[Magdalen] Diocese of Virginia - regions & changes

[Ginga Wilder]

Congratulations, Cady!  You have all that you need to do this work.  You
are in my prayers.

Ginga

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On Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 11:13 AM, Judy Fleener <fleenerj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sounds like you have a ton of work at hand.  We (Western Michigan) just
> changed from 5 deaneries to 3 regions.  The Diocese will be hiring 3 canons
> missioner (or canon missioners the fight continues over that one.) to
> reside in each region and aid the increasingly large number of parishes
> without full time clergy.
>
> On Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 10:47 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Cady, that’s a terrific summary of the whole history of our regions! I’ve
> > never seen it put so succinctly!
> >
> > There has been much conversation over the years about the need/purpose of
> > regions—whether it’s just one more layer of hierarchy to deal with. But
> > some regions, like yours, have wonderful cooperative ministries that
> > couldn’t be done by single churches. Our Region has a thrift shop, which
> > provides all kinds of funds for outreach, but that’s the only region-wide
> > project. Some churches do things together, but those aren’t regional
> > projects.
> > I’m glad they’ve reconfigured the regions more by geography. The region I
> > was in before was 100 miles from top to bottom, and pall churches but one
> > were small. Folks did not like traveling for regional meetings!
> >
> > You and Ben Shelton will make a great Dean-President team!!  I’ve
> supplied
> > in most of those churches, and they are a great group of folks; I wish
> you
> > every blessing!
> >
> > Grace
> >
> > > On Feb 28, 2018, at 8:52 AM, cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > For the past 2 years, I've been the president of Region 13 of the
> > > Diocese of Virginia (similar to convocations or other regional
> > > groups).
> > >
> > > Thumbnail history: The diocese formed regions in the early 1970's by
> > > deciding that each region should have roughly 5,000 communicants, and
> > > assigning churches into regions until that limit was reached. This
> > > meant that urban regions had fewer churches, and were closer together;
> > > rural regions had up to 22 churches and were further apart. Regions
> > > are to provide communication with the diocese (the Executive Committee
> > > is formed of individuals appointed by each region), geographical
> > > communication between churches to share ideas, support, resources and
> > > missions, and collegiality amongst the clergy (the region Dean
> > > schedules clericus meetings) and the lay members.Region 13 has
> > > initiated many ministries throughout the decades, from substantively
> > > supporting returning missionaries during their transition to
> > > congregational ministry in the US, planting a LatinX congregation, St.
> > > Gabriel's Church in Loudoun County, to an ongoing ministry in the
> > > rural mountains of Haiti.
> > >
> > > In 2017, the diocese updated the regions, moving from the original 15
> > > regions to a new set of 16 regions (map at
> > > http://www.thediocese.net/who-we-are/regional-structures/). Our rural
> > > church (Mike Mahoney and I attend Trinity Episcopal Church in
> > > Washington, VA; we sometimes see Grace Cangialosi there as a supply
> > > minister) moved from Region 13 (parts of Culpeper, Loudoun, Fauquier,
> > > Prince William and all of Rappahannock county) to the Culpeper Region.
> > > We have moved from a region where the largest church had >800 ASA and
> > > the smallest had 34 ASA (for a rough total of 4500 members) to a
> > > region where the largest church has about 220 ASA, the second has
> > > about 140 ASA, Trinity has about 80 ASA, and the others are smaller.
> > > Some are much smaller. My estimate of the total Culpeper Region
> > > communicants is under 1000.
> > >
> > > The 10 churches are historic, rural, small churches. Some are a few
> > > miles from others. One has no email or web presence (other than the
> > > default diocese web site). Most face immediate challenges related to
> > > low member numbers, aging buildings and mandatory maintenance (a tower
> > > nearly fell down).
> > >
> > > The diocese contacted me to ask if I would serve as the lay President
> > > of the new Culpeper Region. Newly-appointed Region Dean (St. Stephen's
> > > Church, Culpeper - Benson Shelton), newly-appointed Executive Council
> > > member (St. James' Church, Warrenton - Ben Maas) and I met and
> > > scheduled the first Culpeper Region meeting on April 10th. I am
> > > sending out email to most of the churches and mailing letters to all
> > > the churches. We walk in hope that this new region will work.
> > >
> > > May g-d find us where we are,
> > >
> > > hugs anyway - Cady
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Judy Fleener, ObJN,SSH
> Western Michigan
>