The theme on the third Sunday in Advent, December 11, will be Ministering with Refugees in Baghdad. Last fall, Ascension joined several other parishes in the Diocese of New York in helping to build a community center in a refugee camp in Baghdad, Iraq. This ecumenical work is sponsored in part by the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf in the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. On Sunday, December 11, the Ven. Bill Schwarz, Archdeacon of that diocese, will be our guest preacher and forum leader at Ascension, and will tell us more about the challenges and blessings of this vital work. For photos of an art workshop held last spring in the new space, see here. At the time, Archdeacon Schwartz wrote “It all looks so normal! For these girls, normality is a real treasure.” Here is a link to learn more about the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.
Newsletter
Parish News: November 15
In this week’s newsletter, Mother Liz shares how a historian’s request about Pete and Toshi Seeger’s 1943 wedding led to a discovery: the couple married in Ascension’s All Saints Chapel. The marriage register also revealed the officiant, Edward George Harris, a former assistant priest here who later became a distinguished Episcopal leader. As we celebrate our bicentennial, the parish is collecting stories of its saints and its place in New York and Episcopal history, sharing these findings in the weekly newsletter.
