From left to right, Archdeacon Ben Helmer, Harold Parker, and Rev. Irene Maliaman
The missions of Episcopal Church in Micronesia (ECIM) were happy to welcome Archdeacon Ben Helmer as the vicar for the three missions: St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, St. Andrew by the Phillipne Sea Episcopal Church and St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. A joint service of the three churches was held on June 17, 2007 with Archdeacon Hlmer celebrating and assisted by the Reverend ("Padi")Irene Maliaman from St. Paul's Epsicoal Church in Saipan, the neighboring island, which is part of the ECIM. The Bishop's Deputy Harold Parker led the congregation in prayer for the new vicar and passed along the greetings of the Bishop, the Right Reverend George E. Packard. The Archdeacon's wife, Jane Helmer, was also welcomed. After the ceremony all joined together for a a typical Guam-style fiesta. The Helmers got their first initiation to many Filipino treats, as well as the usual fare.
The Archdeacon had held a get aquainted workshop on Saturday, June 16, 2007, where memebrs of the three Guam churches, the church in Saipan and the St. John's School gathered to talk about the future of the Church in Guam and Saipan. The gathering broke into various work groups to try to do some initial planning for the ECIM over the next two months. Among other things it was decided that there would be a joint service of the three Guam congreagation at least one every quarter, that Padi irene would come to Guam every other month, and there would be an effort to get the youth groups moving again. In addition, some initial palnning was done for the Presiding Bishop's visit on Thanksgiving Day. A joint service will be held at St. John's together with brief visits to the other two churches and the school where it is hoped that she wil arrive in time to conduct a chapel. We are all looking forward to what the future holds for the church in Micronesia.
