It’s here! It’s here! It’s Celebration week! We’re so looking forward to welcoming you on Saturday December 2nd as we Celebrate Dio CNY together! The weather report is sunny and warm (well, warm for Utica in December!) and our hearts are warm and full.

This is long, but it contains all the information you need to know to join us on-site full day, on-site half day, or online. 

If you have any questions or you need to cancel your on-site registration for any reason, please contact Sarah Alamond at office@cnyepiscopal.org. We have folks who are on a waiting list in case on-site space opens up for morning programming, so please do let us know in advance if you won’t be able attend on-site. In the schedule below, you’ll find the Zoom link to the on-site sessions that are also available online in case your plans change.

If you're attending ON-SITE: What to Ask, What to Bring, When to Arrive

  • Ask your Questions about the Doctrine of Discovery. What questions do you have about the Doctrine of Discovery (find a primer here), the way it has shaped our region, the role that churches have played in it, and how we can move forward from it in a way that makes manifest the love and kingdom of God? All this and more will be addressed in Session Two for the day (see the schedule below) during the Bishops’ Panel featuring our own Bishop DeDe as well as the Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Bishops from our area. Send your questions for this panel discussion to mcastellan@cnyepiscopal.org by Friday evening at 5 p.m.

  • Lug-a-Mug! Help us to be mindful stewards of creation by bringing your own reusable mug for coffee and ice water to use at our refill stations throughout the day. A travel mug with a lid will work great and it will help us reduce our waste from our day of celebration.

  • Bring your full self! Saturday is a day of celebration, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll need to pretend that everything is going beautifully and perfectly in your life. We’ll spend some time reflecting on and praying about how joy, true happiness, and celebration in God can exist alongside the full range of our emotions and experiences including our sorrows, anxieties, and hurts. You are invited to come as your full self to this space of worship, celebration and, yes, even lamentation.

  • Please do not bring vestments or banners. Clergy persons will not vest for the processional nor are we including banners or streamers. Your joyous presence as a clergy or lay leader representative of your parish is festive enough on its own!  

  • Consider a gift for the Food Pantry! The St. Margaret’s Food Pantry at Grace Church is a ministry for people in the downtown area of Utica in partnership with the Food Bank of Central New York. As a celebration of that ministry and a sign of thanksgiving for the beautiful hospitality of Grace Church, you are encouraged to bring a donation for the Food Pantry that will be part of our offering during our closing Eucharist. The following items are especially needed: canned pasta, spaghetti, tomato sauce, canned fruit, canned soups (especially vegetable soup!), canned tuna, canned chicken, instant potatoes, instant noodles, instant rice, and canned vegetables.

  • Consider a gift for Mission of Miracles! After 20 years of serving, in January 2024 Mission of Miracles, a medical mission to El Salvador, will make its last service pilgrimage. (You can read more about this decision in recent issues of The Messenger). You can support this work by bringing donations on Saturday. The following items are of the greatest help: acetaminophen (Tylenol), individually wrapped single soft toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, muscle rub (like Bengay), anti-fungal cream (clotrimazole), triple-antibiotic cream, reader glasses (2.00 and stronger), canes, and gently used braces for wrists, ankles, knees, and elbows. Please note that we are no longer collecting empty prescription bottles or flip-flops.

  • Consider a gift for ACR Health! In line with our Diocesan Vision of “A World Healed by Love,” our financial offering at Celebrate Dio CNY will support ACR Health, “a not-for-profit, community-based organization providing an array of support services to individuals affected by a wide range of chronic diseases, including HIV/AIDS, with the goal of positive health outcomes.” Operating in Cayuga, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, and St. Lawrence counties, ACR Health is a comprehensive health organization that reaches a number of vulnerable populations, including people struggling with addiction and through its network of Q Centers that offer safe places for the people of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and their families and allies. You can give online here or give during the offering on Saturday.

  • Arrive early! Our program for the day starts with welcomes and an orientation to the day at 8:45 a.m. in the nave at Grace Church, as you’ll see below. If you want to be able to arrive in time to check in, get some coffee (or tea or water), greet your friends from around the diocese, and be settled in for the program, please plan to arrive no later than 8:20. We’re at on-site capacity for our morning sessions (yay!), so that means it will take us some time to be able to welcome everyone as they arrive and help you to move to the nave.

