News & Messages

EPISCOPAL DIOCESES ANNOUNCE COOPERATIVE MINISTRY

The Episcopal Dioceses of Fond du Lac and Milwaukee are pleased to announce a new cooperative ministry to provide a joint summer camp and youth ministry resource person for diocesan congregations. Each diocese has a strong heritage of ministry with youth, including camping, having pursued a variety of models, approaches and methods over the past decades.
 
“For many years, there has been conversation about coming together for camp,” Bishop Matt Gunter of Fond du Lac notes. “The positive comments about this idea has grown, especially these past two years. I’ve heard from youth and adults, clergy and laity, campers and staff, asking why we aren’t doing camp together” Bishop Jeff Lee of Milwaukee also heard similar comments. Fond du Lac summer camp sessions in 2021 and 2022 included campers and staff from the Dioceses of Eau Claire and Milwaukee.


Middler campers and staff gather for a picture in front of the ‘Chi Rho’ at Waypost Camp on the shores of Mission Lake.
 
“In addition to camp, several diocesan leaders recognized a need for a youth ministry resource person to be available for congregations to reach out to for support, guidance and direction,” noted Matthew Payne, Lay Canon for Administration for Fond du Lac. “After we had conversation with diocesan leaders, it became clear that one proposal which encompassed both areas was feasible in terms of time and financial resources.”
 
That proposal was to create a position of Youth Networking Coordinator (YNC). This full-time position would have two key components – summer camp director and coordinator for networking youth ministries. This integrated approach would see camp as a foundation for a year-round networking resource person to build connections and relationships to expand networking with congregations. Each diocese had youth staff funding in their 2023 budgets whose combination allows implementing the full proposal. A Steering Committee, with members from each diocese selected for camp or youth work experience, will provide oversight to the ministry venture.


Bishop Jeff Lee (left) and Bishop Matt Gunter (right) model the camp t-shirt from summer 2022.
 
Camp sessions will be held over three weeks in June 2023 at Waypost Camp, east of Wausau, Wisconsin. Having been the site of the Fond du Lac camp for the past two years, its facilities have proved amazingly suited to the program. Waypost is owned and operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Working with a Christian camp allows for collaboration unavailable from secular facilities. Because The Episcopal Church is in full communion with the ELCA, there is also an ecumenical benefit. Recognizing the driving distances involved for some, consideration will be made to coordinate carpooling or transportation service from the Milwaukee area.
 
Youth networking will involve building relationships with diocesan and congregational leaders and offering support and assistance to those engaged in youth ministry. The coordinator will be aware of and informed of ministry resources, programs, and church-wide networks in youth ministry. The coordinator will also directly engage each year with at least 1/3 of congregations in each diocese over a three-year cycle. This may be an in-person visit but may be through in-depth Zoom or other connections.
 
Bishop Gunter and Bishop Lee readily recognized a person who was qualified, skilled, and experienced in both camp management and youth ministry and already employed by Fond du Lac and have hired Erin Wolf as Youth Networking Coordinator starting January 1, 2023. Wolf has been diocesan youth ministry coordinator and camp director since 2016 and director of youth ministry at All Saints, Appleton since 2012. She has served congregations in Episcopal and ELCA congregations for nearly two decades. Because relational work is an important part of the YNC, Bishop Lee and Bishop Gunter noted she has been actively involved in youth ministry and camp in both dioceses, both as a youth and adult. Wolf holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Cardinal Stritch University and has been involved in youth ministry networks in the Episcopal Church on the provincial and national level. She is also a musician and songwriter.
 
“As another sign of our deepening cooperation with Episcopalians across the State of Wisconsin, I am delighted we will share in supporting Erin Wolf’s expanded role as Youth Networking Coordinator,” Bishop Jeff Lee of Milwaukee shared. “She brings a wealth of experience to this work, and I am confident that youth and adults will benefit from her leadership. Welcome, Erin!”
 
Look for additional information about camp and networking opportunities in January 2023.

St. Bart's Youth Experience the Anglican Church in Historical and Modern Contexts

Seeking to provide the young people at St. Bartholomew’s, Pewaukee with experiences in daily prayer and knowledge of the long and rich Anglican Christian history as well as learning about opportunities for extended prayer and service that exist in different communities, the youth leaders planned an extensive and varied pilgrimage to a few places around England. They wanted the youth to pray, worship, and encounter God and the works of God’s people throughout history in England.

Thirteen St. Bart’s youth and leaders departed for their journey in mid-July and traveled first to Lastingham. Lastingham is a village in the North Yorkshire Moors and site of Church of St. Mary and its famous Norman crypt.

While in Lastingham, their guides were Bishop H. William and Judith Godfrey. Fr. Joel and Tammy Prather were acquainted with Bishop and Judith Godfrey from their missionary work in Peru. They had been missionaries in South America for thirty years where they planted the thriving Anglican Diocese of Peru, which grew from one congregation upon their arrival in 1998 to roughly sixty congregations with an array of social outreach ministries and two seminaries. Bishop and Judith retired from Peru returning to their home in England, where they now serve four congregations in the Benefice of Lastingham, and have created the St. Cedd Centre, which offers retreats and the Festival of Northern Saints for pilgrims coming to see one of the key holy sites in the founding of Anglican Christianity. 

