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Coronavirus Resources

Last updated: January 12, 2021

The coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a global pandemic that has created a world and situation unlike any we have known before. We continue to know this is understandably a cause for concern, but still not a cause for panic. It is an opportunity for all of us to go deeper into our faith to find ways to love and support one another. We are in this together, and we are beloved community.

For questions about the adaptations put in place by the Diocese or church-related matters, to request pastoral clergy care, or to request assistance with supply needs, please contact the Rev. Canon David Sellery or a member of the congregational support team.

If you need different types of assistance - either as a church leader or as someone seeking to worship and engage at home - browse the options below.

The Regathering Plan

*NOTE: When you open the regathering plan, we recommend opening the bookmarks pane for quick and easy navigation.

reopening-plan-bookmark_610

Singing Guidelines (as of October 27)

Regathering Checklist

Mask Guidelines

For Churches

  • Buildings and Grounds (Best practices for maintaining and securing unoccupied churches)
  • Children's Gatherings
    • Stage 1B and Stage 2: Children’s Gatherings Outside
    • Stage 2: Returning to Limited In-Person Children’s Formation (indoor)
  • Direct Service Ministries
  • Financial Guidance
  • Ordering Masks for Churches
  • Pastoral Care Resources
  • Prayers and Liturgies for the COVID-19 Pandemic (From The Episcopal Church)
  • Regathering Resources (including sample signs)
  • Reopening Schools (Task Force recommendations as of Dec. 16, 2020)
    • Reopening School plan template (updated Oct. 6, 2020)
    • Sample Letter to Parents (if the school is remaining open, published Jan. 12, 2021)
  • Reporting (What to do if someone in your parish tests positive for coronavirus)
  • Safe Church during COVID-19
  • Staying Connected (Tips for livestreaming, videoconferencing and building community off-line)
  • Supply Clergy Requests
  • Vestry Meetings (Requirements for holding vestry meetings online)

For Individuals

  • Anxiety, Grief and Stress during COVID-19 - A webinar from the Children's and Youth Mental Health Committee to help adults deal with the particular stresses related to COVID-19 and social distancing.
  • At-home Formation (Resources for children, youth and adults)

For Parents

Kids are going to hear about coronavirus, so be prepared to answer questions and talk to them about it.

  • Anxiety, Grief and Stress during COVID-19 (Preschool and Elementary Ages) - A webinar from the Children's and Youth Mental Health Committee to help parents deal with their young children's stress.
  • Anxiety, Grief and Stress during COVID-19 (Grades 6-12) - A webinar from the Children's and Youth Mental Health Committee to help parents deal with their middle and high school children's stress.
  • Anxiety Grief and Stress during COVID-19: Parent Edition - A webinar from the Children's and Youth Mental Health Committee to help parents deal with their own stress.
  • Coronavirus and Kids (what you need to know - CDC)
  • How to Talk to Kids About Coronavirus (NY Times)
  • Just for Kids: A New Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus
  • How to Talk to Your Kids About Coronavirus – and ease their fears (NBCNews)
  • Talking to Children About COVID-19 (National Association of School Psychiatrists)
  • Talking to Children About Coronavirus (COVID-19) (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry)

Stay Healthy

  • Wash your hands often, with soap for 20-30 seconds, scrubbing all surfaces.
  • Practice physical distancing, maintaining six feet between yourself and other people if you are required to go to work or need to run errands.
  • Regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces - lightswitches, doorknobs, cabinet handles, phones, remote controls, faucets, hard surfaces like tables and countertops, etc.
  • Practice good health habits: eat well, get plenty of sleep and exercise, stay hydrated.
  • Stay home if you are sick or feel ill.
  • Always sneeze or cough into your elbow, not your hand.
  • Avoid touching your face; you may not even realize how often you do it, so enlist a buddy, coworker or family member to signal when you’re doing it!
  • Stay informed; facts over imagination can go a long way in helping you get through this without panicking as well as accurately understanding the situation.
  • Make your own masks (from the CDC): At-Home Masks (info + sew/no-sew methods) | En español | Cloth Face Coverings (FAQs)

Give as You Can

Though life has seemingly come to a standstill, the obligations it contains has not. Churches still have expenses related to worship spaces and ministries, and they need your continued help to keep it all going. As you are able, please continue to honor pledges or donate to your church. We say as you are able - this ongoing situation will have a financial impact on us all, and if you are not able to support your church financially, you can still do so through prayer and participation, knowing all the while you are loved.

For those churches who do not have online options available, the Diocese has created a giving option to help gather donations. By using the diocesan link, donors may designate their giving for a specific church, or they may donate to a general fund to be used to relieve financial stress as the Diocese designates to do so.

