Letters
from 1 May to 7 May 2006
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all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters are
the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online.
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How
our parish does it
Read
with amused interest your main page article, particularly the part
about what to do with the monthly newsletter (in our case it is
called "High Tidings"). I have not yet served on the vestry (which
is what we call it), but have a few friends who have done so and
have heard their many stories about various political machinations
and personality clashes.
We've
had a volunteer webmaster for a few years and have had the weekly
and monthly newsletters available in PDF format on the parish
website for some time. Recently, our parish has been researching
ways to save money on both printing and mailing costs. This month's
High Tidings (May 2006) was made available with the service leaflets
yesterday and in the parish hall. They are no longer being mailed,
and are now printed on normal sized paper, not the special size
that was tri-folded. I don't mind, as I can print my own off the
website (or just the layreader schedule, which I need) or pick
one up. I suspect in many homes after a cursory glance, the thing
ends up in the wastebasket along with the rest of the junk mail.
As for
the website, I do not know how well this works out for most of
our parishioners (a majority of our parish is well past middle
age), though having the monthly publication available where one
can easily find it shouldn't be a problem for the non-web-friendly
folks.
Thanks
again for a timely article, and best wishes and prayers for Cynthia
as she recovers from chemo.
R. Frederick
St. Andrews Episcopal
Panama City, Florida, USA
1 May 2006
Help
me find a hymn
A cry
for help from an Anglican priest working in the church of Sweden.
I'm
doing a translation of guide book for a church here and have come
across a problem. The guide book quotes a hymn by George Robson
which has found its way into the Swedish hymn book. Unfortunately
I can't find the English (scottish?) original in any of my hymn books.
It's a lenten hymn and I would guess that it contains phrases like "in
holy sacrifice", "eternal throne", and "name above all other names".
The Swedish version has a tune by Tans'ur but this may not apply
to the original. All suggestions gratefully received.
Graham
Jarvis
St Mikael, Örebro (Church of Sweden)
Örebro - Sweden
graham.jarvis@telia.com
1 May 2006
And
with thy spirit
In
this high-tech age, emails
and PDF church newsletters and magazines may be the way to go,
but I would suggest, if parishes use emails, etc. at all, to
promote these forms of communication in both printed/snail-mailed
and eFormats. The parish clergy and vestry should research who
has email and ask their fellow parishioners which format they'd
like. Your AO
letter today assumes that most parishes are
technically equipped; not all can afford it.
I love
AO! The site is my weekly read first thing on Mondays.
Every
good wish and blessing.
Jay
Vos
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Burlington
Burlington, Vermont, USA
jamespvos@yahoo.com
1 May 2006
(Ed:
actually, we were saying that if you're going to do online communication,
you ought to do it right. Paper, envelopes, and stamps are hard
to beat, if dear.)
How
to follow the money
In regard
to the funding and grants distribution of various US nonprofit
organizations: The IRS tax forms of many groups are available for
free at GuideStar (registration required). This may be
helpful to anyone who is concerned about the objectivity of any
reporting they are reading.
Mary
O'Shaughnessy
St. Luke in the Fields
New York, New York, USA
moshaughnessy@nyc.rr.com
1 May 2006
Please
pray for Abraham
First, let me tell you how much I enjoy your web site. Thank you so much.
My parish,
the Church of the Holy Apostles in Sioux Falls, SD, has been blessed
with the addition of many Lost Boys from Sudan. Last November,
two of them, John Mayen and Abraham Mayon, were ordained to the
diaconate. There are pictures from that day on our web site, www.churchoftheholyapostles.org.
On Sunday,
May 14, 2006, Abraham will be ordained priest. Abraham and John
were mentored by our priest, Father Warren Shoberg, for about 3
years. The ordinations are a testament to his love, faith, and
commitment as well as to that of Abraham and John.
I cannot
describe how much these beautiful and gentle young men, not boys
really, mean to our parish. We couldn't help falling in love with
them and we are so proud of them. Their faith is amazing and absolutely
unshakable. What they went through in Africa is unspeakable, and
although we will be rejoicing on Sunday, we cannot forget that
what they fled from in Sudan is still going on.
Please
pray for Abraham on his very special day, for his brothers and
sisters in exile everywhere, and most of all for an end to the
hate and violence in their homeland.
Again,
thank you and God bless you for your considerable efforts in maintaining
this web site.
Karen
Schultz
Church of the Holy Apostles
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
keschultz1@qwest.net
3 May 2006
Thank
you for following the money
Thank
you so much for drawing my attention to the
article concerning
the conservative Anglican movement's funding.
I never
dreamed that so much non-Anglican money was involved. You continue
to perform an invaluable service to Anglicans everywhere. Blessings.
Miles
Motture
St. Stephen
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4 May 2006
(Ed:
Jim Naughton did all the work on this. We just told you about it.
We'll forward your thanks to him.)
Do
it right or understand that you can't
I was
interested to read your piece on parish communications. Communication
is the business of the church, but most churches and the people
who run them have no clue how to accomplish this.
It seems
that those do who know aren't asked or are ignored, while those
in power still live in a world where people (read women) TYPE things
up and send them out. But it is these very Neanderthals who are
the ones who ultimately make the communications decisions.
In our
church we have a weekly service leaflet which includes announcements
and announcements are also made at the conclusion of each service.
In addition
we send a weekly e-news letter to everyone who has indicated they
want one. The e-news, referred to as Highlights, goes out every
Monday night, and includes the week's activities and a list of
those serving at the next weekend's services, identifies the preacher,
etc. It is limited to ONE page and is sent as a pdf attachment
on a short email. Since it is sent via email it can inlcude color
and graphics. It includes a link to the parish website. The website,
in turn, has a link to the weekly e-news, so that casual visitors
can take a look. It has been well received.
Finally,
we do a monthly newsletter which is mailed to all parishoners,
but is also posted on the parish website every month.
Churches
need to remember that every piece of literature they produce, every
service leaflet, every piece of stationery must be coordinated
to include the web address. Ours seems to work well. It is not
seamless and it didn't happen overnight. We are a fairly well connected
bunch and most members are comfortable with the web, but it isn't
for everyone.
If a
church is going to have a website (and all of them should) it needs
to assess who is going to maintain it. If the site is going to
receive sporadic maintenance, the content must be adjusted accordingly.
Don't post the Christmas service schedule if you are not going
to look at it again until Easter. Either do it right - professionally
or with a dedicated volunteer - or admit that you can't and act
accordingly.
James
R. Steadman
St. Stephen's -
Fairview, Pennsylvania, USA
Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
jim@steadmanlaw.com
5 May 2006
Earlier letters
We launched our 'Letters
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