Reports to Convention
Bishop Gray Retirement Foundation, Inc.
The Bishop Gray Retirement Foundation’s financial assistance program continues to provide financial aid to low-income senior Episcopalians from the Southwest, Southeast, and Central Dioceses of Florida seeking help with the cost of retirement living and medical expenses. We do still gratefully receive donations from individuals and parishes from the three dioceses, as well as through estate charitable planned giving. The board of trustees would like to preserve the endowment fund as much as possible, using the income from investments for distributions. In 2024, we have helped about 58 Episcopalians, living in retirement communities, assisted living, and senior facilities/apartments in the three dioceses, and approximately $714,000 has been distributed for financial assistance mostly in the form of monthly housing grants. Sample Retirement/ALF/Senior Living Facilities housing BGR Foundation financial assistance recipients:
Hampton Manor, Ocala Humani Court Apt., Lake Park
Colony Court Apt., Eustis Garden’s East Apt., Palm Beach Gardens
Savannah Court of Maitland Groves of Delray, Delray Beach
Palm Valley, Oviedo Riverview House, Lake Worth
Orlando Lutheran Towers Village Brooke, Sarasota
Gulfstream Harbor, Orlando Arbors at Belleair, Clearwater
Cascade Heights ALF, Longwood Pinellas Heights, Largo
Magnolia Towers, Orlando McCown Towers, Sarasota
The Bridge at Ocala ALF Woodlands Village ALF, Bradenton
Trinity Towers West, Melbourne Elison of Pinecrest ALF, Largo
Ocean Pointe, Stuart Hampton Point, Punta Gorda
Greengate Apt., W. Palm Beach Grand Reserve, Zephyrhills
Southbridge Condos, W. Palm Beach Palms of Belleair, Belleair Bluffs
Resnick Assisted Living, W. Palm Beach Arbor Village, Sarasota
BGR Foundation Board of Trustees:
Southwest Diocese:
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The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas Scharf, President
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Dr. C. Thomas Gooding
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The Rev. Bill Moyers
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The Rev. Denise C. Healy
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Mr. Trevor Whitley
Southeast Diocese:
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The Rt. Rev. Peter Eaton
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Dr. Helen Bhagwandin
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Dr. Harlington “H” Hanna
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Ms. Barbara MacKenzie
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Mrs. Malvern V. Mathis
Central Diocese:
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The Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin Holcomb, VP
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Mr. Alexander C. Mackinnon, Secretary
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The Very Rev. Hugh McGlashon, Jr.
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The Rev. Kim Spear
Respectfully submitted,
Ginger Van Valkenburgh, Exec. Director
July 6, 2023
Chaplains to Retired Clergy/Spouses
Our diocese has 12 chaplains who provide pastoral care for approximately 300 retired clergy and 250 spouses. The chaplains are assigned regionally by deanery and under the direction of the Office of the Bishop. We provide pastoral care when needed with illness and at the time of a death. Our focus is to connect the retirees with a local congregation if they are not already attached. In the spring the bishop sponsors a well-attended annual Retired Clergy/ Spouse Day at DaySpring. The following is a sampling of our ministry: hospital visits, luncheons with clergy and spouses; mailing birthday cards and Christmas cards, attending funerals and following up as needed; phone calls- -particularly to the ill and infirm, home visits--again to the ill and infirm, transportation on occasion. The Chaplains are: The Rev. Canon Chris Gray and Paula Gray (Diocesan Chaplains), The Rev. John Hiers (Clearwater Deanery), The Rt. Rev. Barry Howe and Mary Howe (St. Petersburg Deanery), The Rev. Jerry Stadel and Anne Stedal (Tampa Deanery), The Rev. Ted Copeland (Manasota Deanery), The Rev. John Warfel (Venice Deanery), The Rev. Kathy Schillreff (Naples Deanery), and The Rev. Alan Kelmereit and Deborah Kelmereit (Ft. Myers Deanery).
The Rev. Canon Chris Gray
Companion Diocese Committee
Although the Companion Diocese Committee is inactive, our Companion Diocese relationship continues with the Dominican Episcopal Church though the Dominican Development Group (DDG), which celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. Our Executive Director, Christy Wallace, has a virtual office. Dominican staff assist in the logistics of mission planning, preparation, and execution, and support for more mission team efforts. Representatives from Companion Dioceses in the US are active participants.
In February, the DDG Board of Directors met in Boca Chica. Board meetings are being held quarterly with hybrid options offered for the annual and mid-year meetings; others are virtual.
