Weekly Women's Prayer Seminar
Update - Date Set and Sign-In Information
The Prayer Seminar is scheduled weekly, on Thursdays (Starting December 5th), at Noon.
It will be held on Zoom, the meeting info is below:
Click here for a direct Zoom link.
Meeting ID: 894 3736 6421
Passcode: 093455
Phone Numbers to call in (will need above meeting ID and passcode):
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 301 715 8592 US
Message from Bishop Johnson
The Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States shall be starting a Weekly Women's Prayer Seminar starting in mid-November to be closer to the old calendar tradition of 40 days in Advent. Below is some information about it. Please share it with your parishes!
Bonnie Shannonhouse will begin teaching a women's prayer seminar weekly starting in mid-November--the date to be announced soon.
Bonnie audited seminary courses at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry with her husband, Fr. Thomas Shannonhouse beginning in 1982. Fr. Shannonhouse served in the Diocese of the Holy Cross until his death on Ascension Tuesday 2019. Bonnie learned the art of prayer from The Reverend Mother Virginia of All Saints Benedictine Convent. Together, they taught prayer for the Diocese of Maryland until Mother’s full retirement. Bonnie began Tapestry in 1997 with the first Day of Prayer at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. She taught women to pray in seminars from shore to shore and abroad for over 10 years. She was named by Christianity Today as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Christian Women in America in 1996. Bonnie's book, The Lost Coin: Hours of the Cross, June 2020, encourages the practice of praying three times a day. Her other publications, The Pie of Prayer: The Historical Christian Parts of Prayer, are journals covering the seven parts of prayer as articulated by the Early Church Fathers through all the seasons of the Church Calendar.
In July 2023, Bonnie taught a women's prayer seminar for DMAS at All Saints in Saluda, VA, which was highly acclaimed. Now, Bonnie will be teaching a weekly hour-long seminar on prayer for women. The seminar will include the practical application of Scripture and Biblical prayers for women to pray for their families, parishes, and community.
The seminar will be held by Zoom video teleconference. Women across the diocese and ACC are encouraged to join. They can participate in as many sessions as they are able. Attendance at each session is not required to jump into a new session. And, the sessions will be recorded for others to view here on the DMAS website and YouTube page.
Please spread the word in your parishes. And please ask the women of your congregations what day of the week and time of day would be the best time for them to attend a weekly prayer seminar. We want your feedback on the best day/time by November 14th so the appropriate Zoom link for the seminars can be made.
The idea is to
- Teach as many women as possible the art and practice of prayer
- Build a community of prayer warriors and build a greater sense of community in the diocese
- Have women praying for their families, parishes, and community
- Identify women who may be interested in and have a passion to become teachers of other women and carry on the torch of teaching women to pray
I believe this is a great opportunity to bring our diocese together and can be a great success with our help.
To help us organize, please let us know what day of the week and time would work best for you (please let us know here).
God's peace and strength be with you all,
Bishop Johnson
Requiescat in Pace - The Rev. Dennis L. Sossi
September 17, 1942 – September 15, 2024
Dennis LeGrand Sossi was born in Norfolk, Virginia on September 17th, 1942. Over the next 18 years he lived with his single mother and a foster brother and the moved frequently between Norfolk, Rochester, New York, and Southern California. He was baptized in 1953 and confirmed in 1954 at Saint Luke’s Church in Rochester, in the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Rochester. Upon graduation from high school in 1960, he declined a church-paid scholarship to college (because it came with the proviso that he would then attend Hobart Seminary) and moved back to Southern California.
There he worked for the Space and Defense Sector of TRW, Inc. Over the next 30+ years he worked on the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle manned space flight programs, the Mariner (Venus), Viking (Mars) and Pioneer satellite programs; the Atlas, Titan, Minuteman missile programs and on the Space Defense Initiative (aka “Star Wars”). During those years, he also received his BS from Pepperdine University, served a tour in the Army during the Vietnam War, married his wife Chereen, and went to seminary.
He was received into the Anglican Catholic Church by the Rt. Rev. William deJarnette Rutherfoord in 1985 at the Church of the Ascension, Centreville, Virginia, where he later became a Licensed Lay Reader and Church Warden. He took a one-year leave of absence from his employment to attend Holyrood Seminary from January to December of 1988 where he graduated cum laude in the Class of 1989. He was an Adjunct Instructor at Hollyrood until its closing.
He was ordained to the Diaconate on July 8, 1989, at Saint Thomas of Canterbury and to the Priesthood on March 31, 1990, at Saint Hilda of Whitby by Bishop Rutherfoord. He served as Priest-In-Charge of several parishes in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States, including: Saint Hilda of Whitby, Washington, D.C.; Saint Aidan, Silver Spring, MD; Saint David, Charlottesville, VA; Saint Matthew (Addison Chapel), Seat Pleasant, MD; Saint Michael the Archangel, Frederick, MD, and St. Peter the Apostle in Christiansburg, VA where he later served as Rector until his retirement on October 31, 2011.
In addition to his service to the various parishes within the diocese, Fr. Sossi also served as Provincial and Diocesan Registrar, served as a member of the Provincial and Diocesan Constitution and Canons committees, as a member of the Provincial Administrative Council, as well as serving on various diocesan committees including the Executive and Standing committees.
Father Sossi lived out his final years in Blacksburg, Virginia with Chereen, his loving wife of almost 47 years.
Requiem mass will be held at the Church of the Ascension on October 5, 2024 at 11am.
Election of a new Bishop
On June 14, 2024, the electoral synod of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States met. And on the third ballot it was announced by Archbishop Haverland "we have an election!"
The Ven. Jeffery Johnson, Rector at All Saints (Saluda, VA) was elected to be the 7th bishop ordinary of the DMAS.
(Pictured Bishop Lerow with bishop elect Johnson.)
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