Global Partnerships New Year’s Update

India, Anglican Church of India – Diocese of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana: In July 2018, Bishop Jaya Rao, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of India, reported that the monsoon rains had caused extensive damage resulting in the development of a large number of cracks in the walls of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Nativity in Jammalamadugu, Andhra Pradesh. Funds were raised by Bishop and Dr. Mary Grundorf and those funds were sent to India in November, 2018.  Bishop Jaya Rao reports in his most recent email that these wall-cracks were cut out of the walls and the walls shored up and all repairs completed in time for the Christmas services that were held at the Cathedral. The accompanying photographs show the work in progress and after completion. And the other photographs show part of the Christmas celebrations that took place at the Cathedral.

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India, Good Shepherd School in Kollur, Telengana: In the month of December, the APA was able to forward sufficient funds to sponsor a total of thirty-six children who attend the Good Shepherd School in Kollur, Mahubnagar, in the state of Telengana. This is a school that the APA funded from monies raised during the Lenten Appeal of 2011. This is the third year that the APA has been able to raise funds through its churches and generous donors to sponsor children at the school. In 2017 the APA was able to sponsor eleven children and in 2018 twenty children were sponsored. The 2019 number represents an eighty percent increase over the previous year. This increase in sponsorships is largely due to the efforts of Bishop and Dr. Mary Grundorf who have made it part of the Bishops annual visits to parishes to raise awareness of the work being done by our Global Partners. As a result of their efforts there are now sponsoring churches and individuals from each of the APA Dioceses in the US.

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Philippines: Following the Christmas Eve celebrations at St. Joseph the Laborer Church, in the barangay of Masoc, Bayombong, Nuevo Vizcaya, on the largest island of Luzon in the Philippines, Fr. Alex Abraham traveled to Occidental Mindoro, an island south and west of Luzon. He was invited by a local benefactor to barangay Tayamaan, Mamburao to celebrate Holy Communion and to explore the possibility of establishing a mission church in this area among the native Mangyan people. The benefactors also arranged for food to be distributed and for gifts to be given to the children as part of what they called “Share A Blessing Outreach Ministry”. On December 29, Fr. Alex, after preparing an area and erecting a canopy, on a piece of land that the benefactors appear willing to donate for the establishment of a church, celebrated the Mass which was followed by a Christmas gift exchange for the local children who attended. The benefactors have named the location The Mary Hill Mission Center and more than sixty adults and children were in attendance. Please pray that this outreach effort will result in the establishment and construction of another church in the APA Missionary District of the Philippines. The accompanying photographs show the benefactors and Fr. Alex and “Santa Claus”, and many of the children during the gift distribution. Earlier in the month, Fr. Joel Arellano attended the funeral Mass and the burial for the Rt. Rev. John Benedict, bishop for the ACC Missionary Diocese of the Philippines, at San Isidro Labrador Cathedral, Santa Rosa, near Manilla. On this occasion he was also able to meet with ACC Bishop Terry Lowe (Episcopal Visitor to the ACC Missionary Diocese of the Philippines) who invited the APA clergy and their Missionary Bishop, Rt. Rev. David Haines, to attend the ACC Synod which will be held in 2019, date and location still to be determined.

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Ecuador: During the most recent visit to the Indigenous Pastoral of the Anglican Province of America in Ecuador (IPAPAE) in April, 2018, Bishop Walter Grundorf, amongst other activities, laid and blessed a foundation stone on a newly acquired property where a cathedral church is to be built. In the interceding months, architectural plans have been approved and the necessary permits acquired to begin construction of the church and seminary. Construction was scheduled to begin on January 7, 2019 and the project is expected to be completed by February, 2020. In the meantime, the seminary has begun meeting in rented space and currently there are thirteen students enrolled, five of whom are candidates for Holy Orders, two for the transitional diaconate and the priesthood and three for the permanent diaconate. Please continue to pray for all of the efforts of our Global Partners in Ecuador.

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