism Mass Sermon

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of

Holy Week 2024: A Message from Bishop Skelton

Greetings, People of the Diocese of Olympia: The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. Muriel Rukeyser After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. Philip Pullman We, you and I, are right at the beginning of listening again to the central story we’ve been given as the Christian folk—the story we hear during Holy Week as we await the coming of Easter. That story is made up of a number of

Updates from the Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness

From Don Fornoff, The Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness: The Washington State Legislature has finished its 2024 session work. Some specific bills were passed to help with the homelessness situation, but the main bill (HB 2114) to prevent it was quashed. That was rent stabilization. It was killed by the moneyed interests in real estate. So, there will probably be a significant increase in the state’s unhoused population. A week after the close of the session, the Seattle Times reported

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