The crew from St. Bart's served as volunteers for the Festival of the Northern Saints. They repaired fencing, painted sacristy and altar walls, and oiled the pulpit among other tasks.

In addition to their time in Lastingham, the youth also visited and worshipped other churches throughout England including York Minster, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Bath Abbey, and Lambeth Palace. In addition to praying the Daily Office, the youth experienced a variety of worship services at the places of worship they visited — Evensong, informal evening service, Holy Eucharist.

Another highlight of their trip was being received at Lambeth Palace by Dean Simon Lewis to learn about the Community of St. Anselm. The Community of St. Anselm was started by Archbishop Justin Welby “to give young people a profound experience of prayer, service and living in community.” Members between the ages of 20 and 35 live and worship at Lambeth Palace for one year, serving the most vulnerable locally as well as receive Christian leadership and service training from world-wide speakers each week. 

Below are pictures from their travels as well as captions and commentary from Fr. Joel Prather, rector of St. Bart’s.

Bishop Godfrey and his fun-loving dogs led us on a three-mile hike “over the Moors.” This beautiful trail from the Village of Rosedale to Lastingham goes through the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors National Park and is the same path saints such as Cedd and Chad would have taken into Lastingham on their way in from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. 

On our hike, Bishop shared a beautiful teaching on prayer with us describing how whenever our Lord Jesus prayed in the Gospels, he always opened with “Father…” and how we too can turn anything we're thinking or feeling into a prayer — anger, frustration, worry, joy, need — simply by adding the Name of the Father to beginning of what we’re feeling. For example the sigh of, “I’m so worried about what’s going to happen tomorrow” immediately becomes a prayer when we add, “Father, I’m so worried about what’s going to happen tomorrow.” This teaching made a huge impact on us and we prayed this way together praying for the remained of our pilgrimage. 

Part of our pilgrimage was our service for the Festival of Northern Saints. Our group was divided into three teams to assist with projects at St. Mary’s Lastingham, Rosedale Abbey and St. Gregory’s Cropton. Typically our days began at 8:30 am, after prayer and breakfast, at our worksites until mid-afternoon when we would then head out to pilgrimage sites that included Hadrian’s Wall and Whitby Abbey, the site of the Synod of Whitby in 664 A.D. which was a watershed moment on history of Anglican Christianity.

Fr. Joel, Jude, and Dietrich removed a fence to make way for the new fencing at St. Mary’s.

Tammy and Laylo oiled the altar and painted altar-wall at Rosedale Abbey, which was founded in 1158 A.D. (now the Parish Church of St. Mary & St. Lawrence). 

Paw Nyaw Htoo, Terkweley and Raylo oiled the pulpit and painted the altar-wall at Rosedale Abbey.

St. Bart’s pilgrims pictured with Judith and Bishop Godfrey (front left) and their three dogs at the entry to the village of Lastingham.

On Wednesday of our first week in Lastingham, we had the privilege to worship in the Crypt Chapel of St. Cedd, which is below the Parish Church of St. Mary. This is the chapel founded by St. Cedd in 654 A.D., as described by the Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Worship has been offered in this holy place continually since it founded by St. Cedd — over 1,300 years! 

Bishop Godfrey invited Tammy Prather to read the Scriptures and Father Joel Prather to celebrate the Holy Communion at this Eucharist. Pictured in the photo is the stone altar, which is over 1,000 years old. The red sanctuary light and icon at the foot of the altar indicate that St. Cedd is buried directly below the altar.  

Praying Compline in the cool night air in front of our Youth Hostel in London.

Each day we prayed the Daily Office informally together as a group in all manner of settings as well as attended daily worship in some of the most historic Churches in English Christianity, including Evensong at Westminster Abbey, York Minster, St. Paul’s London; the excellent informal evening service at Bath Abbey; and Eucharist at Lambeth Palace. A special highlight was worshipping in the Crypt Chapel of St. Cedd in Lastingham, which dates back to 654 A.D. 

St. Bart’s Pilgrims were thrilled to be received at Lambeth Palace by Dean Simon Lewis to learn about the Community of St. Anselm, which he leads with the Archbishop of Canterbury. We had an amazing tour and joined community members for the Eucharist that the bishop at Lambeth, Tim Thornton, celebrated and preached on the Feast of William Wilberforce. 

Pay Nyaw Htoo gathered the youth in Trafalgar Square spontaneously to pray for the Rhythms of Life Ministry of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields Church (red t-shirts) and those they were providing meals for (pictured right). Paw Nyaw Htoo is one of the Karen Refugees from Myanmar St. Bartholomew’s sponsored ten years ago to come to the U.S. and is now one our the dynamic members of our congregation and Youth Ministry.

St. Bart’s Pilgrims in front of the Modern Martyrs over the Great West Doors at Westminster Abbey where they attended Evensong.

This trip was the fruit of a great deal of hard work and planning by Tammy Prather, Ilse Frayer and Karl Mueller from St. Bart's and Mary Pettitt from the St. Cedd Centre.

To learn more about the St. Cedd Centre and how you might make a pilgrimage of your own to Lastingham, you can contact their amazing coordinator Mary Pettitt at  and visit www.LastinghamFriends.com.