Coffee Hour At The Commons

Today’s guest is the Rev. Lee Ann Tolzmann, who currently serves on the staff for ECCT as Canon for Mission Leadership, and we’ll talk about what that means. Lee Ann grew up mostly in Virginia Beach, Virginia, but graduated from Glastonbury High School in Connecticut. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and General Theological Seminary. Lee Ann was ordained in the Diocese of Maryland, she served as the Assistant Rector at St. Andrew’s, Glenwood (Howard County, Maryland), and Rector of the Church of the Messiah in Baltimore. Lee Ann came to Connecticut in 2008 to serve as the Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Riverside. In 2015 she accepted the position of Canon for Mission Leadership for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. Lee Ann’s main role is working with parishes in transition and helping to find proper placements for clergy in transitions. She also helps to break down the misconception of what “ministry” looks like — mainly that it doesn’t look like a full-time rectorship anymore. She is married to Dav

Our guest today is the Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp. She is a newly ordained priest of the Episcopal Church from the Diocese of Maine. Before pursuing ordination Catherine Amy worked as a former high school teacher and she is also a Maine guide. For the past year she's been pursuing her Master's degree in Sacred Theology degree at Yale Divinity School, focusing on the Cosmic Christ, and also serving as the liturgical coordinator of the University Church in Yale. Last fall the magazine for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut had a big spread on the Cosmic Christ and an interview with Catherine Amy, so today we're going to find out what she's been up to since then. We started by asking about whether her studies were over and learned that she had just finished! She shared that she had focused on the Cosmic Christ, and why that matters for parish ministry, how people understand ministry, mission, social justice, and spiritual formation - the practical applications of the Cosmic dimensions of Christ as based in scrip

Today we have with us Pat Cage and Ana Arellano, both of the Friends of the Episcopal Church of Cuba. And today we’re going to learn about that grassroots organization. We held the interview in the Annand Room of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, in New Haven and Pat joined us by phone. Patricia, or Pat, Cage, is from Saint Luke’s in Darien. She was one of the founders of Friends of the Episcopal Church of Cuba 2016 and serves as their executive director. Before that Pat served as director or president of several non-profits in Connecticut including Person to Person and A Better Chance. Pat has a degree in business marketing from Cal State University. Ana Arellano is Cuban American and an active member of St. Peter’s, Cheshire. She is also an artist and a journalist, specializing in Latino news, photographer and freelance writer, webmaster and social media afficiado, and earlier, a bank vice president. Ana has a BA from Yale and lives in Cheshire. She’s been involved in Friends of the Episcopal Church in Cu

  Today’s guest is Kelli R. Gibson, a YDS student, who was hired in early May to serve as ECCT’s Racial Justice Resource Coordinator as authorized by Annual Convention 2018. Kelli is a native of New Haven who attended the city's public schools. She completed her undergraduate studies at CCSU with a dual major in psychology and criminology. Currently she is in a Masters of Arts in Religion (MAR) program at Yale Divinity School, with a plan to concentrate in ethics. She's also a part of YDS' Black Church Studies certificate program, with expected graduation dates in 2020. Kelli has work experience in municipal and regional policy administration, sales, group home residential program management, and development consulting. She is the president of the Black Graduate Network at Yale, a leader in New Haven's "Pinky Promise" network, a ministry sponsorship director, a member of New Haven's NAACP Legal Redress Committee, and a New Haven Promise alum.   After reviewing Kelli’s bio, and how the position came into bei

Our guest today is the Rev. Canon Nicholas T. Porter.   Nicholas, former rector of Trinity Church in Southport. He is the Executive Director and Founder of Jerusalem Peacebuilders: jerusalempeacebuilders.org.   He is the re-founder and past director of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem as well as the founder of Anastasia Pilgrimages in France.    Nicholas holds advanced degrees in Middle East Studies, Theology, War Studies, and Conflict Transformation. A two-time graduate from Yale University, he served on the board of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, initiating key projects in theology and in Jerusalem. In 2016 Dwight Hall at Yale awarded him the Curran Prize for distinguished public service.   Jerusalem Peacebuilders (JPB) is an interfaith, non-profit organization with a mission to create a better future for humanity across religions, cultures, and nationalities. Integral to that mission is the belief that the future of Jerusalem is the future of the world.  To that end, JPB pr

