 Attendees hold candles during a pre-election prayer gathering organized by the Interfaith Council of Franklin County at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew in Greenfield on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN, Staff Writer
GREENFIELD — On the eve of Election Day, the Interfaith Council of Franklin County welcomed people of all faiths and political backgrounds to the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew for an evening of prayers, songs and conversations about the nation’s future. More than 25 people gathered in the church’s Whiteman Room. Leaders from multiple faiths, including the Rev. Heather Blais of the Episcopal Church, David Arfa of Temple Israel and Sister Clare Carter from the New England Peace Pagoda, provided guided prayers for attendees to participate in. In one ritual, participants lit candles. Each person, gathered in a circle, said, “I light this flame for ...” before finishing the sentence with a single word or phrase. Hope, compassion, peace, decency, tolerance and neighborliness were just a few of the words people chose. Additionally, musician Annie Hassett performed a Pete Seeger song and Interfaith Council of Franklin County Vice President Leslie Fraser, a multi-faith chaplain, used a singing bowl. read more...  Ella Ingraham makes apple pies in the kitchen of the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew in Greenfield. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ By TINKY WEISBLAT, for the Recorder
We live in an area with abundant local sources of food. Greenfield’s Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew is getting ready to celebrate this year’s harvest with a “100 Mile Dinner.” The dinner will take place next Saturday, Oct. 26, at 5:30 p.m. at the church. Tickets must be purchased by this Friday, Oct. 18. The “100 Mile” moniker refers to the fact that the meal is planned so that the major ingredients hail from farms located under 100 miles from the church. read more...  By THE REV. HEATHER J. BLAIS, for the Recorder
Recently, we took our oldest child on a tour of my alma mater, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Our oldest has always navigated life with an insatiable curiosity and desire to know more. I was eager for them to have a taste of the kind of conversations that can unfold in a college classroom, and my most memorable conversations had unfolded in my politics courses taught by my favorite professor. When I reached out to the professor, he welcomed us to sit in on one of his classes. We joined a group of sophomores and juniors in their class focused on living and learning liberty. The students were making their way through Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America.” Tocqueville was a French aristocrat and political philosopher who visited America and was fascinated by how well democracy was working here, given democracy did not take root the way many had hoped during the French Revolution. Now, I’m not sure what I had been expecting, but given our current political climate and the unprecedented events of this year’s presidential race, I suppose I was expecting to encounter some cynicism or some of the general angst that has been simmering in our communities. Read more...  Mayor Ginny Desorgher speaks at a Friday vigil held for those lost to opioid overdose. FOR THE RECORDER/ADA DENENFELD KELLY GREENFIELD — Nicole St. Hilaire recently lost her father to an opioid overdose.
On Friday, through her role as outreach manager with CONNECT, St. Hilaire passed out free naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, in an effort to promote harm reduction practices. CONNECT, which stands for Community Opportunity, Network, Navigation, Exploration and Connection Team, is a regional collaboration of law enforcement, community health centers and outreach organizations created to combat the opioid epidemic in Franklin County. read more... Faith Matters: Divine activity out in the farm fields: Reflections from an agricultural Anglican8/30/2024
 The Rev. Jimmy Pickett is an Episcopal priest and farmhand. CONTRIBUTED I have on my right arm a tattoo that reminds me every day why I serve as a priest in the Episcopal Church.
I grew up in Leicester and spent nearly every weekend at my Great Grandmother’s house, an old red farmhouse with a big barn and a large field that has been fallow for a couple of generations. On Sunday mornings, we would go to the little Episcopal Church on the hill in town. This is where my theological imagination was first sparked and nurtured by the women who raised me. In the Episcopal Church it is common for communities to gather together to celebrate the Eucharist, also known as Communion or the Lord’s Supper, every Sunday. Day after day, week after week, we take simple things, little wafers of bread and a small cup of wine, as we ask God’s blessing to transform these simple gifts into something profound — love made tangible, the real presence of Jesus in our midst. Read more...  Greenfield resident Maggie Sweeney is seen here starting to weed the labyrinth at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew in Greenfield in May 2022. In recognition of World Labyrinth Day, the Friends of the Community Labyrinth will hold a “Walk as One” event at this labyrinth on Saturday at 1 p.m. STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ Read Anthony Cammalleri's article for the Recorder here.
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