Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley has called on the diocese to begin a new Strategic Visioning process that will take place between now and Diocesan Convention in November 2023. The next step in the process will be listening sessions that will take place throughout the month of May and into early June. Watch the video about Strategic Visioning 2023, with a special invitation from Bishop Ruth, at the video linked above.
The bishop, diocesan staff, and diocesan leadership have worked to assemble a Strategic Visioning Team, appointing Ray Sabalis (Christ Church, Denmark) and Deb Harris (Holy Cross Faith Memorial, Pawleys Island) as co-leaders. They are working with an outside consultant, Katie Ong, who with her experience helping other dioceses in similar initiatives is helping guide our team through the process. Together, the team has established a timeline for our process that will begin with listening sessions. As we approach the month of May, the team is entering into the phase of collecting information and input from members of the diocese about our common hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. What do you see as an important area of focus for the diocese in the next five, 10, 15, or 20 years? In May and June, listening sessions will be held for each deanery of the diocese and other special affinity groups. Those special sessions will invite a variety of groups including our recently returned congregations, congregations still seeking a permanent home, and our historically Black congregations. There will also be special sessions dedicated to LGBTQ+ people, women in the church, and creation care. Each session will be held on Zoom on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7 pm. These sessions will be facilitated by members of the Visioning Team, recruited from a diverse and enthusiastic cross-section of lay leaders in our diocese, and the purpose is for you to be able make your voice heard as they draft our Strategic Vision. Please plan to attend at least one session, and help us get the word out! If you know of a fellow South Carolina Episcopalian who would be interested in one of the sessions, please make a point of inviting them to join in this important effort. The full schedule of sessions, Zoom link, and other information is available at the following link: www.episcopalchurchsc.org/strategicvisioning2023. If you have any questions, please contact the Rev. Canon Ryan Currie at [email protected]. ![]() The Rev. Canon Philip Linder, who serves as Canon to the Ordinary, has started a new Morning Prayer podcast, “12-Minute Morning Prayer,” that is available for free on a variety of podcast platforms. Praying the Daily Office has for centuries been a great practice of Anglican spirituality. “As a Third Order Franciscan, my Rule of Life includes saying the Daily Office each day,” said Cn. Linder. “As Episcopalians, we use the Book of Common Prayer and usually say either Morning or Evening Prayer. As a part of my ministry, I now record a Morning Prayer podcast that fits into one’s busy schedule.” If you are looking for a rhythm and anchor for praying scripture, particularly the Psalms, with familiar prayers, Cn. Linder invites all to listen to the podcast, available Monday through Saturday. Find “12-Minute Morning Prayer” wherever you get your podcasts, or through Audible at this link. ![]() Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley has called the Rev. Laura Rezac as executive director of St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center on Seabrook Island, succeeding the Rev. Helen and Rick Hargreaves, who have been serving as interim directors for the past seven months. The Rev. Rezac currently serves as associate rector for Children & Youth Formation at St. Stephen’s, Charleston, and she has been serving as chair of the Steering Committee at St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center, leading the transition of the property back to our diocese since it was returned in October 2022. She will begin this new role in June, serving alongside the Hargreaves through the end of August. “It is with much joy that I announce my call of the Rev. Laura Rezac to serve as the executive director of St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “With a background as an educator, a skilled outdoor and camping guide, and an experienced youth leader and program developer, Laura combines her love of conference and camping ministries with the skill set we need to support our vital camp and conference center ministries.” “As chair of the Steering Committee for the past six months, Laura has provided leadership for the transition of St Christopher back to the diocese,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “In this role, Laura has worked with staff, the steering committee, our consultants, our chancellor, and other leaders on a range of issues we have needed to address to insure the successful transition to a new season. She has skillfully navigated detailed financial, personnel, legal, pastoral, spiritual, and insurance matters in a way that has won the confidence of staff and diocesan leaders. I am thrilled Laura has accepted this call and look forward to a great future for St Christopher’s under her leadership. She will begin her work in June, providing intentional overlap with our wonderful interim directors, Helen and Rick Hargreaves, to support a strong camping season and a seamless leadership transition.” Located on 314 acres of beach, maritime forest, and undisturbed salt marsh, St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center was first created through the gift of land to the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of South Carolina beginning in 1938. Initially created as a summer camp for disadvantaged boys, St. Christopher has grown into a year-round camp and conference facility. In addition, the Barrier Island Environmental Education Program has operated since 1981, providing an amazing outdoor education experience for school children. Ordained to the priesthood in December 2020, Rev. Laura began serving at St. Stephen’s, Charleston, in October 2020. She looks