FROM THE DESK OF... The Diocesan House

August 29, 2011

Bishop Baxter and Canon Babcock are on vacation this week. The Bishop will return on Tuesday, September 6th and Canon Babcock on Monday, September 12th.

Bishop Baxter returned briefly to Harrisburg from his vacation in Maryland to get out of Hurricane Irene’s path, only to bear the brunt of the storm here in the end, with the loss of several trees at his house. Thankfully, there was no building damage or injuries. He has returned to Maryland to clean up there and enjoy the last few days of vacation. After having experienced both the earthquake and hurricane while on vacation, pray that they will have a peaceful time (smile!).

Canon Babcock is off to spend a few days with his family and enjoy being “Grandpa”. He will be in an area with limited cell phone and email capabilities.

All other Diocesan Staff are available this week. Questions with regard to financial and insurance issues can be directed to The Rev. David Zwifka. If you need to get a message to either Bishop Baxter or Canon Babcock, please contact Carolyn Patterson who will be able to pass it along.

Please note, due to road closures in Harrisburg for the Labor Day weekend Kipona Festival, the Diocesan House will be closed on Friday, September 2nd. We will reopen on Tuesday, September 6th.

Just a further note for when we start getting back to the busy-ness of meetings etc in September: the Diocesan House parking lot has very limited space at this time. We have developed a sinkhole and so can only use half of the usual parking space until it can be repaired. In the meantime, please bear with us and be prepared in case you need to park off-site if you have a meeting here in September. We suggest that, if you do have a meeting scheduled in the next few weeks, call ahead to check on the status. As soon as we know when the work will be completed, we will let you know.

Enjoy these lingering warm days of summer and the approaching fall. Our prayers are with you as your children head back to school and your parishes move once again into the “full swing” of your ministry programs.

Your Diocesan Staff