The Anglican Diocese of Saint George

03/17/2026

 We need your help making the move!

This page is officially being retired, and all future updates, posts, and interaction will take place on our new page. If you want to stay connected, encouraged, and informed about everything we’re doing, you’ll need to make the switch.

Please take a moment right now to go follow, like, and engage with our new page, Ordinariate of Saint George for Chaplaincy. We don’t want to lose you in the transition, and we’d love to see you continue the journey with us there.

This page will no longer be active, so don’t miss out, head over to the new page today and make sure you’re part of what’s next.

There is a quiet but powerful truth in this message: the Gospel is often judged not first by Scripture, but by the lives of those who claim it. Before many ever read a page of the Bible, they read us. Before they hear the name of Jesus Christ preached, they encounter Him or fail to through our words, our actions, and our spirit.

To bear the name Christian is to carry a sacred responsibility. It is not enough to be correct in doctrine if we are careless in love. It is not enough to defend truth if we do not embody grace. The witness of the Church has always been strongest not when it is loudest, but when it is most Christlike, patient in suffering, generous in mercy, steadfast in truth, and humble in heart.

We will not always be understood, and at times we may even be rejected. But let it never be because we have been harsh, self-righteous, or uncharitable. If offense comes, let it come from the Cross itself, not from a failure to reflect the One who hung upon it.

So today, we are called again to a simple but demanding task: to live in such a way that those who encounter us see something of Christ’s love made real. Not perfect, but faithful. Not proud, but gentle. Not distant, but present.

May we be the reason someone dares to believe that the love of Christ is not just spoken, but lived.

03/09/2026

Please go and like and follow our new page, moving forward this will be the page to follow and get updates from. Ordinariate of Saint George for Chaplaincy
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582232277120

We are a canonical body within the Anglican Free Communion International, dedicated to the spiritual care, pastoral oversight, and ecclesial support of chaplains serving in hospitals, hospices, military units, prisons, schools, and beyond.

02/19/2026

So it’s now Lent!
February 19th 2026
Rev. Canon Liam M. Helms

In the Name of the Father, the fountain of all mercy and truth; and of the Son, our Redeemer and our steadfast hope; and of the Holy Spirit, the giver of wisdom, courage, and holy comfort. One God, eternal and ever worthy of all praise. Amen.

So now it’s Lent… now what?

For many people, Lent feels like that moment right after Ash Wednesday when the dust has settled, the calendar has moved on, and we’re left asking: what exactly are we supposed to do with this season?

Lent is not meant to be spiritual theater. It isn’t about trying to look holy, impress others, or prove something to God. And it also isn’t meant to be a gloomy forty-day exercise in self-hatred. Lent is something far more honest and far more practical: it is the Church’s yearly invitation to return to Christ with sincerity.

Lent is a season of preparation. It mirrors the forty days our Lord spent fasting in the wilderness, facing temptation, and standing firm in obedience to the Father. And in that same spirit, the Church calls us to step back, take stock of our lives, and ask a serious question:

Am I living as someone who belongs to Jesus Christ?

The purpose of Lent is not simply to “give something up.” The purpose is repentance, real repentance. Not the shallow kind that is just feeling bad for a moment, but the deep kind that turns the heart back toward God. Lent reminds us that sin is not imaginary, temptation is not theoretical, and holiness is not optional.

But Lent is also full of hope, because repentance is not despair. Repentance is the doorway to freedom.

Traditionally, Lent is built around three disciplines: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Prayer in Lent is not meant to be complicated. It is meant to be faithful. This is the season to return to daily prayer even if we have been inconsistent. Morning and evening prayer. Scripture reading. Quiet time before God. Not to chase emotional experiences, but to rebuild the habit of listening to the Lord.

Fasting is not punishment. It is training. It teaches the body that it is not in charge. It teaches the soul that we do not live by bread alone. Fasting also reveals something uncomfortable but important: many of our “needs” are actually cravings, and many of our comforts have quietly become idols.

And almsgiving reminds us that Lent is never meant to be self-centered. It is not just about personal improvement. It is about love. Love of neighbor. Love of the poor. Love expressed through generosity and sacrifice. True Lent should make us less indulgent with ourselves and more attentive to the needs of others.

And woven through all of this is the heart of the season: self-examination.

Lent calls us to look honestly at our lives, our habits, our words, our priorities, our temper, our compromises, and to ask where we have drifted from the Lord. Not to spiral into guilt, but to come back to Him in humility.

Because the Gospel is not that God helps good people become better. The Gospel is that Christ saves sinners.

