
Willis H.A. Moore addresses Eastern Oregon diocese's annual convention
[Episcopal News Service] Professor Willis H.A. Moore, president of the National Episcopal Historians and Archivists, delivered the address at the 99th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon.Meeting without a bishop, the diocese gathered at St. Andrew's Church in Prineville, Oregon, and the nearby Soroptimist Senior Center, October 12-14 to review their past, and vision their future.
Moore, a member of the Episcopal Communicators, spoke on the topic "Centennial: So what? Now what?" He noted the fact that on October 14, 1907, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church voted to establish the Missionary District of Eastern Oregon.
This vast land, the high and arid plains east of the Cascades, today has 23 congregations scattered in cities and towns hundreds of miles from each other. Several congregations are joint Episcopal Church / Evangelical Lutheran Church of America congregations and two are "community churches" under Episcopal leadership and pastoring. Moore reflected on Bishop Robert Lewis Paddock, the first bishop of the Missionary District, who was regarded as "outside the envelope" of his time. Like his much-admired protégé, Roland Allen, Paddock believed in ecumenical efforts in spreading the gospel and in the worship of God.
At the convention’s closing Eucharist, the Rev. Canon Lee Kiefer urged Eastern Oregonians to "saddle up and ride for the brand," a reference to the diocese's unique cattle brand which once marked cattle given in lieu of cash to support the Church.
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