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DDG Companion News | February 28, 2019
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61st Annual Convention of the
Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic
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The Dominican diocesan convention in session.
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The Diocese of the Dominican Republic held its annual convention on February 8-9 in the coastal city of Haina, about 20 miles west of Santo Domingo. Tom McGowan, one of the members of the DDG's Board of Directors who attended the convention, has several blog posts about the convention highlights. To check out his blog,
click here.
Among those highlights was the award of Priest of the Year to the Rev. Sandino Sánchez who serves three congregations in the Central Archdiocese: Monte de Sión, San José, and Santo Tomás. Fr. Sánchez is also in charge of the K-12 Episcopal school in Boca Chica, as well as the Skilton Conference Center and the Bishop Isaac Retirement Home.
To read Bishop Quezada's address to the convention (in Spanish),
click here. For an album of photographs from this convention,
click here.
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On the left: The Rev. Sandino Sánchez, 2019 Priest of the Year
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DDG Directors Met on February 11, 2019
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The twenty-five board members and guests from twelve dioceses at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Dominican Development Group in Santo Domingo on February 11, 2019. From left to right, first row: The Rt. Rev. William J. Skilton (Dominican Republic); the Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs (Michigan, Second Vice-President); the Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota (Dominican Republic, First Vice-President); the Rt. Rev. Michael Garrison (Southwest Florida); the Rev. Ed Miller (Virginia, President). Second row: Patricia Martin (Dominican Republic); Debbe Causey (South Carolina); the Rev. Deacon Beth Drew (Western Michigan); Joy Holl (South Carolina); Sally Thompson (Southwest Florida); Bill Kunkle (Southwest Florida, Executive Director); Karen Carroll (Southwest Florida); The Rev. Ricardo Lopez (Northwest Texas). Third and Fourth rows: Julius Ariail (Georgia); Katie Forsyth (Eastern Michigan); the Rev. Jason Roberson (The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, Secretary); the Rev. John Schaefer (Nebraska); John Gruetzmacher (Tennessee); the Rev. Marshall Huey (South Carolina); the Rev. Deacon Alexander Romero (Dominican Republic); the Rev. Canon Juan Màrquez (Dominican Republic); Miquea Saintivil Luis (Dominican Republic); Tom McGowan (Nebraska); Michael Sosnowski (Water Missions - Charleston, South Carolina); Charlie Nakash (Dominican Republic).
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The board members of the Dominican Development Group, representing twelve dioceses supporting mission teams in the Dominican Republic, met in Santo Domingo on Monday, February 11. During that meeting, the Rev. Jason Roberson from the Episcopal Church in South Carolina was elected Secretary, replacing Julia Ariail from the Diocese of Georgia. New members of the board included the Rev. Ricardo Lopez, Diocese of Northwest Texas;
Miquea Saintivil Luis, Diocese of the Dominican Republic; and Sally Thompson, Diocese of Southwest Florida. Documents from this meeting are currently being collected and posted online on t
his page within the DDG website. Highlights of those documents include the reports of Bishop Moisés Quezada and Executive Director Bill Kunkle.
On Sunday, February 10, several members of the DDG Board attended the worship service at Iglesia Episcopal La Transfiguración in the city of Baní. At the conclusion of that service, Bishop Quezada blessed a fire engine that had been donated for use in the region surrounding Baní by members of the family of David Morrow, the current DDG Treasurer. During the DDG's meeting on February 11, the Rev. Vicente Peña, Vicar of La Transfiguración, reported that this fire engine was in action fighting a grass fire that threatened one of the neighborhoods around Baní. For more photographs of the fire engine dedication,
click here.
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| Above: The Rt. Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota blesses the donated fire engine on February 10. Below: the fire engine in use fighting a grass fire (still smoldering) on February 11. |
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Miquea Santival Luis Joins the
Dominican Mission Team Support Office
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| Miquea Santivil Luis, the new assistant in the Dominican diocesan mission team support office. |
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Bishop Moisés Quezada Mota has assigned Miquea Santival Luis as an assistant in the diocesan mission team support office. He will be the third full-time person in that office along with Patricia Martin and Charlie Nakash. All three are bilingual and have years of experience in working with mission teams from the United States. For more information on the mission team logistical services provided by this office,
click here.
Miquea is 28 years old and grew up in the ciy of Boca Chica, about 23 miles east of Santo Domingo. He attended Colegio Episcopal San José in Boca Chica, and has recently graduated from the Universidad Central del Este in San Pedro de Macorís with a major in Industrial Engineering. He learned English by working with mission teams in and around Boca Chica, especially those sponsored by Old St. Andrews Parish Church in Charleston, SC, and the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, FL, and by participating in a one-year English immersion program operated by the Dominican government.
When asked what attracted him to working with mission teams, he responded, "Since I was a kid, I saw what an important impact the work of mission teams could have on my church and community. I consider service one of the most wonderful acts in life and to have the opportunity to work in a service role with mission teams in my church is quite amazing."
Welcome, Miquea! Bienvenidos!
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The 2019 Mission Teams Are Now Arriving
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| The missioners from St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Savannah, GA, arrived February 16. |
It's the season of the year when mission teams from all over the United States begin to arrive once again to work in partnership with Episcopal congregations in the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. You can see the current list of incoming teams, their work projects, and their locations by checking a spreadsheet maintained by the Mission Team Support Office and updated online each Monday on the
DDG's Facebook page. To see the latest version of that spreadsheet,
click here.
In cooperation with the Mission Team Support Office, the Dominican Development Group maintains an online album with group photographs of all of the teams, and at the end of the year publishes a poster with those photographs that can be downloaded and printed locally. To see the album with the photographs of the 2019 teams to date,
click here. For the 2018 teams,
click here. For instructions on how to download and print the poster of the 2018 teams,
click here.
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Links to online copies of recent issues of the
DDG Companion News:
For earlier issues archived on the DDG website,
click here.
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Contact the DDG:
Office: (813) 400-2722 | Fax: (813) 983-5082
PO Box 272261 | Tampa Florida 33688-2261
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