forward to this next step in her ministry. “I am both humbled and honored by the bishop's call to serve as executive director at St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center in this new season for their ministry and for our diocese,” said the Rev. Rezac. “Through my work on the Steering Committee, I have come to know and deeply appreciate the hardworking people who serve this beloved institution with such grace, and I have come to love the land itself as a 'thin place' where generations of South Carolinians have experienced the presence of God in nature and in community. I am both thrilled and grateful to accept this call from our bishop.” With a lifelong love of the outdoors, Rev. Laura grew up spending summers as a camper, and later as a counselor, at Camp Pisgah, a Girl Scout Camp in western North Carolina. She received a bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College and a Master of Science in chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill. While in graduate school for chemistry, and later as a visiting lecturer at UNC, she discerned a call to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church. She graduated from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific with a Master of Divinity in 2020. She formerly served as a youth minister at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, NC, where she oversaw the Episcopal Youth Community, taught confirmation classes, and led mission trips, outdoor adventures, pilgrimages, and retreats of all kinds. Prior to joining St. Stephen’s, Rev. Laura served as a seminarian and transitional deacon at St. Andrew’s On-the-Sound in Wilmington, NC. She also has extensive teaching experience as a university lecturer, middle school teacher, and informal educator, with a keen interest in Christian formation of children and adolescents. Originally from western North Carolina, Rev. Laura studied in Japan for three semesters during college, and spent time in South Africa as a seminarian. She is married to Chris Rezac and they have one four-legged child, a gangly Doberman named Ichabod Crane. Laura and Chris enjoy exploring state parks, sea kayaking, camping, taking fun expeditions, and cooking for friends and family. Rev. Laura’s final day with St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Charleston will be Sunday, June 4. She will begin working full time at St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center on June 5, 2023, serving alongside the Rev. Helen and Rick Hargreaves (interim directors) through the end of August. View the announcement from St. Stephen’s, Charleston, at this link. ![]() Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley is thrilled to announce that the Very Reverend Michael Battle, Ph.D., will lead the upcoming Clergy Retreat, to be held May 22-24 at St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center. Dr. Battle currently serves as the Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center at General Theological Seminary in New York. His vocation has been linked to the ministry of Archbishop Tutu, who ordained him to the priesthood, officiated his marriage, and baptized his children. Battle's own work as a teacher and theologian has taken him to the School of Theology at Sewanee, Virginia Theological Seminary, Duke University, and Episcopal Divinity School. He has served parishes in North Carolina, California, and South Africa. His eleven books include Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor; Blessed are the Peacemakers: A Christian Spirituality of Nonviolence; and Practicing Reconciliation in a Violent World. A beloved spiritual guide to seminarians and the CREDO conference, Dr. Battle has served as chaplain to Archbishop Tutu, the House of Bishops, the Lambeth Conference, and Congressman John Lewis. In 2010, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, named Battle as one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury Cathedral, an honorary appointment with an unbroken succession dating back to its foundation by Thomas Cranmer at the time of the English Reformation. More can be found about Dr. Battle at his website: https://michaelbattle.com. Registration for Clergy Retreat is still open to retired and active clergy of the diocese at this link. Clergy are encouraged to attend this special event for what promises to be an enriching experience of renewal. If anyone has any questions, please contact the Rev. Cn. Ryan Currie at [email protected]. As we continue in Holy Week on this Maundy Thursday, Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley shares an Easter message with the diocese in the video above. In the video she references a Chrism Eucharist held Tuesday at Grace Church Cathedral and attended by many clergy of the diocese who came to renew their ordination vows and fellowship with one another during this sacred week. In this message, Bishop Ruth references the Old Testament reading for the Tuesday in Holy Week, which is the following: Isaiah 49:1-7 In her video, she also references speaking last week to members of the South Carolina state legislature in opposition to specific bills currently being considered by either the state House and/or Senate. Learn more, and view one video of her testimony, on our News Blog at this link. A transcript of the video message above is as follows:
