Coffee Hour At The Commons

The Reverend Marcus Halley is the current Dean of Formation for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Missional Priest in Charge at Church of the Holy Spirit in West Haven, Connecticut, and author of the forthcoming book from Church Publishing – Proclaim!. Prior to coming to Connecticut, Marcus served as the rector of Saint Paul’s Church in Minneapolis and Missioner for Evangelism for the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. He is passionate about all things liturgical, historical, ecclesial, and missional and can be found somewhere baking, praying, writing, reading, or randomly dancing to Steve Wonder songs.   Welcome Marcus! Find the show notes here: 

The Rev. Dr. Hillary is the Rector of St. Christopher's Church in Gladwyne, PA. and author of Joy in Confession by Forward Movement. She has also developed an online wellness and spirituality communality called The Hive (www.thehiveapiary.com), including a podcast with her husband called The Hive Cast. Currently, Hillary serves as the President of the Standing Committee of Dio Pa and a General Convention Deputy for the Diocese of Pennsylvania. She has traveled extensively preaching and leading educational and spiritual events in a variety of topics and settings. Such topics include: Reconciliation, yoga, liturgical studies, building Christian community, meditation, retreats, bee-keeping, parenting, and the Daring Way. She is the proud mother of Delia and wife of Ken   Welcome Hillary! It is so wonderful to finally have you on the podcast thank you for joining.    Read the show notes here: 

Anne Rowthorn, Ph. D. is a passionate, long-time environmentalist. She has written or compiled 12 books, of late specializing in the area of religion and ecology. Long an admirer of John Muir, she took particular pleasure in compiling the book, The Wisdom of John Muir:  100+ Selections from the Letters, Journals and Essays of the Great Naturalist,which is available in most book stores and national park gift shops.    The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Rowthorn was one of the founding faculty members of the Institute of Sacred Music, and a professor of Liturgy at Yale Divinity School, and was the school’s first Chapel Minister. In 1987 he was elected Suffragan Bishop of Connecticut and then from 1994 to 2001 served as Bishop of the Episcopal congregations in Europe.  Over the past forty years he has compiled and edited three hymnals and written hymns, among them the school hymn for Berkeley Divinity School and a hymn commissioned to mark the tercentenary of Yale University.  His most recent hymnal is Sing of the World Mad

The Rev. Armando Ghinaglia Guhnahglia was ordained to the priesthood in 2018. He serves as the missional curate at Christ Church, New Haven, and last year as missional curate at St. John's, Bristol, and Church of Our Savior, Plainville. Armando is a native of Venezuela raised in Texas, he graduated from Yale College with a bachelor's degree in political science before completing his M.Div. at Yale Divinity School. He is currently a second-year student at Yale Law School, where he engages in litigation and advocacy on behalf of fellow immigrants and workers.   Welcome Armando!   Read the show notes on our website: http://www.coffeehour.org/episode-68.html

Today’s podcast is a recorded sermon preached by the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris at the 2019 Annual Convention Worship of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. The Gospel reading for the day was Luke 18:9-14.    Per her request, a typed manuscript of her sermon is not provided. We invite you to share this episode with someone who may enjoy or need it. 

The Rev. Callie Swanlund serves as both a parish priest—Associate Rector of St. Christopher’s, Gladwyne, PA (outside of Philadelphia)—and a "priestpreneur." She created the film and resource for formation/evangelism How2charist: Digital Instructed Eucharist and leads individuals and groups in the work of Dr. Brené Brown as a Certified Daring Way Facilitator.    Callie is part of the 2019 class of Episcopal Church Foundation Fellows, and is working to integrate her passions of teaching, leading, creating content, and gathering community, to better serve the Church. She is a mama, creator, lover of Jesus, and dreamer who is currently building a missional initiative called The Epiphany Space for others to discover and use their creative gifts.    Welcome Callie!   Show notes available here: www.coffeehour.org/episode-66

Sandy Milien is a young and driven Afrolatina, passionate about social justice and the calling of The Episcopal Church to empower youth and young adults to be leaders in their communities. She is currently the project lead for the Episcopal Church Beloved Community StorySharing Campaign. This evangelism initiative seeks to help and equip faith communities and individuals to share and receive stories of faith, race, and difference in their communities. She is also one of the co-hosts for the Way of Love Podcast with Bishop Michael Curry. Sandy lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where she works as Missioner for Community Engagement and Assistant to the Bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem. In her free time, you can find Sandy reading, dancing or spending time with family and friends.   Welcome Sandy!    Read the show-notes at CoffeeHour.org. 