Getting there: Directions, Parking, and Entrances

  • Consider Carpooling. Just like with Lug-a-Mug, you can help us reduce our impact on Creation for this event by carpooling with others from your church or community who are joining us on-site on Saturday. Make a road trip playlist and have a fun ride with other people who are planning to celebrate!
  • Directions: Grace Church is located at 6 Elizabeth Street in historic downtown Utica and is quite simple to reach. Click the link to generate your own custom directions using Google Maps. Here are some basic directions for people arriving from the four cardinal directions:
    • If you are arriving to Utica on I-90 from the east or west, take exit 31 for North Genesee Street. Follow North Genesee 1.2miles to Elizabeth Street where you’ll arrive at Grace Church.

    • If you’re coming from the south on NY-12N/NY-5E/NY-8 N, take the Court Street exit. Continue on Court Street for a little more than half a mile to where it splits into Broadway and Hopper. Veer left onto Broadway. In two blocks, turn right onto Columbia Street and, after two stoplights, you’ll  arrive at Elizabeth Street and Grace Church.

    • If you’re coming from the north on NY-12 S, as you approach Utica, continue onto I-790 W/NY-12 S and use the middle lane to take the NY-5S E/NY-5A exit toward Whitesboro/Downtown. Use the left lane to follow signs for NY-5S E/Downtown/State Street. Keep left, follow signs forNY-5S E/Downtown and merge onto NY-5S E/Oriskany St W. Turn right on Broadway and, at the second traffic light, turn right onto Columbia. After the second traffic light on Columbia, you’ll arrive at Elizabeth Street and Grace Church.

  • Parking:  We will have people stationed outside of Grace Church to help welcome and guide you. Please see the parking options described and labeled on the map below.
    • If you asked for accessible parking on your reservation form, please park in the Grace Church Lower Lot behind the church off Elizabeth Street and, if it is full, the Adirondack Bank Lot across Elizabeth Street which is level with the church entrance.

    • Parking is available in the Grace Church Upper Lot, however it is not level with the church entrance.

    • Additional parking is available across Elizabeth Street in the Adirondack Bank Lot.

    • There are several free, on-street parking spots on Genesee Street. 

  • Entering Grace Church: We ask that you please enter through the entrance on Elizabeth Street, on the backside of Grace Church. 

What to Expect:

  • Schedule: Our schedule is full and the times below represent our best approximation of how the times will work. There will be a lot of us in a very old building, so if it takes a bit more time than we’ve anticipated to move around to our different areas, that’s OK! We never want you to feel behind throughout this day. Celebration should be savored, not rushed!

    • 7:30a.m. | Volunteer Check-In8:00a.m. | Check-In and Coffee and Social Hour | Genesee Street Entrance Foyer
    • 8:45a.m. | Welcomes and Morning Message | Nave and Online via Zoom
      • 8:50 a.m. General Housekeeping Announcements with Rev. Christine Williams-Belt
      • 9:00a.m. Bishop DeDe’s Welcome and Introduction to the Day
      • 9:15a.m. Presiding Bishop Curry’s Message

    • 10:30 – 11:35 a.m. | Session One | Various On-Site Locations and Online via Zoom :“What’s the weather, what’s for dinner, and what can we do about it?” | Nave. 
      • “How then shall we live?” | Munson Room (Third Floor)
      • Sacred Ground | Proctor Room (Third Floor)

    • 12– 1 p.m. | Catered Lunch (see menu below) | Auditorium (Second Floor) and in the Third floor Munson Room

    • 1:15 – 2:30 p.m. | Session Two | Nave and Online via Zoom.
      Bishops’ Panel: A Conversation about the Doctrine of Discovery featuring: Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe, Bishop Lee Miller (ELCA Upstate New York Synod) and Bishop Douglas Lucia (Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse)

    • 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. | Snack Break
      Visit the Prayer Station in the Lady Chapel, the Storytelling Station on the Balcony Floor, the Giving Boutique in the Auditorium, and the Cozy Corner in the Bell Choir Room.

    • 3:30 p.m. | Eucharist | Nave and Online via Zoom
      Presiding Bishop Curry, Preacher
      Bishop Duncan-Probe, Celebrant

  • Food: What’s a celebration without food? Here’s what you can expect to be available throughout the day.