Greetings, Episcopalians of South Carolina. On Tuesday, it was my joy to reaffirm my own vows alongside the strong, wise, loving clergy of our diocese, and to bless the oils we will use during the coming year for baptism and for the healing of the sick. On Tuesday, we heard from the prophet Isaiah about the return of Israel after the exile. In the passage, we heard the servant wonder, “Have I labored in vain? Has all of my work been for naught?” Yahweh, through the prophet, responds: “It is too small a thing that I return you to your homeland or your own people alone. I have set you as a light unto the nations.” This passage made me reflect on our own moment. After a decade of schism and painful division, as we come into a new season, it's only natural for us to ask, “Have we labored in vain? What is our purpose for a new season?” A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear Bryan Stevenson speak to the House of Bishops. He is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and the founder of the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. He spoke to us about our call as Christians to bring truth and reconciliation, truth and healing, truth and justice. Last week, it was my honor to represent you at our state legislature, where I tried to offer a voice of truth and reconciliation, and truth and justice, for many in our state who find their voices diminished, for our trans siblings, and for those who are crying out for race justice in school systems. (learn more at this link) I would urge you, as we continue to walk this Holy Week and begin the Holy Triduum to consider the call of God to us. A call, yes, to our own beloved Episcopalians, but a call far grander than perhaps we have imagined. It is too small a thing, God said to Israel, that I would return you only for your own people. I believe God issues the same beautiful, grand call to us to be a voice not only for ourselves alone, but for all of those in this state, in this country, and in this world, who long for a voice of solidarity where truth and the redemptive love of Jesus Christ are held together by disciples who are faithful to walk the way of the cross in the hope of the resurrection. I wish you a blessed Triduum and a joyous Eastertide. It is my deep honor to walk alongside you. I love you, and I thank you for your courageous and faithful witness in a world that is starving for the Gospel of Jesus. ![]() The Rev. Cn. Ramelle McCall has been working with the Diocesan Racial Justice & Reconciliation Commission to develop racial justice/anti-racism training that will eventually be offered throughout the diocese. The first pilot session was held this past Friday-Saturday (March 31-April 1) at Calvary Episcopal Church in Charleston. This training was designed to address South Carolina’s history of racism through many actions and realities, including slavery, segregation, and education. It also addressed topics of Jim Crow laws, racial profiling, systemic racism, and “unconscious bias.” The facilitators taught participants how to begin these tough conversations by understanding our family backgrounds, socio-economic status, privileges, ethnicity, and other factors. There were more than 30 people included in this first session, and it was a diverse group based on race, age, and gender. "I was impressed by the quality of this training," said Canon McCall. "I felt as if our two-day training only scratched the surface of digesting the complexities of South Carolina’s racism, and I also feel motivated to lean into storytelling about racism as a sin in which we as a church need to repent and turn toward reconciliation." The Commission hopes to offer additional sessions around the diocese in the near future. Stay tuned! To check out some photos from this first session, check out our Facebook page at this link. On March 29, 2023, Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley traveled to our state capitol to speak before members of the state legislature as they consider bills currently before the House and/or Senate. She was allowed to speak directly to subcommittees against two of the three bills against which she wanted to voice her opposition. A video of her testimony against Senate bill S.623 is below, and the text of her remarks against the other two bills is below as well. S. 623 - A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 44-63-100, RELATING TO THE PROCESS THROUGH WHICH A PERSON MAY MAKE CHANGES TO HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT GENDER CHANGES TO A PERSON'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE MAY ONLY BE TO CHANGE FROM MALE TO FEMALE OR FROM FEMALE TO MALE AND TO PROVIDE FOR AFFIDAVITS THAT MUST ACCOMPANY A PETITION TO MAKE A GENDER CHANGE TO A PERSON'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE Testimony of The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley To the Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee Against Senate Bill 623 March 29, 2023 Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee, My name is Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and I serve as Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—the lower and coastal parts of this beautiful state. I am here to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 623 because it creates hardship and pain for our transgender and gender non-binary citizens by establishing obstacles that hinder their efforts to identify themselves accurately in official documents of the state. And because, more broadly, I believe it sets the stage for discrimination later in life, in a society where all subsequent official documentation, such as passports and drivers licenses are based off of the primary document of the birth certificate. Senate Bill 623 also rejects the possibility of any nonbinary identity. And, it uses definitions that are unclear or problematic, including using a definition of “gender change” itself as something that can only occur due to clerical error or within one year of birth. Initial biological identity at birth is ambiguous for physical, hormonal, genetic, or other reasons close to 1% of the time, which affects millions of people. This bill fails to recognize that in some cases the consequences of gender assignment do not emerge for several years. This bill narrows options rather than creating them. It makes life harder for people who already have a hard path, in order to bolster the comfort of some who do not understand gender difference. There is no reason for any of this. I don’t think this bill is about love. The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” So, I say, let’s be about love. We have enough suffering; we don’t need to legislate more. In the Episcopal church, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being.We join with our transgender and gender nonbinary siblings and their loved ones in opposing government interference in their lives that compromises their dignity and creates