Faith Formation Archives

Diocesan Confirmation Series for Adults: 2025

You are invited to participate in the Diocesan Confirmation Series for Adults, a weekly Episcopal education series for those who would like to know more about the church and are seeking to better understand the tenets of this faith tradition. Starting on Sunday, February 23rd, we’ll meet weekly via Zoom and for each session you will get to know and hear from a different “teacher.” We’ve invited a cross-section of clergy, lay leaders and even our Bishop to join us

Diocesan Youth Confirmation Program: 2025

Welcome to our youth confirmation program, which will bring together teens from across the Diocese to explore the Episcopal faith and will culminate with a confirmation service at Cathedral Day, May 3, 2025. All youth, ages 13 to 18 (seniors in high school) are invited and welcome to participate in this program. On Sunday evenings, starting February 16 through April 27, from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. we will be working our way through a curriculum called “Confirm Not Conform.” This

Godly Play In-A-Day

We’ve got a wonder-filled Godly Play day planned for you! Through a collaboration between the Diocese of Olympia, the Godly Play Foundation and Saint Mark’s Cathedral, we are able to offer a day of education for all: those who are new to this methodology and those who have been practicing for a long time. We expect this to be a day of learning, experiencing, sharing, and community building, as we immerse ourselves in all aspects of this impactful approach. Our

Wrapping Up Episcopal Youth Event (EYE)

As our team sat at DCA airport in Virginia, waiting for our flight back to Seattle, I knew a part of us would forever be changed by our time at the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) 2023. We had just spent the last four days at the University of Maryland, learning, sharing, growing, and meeting 700+ Episcopal youth and their adult leaders from all over the world. We had been surrounded by a sea of people whose hearts were on fire

Meet the 2023 Episcopal Youth Event Attendees

From Naomi Woodrum, Diocese of Olympia EYE Coordinator: We are excited to introduce the team representing the Diocese of Olympia at the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) in Maryland, July 4-8. EYE is a gathering for youth ages 15-19 from around the world who assemble on a college campus to learn, laugh, and worship together. Its focus and mission are to help develop these young people’s leadership skills, spiritual practices, and early stages of vocational discernment. Our delegation is sending five

Spirituality of Aging

In a society that celebrates youthful energy and productivity, we have largely dropped any value for the distinctive features of the second-half of life. But clearly God made a world in which the process and experience of aging is a defining feature, which means God must value it. Join Fr. Eric Stelle of St. John’s, Gig Harbor for a 3-week class that explores the inherent spiritual worth of knowing ourselves as aging creatures, and the potential of this being a

Glimpses of God in Western Washington: Send Us Your Favorite Photo!

Deadline: March 6 (Better Together March 12) Be a part of the diocese-wide slideshow at Better Together’s opening session: Saturday, March 12 at 9:00am. We are looking for photos that show where you see God in Western Washington. These could be photos of nature, of people, at church, at home, taken anywhere in this diocese which stretches from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and from the Cascades west to the Pacific. Photo by Fr. Berto of his dogs

Ask a Librarian: Books for These Times

From Sue Tait, Diocesan Librarian: How do we consider the challenges ahead, challenges to the church, our congregations, ourselves? Three recent books provide some thought provoking responses. Books written before 2020 can see hopelessly naïve now, speaking of a world that no longer exists. That is not true of all of them of course, as Alice Scannell shows us in her book below. But one of our tasks of the future will be to apply learnings developed in a more

Ask a Librarian…

From Sue Tait, Diocesan Librarian: There are certainly plenty of “introductions” to the bible available, and here is another one, published this year from Church Publishing – Blessed to Bless: An Introduction to the Bible, by Tim Sean Youmans (Church Publishing, Inc., 2020. CUR 220.61 You). The author is department chair at Casady School in Oklahoma City, a pre-K through 12th grade Episcopal college preparatory school, and curriculum for middle school students includes a four-year survey of the Bible. Youngmans invited parents

Ask a Librarian…

From Diocesan Librarian Sue Tait: In 2016, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (305.8 Ken) was received with acclaim and won the National Book Award. In 2020, Jason Reynolds, who is a very big deal in literature for young people, “remixed” that book in Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (305.8 Rey) – in partnership with Kendi. His book is not just a synopsis, although they cover the same ground; Reynolds claims often that this is not a

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