Lent reminds us that we are dust, but it also reminds us that the Son of God entered into our dust, took on our flesh, carried our sin, and conquered death itself. The road of Lent leads to the Cross, but it does not end there. It leads to Easter.

So now it’s Lent… now what?

Now we return to the basics: prayer, repentance, discipline, and charity. Now we take our faith seriously again. Now we stop making excuses for the sins we’ve learned to tolerate. Now we confess, we reorder our lives, and we ask God to make us holy, not in theory, but in reality.

And if we do Lent rightly, we will arrive at Easter not merely having survived forty days, but having grown closer to Christ, more grounded in truth, and more ready to rejoice in the victory of the Resurrection.

May this Lent be for us a season of clarity, courage, and renewal. And may the Lord who calls us to repentance also grant us the grace to walk faithfully with Him all the way to the empty
tomb.

Per Crucem, Ad Lucem, In Fide

Rev. Canon Liam M. Helms
Chancellor and Canon to the Ordinary
The Anglican Diocese of Saint George

02/18/2026

To the Clergy, Chaplains, and Faithful of the Anglican Diocese of Saint George,

Grace and peace to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, on Ash Wednesday, the Church calls us to remember a truth both sobering and liberating: “Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return.” We begin the holy season of Lent not in despair, but in clarity. We stand honestly before God — mortal, limited, often burdened — and yet deeply loved.

Lent is not meant to be a season of theatrical sorrow, but of deliberate return. Return to prayer. Return to repentance. Return to mercy. Return to the quiet, steady practices that re-anchor the soul in Christ. The ashes upon the brow are not a mark of shame, but a sign of intention — that we will walk the road toward the Cross with awareness and humility.

In these days, many of us look out across a frozen Lake Erie — still, hard, and silent under winter’s grip. What appears lifeless is not dead, only waiting. Beneath the ice, the waters remain. Movement continues where the eye cannot see. So it is with the soul in Lent. This is a season that may feel spare and restrained, but grace is at work beneath the surface. God is not absent in the cold; He is preparing the thaw.

As a diocese of chaplains, you serve daily at bedsides, in crises, in waiting rooms, in institutions, and in hidden places of grief and decision. You already dwell close to the fragile truth of human life. Lent invites you not only to minister in those places, but to bring your own heart there before God. Do not neglect your own repentance while you preach hope to others. Do not neglect your own prayer while you carry the burdens of many.

I ask each of you to take up a simple and faithful Lenten rule: deeper prayer, honest self-examination, voluntary restraint, and concrete mercy toward others. Fast in some measure. Give in some measure. Be still in some measure. Let your ministry this season flow from repentance rather than exhaustion.

Remember: the road to Easter always passes through the wilderness — but never without the presence of Christ.

I hold you all in prayer as we begin this holy fast together.

In Christ’s service,
+Brent
Bishop
Anglican Diocese of Saint George

02/14/2026

The Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius
February 14th 2026
Rev. Canon Liam M. Helms

In the Name of the Father, the fountain of all mercy and truth; and of the Son, our Redeemer and our steadfast hope; and of the Holy Spirit, the giver of wisdom, courage, and holy comfort. One God, eternal and ever worthy of all praise. Amen.

Would you be surprised to learn that today is not Saint Valentine’s Day on the liturgical calendar, but rather the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius?

In a world that celebrates romance, sentimentality, and fleeting emotion, Holy Church points us instead toward something far more enduring: the Gospel carried into the world with courage, sacrifice, and unwavering fidelity.

Saints Cyril and Methodius were not men of trendy spirituality or vague “inclusiveness.” They were missionaries. They were teachers. They were defenders of Christian truth. They went to the Slavic peoples not to affirm whatever culture already believed, but to bring them into the light of Christ, into the life of the Church, and into the fullness of the Catholic faith.

And they did so with an extraordinary conviction: that the Word of God is not meant to remain locked behind academic elites or political gatekeepers. They labored to translate the Scriptures and the sacred liturgy into the language of the people, not to dilute doctrine, but to proclaim it clearly. Not to make Christianity “easier,” but to make it accessible without compromise.

In their work we see something desperately needed in our own time: the courage to evangelize without apologizing for the truth.

We live in an age where many would rather the Church be silent. Many would rather Christianity be reduced to vague moral platitudes, social activism, or emotional comfort. But Cyril and Methodius remind us that the faith is not ours to reinvent. It is ours to receive, guard, and pass on.

They remind us that tradition is not a dead relic, it is a living inheritance.

And this is precisely what Anglo-Catholic Christianity has always insisted: we are not a “new church” built on modern preferences, but a faithful continuation of the historic Church, rooted in Scripture, formed by the Fathers, nourished by the Sacraments, and accountable to the unchanging truth of Christ.