suffering. With them, we ask you to vote NO on Senate Bill 623. Be about love. S. 627 – A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-300 SO AS TO DEFINE GENDER, SEX, AND OTHER TERMS; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-310 SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURES TO A PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-320 SO AS TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-330 SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS FOR GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURES; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-340 SO AS TO PROVIDE PENALTIES; AND BY ADDING SECTION 59-32-36 SO AS TO PROHIBIT SCHOOL STAFF AND OFFICIALS FROM WITHHOLDING KNOWLEDGE OF A MINOR'S PERCEPTION OF THEIR GENDER FROM THE MINOR'S PARENTS. Testimony of The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley To the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee Against Senate Bill 627 March 29, 2023 Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee, My name is Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and I serve as Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—the lower and coastal parts of this beautiful state. I am here to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 627 because it creates hardship and pain for our transgender youth and their parents by creating obstacles to their efforts to obtain the care these youth need from medical professionals. This bill makes an already challenging journey much more difficult by taking options away, even when everyone directly involved agrees that these options would be the best choice for a particular youth. From decades of experience in ministry, I have come to know transgender youth and been witness to their courage. I have sat with youth and families in enough situations to understand that often it is very clear that a person is transgender before adulthood. To create a law that denies this experience and delays time sensitive, much needed medical care creates avoidable suffering. In addition, this bill puts teachers in the untenable position of outing trans or possibly trans youth to their parents even when doing so might put the youth at risk. In some cases, such disclosures could put these youth at risk of physical, psychological, or sexual violence or of being turned out into the streets to face a myriad of dangers. I do not think this bill is about love. The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” So, I say, let’s be about love. We have enough suffering; we don’t need to legislate more. In the Episcopal church, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. We join with our transgender and gender nonbinary siblings and their loved ones in opposing government interference in their lives that compromises their dignity and creates suffering. With them, we ask you to vote NO on Senate Bill 627. Be about love. H.3728 - A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ENACTING THE "SOUTH CAROLINA TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION ACT"; BY ADDING ARTICLE 5 TO CHAPTER 29, TITLE 59 SO AS TO EXPRESS RELATED INTENTIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO PROVIDE NECESSARY DEFINITIONS, TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN CONCEPTS FROM BEING INCLUDED IN PUBLIC SCHOOL INSTRUCTION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TO PROVIDE MEANS FOR ADDRESSING VIOLATIONS, AND TO PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR PUBLIC REVIEW OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 59-28-180, RELATING TO PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS IN THE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION ACT, SO AS TO PROVIDE PARENTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN REGARDING MORALS, ETHICS, AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY, AND TO PROVIDE A PARENTAL PLEDGE OF EXPECTATIONS MUST BE PROVIDED TO PARENTS AS PART OF THE REGISTRATION AND ENROLLMENT PROCESS. Testimony of The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley
To the K-12 Subcommittee of The Education Committee Against House Bill 3728 March 29, 2023 Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee, My name is Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and I serve as Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—the lower and coastal parts of this beautiful state. I am here to speak in opposition to House Bill 3728 because it compromises the education of our children and youth by threatening the ability of public educators to teach the full truth. In addition, it subjects educators to interference in their teaching, burdens them with a cumbersome complaint process, and risks the loss of state funding. I have recently returned from a visit to the Legacy Museum and lynching Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. While there, I was utterly flooded by the sheer magnitude of the numbers of lives destroyed, the countless families ripped apart, the unspeakable horrors of physical torture and mental anguish imposed by those who enslaved on their fellow human beings. The very idea that we would be more concerned to create laws that shield us from the deepest possible understanding of how these horrors came to be than to create laws that would foster such understanding boggles my mind. In a state that was the entry point to nearly half of all enslaved people and where indigenous people were driven out violently from their homeland, it is deeply troubling that we are more concerned to protect sensibilities of those who may disagree with particular concepts or approaches to our hard history than to engage the pain of those who continue to experience the impacts of our long legacy of racism. To heal this land, we must speak the truth in love to one another. I do not believe this bill fosters such loving truth telling. This is not a bill about love. The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” So, I say, let’s be about love. We have enough suffering; we don’t need to legislate more. I urge you to vote NO on House bill 3728. Be about love. |
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