St. Michael's Church, Litchfield, CT

One of St. Michael’s talented artists, Jennifer Wyzykowski, is debuting a proof of the new children’s book that she has written and illustrated and hopes to publish soon, plus some fabulous new artworks. The exhibit runs from January 7 through February 29 at the Harwinton Library.

OPENING RECEPTION is January 19th from 1pm-4pm, with a snow date of January 26, 1:30pm-4pm. All are invited! If you can’t make the January 19 opening, be sure to catch the exhibit and read the book during Library hours Mon. & Wed: 1pm – 8:30pm, Tues. & Thurs: 9:30am – 5pm, Fri: 1pm – 5pm, Sat: 9:30am – 3pm at 80 Bentley Drive in Harwinton.

St. Michael’s member Nancy Anne Miller is a Bermudian poet and has a MLitt from the University of Glasgow. “Somersault,” her poetry collection about Bermuda, is forthcoming in 2013 from Guernica Editions, a Canadian press that favors cross-cultural texts, publishes international authors, and often does translations.

Nancy’s poems have appeared in the Edinburgh Review (UK), The International Literary Quarterly (UK), Stand (UK), Mslexia (UK), The Fiddlehead (CA), The Dalhousie Review (CA), The Caribbean Writer (VI), Journal of Caribbean Literatures (USA), Postcolonial Text (CA)), and tongues of the ocean (BS) among others with poems forthcoming in Agenda (UK) and The Moth (IE). She is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and teaches poetry workshops in Bermuda.

Nancy also conducted a poetry workshop at St. Michael’s several years ago that was attended by Jenni Matheson and Jo Ann Jaacks as well as many well-known Connecticut poets.

Nancy says, “This collection is about Bermuda where I grew up, and where I still have a longstanding family. I’m a sixteenth generation Bermudian. There are well over four dozen pieces in the collection, ranging from poems about the strong ties Bermudians have to the ocean, to poems about local fauna, tourism, and British customs. There is a section on slavery and other political concerns, as well as a final section on writing in exile, or about living apart from one’s original home. There are over thirty poems in the collection published in international journals. I anticipate a book launch in the area next year.”

This is exciting news and we will let you know through St. Michael’s blog and Facebook page as soon as Nancy’s new book is released!

Philip Delves-Broughton, St. Michael’s member and author of “The Art of the Sale,” will hold a conversation about his book at Oliver Wolcott Library on Thursday, October 25, from 7-8pm, followed by a wine and cheese reception. Registration is required. For details, contact www.philipdelves-broughton.com or 860.567.8030.

Philip embarked on a pilgrimage to find the world’s greatest salespeople, ranging from a Moroccan rug merchant to a celebrity art dealer. He holds degrees in classics and business, was the New York and Paris Bureau Chief of London’s Daily Telegraph, and now works with the Kaufmann Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Education.

The Rev. E. Walton Zelley, Jr. has been called by St. Michael’s wardens and Vestry to serve as a supply priest until a full-time Priest-in-Charge is called. Father Walt will be in Litchfield on Wednesdays and Sundays, celebrating the Holy Eucharist, visiting the sick and shut-in’s, contacting new members, preparing couples for marriage and officiating at weddings, burials, baptisms and other sacramental acts. He will meet regularly with the church wardens, the music director, Altar Guild, the Assistant Shepherd and others who have leadership positions in the life of the church. He welcomes the opportunity to renew the friendships he made when he served as a supply priest during Jenni’s 2009 sabbatical, and to get to know members of the parish family who have joined St. Michael’s since then.

Father Walt retired in 1998 from full-time ministry after 28 years as Rector of St. Luke’s Church in Metuchen, NJ a year after his wife Milbrey (“Mibs”) resigned after 26 years as a History teacher in Metuchen High School (a resignation hastened by their daughter Laura’s pregnancy with twins while caring for a three-year-old daughter at home.) Mibs and Walt’s son Ed is an Episcopal Priest who presently serves as Rector of Holy Trinity Church in Wenonah, NJ. Laura and husband Steve have presented Mibs and Fr. Walt with four grandchildren and Ed and his wife Gail, with two.