Their feast day is a reminder that the Church does not exist to chase the spirit of the age, but to resist it. The world tells us truth must evolve. The saints tell us truth must be proclaimed.

The world says love is an emotion. The Church says love is sacrifice.

The world celebrates Valentine’s Day with flowers and fleeting affection. But Cyril and Methodius show us a deeper love: the love that travels, suffers, labors, teaches, and stands firm, so that others may know Jesus Christ and be saved.

May their witness strengthen us in this chaplaincy diocese of Saint George. May it inspire us to stand unashamedly for the faith once delivered to the saints. And may it remind us that Christianity is not about being fashionable, it is about being faithful.

Saints Cyril and Methodius, pray for us.

Per Crucem, Ad Lucem, In Fide

Rev. Canon Liam M. Helms
Chancellor and Canon to the Ordinary
The Anglican Diocese of Saint George

02/04/2026

Four Chaplains Day is observed on Feb. 3 in honor of four U.S. Army Chaplains who sacrificed their lives giving up their life jackets while helping to rescue hundreds of men aboard the U.S. Army Transport Dorchester, after it was torpedoed by a German U-boat on Feb. 3, 1943 during World War II.

01/18/2026

My dear brothers and sisters,
Thank you for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for me as I celebrate Eucharist today. Be with me in spirit. Please continue to pray for me as I will have surgery on my hand tomorrow.
Blessings,
Raúl E. Toro Jr.
Presiding Bishop AFCI/TEFC

01/03/2026

A blessed and joyful New Year from The Anglican Diocese of Saint George.
May this new year be a season of renewal, faithful service, and fresh encounters with Christ. We are glad you are here.

01/01/2026

The Feast of The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
January 1st 2026
Rev. Canon Liam M. Helms

In the Name of the Father, the fountain of all mercy and truth; and of the Son, our Redeemer and our steadfast hope; and of the Holy Spirit, the giver of wisdom, courage, and holy comfort. One God, eternal and ever worthy of all praise. Amen.

On this first day of the new year, the Church draws our attention not to resolutions, calendars, or fresh beginnings of our own making, but to a Name, a Name given, revealed, and bestowed by God himself. The Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ stands at the intersection of time and eternity, of promise and fulfillment, of our longing and God’s decisive action for the salvation of the world.

In Holy Scripture, names are never incidental. To name is to disclose identity and vocation. When the Eternal Father gives the incarnate Son the Name “Jesus,” he gives more than a title; he declares the very purpose of the Incarnation. “Jesus” means “The Lord saves.” Before the Child speaks a word or performs a deed, before his ministry unfolds or his Passion is endured, his Name already proclaims the Gospel. Salvation is not an abstract idea or a future possibility, it is personal, present, and embodied in him.

The timing of this feast is no accident. As the world marks the turning of the year, the Church insists that renewal does not begin with our resolve but with God’s gift. We do not step into the future alone, armed merely with optimism or self-improvement. We step forward bearing the Name that has already conquered sin, death, and despair. To invoke the Holy Name is to confess that our hope for what lies ahead rests not in novelty, but in faithfulness, God’s faithfulness revealed in Jesus Christ.

The collect appointed for today prays that the love of the Savior would be planted in every heart. This is a profound petition. Love, like a seed, takes root quietly. It grows through patience, endurance, and trust. To bear the Name of Jesus is to allow his saving work to shape our desires, our decisions, and our daily obedience. The renewal God offers is not superficial or fleeting; it is the slow, deep work of grace conforming us to the likeness of the Son whose Name we confess.

For those who serve the Church, especially in the chaplaincy and pastoral life of this diocese, this feast reminds us that we minister not in our own name, nor by our own authority, but in his. The Name of Jesus is spoken in hospital rooms, whispered in prayers of exhaustion and grief, and trusted in moments where human words fail. It is a Name that carries mercy into broken places and steadiness into uncertain days. As we enter a new year, we are called not to invent hope, but to bear witness to the hope already given.

To begin the year with the Holy Name of Jesus is to be grounded, oriented, and sent. Grounded in the truth that God saves. Oriented toward the love that has already claimed us. Sent forward with confidence that whatever the year holds, the Savior goes before us. In this Name, the Church is renewed. In this Name, hearts are planted with love. In this Name, we move forward, not merely into a new year, but more deeply into the life of God.

Per Crucem, Ad Lucem, In Fide

Rev. Canon Liam M. Helms+
Chancellor and Canon to the Ordinary
The Anglican Diocese of Saint George