One year later…
I relocated to Jackson, Mississippi from Memphis to begin serving as Bishop-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi on May 1, 2024. It’s been a busy—and wonderful year—and I’ve loved every minute of getting to know this place and all of the incredible ministry that’s happening here, every day. When I arrived, I made some commitments to you all about how I would be walking this journey in faith with you. And, while I’m not overly fond of bullet-point listings, sometimes they’re more effective at conveying information.
So, with that said, here’s a maybe-not-so-brief summary of how we’ve engaged in ministry together during this first year.
I made a commitment to visiting as many of our worshipping communities as possible during this first year, given that our Sunday visitation schedule would not have me visiting some of our ministries until 2026. To date, I’ve visited 71 of our 82 churches, all three of our schools (St. Andrew’s Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School, Jackson; Coast Episcopal, Long Beach; St. John’s Day School, Laurel), and I’ve joined the Parchman Prison Ministry team for a visit there. I have learned so much about the faithful ministries in this diocese. It is such a humbling privilege to serve among you.
Office administration and staffing:
Two CPA firms were engaged in 2024 to bring operational and trust financials up-to-date. I am grateful for the support of the Finance Committee, the Executive Committee and the Trustees of the Diocese and their commitment with me on this journey. We anticipate not only to have developed a manual of best practices for operational and trust accounting, but also to have issued corrected financial statements and to have explored a new accounting platform for our operational accounting.
Our new Canon to the Ordinary, Gary Meade, began his duties on November 1, 2024. I offer my profound thanks to the Rev. Canon Chip Davis for serving as Interim Canon to the Ordinary until Gary’s arrival and assisting with that transition. Chip and Gary have brought a wealth of knowledge and have been of tremendous support to me, the staff and our elected bodies.
The former Chief Financial Officer position is currently outsourced, and is likely to remain outsourced.
The Rev. Andy Andrews, Missioner for Becoming Beloved Community and Congregational Vitality, is now serving that capacity as a full-time role. Additionally, all ordained persons on staff are out serving our worshipping communities each Sunday, as I am. We continue to work on developing a list of worshipping communities in need of supply clergy—and are actively working to help match supply clergy with those sites. If you are willing to be a supply priest for a church without the regular services of a priest, please be in touch with Canon Gary Meade (gmeade@dioms.org).
With the upcoming retirement of our faithful Executive Assistant, Peggy Jones, we have posted and received resumes for two administrative staffing positions: Executive Assistant to the Bishop, Canon and Missioner; and Diocesan Program Administrator. We expect to conduct interviews and call these new persons to the Allin House team soon. And, we certainly offer our unceasing thanks to Peggy for her unparalleled service to the Diocese.
With the new positions, the Diocesan staff will be: Bishop Wells; Canon to the Ordinary Meade; Executive Director, Camp Bratton-Green, Chip Davis—and his amazing wife and co-director, Cathy Davis; Missioner to Becoming Beloved Community and Congregational Vitality, Andy Andrews; Missioner to Youth, Whitney Robinson; Bookkeeper, Liley Gilbert; Archivist, Julia Marks Young; Editor of The Mississippi Episcopalian, Wil Oakes; and the new Executive Assistant to the Bishop and Diocesan Program Administrator.
The mission and ministry of Becoming Beloved Community has been broadened as we consider God’s people who must remain within our focus:
Considering ways in which all of our worshipping spaces may be more accessible and welcoming to persons with differing abilities;
May: Observing Mental Health Awareness Month;
June: Observing Pride Month (If you’ve not read Ed Oliver’s powerful piece in The Mississippi Episcopalian, please check it out at msepiscopalian.com/oliver);
August 9-10: Observing the 70th anniversary of the killing of Emmett Till, with a workshop on The History of Us offered by the Bishop on Saturday, August 9, and a time of conversation with former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on the afternoon of Sunday, August 10;
September: Observing Recovery Awareness Month;
November: Recognizing our veterans—especially in the communities closest to our state’s Veteran’s homes in Oxford, Kosciusko, Jackson, Collins and Biloxi.
In order to get all persons who may be discerning a call to ordained ministry off to a solid and good start, semi-annual (fall and spring) Ministry Exploration Gatherings will now be the entry point to the process for formally discerning call to ordained ministry—vocational diaconate or priesthood. These Ministry Exploration Gatherings will allow all discerners to access the same information and expectations regarding the process. Additionally, what has formerly been known as the bi-vocational priesthood track has been eliminated. Discerners can, of course, explore call to the priesthood that may lead to either part-time or full-time ministry, but theological formation requirements (seminary or local formation) will be equivalent for both.
We have enhanced our diocesan communications to add a bi-weekly e-News blast which includes current news from our worshipping communities, curated by Nisey Ward. This communication piece will help us all take advantage of the many opportunities for worship, formation and fellowship as we all travel around the diocese. The Mississippi Episcopalian will be a feature magazine, and has moved to a primarily digital format (with only one print edition anticipated after Annual Council each year). If you haven’t actually subscribed to TME, please visit msepiscopalian.com/subscribe. And, each issue of TME will now include reflections from the bishop, in the Bishop’s Corner.
I have been working with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, as we have begun exploring opportunities for grants for repairs to two of our churches—hopefully, the beginning of determining some funding opportunities. [If you are reading this piece and have grant-writing skills, I’d love to be in conversation with you.]
Gray Conference Center (“north side”) is being actively marketed for sale. We are grateful to the CBG Alums for the many improvements made to Camp Bratton-Green, and to our directors and staff for this successful camp season—as we look ahead to the opportunities we have for continuing impactful and powerful ministry at camp in the future.
After a successful Clergy Conference in October 2024 and our first Annual Council together in January 2025, we look forward to those upcoming events as Clergy Conference gathers in Jackson in October 2025 and Annual Council is convened at St. Andrew’s School, Ridgeland, in January 2026.
We hosted a Lenten Bible Study with the bishop, examining the Book of Genesis and how the stories of Abraham’s family inform us about family trauma. For some thoughts on how these scriptures inform us, please see msepiscopalian.com/trauma-1 and msepiscopalian.com/trauma-2.
I continue to give thanks to God for calling me to this amazing ministry—and I thank each of you for the warm welcome and amazing hospitality you’ve shown me. God has much in store for us—and I am so very grateful to be part of this unfolding story of God’s great love.
In Christ,
+Dorothy