Sister Inga Bengtzon - a remarkable life

Sister Inga Bengtzon (20 July 1920 to 6 May 2017) has passed away at the age of 97 in Uppsala, Sweden. Sister Inga was President of DIAKONIA for some years. Her funeral will be Friday 2nd June in Samariterhemmets Church, Uppsala.

We give thanks for her life that was dedicated to faithful service, and for her inspiring leadership and wisdom. 

Sister Inga served for 65 years as a Deaconess. She was a visionary. Here's one of her statements written in 1984 when she was Director of the Diaconia Foundation Samariterhemmet, addressing a Nordic diaconal meeting about the prophetic dimension of diaconia: 

"Diaconia is foundational for the church, she argues. It “is and shall, and must be prophetic, fore- sighted, predictive, energetic, fearless – salt and light to the world.” Referring to the General Assembly of the WCC in 1983, she argues for the inclusion of a self-critical dimension of the diaconal role that challenges the church’s “locked, frozen, static and self-centred structures” in order to turn them into “workable, living instrument for the church’s task of healing, reconstruction and sharing with each other.” Diaconia cannot be limited to institutional forms. It must “break through the already established structures and demarcations in the institutional church” in order to act, heal, and build in the world. Prophecy is a message that must be advanced, regardless of cost, Bengtzon argues. But the prophet’s message is inconvenient, because it “exposes and opposes all situations and circumstances where people are violated against or violate God’s creation.” This is what it means to be “salt” in the world (Bengtzon, 1984, translated from Swedish).

Sister Inga published books and contributed articles to many journals. She served on many committees exploring diakonia, and engaged in many ecumenical dialogues on diakonia and the church. 

Her publications include: 

Bengtzon, Inga M. Diakonia. II The Organisation of DIAKONIA, in: Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, Geneva/Grand Rapids 1991. 

Bengtzon, Inga. “Diakonia Worldwide: Does the Church Need a Diaconate?” St Colm's Public Lecture, Edinburgh, 1988.

Bengtzon, Inga M. “The Churches and the Diaconate in the Ecumenical and International Perspective”, 1985. 

Association for Episcopal Deacons (USA) - ordinations

Congratulations to the five Deacons ordained in May in the Diocese of New York in May, 2017.

Chisara Alimole

Eugene Bourquin

Shiane Lee

Richard Limato

Jacqueline Sanchez-Shabazz

(Photo credit: Denise LaVetty)

Global morning prayers at DIAKONIA World Assembly

A new initiative at the 2017 DIAKONIA World Assembly is 'global morning prayers', led in language by delegates from a different country each morning. The idea is that other languages will be used in prayer, other than the main languages of the Assembly (English and German).

On the first morning (June 29), Oberin Rollaug Waaler (Bergen Diakonissehjem) will lead in Norwegian. On Friday June 30, the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confessions of Brazil will lead in Portugese. On Saturday, July 1st, the Order of Deaconesses of the Methodist Church in Nigeria will lead. On the Monday, July 3rd, Sr Ristua Sirait (IKADIWA, Indonesia) will lead the prayers. On Tuesday July 4th, the Fiji delegates will lead the morning prayer. This will be one (of many) highlights during the World Assembly.

What a marvellous way to catch a vision of the diversity within the DIAKONIA World Federation and the very many languages and cultures represented.

(Thanks to Jan Cherry who has been coordinating this part of the program, and to those who have agreed to give leadership to this new initiative in the program)

Fiji Deaconesses

Congratulations to Terrtu Pohjolainen!

At the recent meeting of the Kaiserswerther Generalkonferenz (KGK) held in Berlin, Terrtu (from Finland) was elected as the new President. (Congratulations, Terttu!) She brings a variety of diaconal experiences to the office of President, including her work with the Diakonian Institute of Lahti and as Managing Director of Kaarisilta, a facility for children and young people with disabilities. She has previously served as vice-president of the KGK. Terrtu is pictured below with other office bearers - Oberin Rollaug Waaler (from Norway) and Sr. Diakonisse Anke Frickmann. Together, they will provide leadership for the Presidium of the KGK. (Congratulations also to Anke and to Rollaug).

The worldwide Kaiserswerther General Conference is a network of more than 100 diaconal institutions, diaconal houses, diaconic communities and deaconesses from Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa.

At its recent meeting, planning took place for the 43rd General Conference in Bethel in 2018 as well as the planned tour to New York City in autumn 2017. It is anticipated this tour will provide insights into the American health care system by visiting various hospitals, public nursing homes, training centres and historical places of health care, including visits to the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Centre, the NYU Lutheran Medical Centre and the Blythedal Children's Hospital founded in 1883 by a Norwegian deaconess.

The Presidium of the KGK is made up of: Diakonisse Terttu Pohjolainen (FI), Oberin Rollaug Waaler (NO), Director Marek Londzin (PL), Sister Melinda L. Lando (North America), Stiftspropst Jürgen Stobbe (D-Nord), Ltd. Sister Diakonisse Anke Frickmann (D-West), Ltd. Sr. Roswitha Buff (D-South), Personnel Committee / Dr. Gundula Grießmann (D-Ost), authorized officer Karsten Stüber (D-Ost), Theol. Executive Board Rev. Klaus Riesenbeck (D-West), Rector Pastor Annette Goll (F), Superior Sr. Merete Pelle Poulsen (DK), Vice- Ltd. Sr. Vilma Linda Reinar (BR), Pastor Christa Schrauf (AT), KR Dr. Christine-Rutmüller (Secretary General).

