Diocese will hire full time Canon for Youth Ministry
By the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo, February 2002
The ground is frozen, some snow has finally settled, and I am discovering that Rock Point is a beautiful place in the winter. Vermont is a beautiful place in the winter, although we do well to remember that it can be a difficult place for those without enough shelter or heat.
Not surprisingly, at Rock Point the winter offers a sharp contrast to the summer, not only in terms of the weather and the woods and the views, but also in terms of who is on the property. It is quieter now, even though the winter brings its own special welcome to those who visit for a day, or a weekend, or longer. Our animal friends are less visible, as are some of the "visitors" from North Beach that we encounter in warmer weather. Most of all, I am mindful of how much I miss all the children who are here in warmer months.
During my Sunday visitations one of my great joys is to greet many of the children and young people whom I met this summer at the Rock Point Summer Conferences and in the spring and autumn at the Diocesan Youth Conferences. They always seem to remember me and, while I recall their faces, I still struggle with their names. Time will help with that. What those encounters do for me is to remind me of how important our ministry to them is and how precious is their ministry to me and to our diocese.
Children and young people are not just the Church of the future; they are the Church of the present just as much as anyone else is. I remember talking this summer with a group of young people from one of the Summer Conferences who came to the Bishop’s House for a tour about how I looked forward to our leadership together in the Diocese in the years to come. I guess there is a part of me that just can’t wait for summer’s return when those Summer Conferences "take over" Rock Point and the sights and sounds of children enjoying Christian community hold sway over life at Rock Point.
The Diocese of Vermont is blessed by and through its commitment to children, teenagers and young adults and their ministry. This is one of the things I like most about being your Bishop and why I am truly excited about the new chapter we are about to enter in our Diocesan commitment to children and young people.
This diocese has been blessed for many years by the ministry of Pat Plumb and her work with the Diocesan Youth Committee, and it has been blessed in recent years by the ministry of Marsha Hoecker as part time Canon for Youth Ministry. We owe them, and those who have worked closely with them, a deep debt of gratitude for their commitment to young people and their ministry in the Church. Now, thanks to the diocesan budget passed at Convention, the generosity of Holy Trinity, Swanton and the commitment of the Diocesan Council, we are able to hire a full time Canon for Youth Ministry.
Over the last couple of months I have been meeting with a group of young people and adults who are sharing with me the responsibility for calling a new, full time, Canon for Youth Ministry. Among other responsibilities, this person will have oversight for the Rock Point Summer Conferences, in concert with the Rock Point Summer Conferences Committee, and will work closely with the Diocesan Youth Committee.
Having served for five years as the Director of Youth Ministries in the Diocese of Connecticut, I know how crucial it is to have local parish support for a diocesan ministry to, with, for and by young people. As we head into this next chapter in our diocesan commitment to young people and their ministries, my hope is that each parish and each member of our diocese will do all that they can to support, encourage and strengthen our local and diocesan youth ministry effort. This is a season of opportunity for us to celebrate our commitment to children, to young people, to young adults and their ministries.
Looking forward to celebrating the seasons with you, I remain young at heart and yours in Christ,
+ Thomas
Copyright ® 2002, The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. All rights Reserved.