In this special edition of Coffee Hour at The Commons, Alli hosts conversations with various people who make up the community and congregations at our Cathedral in Hartford.    She begins with a conversation with the Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, Dean of our Cathedral. They talk about the Centennial season this year, 2019, and all the wonderful events happening at our Cathedral throughout the year. A couple of years ago, our Cathedral was invited by the bishops into a discernment about the role and mission of the Cathedral in Hartford. This celebration of Christ Church Cathedral’s Centennial is an expression of our Cathedral’s identity and what they are embracing as a congregation and as a spiritual home for all of Connecticut.   This episode you will learn about the congregational life of our Cathedral, the various committees associated with Christ Church Cathedral, Church by the Pond, Church Street Eats, and Music Moves Hartford.    Alli first interviews the Rev. Canon Jorge Pallares, Canon for Congrega

Today our guests are Eliza Marth, Northwest Region Missionary and Anne Hall, Junior Warden at St. John’s in Pine Meadow. Both Eliza and Anne were both participants in the first region based lay preaching course last Lent in 2018. The second round just finished up on March 3. Twelve people participated from five parishes and communities. The course met for four weeks.    We begin our conversation talking about what is lay preaching. Anne says that it is not only the lay members of a congregation that preach under the guidance of colleagues and the priests, but it is also a deeply formative practice for adults.    Alli asks how the lay preaching class came to be. Eliza shares the genesis of the class from the basement of Trinity, Torrington and the desire for a part-time priest wanting more diversity in the pulpit. As Region Missionary of the Northwest region, Eliza took a leadership role with two other leaders and 12 lay preaching students.    The classes in the first round of the classes first concentrated on

Today we are doing something a little bit differently. The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens will be leading us in a prayerful meditation/reflection on Good Friday. We invite you to utilize this time for some quiet. It might not be the best podcast to listen to in the car, but rather take 15 minutes out of your day to sit with God and pray. There are intentional pauses throughout the recording, please utilize them for times of prayer and personal reflection.    Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  

Today we have two guests with us, Dom Gautrau and Boris Sigal.    Boris works to make sure the Community Purchasing Alliance (CPA) has the capacity to provide a great experience for member institutions and vendors alike. That includes building out operational systems to accommodate an increasing number of members and service offerings, benchmarks that maintain financial strength, and strategies to continue to grow cooperative purchasing and social impact opportunities.   Dom is a long-time member of St. Francis in Stamford. Dom has served several terms as vestryman at St Francis. He currently sits on the diocesan Property Committee. Five years ago he started a fuel buying program called Faith Fuel Initiative for 4 parishes in Fairfield County that has saved them thousands of dollars annually.   Alli asks how both Boris and Dom got involved in the Community Purchasing Alliance and this initiative here in Connecticut. Boris shares that he began this work in DC with several non-profits joining together to make a

Today's guest in Greg Farr, archivist for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut since last October. His office is at The Commons. Greg is not entirely new to ECCT, as he helped transport and set up the archives at The Commons in Meriden from the old Diocesan House in Hartford in 2016.  Before working for ECCT, Greg ran the medical library and archives of the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA, a hospital celebratings its centennial this ,year that sponsors one of the largest - and some say finest - psychoanalytic libraries on the east coast. Greg first got into archival work at Monticello, working on the presidential catalogue of Thomas Jefferson. Greg received his Masters in Library & Information Sciences from Drexel University. In the article introducing Greg to ECCT, he said he was looking forward to advocating the history and value of archives and the knowledge maintaining history provides, especially here in Connecticut.  Beyond ECCT, Greg likes to read theology and play guitar. He lives with h

