The Episcopal Church in Western Washington
Greetings, People of the Diocese of Olympia In a meeting of the Circles of Color that I attended on February 1, the following prayer was prayed by Canon Carla Robinson. I was very moved by it and wanted to share it with all of you as something you might pray during Black History Month. May God bless the memory of Tyre Nichols. We pray for his family during this time of unspeakable loss and grief. His life mattered. Tragically we
Carrying the exciting momentum and energy from Convention, we have gathered a group to guide and organize the diocese’s efforts around Creation Care. You can watch this video to learn more about what our diocesan effort may look like through the experience of the Diocese of San Diego. The committee is currently formulating and discerning how to best connect the dots between parishes to collaborate and share Creation Care resources, events, actions, and liturgies. We hope to offer opportunities and
Greetings, everyone, Please see below the Presiding Bishop’s statement on the murder of Tyre Nichols. The statement was released after the body camera footage was made available. I deeply appreciate Bishop Curry’s words to us all acknowledging the senselessness of this latest killing of a young Black person, and, at the same time, challenging us all with the Scriptural image of the Good Samaritan. Please continue to keep the Nichols family and all working toward the racial justice in your
Dear People of the Diocese of Olympia, It is my great pleasure to announce that sufficient consents have been received – from both a majority of the diocesan Standing Committees and bishops exercising jurisdiction in The Episcopal Church (as detailed in Canon III.10.5), to the reception of the Most Reverend Melissa Skelton into The Episcopal Church from The Anglican Church in Canada. She is now able to serve the Diocese of Olympia as our Bishop Provisional. You can read the
Greetings, People of the Diocese of Olympia, We continue to be in a season of transition in the Diocese. Accordingly, I’m writing to share news of another important transition. The Venerable Gen Grewell, Archdeacon for the Diocese of Olympia, has announced that she will be leaving her role on June 30, 2023 after nearly 14 years of service. Below you’ll find her good letter to the Diocese reflecting on these past years of ministry to the community of deacons and
From Don Fornoff, Member of the Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness: “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” And I trust that we all say “I will, with God’s help.” As our Baptismal Covenant is our guide, I could not resist starting off this e-news piece with such an important part of outreach. The Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness has, since it’s inception, trained it’s eye on Olympia to help instigate and follow-through
It is a time of transition within our diocese, and we have a new clergy transition to announce. The Rev. Janet “Jani” Wild has accepted a call as rector of St. Paul’s Bellingham. A native of Michigan and graduate of Alma College (BA), Jani has made her home in California for the last 30 years. Jani has worked in a variety of jobs; physical therapy assistant, silkscreen company owner, film production assistant, facilities technician, Emergency Medical Technician, and was director
From the Racial Justice Audit Task Force: In October the Racial Justice Audit Task Force gave a presentation at the 2022 Diocesan Convention detailing the work that Bishop Rickel charged us to do. In that presentation we promised that we would follow up with each congregation to gather input for a report that the Task Force would present at our next Diocesan Convention on October 27-28, 2023. We promised that we would ask all congregations in the diocese to read
From The Rev. Dr. Dennis S. Tierney, Diocesan Property Manager: Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash The phrase “Maybe later” was coined by the nicest and kindest member of a tour my wife and I took to China shortly after I retired. It was her way of putting off vendors importuning her to buy their wares without offending them. It never worked, of course, as they failed to get the indirect refusal embedded in her polite speech. That phrase became
“In my experience, times of transition are emotional times, times when we can bounce around between feeling grief, confusion, excitement about a new thing about to happen, all within moments of each other. If you’re feeling any or all of these things, know that it’s normal, at least that’s what I tell myself.” Bishop Skelton offers her greetings as she begins her time as Bishop Provisional for the Diocese of Olympia, as well as her approach to serving as Bishop