DRAE Executive meeting, Munich

In February 2017, the DRAE Executive met in Munich. DIAKONIA Region Africa Europe is one of three regional groups of the DIAKONIA World Federation of Diaconal Associations and Diaconal Communities.
Although only formerly constituted in 1994, DRAE dates back to the late 1940's when diaconal groups came together to address issues and needs arising from the aftermath of World War II.
Today, DRAE brings together diaconal groups from 20 countries across Africa and Europe and represents over 16,000 people engaged in the mission of the Gospel.

DRAE Executive (and Diane Kaufmann, DIAKONIA website manager)

DOTAC Central Committee meets

DOTAC is one of the three regions of World DIAKONIA - DIAKONIA of the Americas and Caribbean, with member organisations in North and South America and the Caribbean. The Regional President is Deaconess Lisa Polito. The DOTAC Central Committee is meeting for the new few days at Dumas Bay Centre (a former convent, now a retreat centre) outside of Seattle, Washington, USA. 

Please remember the DOTAC Central Committee and their work, and especially as they discuss the DIAKONIA World Assembly in 2016. 

Graduation of diaconal students in Haiti

Pamela Nesbit, Anglican Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is this week attending a graduation ceremony of 21 diaconal students in the Diocese of Haiti, who are graduating from their studies at the Episcopal Seminary. 

The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti*, established in 1861, is the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church with over 83,700 members and over 100 congregations.

Pamela has been asked to be their "Godmother". Pamela is travelling with Deacon Holly Hartman and Gibi Garner (a parishioner from the Cathedral where Pamela is in ministry) is originally from Haiti. 

Pamela plans to speak to the graduates in their own language (Haitian Creole), with the help of Gibi, to tell the graduates how proud everyone is of them and that they and their nation are being held in prayer on Tuesday, November 8th, when the graduation will take place at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 

Holy Trinity Cathedral has been destroyed six times, including major damage in the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010 that killed more than 300,000 people, seriously injured more than 250,000 and left 1.3 million people homeless. Untold numbers of private and public buildings were also destroyed throughout the country including Holy Trinity Cathedral, as well as other buildings on its campus. 

The interior murals of the church were famous as they depicted various stories form the Bible using only people of black African heritage. All the images had a local perspective, with Jesus carrying a Haitian flag as he ascended to heaven, and a last supper that unlike some famous depictions does not portray Judas with darker skin that the other disciples. Of the 14 renowned murals that adorned the interior of the Cathedral only 3 smaller murals survived the destruction - The Last Supper, Native Procession and The Baptism of Christ, and each work bears the wounds of the vicious tremor that killed 300,000 people. The paintings' winding cracks, running through legs, through torsos, and through the neck of a dark-skinned woman in the baptism scene who seems to be screaming, are violent and painful. 

Members of the Cathedral have been continuing to worship in a semi-temporary structure, and rebuilding is taking place. 

The plans to rebuild the Cathedral were announced in 2013, with the site being cleared for redevelopment in 2015. Like ancient cathedrals around the world, Holy Trinity is a powerful focal point for faith and spirituality, as well as for light, art, and education. It also serves as a sacramental sign of God's promise that devastation and destruction are not the end. 

Pamela notes, 'I figure being in Haiti with all its many challenges will give me some perspective on the challenges that we in the U.S. are facing (on election day 2016)'. 

A brief history of the establishment of the Diocese of Haiti

The King of northern Haiti from 1807 to 1820, Henri Christophe, vowed to make the Anglican Church the official state religion. This was part of his efforts to eliminate vestiges of French colonialism, and his adoption of English education methods and English language as the medium in the court system. However, the king committed suicide in 1820, and with the reunification of Haiti the plans to introduce Anglicanism faded. 

In 1855, a young Deacon in the Episcopal Church of the United States named James Theodore Holly made a trip to study the possibility of migration of black Americans in Haiti following a civil war started in the United States. It was his first trip to Haiti. He returned in 1861, with 110 emigrants to install a mission of the Episcopal Church of which he was to be their leader. During this visit,  a terrible epidemic of malaria and typhoid swept through the area, and 43 of the emigrants died. The rest returned to the United States apart from Holly and 20 others who remained in Haiti to continue the mission of establishing the Church. In 1863 the first service was held, and on May 25th, the Day of Pentecost, the parish of the 'Holy Trinity' was established, the first step towards recognition by the Episcopal Church of the United States. 

In 1949, the Church invited Haitian artists to paint murals on the interior walls. Recognised as masterpieces for their artistic and cultural merit, these murals depict various stories from the Bible using people of African heritage as the characters. In all, 14 of these huge paintings were completed. 

At the centenary anniversary of the Episcopal Church of Haiti in May 1961, it was noted that there had been 34,000 baptisms, and that there were 76 missions, 94 stations, 24 priests and 136 lay people, with 64 schools added to the provinces and rural areas, and 3 to the capital (Port-au-Prince), a theological seminary and 3 medical clinics.    

This year, 2016, celebrates 155 years of the establishment of the Diocese of Haiti.