Adam Yates is the rector, half-time, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in East Haddam, CT and also serves on staff at the Episcopal Church in Connecticut as the Secretary of Convention. In this roll, Adam organizes the planning team for the Annual Convention and sits on variety of committees with exciting sounding names like, Joint Leadership, Faith & Order, and Mission Council.   Adam lives in Andover, CT with his husband, Matthew Emery, who is the senior pastor at Storrs Congregational Church, UCC, their cat, Demon, and their beagle, Daniel, whom occupies a large amount of the picture storage on Adam’s phone.  Adam’s preferred pronuns are he, him, and his.   The Episcopal Church in Connecticut’s convention is coming up on October 26-27, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. Read more at CoffeeHour.org  

Today our guest is Kate McKey-Dunar. Kate hails from Minnesota but has been living in in New Haven for the past 5 years. She received her Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 2018. She completed her residency at Yale New Haven Hospital in the spring of 2019, and now is a chaplain at Backus Hospital in Norwich, CT. She is a postulant for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.  Read more at coffeehour.org

The Rev. Peter Walsh has been the Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in New Canaan, Connecticut since 2008. Previously, he served in Phoenix, Arizona; Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and was a Chaplain at the Kent School. Peter grew up in Delmar, New York, a small town outside of Albany. He is a graduate of the Hotchkiss School, Harvard College, and Yale Divinity School.  Embracing the new missional age, Peter publishes a weekly vlog on St. Mark’s website, which makes my Digital Storyteller heart happy.      Professor Miroslav Volf is an esteemed author and the founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. A member of the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Miroslav has been involved in international ecumenical dialogues and interfaith dialogues, and is an active participant in the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum.    The Rev. Justin Crisp has been a member of St

Allison Batson is an energetic, compassionate, steadfast, and loving woman who started a program called Dinner for a Dollarat Grace and St. Peter’s in Hamden, CT. It is a weekly communal supper where all are welcome, meals are one dollar per person, with a max of 5 dollars per person. The meals are homemade, hot, and enjoyed communally. Allison is working with the Rev. Bob Bergner to turn this ministry into a food truck to take this on the road. In her regular life, she is a preschool teacher in Hamden. She lives, works, and ministers in Hamden.    Welcome Allison!    Read more: http://www.coffeehour.org/episode-61.html 

The Rev. Ranjit K. Mathews is rector of St. James’ parish in New London, where he has served for 2 years. Previously he was the Partnership Officer for Africa serving on the Presiding Bishop’s staff, and served as a associate rector of a bi-lingual church in California. He is interested in urban ministry and passionate about the realm of God. He lives in New London with his spouse Johanna and their son Dhruv. He has been a previous guest on the podcast in our first season!    The Rev. Deborah Meister is the Associate Clergy for Formation, Justice, and Public Theology at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal, Canada. She began her ministry as Associate Rector at St. Lukes in Birmingham, AL, then served 10 years as Rector of two urban parishes with deep passion to transforming poverty. She is passionate about the intersection of monastic contemplative spirituality and justice work.    Both Ranjit and Deborah are co-creators of the Let my people go Ministry Networkdedicated to raising awareness of the plight of mi

To kick off Season 5 we are getting into the back to school season with college chaplains!    We have the Rev. Paul Carling, the Rev. Brian Blayer,.    The Rev. Paul Carling is the Chaplain at the Episcopal Church at Yale a position he has held for 5 years. Before Yale he was doing parish work for 10 years, and he was a professor of psychology before then at a variety of universities, and worked around the world to advance the recovery of people with serious mental illnesses. He is passionate about discovering the wisdom of Young Adults between 17-35 and how it must shape the church of the future. When he is not at his office of at the chapel on campus you can find him cooking for friends, reading trashing ecclesiastical mysteries, and gardening. He lives in Bridgeport with his wife, Cherise.    The Rev. Brian Blayer is the rector of St. Mark’s Chapel in Storrs, where he has been for the last two years. St. Mark's has an active campus ministry for the University of Connecticut. Before Storrs and UCONN, he was

We are closing this season of Coffee Hour at The Commons visiting Camp Washington! We are calling this the CampCast or Coffee Hour at Camp.   We have three individuals with us from camp. Tyler Jarvis is the Summer Camp Director and Special Programs Coordinator throughout the rest of the year, he is from Texas. Tristian Fillatio is a first time camp counselor from Newtown, CT. And, Janette Birtha is from Wallingford, CT. She has been a camp counselor for 5 summers.     Read more at CoffeeHour.org 