Board members visited the new vicarage for the Iglesia Monte de Sión, which Church of the Redeemer (Sarasota) helped to complete. Bishop Doug Scharf attended the board meeting and visited the community to see work accomplished, including the site of Iglesia de la Gracia in nearby La Caleta, a partnership initiated this past year between Redeemer, St. John’s (Tampa), and St. James (Farmington, CT).
St. Michael’ & All Angels (Sanibel), sent an exploration team to look at schools, clinics and facilities for further work – repair and scholarships. Redeemer also sent an adult mission team to Boca Chica to build a much-needed playground at Monte de Sión.
In early June, a Youth Mission Team of senior high students from St. John’s (Tampa) returned to Iglesia San Pedro y San Pablo in La Barquita, Santo Domingo for a week of Vacation Bible School plus painting and repairs.
St. John’s (Tampa) continues to support the Clinica Esperanza y Caridad, a medical clinic dedicated to bringing health services to the poor, in San Pedro de Macorís
Sally Thompson, Treasurer, Board of Directors, DDG
813-760-5120 iPhone
Diocesan Association of Episcopal Schools
The Diocesan Association of Episcopal Schools (DAES) officially launched in April 2024 with a kickoff meeting at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Bradenton. The goal of this cohort is to provide Church and School leaders a network of support through colleagues who celebrate our Episcopal ethos and are committed to collegial collaboration, the sharing of resources, and fostering professional development opportunities. The next meeting will take place at St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Day School on Wednesday, September 25 and feature FCIS Executive Director Dr. Barbara Hodges as the guest speaker.
Steve Salvo
Head of School, Public Speaking and Financial Literacy Teacher
St. Mary's Episcopal Day School 813-258-5508
steve.salvo@smeds.org
Commission on Ministry (COM)
Members of the Commission on Ministry (COM) are Lay Persons, Priests, and Deacons, who serve the church at the pleasure of the Bishop. Serving as Ex Officio members are the Canon to the Ordinary, the Dean of the School for Ministry, the Diocesan Coordinator for Hispanic & Latino Formation, and an appointed Standing Committee liaison. In conjunction with the Standing Committee, the Canon to the Ordinary, the Office of the Bishop, congregations, aspirants, postulants, and candidates, members of the COM have worked to create an environment of prayerful discernment. Each member of the COM is assigned as a liaison to those in the discernment process beginning with the time a person seeks to form a Discernment Group.
In 2023, the COM gathered via zoom or in person for ten (10) committee meetings, five (5) Bishops Advisory Panel Interviews, and two (2) Vocation Information Evenings - to conduct the business of interviewing and listening to those who are discerning their call. We also completed a revision of the Commission on Ministry Manual of Policies and Procedures to conform with Canons and to clarify the process of nomination and discernment. We look forward to continuing to serve all those who seek to live out their ministry.
The Rev. Janet Tunnell, Chair
Diocesan Altar Guild
Cursillo Ministry
Cursillo (cur-SEE’-yo), Spanish for “A Short Course in Christian Living,” is a three-day weekend developed by the Roman Catholic Church to raise up leaders. Our Cursillo weekends are held at DaySpring Episcopal Conference Center in Ellenton. The weekend begins on Thursday evening and ends on Sunday afternoon. During the weekend there are 15 talks given by lay and clergy team members to expand participant’s knowledge of walking out their Christian faith.
Since the last convention, Cursillo has held a reunion at Trinty by the Cove in Naples on November 4th. We held a successful Cursillo weekend in February with the theme “Come to the Table”. Some of the participants will be serving on the next team. Multiple churches have held Ultreyas, Spanish word for “onward,” throughout the diocese. Ultreyas are gatherings of all those that have attended a Cursillo weekend but all are welcome.
This diocese held their first Cursillo weekend in 1978. September 12th through the 15th of this year we be our 150th weekend with the theme of, “The Light of the World”. We will be celebrating this joyous occasion and all the leaders Cursillo has raised up in the Diocese of Southwest Florida on September 28th at Christ Church in Bradenton. Food, fun, and music will be provided.
For more information on the Cursillo ministry in this diocese please go to SWFL Cursillo - SWFL Cursillo (cursilloswfla.org).
DeColores!
Disciplinary Board
As of the 2023 Convention, the Rev. Joseph Hudson, the Rev. Barry Kubler and Mrs. Glenna Hileman retired from the Board with our gratitude for their service to our Diocese. During 2024, the Rev. Chester Trow stepped down from the Board for health reasons. He is in our prayers.
