While it went up on the web a couple of days ago, I wanted to wait until today's introductory email went out before announcing it on my blog: we have a new diocesan publication! Welcome to the Official Gazette of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie!
Here is the email I sent out to our distribution list today, explaining what it is about:
Dear friends,
With this email you are receiving a link to the very first issue of a new publication, the official Gazette of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
Official Gazette : https://dioceseofsaultstemarie.org/gazette
What is an "official gazette"? It is a technical publication meant to record and transmit decisions, notices, reports, drafts of governance documents, etc. My predecessor, Bishop Marcel Damphousse, had already established an internal set of "acts" to record the various documents of his episcopal governance. This custom continued in the months after he left and before I arrived. I am grateful for this, as it helps me a lot as I begin my new role as diocesan bishop. I want to continue this practice, and provide a consistent means of sharing these decisions when they concern the public good. Hence, this official gazette.
If you take a look at the gazette, you will see that it isn't a newsletter, nor a tool for catechism. To be honest, it isn't meant to be these things. The goal here is really very modest: to record and share key leadership decisions that affect our common life as a Diocesan Church. My hope is that this will, in the long run, be empowering for us as we act in service to Jesus and his mission.
Because of the costs involved the gazette will be distributed in paper form only to a smaller set of people most closely involved in providing input to diocesan governance, but we will also let people know by email when a new edition has become available on the diocesan website. As for its frequency, it will likely come out every couple of months or so, as needs warrant. Frankly, we are still learning too!
In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for improving the gazette, they are most welcome. I hope it will be received in the spirit in which it is offered: as a tool which, in its own small way, will help us live in communion with each other.
God bless you!
- Log in to post comments