Today our guest is the Rt. Rev. Dr. Carol Gallagher, Regional Canon for the Central Region of the Diocese of Massachusetts. Previously, Bishop Gallagher served as the assistant bishop of the Diocese of Montana, where she developed a close relationship with Indigenous leaders and communities, trained  clergy and lay leaders on issues of race, gender, and inclusion, and led the Task Force on Native Issues. Before Montana, Bishop Gallagher served as the assistant bishop in the Diocese of North Dakota, Diocese of Newark, and Diocese of Southern Virginia. Developing strong relationships with Native tribes and communities, as well as educating Episcopal communities on the significance of the intersection of race, culture, gender, and class, has been a focus of her ministry for a long time.    Bishop Gallagher is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She has served on numerous committees, task forces, and boards, including the Episcopal Church Council on Indian Ministries, the Anglican Indigenous Network, Ang

Today Coffee Hour at The Commons is on the road again, in Bristol, at Shepard Meadows Therapeutic Riding Center. It’s on land donated to the Episcopal Church in Connecticut to be used for ministry, which is an expression of God’s love, and that’s certainly what’s going on here. The vision for the use of the property and some of its buildings for a therapeutic riding center started in 2004 and the center officially opened a year later with two horses and a pilot program for three children with special needs.   Today it is a premiere accredited center, one of six in the state, accredited by PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship. It has seven horses in its herd, lots of volunteers, and a staff of five. Today we’ll be talking with its executive director, Shelly Whitlock-Pope, who’s also a PATH-certified instructor, and Dave Demarais, a long-time volunteer with the center, Vice-President of its Board of Directors, formerly on the staff of ECCT for property management. That

Today is International Women’s Day, so today we’re going to talk about an upcoming United Nations session focused on women and girls. Our guest is not only an active lay Episcopalian but a leader in a historic and international Episcopal organization serving girls and women.   Lois Frankforter attends Grace & St. Peter’s in Hamden. She is a lawyer at a Connecticut law firm and also a girls varsity lacrosse coach. Lois is a leader in the Girls Friendly Society, GFS, and currently serves as president of the GFS/USA. In addition to serving on the national level, she leads GFS on the local, diocesan, and province levels.   Last spring, Lois attended the meetings of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, sometimes referred to as UNCSW, as the delegate from Province One, the New England dioceses, for Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. The event takes place at the UN headquarters in New York City. This year’s UNCSW is being held March 11-22. The gathering will review the conclusions from a prior yea

Today our guest is Jerusalem Greer, member of the "Way of Love creation and leadership team with The Episcopal Church. Jerusalemis an author, public speaker, multi-hobby enthusiast, and blogger on her website jerusalemgreer.com. She is the leader for the upcoming Episcopal Province of New England Faith Formation Leaders Gathering all about the Way of Love. She was also just named staff officer for evangelism for The Episcopal Church.   For Lent, The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church in Connecticut are embracing the Way of Love, encouraging folks to Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, and Rest.    Welcome Jerusalem!    Jerusalem calls us in from her farm in Arkansas. We begin our conversation about the Way of Love and Lent by asking what is the Way of Love and how she became involved in the creation and leadership. Jerusalem says that it is not a program, first and foremost, but rather it is a Rule of Life, similar to that of a monastic Rule of Life, with seven spiritual practices. It came out

Our guests today are the Reverends Carrie and Nik Combs. Carrie is the full-time curate at Trinity in Newtown. Nik, who's originally from Idaho, is a part-time priest-in-charge at Trinity in Torrington and works part-time  at Class Cycles in Southbury. Carrie, who grew up in Cheshire, was ordained a priest in 2018 and Nik was ordained a priest in 2017. Carrie and Nik, who are married, met pursuing their Masters in Divinity at School of Theology at Sewanee. Carrie and Nik were married in 2016 at St. Peter’s in Cheshire, Carrie's home church. Carrie is 29 and Nik is 32, which matters as we are going to talk about what it is like for them as a young married clergy couple.  We start our conversation talking about their time at Sewanee as a young engaged couple, and how they came to Connecticut. They moved to Connecticut without any jobs, they decided together to have Carrie find a full-time position in an established parish in a more traditional curate role. Carrie and Nik, although they work in two separate par

