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Honors for a Life Member
It is with
pleasure that we nominate Mr. Maceo
Brown for the Bishop’s Annual Lay Ministry Award for St. Anne’s Episcopal
Church. Mr. Brown has provided an
outstanding ministry to the parish, faithfully serving after assuming, without
hesitation, a leadership role in 2003.
His leadership has brought us positive change, vision and a focus on our
youth.
In
2003, Mr. Brown joined our church family. Immediately, he
began service on the altar, taking command of the Acolyte Guild. His influence had an immediate impact which
continues well into 2007 which brought about positive change. There were several changes to the guild. First, the number of acolytes has increased
from an average of six to eighteen. Second, he co-sponsored St. Anne’s first trip to
the National Acolyte Festival held annually at
Every
leader has a vision. Mr. Brown’s is to make certain that each acolyte under his
command understands his/her responsibilities and the importance of serving the
Lord. Faithfully,
he has dedicated his time to not only training but
teaching the acolytes of St. Anne’s on the order of service and proper
techniques. In addition, he took
time to compile a training manual for our acolytes. In this manual, you will find the acolyte
Prayer, a short history of the Acolyte Ministry and a section on vesting among
others. These commitments clearly
demonstrate his vision of understanding and service to the Lord.
Mr.
Brown has focused on our youth. He is more than an Acolyte Master. He is one who mentors, and is a friend.
Frequently, he will check with parents to see how his young protégés are doing
in school and home. Annually, he hosts a
celebration to honor the acolytes prior to commencement of the school year. And if you know Mr. Brown, he is a big kid
himself, as he is the life of the party.
Annually, he identifies and honors acolytes’ performance for leadership,
most improved and the highly coveted “Acolyte of the Year” Award.
He
is truly worthy and earned this award. His Parish members warmly applause Mr. Brown
and thank him for his dedication.
On December 16th, 2007 at St. Anne’s Episcopal
Church, Hallandale, Fla. Maceo Brown and another member of the parish was awarded the Bishop’s Annual
Lay Ministry Award. The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade presented
the award to Maceo at the 9:00 am service. Bishop Frade is the
bishop of the Diocese of
The preceding article was
submitted by The Acolyte Guild of St. Anne’s
A blessing meeting new friends
On
Saturday, October 6th, 2007, I came with the acolytes of St. David’s Episcopal Church to be a part of the
excitement at the National Acolyte Festival.
I met many wonderful fellow vergers and acolyte “guilds” during this
festival. It was a wonderful “church educational”
experience for the acolytes who came with me who also met these fellow vergers
and acolytes.
Then I saw
something familiar. It was the Acolyte Guild’s Banner from St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in
The
preceding article was submitted by Francis L. Jacobs – webmaster to the O.S.V.
Seeking Historical Information about the Order of
At the most
recent Board of Governors meeting on January 22,
2007 the Director General, Mr. Philip G. Dixon, OSV, expressed concern
over the lack of historical or archived material pertaining to the history of
the International Order of
Mr. Dixon
also reported that the earliest Directory of Chapters and Members in the files
is dated 1993-1994; however, he noted that inquiries concerning the Order tend
to begin “I was a member of the Order back when I was an acolyte …”. Unfortunately, we have no records to verify that anyone
was a member forty or fifty years ago or that a Church even had a Chapter back
then and can only ask the person calling they have any records in their files
to verify their membership (to show longevity).
Sadly, we
don’t even have a complete list of all the Director Generals, the other
officers, or their Churches so we could try to track down the earlier
records. The Board of Governors proposed
that we use the electronic version of “The Banner” to ask members, former members,
and friends of the Order to send us copies of any old documents they might own
or might be filed away in old Church records so we can begin build up our
archives. Obviously, we are looking for any documents that contain information
about our past history so any document containing dates and names (even a
chapter charter with a date and a signature will give an idea of who our
predecessors were at a particular time.
Please send
anything you have or find to the International Order of
Interesting discoveries will be posted in The
Banner.
Amori Christi et Ecclesiae
Philip G. Dixon, OSV
Director General
Volunteers needed
"Over the years, the Order of
During the coming year we would like
to formalize this relationship by establishing Committees in each area
(Acolytes, Lay readers, Vergers, Altar Guild, etc). to
provide assistance to others as well as act as sounding boards for the Director
General for reviewing and revising our existing Tracts as well as developing
new ones. We do not intend to attempt to dictate how any function is to be
performed. this is the sole prerogative of the Clergy
in each Parish. Our goal is to assist someone who suddenly finds himself in a
leadership role and is not quite sure how to begin. Much like the retired
executives who help entrepreneurs get their businesses started
. we can provide ideas.
We are looking for volunteers for
these committees. While I hesitate to refer to anyone as an "expert,"
these individuals must be knowledgeable in their subject area. If you are
interested in being a part of one of these committees you should send us a
letter saying which committee you are interested in (Acolytes, Lector/Lay
Reader, Lay Eucharistic Minister (1 and 2), Altar Guild/Sacristan, Chorister,
Usher, Greeter, Master of Ceremony, Verger), include short resume showing your
qualifications, and a recommendation from your Clergy.
While our present plan is to keep the
final committees small for many reasons, we fully intend to use all volunteers
in some capacity to assist the Committees. I know that all of us have other
commitments which we must honor so please indicate the amount of time that you
could make available for this work (such as extensive, limited, x days a month,
etc.). I have ambitious plans for these committees so please be honest in your
assessment of your available time.
Amori Christi et Ecclesiae
Philip G. Dixon, OSV
Director General
Any member
or Chapter may contribute articles, photos,
to this website by e-mail.