Alli interviews three deacons, the Rev. Patricia (Pat) Jackson, the Rev. Bonnie Matthews, and the Rev. Felix Rivera.  The Rev. Patricia (Pat) Jackson is a retired clinical researcher within the pharmaceutical industry. She is a “child of the soil - Jamaican soil, that is.” She came to Connecticut over 30 years ago from Jamaica by way of Canada, England, and New York. She was ordained a deacon in September 2007 and currently serves at Church of the Holy Trinity in Middletown. Pat’s diaconal passion centers around reaching out to the poor, lonely, sick, forgotten, housebound, and marginalized both inside and outside the Church community. This passion has led her to be an advocate for our retired deacon community whom she faithfully serves both in their lives and at the time of their deaths. Pat is a proud mother of two grown children and a nana to six grand babies.    The Rev. Bonnie Matthews was ordained in 2012. She is the chair of the Deacons' Council and was elected to Mission Council during the 2018 Conve

The Rev. Marcella Gillis is the Assistant Rector for Youth & Family Ministry at Christ & Holy Trinity in Westport, CT. She received her bachelors in International Development from American University, and her masters from Yale Divinity School. She was ordained in June 2017 at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.   Marcella has served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua, working with local schoolteachers and youth groups. She has also worked as the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill, where she taught Confirmation and coordinated service trips and outreach projects for children and youth. Marcella is passionate about mission trips and work with youth, among other things. She curretntly lives in Westport with her wife Meg.    Welcome Marcella!    Read more: http://www.coffeehour.org/episode-56.html 

Swords to Plowshares started through a partnership with Newtown Action Alliance, the Episcopal Church, the UCC, and the New Haven Police Department. Three years ago, the Rev. Jeremy Lucas won an AR-15 in a raffle for a softball team and destroyed the gun and turned it into a gardening tool with the help of Raw Tools Inc. He dedicated that gardening tool to the Newtown Action Alliance, which led to a conversation about change in Connecticut around turning guns into gardening tools. Jim worked with the Yale-New Haven Hospital and churches in the New Haven area, and begun putting together the Swords to Plowshares Ministry Network.   Read more at CoffeeHour.org 

I must be honest before I read the bios for our three guests, these are their words from the “Meet the Region Missionaries”info booklet from ECCT. I just paraphrased them. Okay here we go!   ERENDIRA JIMENEZ - SOUTHWEST REGION MISSIONARY   Erendira is a recent graduate of Yale Divinity School. She is originally from San Diego, CA and Louisville, KY — which is where she first made the Episcopal Church her home. Her professional work history includes social work, college chaplaincy, and congregational development. She has great passion for those who find themselves on the margins, both of the world and of the church, and working to create equitable, just, and loving communities. She believes in the power of storytelling, imagination, creativity, failing, and sometimes succeeding. She is also passionate about rock climbing, weaving, and hosting people for homemade meals. In her words, "I join you bringing a heart to listen—to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to the Spirit—and to discern together where God might

My guest today is our very own Karin Hamilton! That is right I am interviewing Karin!    Karin Hamilton is the Canon for Communications and Media for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. Karin has worked for the ECCT for 25 years. Before coming to ECCT, Karin worked for 8+ years at a local parish. Karin has an MS in Journalism, and her background is in sociology, which provides her with a well-rounded view to her work in communications. Karin is also an avid runner and lover of the Wild Wild West — mainly Utah. Her Friday afternoons are spent tending to horses at High Hopes Therapeutic Riding center in her home of Old Lyme.    Karin has a unique and progressive approach to diocesan communication and the church at large. For example, her dream of hosting a diocesan podcast focused on the ministry and work of every-day Episcopalians is what launched this very podcast. Karin has also been the editor of the annual print magazine CRUX, which showcases the various corners of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut focu

Today our guest is the Rev. Jack Gilpin. Jack was ordained in 2012 and is currently the rector of St. John’s, New Milford.   Jack is also a professional actor who has starred in over 35 feature films and has been in many shows on and off Broadway and in regional theaters around the country. Shows including Law and Order,Kate & Allie, and movies including Funny Farmwith Chevy Chase, 21, and Adventureland. Most recently, you can find Jack on the Showtime series Billions playing the character Sean Ayles.    Jack is originally from Roxbury, CT. Jack also recently assisted with the lay preaching course in the Northwest Region. Jack is a graduate from Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. He lives in Roxbury with his wife and they have three grown children.    Welcome Jack!     Jack starts off our conversation discussing how he got into acting— starting from his first gig as the Easter Bunny when he was 5. The feeling of connection and mutuality he felt with the audience, while on stage, has s