Hello Friends!

On November 14th and 15th, the Diocese of Long Island gathered for its 148th Diocesan Convention at the Marriott Hotel in Melville, NY.  Fr. Kenny and I were, of course, in attendance.  Our theme was “Walk in Love as Christ Loved Us.”

shouldn’t it be “loves” us?…Pat Malloy would be annoyed….

If you don’t know, Convention is a time when all the parishes get together for worship, fun, fellowship, and of course, business.  Each church’s priest and a certain number of lay delegates (depending on eligibility) attend convention and get to vote on resolutions, committee elections, and the “ministry plan” (which is like the budget….ok, its the budget).

The business stuff is necessary, but the fun stuff is what convention is all about.  Here, we get to see people that we don’t get to see all year.  The Diocese of Long Island starts at the Brooklyn Bridge and goes all the way to Montauk Point (or the other way around depending on your perspective), so we don’t often all get together in one place.  There were many video presentations about different ministries happening around the Diocese, and it was so great and inspiring to see what our colleagues are up to.  We are truly a vibrant and diverse Diocese.

I have been to many Conventions, in Massachusetts as a Youth Delegate, in Central New York as the youngest voter (representing Syracuse University), and several previous Long Island Conventions, BUT this was Fr. Kenny’s first Long Island Convention!  Many people were excited to meet Fr. Kenny, like the ladies of the St. Boniface, Lindenhurst chapter of Daughters of the King:

They want to nominate Fr. Kenny for Presiding Bishop, but I don’t think he is ready for that.

Dean McGinty, from Long Island’s very own George Mercer Jr. Memorial School of Theology, posed with Fr. Kenny:

Fr. Kenny is interested in teaching a course on Anglican Doll Theologians of the 19th Century.

Fr. Kenny is looking through the course catalog

Down to BUSINESS:

Getting ready to vote, the modern way

Delegates from Emmanuel and St. Mark’s

Coffee helps in the afternoon.

Our good friend Canon John Madden responds to the Bishop’s address!

The shirt didn’t come in XXXXXXXXS.

We made a lot of friends:

Archdeacon Hickman, certainly a VIP.

Mo. Ale and Fr. Kenny are fast friends now.

Fr. Kenny has some sage advice for seminarians Neil and Terrance.

Fr. Kenny wanted to go kayaking, but he will have to wait until summer.  He can apply to be a Chaplain at Camp DeWolfe, our very own Diocesan Summer Camp:

Don’t worry, we partied hard at the banquet:

Electric slide time!

PHEW! Good thing, Fr. Kenny got a room, he was really tired, but it was totally worth it. Until the 149th!

We had a great time and learned a lot.  The music and worship was wonderful.  It was reflective, beautiful, and joyful.  Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put the weekend together, it is always hard to get large groups together and you handled it beautifully!

The Bishop’s address was inspiring and informative and can be found here:

Bishop Provenzano’s Address 

We have a lot of events coming up before Christmas, so stay tuned for more posts!

Thanks for stopping by,

Mo. Lauren