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Contacts

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman
XII Bishop Diocesan of North Carolina
The Rt. Rev. Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple
VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina
The Rev. Canon David Forster Sellery
Canon for Congregational Mission
919-834-7474, ext. 5303 

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman

XII Bishop Diocesan of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman was ordained and consecrated as the XII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham on July 15, 2017. He was elected on March 4, 2017.

Prior to his election, Bishop Rodman served as the Special Projects Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, a role he took on after spending five years as the diocesan project manager for campaign initiatives, where he engaged congregations, clergy and laity, in collaborative local and global mission through the Together Now campaign, helping to raise $20 million to fund these initiatives. Prior to that, he spent 16 years as the rector of St. Michael’s in Milton, Massachusetts, during which the parish established a seven-year plan that included a capital campaign for a major renovation of the church school building.

Ordained in 1988, Bishop Rodman is a graduate of Bates College and Virginia Theological Seminary. He and his wife of 32 years, Deborah, live in Raleigh. They are the parents of two adult daughters. In his free time, Bishop Rodman enjoys basketball, golf, kayaking, crosswords and creative writing.

The Rt. Rev. Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple

VI Bishop Suffragan of North Carolina

Anne Elliott Hodges-Copple was elected the Diocese's sixth Bishop Suffragan and the first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina on January 26, 2013, at the 197th Annual Convention. She was consecrated on June 15, 2013, in Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Bishop Hodges-Copple grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Duke University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in 1979 with a major in public policy. She earned her Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, in 1984.

In the years between college and seminary and then seminary and ordination, Hodges-Copple worked as a community organizer in Massachusetts and Appalachia and as a shelter director for victims of domestic violence in North Carolina. She was ordained a deacon in 1987 and a priest in 1988.

Bishop Hodges-Copple has served her entire ordained life in the Diocese of North Carolina, working 13 years in parish ministry and 13 years as a campus minister. She served as the rector of St. Luke’s, Durham, until she was elected to the episcopate. Bishop Hodges-Copple has a particular passion for shaping mission and ministry to be attuned to the voices, needs and wisdom of disempowered communities.

In her role as Bishop Suffragan, Bishop Hodges-Copple has particular responsibilities in campus and young adult ministries, new mission starts (Galilee ministries), the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission, the ordination process for the diaconate, global partnerships for mission, ecumenical and interfaith collaborations and the pastoral care of retired clergy, their spouses and surviving spouses. In the spring of 2018, she led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, her third such pilgrimage, and plans another in 2020.

Hodges-Copple is currently a member of the Executive Council for The Episcopal Church, the Board of Historic Black Colleges & Universities and the Task Force for Social Advocacy. She served on the Special Legislative Committee for Marriage at the 2015 General Convention in Salt Lake City and chaired the House of Bishops’ Legislative Committee on Social Concerns at the 79th General Convention in Austin, Texas. She is also a member of the Bishops United Against Gun Violence.

During the transition between the 11th and 12th Bishops of North Carolina, she served as Bishop Diocesan Pro Tempore, the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese.

She and her husband, John, have three adult children. John is Director of Planning for the Triangle J Council of Governments.

The Rev. Canon David Forster Sellery

Canon for Congregational Mission
919-834-7474, ext. 5303 |

Before joing the staff of the Diocese of North Carolina, Sellery served as priest-in-charge at St. John’s, Salisbury, Connecticut. He successfully opened the doors of St. John’s to the community, particularly to young people and families, through the “WiFi Café” program he hosted every week in the parish hall. As part of his community outreach mission, Sellery actively served as an emergency medical technician with the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service.

In addition to extensive parish work, Sellery served as the director of institutional advancement for two of New York's premier not-for-profit organizations, focusing in the areas of community development and healthcare. While working in portfolio and investment management, he continued his active ministry serving as visiting clergy to parishes in Connecticut and New York and on Long Island. His experience as a commuting executive informs his perspective in serving families in commuter communities. He later returned to full-time parish work to which he brought his enhanced administrative, communications and stewardship skills.

Born in Norwood, Massachusetts, Sellery was educated in public schools in Darien, Connecticut; Malvern, Pennsylvania and Woodland Hills, California. He majored in English Literature and received his B.A. from the University of Connecticut (1989), Masters of Divinity from The General Theological Seminary in New York (1992), and Certificate in Appreciative Transitional Ministry (2013) and Certificate in Appreciative Coaching via The Clergy Leadership Institute (2015). Sellery serves as a director of Nazareth Friends, Inc. a family foundation that owns and operates four homes for people with developmental disabilities in Florida.

Sellery is married to Jane Muir Sellery. They have two sons, Robert and William.

Website: davidsellery.org
Podcast: Fr. Sellery Presents This Week’s Focus

Resources

Resources for Churches

Financial Guidance

Staying Connected

Worship Livestreams

At-home Formation


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