Today our guest is the Rev. Tuesday Rupp, Rector of St. Paul’s in Woodbury.Tuesday describes herself on Twitter as a “musician turned Episcopal Minister” with “ears tuned to the holy since 1975.” Before serving as Rector of St. Paul’s, Tuesday was the Assistant Rector for Formation and Arts Ministry at Church of the Heavenly Restin New York City, where she served for five years. She graduated with an Mdiv. from Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music in 2013, and holds a bachelors in Music from Boston University and a Masters in Music focused on conducting from Portland State University. She was ordained a priest in October of last year. Welcome Tuesday!    We begin our conversation with Tuesday asking about what it means to be a "musician turned Episcopal Minister” with “ears tuned to the holy.” Tuesday shares that she grew up both in the Catholic Church and the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church; she learned music looking at her grandmother's hymnal.    While she was in graduate school in Oregon,

Today our guest is the Honorable Steven Mullins, President of the Southern Connecticut Chapter of UBE (Union of Black Episcopalians) and Commissioner of Planning & Zoning and a Justice of the Peace in the city of West Haven. The Union of Black Episcopaliansis a successor organization continuing a tradition "of more than 200 years of Black leadership in The Episcopal Church." Locally, there is a chapter in Hartford and the Southern Connecticut Chapter which was formed in 2013, following the merger of the New Haven and Bridgeport Chapters. Steven is the chapter's first president following this merger. The focus of the Union of Black Episcopalians is to serve as an organization of predominately Black clergy and laity that advocates for Black Episcopalians and commemorates the lives and ministries of Black saints in the Episcopal Church.   Steven was born in Glenwood, Alabama and came to Connecticut at the age of 5. Steve is an active member of the Holy Spirit, West Haven. He is married to Jean and they have

Today we’re airing a special episode to coincide with the first day of Black History Month, although you can listen on any day of the year. Our four guests today are intentionally from the Black diaspora, which Wikipedia describes as a “worldwide collection of communities descended from African peoples.” They were all recorded separately. Here’s the outline for the episode, including the bios of the guests, except for the interview which you’lll hear later, then we’ll get started. There will be a prayer, three poems, an interview, two more poems, and another prayer.  The Rev. Rowena Kemp, priest in charge at Grace Church, Hartford, will read a confession that’s part of the recommended liturgy for Episcopalians in Connecticut on February 10, a Sunday that was chosen by its members at their Annual Convention last fall to be a Day for Racial Healing, Justice, and Reconciliation,  part of a Season of Racial Healing, Justice, and Reconciliation. Rowena will close the episode with a prayer as well, reading a coll

Today's gnarly episode is with Connecticut's surfing priest, the Rev. Matt Lindeman, rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Milford. He is originally from Nebraska, and both his parents are Episcopal priests. In eighth grade he moved to San Diego, California where he cultivated his love of surf and church.   Matt came to Connecticut in 2009 and began working with the youth group at Trinity, Southport in 2013 while serving as director of family ministries there. Matt lives in Milford with his wife, two children, and  multiple surfboards.   He is a returning guest to Coffee Hour at The Commons. Read a New Haven Register article about the surfing priest.   We talked about surf boards; how he started surfing as almost "morning prayer" before Algebra class, how he eventually got better (after falling and falling and falling), and all of the lessons he learned from his experiences. For Matt, finding God in the wilderness sometimes means paddling into the open water with San Diego or New York or Connecticut beh

In this episode we dive into JJNMA - what?    We find out about a pilot program for a new missional project in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut to help parishes and individuals deepen their spiritual life and raise financial resources for engaging God's mission.   With us today are the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, bishop diocesan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT) and Tiffany Reed, Assistant Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a strategic fundraising firm that partners with nonprofits for transformational change. (more bio below)   We started by exploring where the idea came from and whether joining the spiritual component with the fundraising component is new or unique, and how it particularly makes sense for Connecticut at this time. The bishop took us through some of the past history in ECCT, with its "Living Local Joining God (LLJG)" initiative for parishes, and some of the related resolutions that led to working with CCS.    He also talked about what it means to "Join Jesus" and what the "New Mi