Virginia

Winchester – at St. Michael the Archangel: Retreat for laity sponsored by the Anglican Church Women and conducted by the Rev. Canon Jonathan J. D. Ostman, SSC, Saturday, January 26. For more information, call 540-955-2183.

DELEWARE

Wilmington – “Coincidentally: Unserious Reflections on Trivial Connections,” a lecture by Fr. George Rutler at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute on Thursday, January 31 at 5:30 p.m. For more information call Abigail Clevenger at 302-652-4600 ext. 146 or e-mail aclevenger@isi.org by Jan. 28.

South Carolina

Greenwood – St. Andrew’s, Institution of the Rev. Peter A. Geromel as Rector, February 8 at 7:00 p.m.

North Carolina

Hickory – St. Mark’s, Episcopal Visit, February 9, 4:00 p.m.

Illinois

Belleville – Forward in Faith/North America Council Meeting, February 12-13, at Our Lady of the Snows Retreat Center

Lent 2008 : Fr. Alexander Schmemann had an unforgettable way of describing Lent as our pilgrimage from the brokenness and disintegration of sin to the wholeness of the new creation. We undertake this pilgrimage with the help of the Church, with the help of devotions like the Stations of the Cross, with fasting, abstinence and self-denial, with Bible study and with the Sacrament of Confession. In Confession to a priest the penitent can experience his Baptism, his baptismal union with Christ. Hearing the words of absolution pronounced specifically and personally over oneself is like Jesus’ three-fold restoration of Peter on the beach, after the Resurrection. (John 21: 15-19) Peter now rejoices “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (I Peter 1.8) Jesus forgives, restores and re-commissions him to be an apostle of the new creation.

Diocesan Synod, 23-26 April in Greenwood, SC, hosted by St. Andrew’s. The Clergy Retreat, conducted by Fr. Jerry McKenzie, from Cortez, CO, begins after lunch on Wednesday, April 23 and ends before lunch on Thursday April 24. The Clericus begins after lunch on Thursday April 24. Friday morning the 25th is the Chrism Mass and Friday afternoon is the Business Meeting, with the Banquet on Friday evening.

Our Banquet Speaker this year will be the Rev. Canon Arthur Middleton, sometime Rector of Boldon and Canon Emeritus of Durham Cathedral in England. At St. Chad’s College in Durham, Canon Middleton has been a Tutor, a member of the College Council and Acting Principal. He is an experienced lecturer, retreat conductor and prolific writer. His books are Towards a Renewed Priesthood, The Peculiar Character of Anglicanism, Fathers and Anglicans: The Limits of Orthodoxy, The Spirit of Anglican Devotion in the 16th – 17th Centuries, Prayer in the Workaday World, Catholic or Protestant – Essential Anglicanism and Restoring the Anglican Mind (2008). He has completed three lecture tours in Canada and Australia and will be doing another lecture tour in Australia in the Autumn 2008. He and his wife Jennifer have two grown sons.

The program for the Anglican Church Women will begin on Wednesday, April 23 after lunch with a Liturgical Sewing Workshop and continue until lunch on Thursday, April 24 with an Altar Guild Workshop, both conducted by Mrs. Elizabeth Morgan, Directress Emeritus of the Albany Diocesan Altar Guild in New York. The ACW luncheon and General Meeting are on Thursday April 24.

Those not in the Diocese of the Holy Cross who wish to attend all or any part of the Synod may e-mail afdv1@yahoo.com. or phone 610-415-9788 for a registration packet.