No disciplinary complaints remain open from prior years. As I submit this report, no complaints have been received by the Board during 2024.
The Board was pleased and grateful to receive training on Title IV of our Constitution and Canons by the Rt. Rev. Michael Hunn, Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. Thank you, Bishop Scharf, for arranging for us to receive this valued learning!
It is the Board’s mission to achieve healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life and reconciliation. I am grateful for the dedication of the current members of the Board:
Clergy Members – The Rev. Michael Alford, the Rev. Whitney Burton, the Rev. Marcella Drawdy and the Rev. Michael Rau.
Lay Members – Mr. Justin Miller, Dr. Edwin Ortiz and Mr. Ray Stoll.
Thanks also go out to the Rev. Peter Lane, our Intake Officer, for your service and leadership.
And thank you, Bishop Scharf, for your spiritual guidance and leadership throughout the year.
Robert Sawyer, Board President
Ecumenical Officer Report
In past years the National Workshop on Christian Unity has been held in May. This year, however, it will be held in November. Ecumenical work at the National level carried on though, and in a big way this year with General Convention. I was assigned to Legislative Committee 14: Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations. We discussed and promoted several resolutions, seeing most of them pass. Of particular note for congregations and their clergy are A038-A040, resolutions that put approved Practical Guides for Interfaith relations into your hands. These important tools can all be found on vbinder.net where you can look them up by their resolution number: A038 – Practical Guidance for Interreligious Relations; A039 – Practical Guidance for Episcopal-Jewish Relations; and A040 – Practical Guidance for Christian-Muslim Relations. I am also happy to provide them to you if you send me an email request. We also saw passed A049, which affirms the goal of reaching Full-Communion status with the United Methodist Church.
I am always interested in hearing about, helping promote, and supporting any way I can interfaith or ecumenical events around our Diocese. For example, St. Michael and All Angels (Sanibel) sponsored an interfaith Earth Day Walk this year. Fr. Van Oss said they walked to different “stations” in their neighborhood, with simple verses from Scriptures read at each station. This would be an easy service for any parish to replicate.
As always, it is my pleasure and privilege to serve as the Diocesan Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer.
Respectfully submitted,
The Rev. Ryan Whitley
Global Mission Advocate Network
To date, our Diocese of Southwest Florida is one among the 55 dioceses that has appointed a Global Mission Advocate (GMA), in response to Resolution A016, 80th General Convention which was reaffirmed during the most recent 2024 session.
The purpose of establishing the Global Mission Advocate Network is to ensure that the Episcopal Church remain committed to the spreading of the gospel and the furtherance of Christ’s mission of love and compassion in the world in a sustainable manner.
On November 2, 2022, I have been appointed as the GMA for our diocese by Bishop Dabney Smith and Bishop Doug Scharf.
GMA Report 2023-2024
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On May 3-5, 2023, our diocese hosted the Global Mission Conference with St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Tampa as the venue with the theme “Mission Journey to Healing”, with “healing” subtopics on medical mission & post-COVID; the traumas of conflict and catastrophe; the oppression and degradation of poverty; the legacies of racism and colonialism; and, that of the “wounded healer”
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On September 24, 2023, our very own Bishop Michael Garrison, some members from our diocese, and I participated in the installation of the Rt Rev Roberto Pamatmat, Jr at the Cathedral of Jesus of Nazareth, Tampa, Florida, a church of the Philippine Independent Church (PIC) for which we, The Episcopal Church, are in concordat relationship with.
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In January 2024, a team from our diocese headed by Sherre Henley went for their 8th annual Medical Mission to Honduras caring for 189 children in the neighborhood around “Our Little Roses” compound. In addition, several churches in our diocese are mission partners with a physician from Honduras, Dr. Davila, and a team in the ongoing provision of medical care in another community in Honduras.
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On March 20-22, 2024, a Global Mission Conference by Zoom was held with the theme of “Joining God’s Mission in Tension Times: On Mission Companionship Amidst War in the Holy Land”
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On May 30, 2024, Global Episcopal Mission Network elected new officers
Beyond 2024
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The Rt Rev Lloyd Allen, Diocese of Honduras is extending his invitation for the GMA Conference from April 30 through May 2, 2025, to be hosted by his diocese.
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A conversation and early stages of planning with the PIC Obispo Maximo, The Most Rev Joel Porlares, and his program director is ongoing regarding the call for youth/young adult exchange program between our TEC Diocese of Southwest Florida and the PIC together with the ECP (Episcopal Church of the Philippines).
