09/12/2026
An Ordinary Note from our Bishop.
Beloved of Christ!
As we turn from summer rhythms to the program year in our churches and schools, I greet you with joy and love, and with thanksgiving for your ministries!
I am grateful for all who lead our parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts— for priests and deacons; wardens and vestry members; music directors, organists, and choir members; Sunday School teachers and youth leaders; altar guilds, acolytes, and outreach committees; sextons and administrators, and more— know that you are in my prayers as you head into your “start-up” season in your churches.
I am also holding in prayer those who serve in educational vocations— particularly our university, college, and school chaplains, and the many clergy and laity called to teach and to research in institutions throughout our diocese. May your work be full of revelation and joy. Thank you for sharing God’s gifts of inquiry, intellect, and care.
To those who serve as hospital, hospice, prison, detention center, and other kinds of chaplains: thank you for your continued ministry of presence to “the sick, the friendless, and the needy.” You ensure that the spirit of hope and the enduring love of God is known by those who need it most, year in/year out. I pray that you enjoyed some rest and rejuvenation this summer.
As for the Diocesan Staff: after a summer of movement and travel, we are all “back” in the office and excited for the year ahead. Canon Edwin Johnson has been in his new role as Canon for Discipleship and Leadership Development for a month, and on September 15 we will welcome Canon Anna Carmichael, our new Canon for the Northern and Western Region. We will also be bidding a fond farewell to Canon Greg Perez, as he heads into a well-earned retirement. Please be sure to send him notes of gratitude for his ministry in our diocese!
I am mindful that this past Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks which took the lives of nearly 3,000 people and impacted tens of thousands more in countless ways. I ask every congregation in the diocese to hold this anniversary in prayer this week — for those who perished then and since, for the first responders and all who rushed toward danger to help others that day, for those whose lives were forever altered, and for a peace that still eludes our world. Whether in your Sunday liturgies or in a quiet moment of remembrance and prayer on Friday, I ask that we hold this collective grief and hope together, as one Body. Dona nobis pacem. I also commend to you this powerful reflection from the Rev’d Stephen Harding, a priest of our Diocese whose ministry included serving as a chaplain at Ground Zero. https://www.diomass.org/news/diocesan-news/remembering-911-reflection-revd-stephen-harding
Have a wonderful week of fresh beginnings. Below please find some notes about some upcoming programs, events, and projects.
With love, and with prayers,
The Rt. Rev'd Julia E. Whitworth
Bishop Diocesan
Clergy Gatherings
This week, I joined our regional canons for the first gathering of the Welcome Wagon for newly arrived clergy and clergy in new calls in our diocese. This new program is designed to provide hospitality, to share information and resources, and to build community. We are so glad to welcome:
Sarah Brock
Andrea Wyatt
Jodi Barron
Christian Baron
Adolfo Moronta
Trey Garland
Max Sklar
Faith Mbuthia
Jois Celestin
Rita Powell
Ian Hamilton
This week the regional canons and I also met with the deans of our diocese. They have an important ministry providing pastoral care and leadership across the 12 deaneries, especially for our clergy. I am so grateful for them. Thanks especially to the Very Rev’d Amy McCreath, Dean of our Cathedral, and the Rev’d Becky Binns, Dean of the Concord River Deanery, for their leadership of this important body.
Services of Institution for New Rectors
Yesterday, I installed the Rev’d Isaac Martinez as Rector at Trinity in Melrose. This was the first of five services of institution in our diocese this fall. These are wonderful opportunities to celebrate the mutual ministry between priest and congregation, as a diocese.
Please join me in congratulating the following:
Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. - the Rev’d Michael Thompson at St. John's Newtonville
Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. - the Rev’d Trey Garland at All Saints Ashmont
Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. - the Rev’d Tammy Hobbs Miracky at Grace Church Newton
Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. - the Rev’d Zachary Kinyua (combined installation for St. Mark’s Dorchester and St. Bartholomew’s Cambridge). The service will take place at St. Bartholomew's Cambridge.
Ordination
Friday, by the Grace of God and the people consenting, I will be ordaining the Rev’d Canon Clayton McCleskey to the Sacred Order of Priests at the Old North Church in Boston, a mission of our Diocese. Canon Clayton joined my executive team last fall as Canon for Communications, Witness, and Engagement as a lay person in the final stages of his ordination process in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (DC). I am delighted to be ordaining him on behalf of Bishop Mariann Budde.
Diocesan Council Working Day
On Saturday, September 12, the Diocesan Council will be spending the day in retreat, finalizing the draft of the 2027 budget for consideration at the 241st Diocesan Convention on November 14. I am so proud of the budget under consideration— the fruits of months of labor by our Canon for Finance and Administration Deb Thomas, Treasurer Ted T’so, Canon to the Ordinary Chris Wendell, and the Finance Committee, led by the Rev’d Stephen Voysey. It aims to reflect our diocesan priorities more clearly while continuing to advance the needs of congregations and individuals through new programs and stronger infrastructure support. Very soon I will be writing again to provide information about how we plan to support congregations in the midst of considerable health insurance premium increases.
Discernment Days!
On Saturday, September 26, Canons Edwin Johnson and Edie Dolnikowski, and the Commission on Ministry, will host an annual diocesan Vocational Discernment Day at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. This is for anyone in the diocese who is seeking to listen in a new way to the call of God in their life.
On Saturday, October 17, Assisting Bishop Ian Douglas will be leading Sharing Our Stories in Global Mission: An Organizing Gathering also at our Cathedral. I have asked Bishop Douglas to help our diocese discern its next chapter of ministry and partnership around the Global Anglican Communion, and this gathering is for anyone who is interested in being part of that conversation. To register, click here.
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks, our communications team spoke with the Rev’d Stephen Harding, Rector of Grace Episcopal Church on Martha’s Vineyard, who served with the American Red Cross as a volunteer chaplain at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after ...
