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St Peter’s member Lamar Key married Morgan Palmi at the Bowling Green United Methodist
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Church on Saturday, November 11 . I was blessed to be the officiant at their wedding. Lamar
and Morgan met with me over the period of five weeks to prepare for their marriage.

I attended Bridgette Long’s baptism at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Fredericksburg on Saturday,
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November 18 , and the on the 19 at St Peter’s, we welcomed her as our latest newly baptized
“member” of our community. Bridgette starred in the Christmas pageant this year as Baby
Jesus.

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On the 22 of November, we held the first Thanksgiving Eve Eucharist since I’ve been at St
Peter’s.

December was full of traditional activities for the month. St Peter’s provided dinner for the
Port Royal Christmas party at the firehouse, and several St Peter’s members showed up to help
serve the pizza. The Everetts hosted the Christmas potluck and sing along at their home. On
Advent 3, the Christmas pageant featured the children with some speaking parts this year.
Since Advent 4 and Christmas Eve both fell on Sunday, we had only the Christmas Eve service,
and ended the year the following Sunday with Lessons and Carols.

Diocesan and Regional News

2017 was the year of two annual conventions, one in January and then a second one day
convention in November. Susan Tilt, the St Peter’s delegate, and I attended both meetings. For
the January meeting, I served on the Committee for Related Organizations. In November, I
served on the Resolutions Committee. Beginning in 2018, Diocesan Conventions will take place
in November instead of in January. At the Convention in November, the regional lines in the
Diocese were redrawn. St Peter’s is now part of The Fredericksburg Region. Our region was cut
in half when the lines were redrawn. The region now includes Aquia, Church of the Messiah
and Christ Church, both in Spotsylvania, Trinity and St George’s in Fredericksburg, St Asaph’s
and St Peter’s in Caroline, St Pauls and Hanover with Brunswick and St Paul’s in King George,
and St Mary’s in the town of Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County. The bishop asked me to
continue as the Dean of the Region for 2018. The clergy meets together once a month
(Clericus) and we are in the process of reorganizing ourselves. The first Fredericksburg Regional
meeting takes place in January with The Rev. Ed Jones helping the Region to begin to grow into
its new parameters. Andrea Pogue has graciously agreed to be the representative to our
Region. Hopefully, now that the region is smaller, we’ll be able to foster stronger relationships
among our churches and come together for joint activities and worship as a Region.

The Rt Rev. Ted Gulick retired as Bishop Shannon’s assistant Bishop at the end of 2017. The
Diocese will be electing a second Suffragan Bishop in 2018 to serve along with Bishop Johnston
and Bishop Goff in our Diocese.

The Presiding Bishop, The Rt Rev. Michael Curry, made several trips to Virginia in 2017,
including a September visit to Charlottesville to meet with lay leaders and clergy around the

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