The Rev Raynald S Bonoan, Diocesan Global Mission Advocate
The Diocesan Altar Guild is the central organization that gives each church access to ongoing training and encouragement as they serve the churches and ultimately the Bishop. We offer help on the Diocesan level to the Bishop for major events such as Convention.
We hope to hold live annual meetings
again beginning in 2024.
This year we are hoping to revise many of our ways to help and serve our new bishop and also look forward to preparing for the Convention Eucharist which will be live, once again, in Punta Gorda.
A major highlight will be to provide the Liturgical Exchange Tables at Convention.
This very popular event provides a chance for churches to offer items they no longer use and perhaps find something they need. No money changes hands. We offer wonderful , beautiful items as well as excess vestments like albs,
Cassocks and clergy shirts. We haven’t had this spectacular exchange since 2019 and it is much anticipated this year.
We also collect at Convention the small linens like worn purificators. These are later de-consecrated and burned. Those ashes are scattered near St. Thomas Chapel at DaySpring.
There are several volunteers who will come to your church to help you order or plan new vestments. We are an excellent resource regarding candles, ironing, laundry, vestments, silver care and training. Each church has its own personality but Altar Guild is always present and this is a beloved ministry.
Sarah Hill, Directress
Youth & Young Adult Visioning Committee
The Youth and Young Adult Visioning Committee convened its first meeting on May 18, 2024. The mission of the committee is to work with the Bishop and with Matthew Bowers (Director of Youth Ministry and Programming) to support the Youth and Young Adult ministry at the diocesan level. We hope that this committee may assist them by focusing on a number of areas:
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Helping develop a community for youth who do not have a youth group at their church, and helping those who do have a youth group to appreciate the fact that God is always looking for us to broaden our sense of church
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Creating positive, supportive relationships among adults who are engaged or want to be engaged in youth and young adult ministry at their church and/or at the diocesan level
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Supporting the possible development of a multi-year cycle of youth and young adult mission opportunities (local, national, and international)
If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact the Bishop’s Office or Matthew Bowers at Diocesan House.
The Standing Committee
The Standing Committee acts as the Council of advice and consent for the Bishop. We have two “regular” responsibilities. One is to be the body that gives final approval to candidates for ordination, usually requiring one or two personal interviews in close consultation with the Commission on Ministry. The other is to provide consent to other Dioceses when they elect a Bishop; because Bishops are elected for the whole church, the majority of Standing Committees and Bishops must consent to any election. In addition to those regular duties, we also take council with the Bishop on any matter he brings before us, including property discussions, strategic visioning, clergy discipline, DaySpring matters, and more. This year, the Standing Committee also conducted an 18-month review for the Bishop. It was informal in nature and at his request, in preparation for the formal three-year review. Current members of the Standing Committee include: The Rev. Jessica Babcock, The Rev. Charles Cannon, The Rev. Jim Teets, Mr. Jack Day (Recording Secretary), Ms. Jackie Smith, Mr. Duane Hollier, Ms. Rachel Schnabel, The Rev. Michelle Robertshaw (Vice-President), and the Rev. Ryan Whitley (President). Please keep us in your prayers.
Respectfully submitted,
The Rev. Ryan Whitley, President
School for Ministry
The completion of the 2024 Epiphany Term marked a significant milestone for the School for Ministry as we “graduated” our first on-site cohort and our first lay preaching student since becoming part of the Iona Collaborative. The feedback we received from the students confirmed our belief that the overnight, weekend-long (Friday night through worship on Sunday morning) model provides and effective environment for cohort learning and fellowship.
The collaborative continues to grow with more than thirty-eight Episcopal and Anglican dioceses throughout the world now participating as members. The collaborative supports local formation through both clergy and lay tracks. It also supports continuing education needs by providing graduates from our programs an opportunity to take courses in the Bi-vocational Ministry Program which is specifically designed to support the ongoing educational needs of bi-vocation deacons and priests. The collaborative also has programs for bi-vocational congregations.
For the 2024-2025 term, the school will continue to utilize the facilities at the Dayspring Conference Center for both classroom meetings and overnight accommodations for the student cohort.
Local clergy will continue to provide the in-person facilitation that supplements the video and written materials provided by the collaborative. This in-person component is important as it gives the students opportunities to discuss the materials and ask questions.
Our local program continues to expand as we further explore ways to incorporate lay and clergy formation to serve the needs of our diocesan congregations.
The Rev. Scott Nonken, Dean