    • Morning: During check-in and social time in the morning, we’ll have coffee and donuts in the Genesee Street Foyer.
    • All Day: Coffee and Ice water refill stations will be available in the Genesee Street Foyer and in the Auditorium.
    • Lunch: RoSo’s Café and Catering, a Utica favorite, is our lunch caterer and they’veprepared a fantastic menu for us:  

      • Roasted Chicken
      • Butternut Squash Sauce over Pasta
      • Rice Pilaf
      • Roasted Vegetables
      • Garden Salad with your choice of poppyseed or balsamic dressing
      • Rolls
      • Assorted Cookies and Brownies

  • Accessibility and Moving around Grace Church: Grace Church is a wonderful, large, old church with a huge physical footprint! You’ll notice in the schedule above that our schedule for the day covers several levels of Grace Church which, although it is accessible by all, it does mean that we need to be mindful of how we’re moving about the building.

    • If it is crowded, please reserve the Foyer Staircase with the chair lift for those who might need it, as well as for those who are slower moving on foot. There is a rear staircase for those who’d like to move quickly to the top levels.

    • There is an elevator between floors 2 and 3, but it is small and it moves at a rather leisurely pace. Please reserve the elevator for those with mobility needs.

    • In line with Safe Church, rooms and stairwells not in use will be closed off. 

    • If you are ever unsure about where to go or how best to access the space you’re looking for, we will have volunteers stationed throughout the building to help you.

  • Breaks: You’ll see above that our schedule for Saturday is full! Please feel free and empowered to take breaks (including bio breaks) to just be throughout the day as you feel led. The Prayer Station, Storytelling Station, Giving Boutique, and Cozy Corner will all be available all day long for you to visit as you’d like. Volunteers will be available around the building to help direct you to where you’d like to be.

  • Pictures with the Presiding Bishop: You are welcome to take as many pictures as you’d like during the day, but we do ask that you turn your flash off. Selfies and personal pictures will the Presiding Bishop will not be allowed.
  •  

If you're attending ONLINE all day:

  • Schedule: All Zoom links open 15 minutes before the scheduled start time listed below for that link.  

    • 8:45 a.m. | Welcomes and Morning Message | Online via Zoom
      • 8:50a.m. General Housekeeping Announcements with Rev. Christine Williams-Belt
      • 9:00a.m. Bishop DeDe’s Welcome and Introduction to the Day
      • 9:15a.m. Presiding Bishop Curry’s Message
    • 10:30– 11:45 a.m. | Session One | Online via Zoom
      • “What’s the weather, what’s for dinner, and what can we do about it?” 
      • “How then shall we live?”  
      • Sacred Ground 
    • 1:15 – 2:30 p.m. | Session Two |  Online via Zoom 
      Bishops’ Panel: A Conversation about the Doctrine of Discovery featuring: Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe, Bishop Lee Miller (ELCA Upstate New York Synod) and Bishop Douglas Lucia (Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse)
    • 3:30 p.m. | Eucharist | Nave and Online via Zoom
      Presiding Bishop Curry, Preacher
      Bishop Duncan-Probe, Celebrant

Plans Changed?

Plans changed? If you’re not able to attend live online anymore, don’t fret! All sessions will be recorded and made available online within one week of the Celebration. Please just give Rachel a heads up (rravellette@cnyepiscopal.org) so that we know that we don’t need to be waiting for you to log in!

Troubleshooting: If you have trouble accessing Zoom on the day of the Celebration, please text (don’t call or email!) Rachel at 812-890-4161. Include your Name and Zoom email address in your text and she’ll help you (or find someone to help you!) ASAP!

Consider a gift for ACR Health: In line with our Diocesan Vision of “A World Healed by Love,” our financial offering at Celebrate Dio CNY will support ACR Health, “a not-for-profit, community-based organization providing an array of support services to individuals affected by a wide range of chronic diseases, including HIV/AIDS, with the goal of positive health outcomes.” Operating in Cayuga, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, and St. Lawrence counties, ACR Health is a comprehensive health organization that reaches a number of vulnerable populations, including people struggling with addiction and through its network of Q Centers that offer safe places for the people of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and their families and allies. You can give online here.

If you were looking for a piece of information that we left out, please direct your questions to Sarah at office@cnyepiscopal.org. Between now and Saturday, please know that our diocesan staff is praying over you and this celebration. We can’t wait to Celebrate Dio CNY with you!

If you're attending On-Site and Online:

Please follow the schedule for the information above for the time that you will be attending. Remember, if you did not register for the full day, we will not have lunch available for you. 

If you were looking for a piece of information that we left out, please direct your questions to Sarah at office@cnyepiscopal.org. Between now and Saturday, please know that our diocesan staff is praying over you and this celebration. We can’t wait to Celebrate Dio CNY with you!

We’re excited to see you all either on-site or online on Saturday to celebrate the Diocese of CNY! 

Sincerely, 

Your planning team!