In 1978 Mibs and Fr. Walt purchased a vacation home in the hamlet of Copake Falls, NY, located at the juncture of CT, MA and NY, and 45 miles from Litchfield. After their joint retirements, Mibs and Fr. Walt retired too their home in Copake Falls, where every morning they pinch themselves and say, “Do we REALLY live here?” believing it to be the closest thing to paradise they’ll ever find on this earth. Fr. Walt has been busy almost every Sunday supplying in churches throughout the dioceses of Connecticut, West Massachusetts and Albany. Mibs is very active in all kinds of community boards and committees and is an active communicant in the Church of St. John in the Wilderness–Copake Falls, where she serves on the vestry and altar guild, sings in the choir, and is the Assistant Treasurer of the parish. Aside from the active roles they play in church and community, Mibs and Fr. Walt pledged to themselves to take two overseas trips, one in the fall and one in the spring every year during their retirement. They have kept that commitment, having traveled all over the world – departing this April for a river cruise in Portugal and Spain, and in the fall a trip to Tanzania on a tented safari.

Father Walt is no stranger to Connecticut, having graduated from Trinity College–Hartford in 1961. He received his Theological Education at the Philadelphia Divinity School of the Episcopal Church, which has since merged with the Episcopal Seminary in Cambridge, MA to form the Episcopal Divinity School (from which his son Ed graduated.) Later in the 1970s, Fr. Walt received an S.T.M. in Pastoral Counseling from the New York Theological Seminary and in 1990, an MSW degree from the Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work.

Two years from next Halloween, Fr. Walt will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood – an admirable number of priesthood years devoted to being a parish priest with special ministries in interfaith relations, pastoral counseling, social outreach and preaching. He welcomes the opportunity to continue the ministry he loves with everyone in St. Michael’s parish family. And, Father Walt, we welcome you!

Although Iconography in its truest sense does not focus on the artist, there have been exceptional iconographers who have been recognized for their inspired and insightful representations of the mysteries of the Faith.

Foremost is St. Luke the Evangelist who became the earliest iconographer when he depicted the first image of the Theotokos or Mother of God. He is considered to be the Patron Saint of iconographers. Icons are said to be “written” because they are seen as theology the way Scripture is.

With regards to the representation of Christ, St. John of Damascus, the defender of Images, argued that it was right to represent Christ in human form because He became incarnate, thus He “became visible in the flesh.”

Andrew J. Bobik, Jr. of Southington, CT was raised in and has been active in the life of the Byzantine church. His love for the church and interest in art led him to the study of iconography, which refers to someone who studies the field of art history focusing on representations or pictures of a sacred or sanctified Christian personage. After much study of the ancient canons and writings regarding iconography, and observing iconographers at work, Andrew chose to begin the journey of writing icons himself.

Since 1997 he has been writing icons both for churches and for individuals. His icons are in several churches in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Colorado, California and Ohio as well as in several private collections, including one belonging to a formal personal secretary of Pope John Paul.

In the brief period of time since beginning, he has written over 300 icons. His work is done in acrylics and he has utilized both canvas and wood. Andrew has also used his woodworking skills to build icon screens, altars, service tables, and various other liturgical items for churches.

More of his fascinating artwork can be viewed on his website, http://www.aiconsonline.com.  You will also have a chance to meet Andrew and some of his fascinating artwork at St. Michael’s Coffee Hour on Sunday, March 18, 2012.

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The “how we met” story for a young couple is always interesting, but in the case of Rebecca and John, it’s circuitous as well as serendipitous.

Rebecca was very involved in her Catholic church and John was a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Bridgewater. They attended St. Anthony’s when they first moved to the area, but ultimately found that St. Michael’s was a better fit. They feel that Jenni is a wonderful priest and the church community has been friendly and welcoming.

Their wedding is scheduled for this September at St. Michael’s and they took Jenni’s advice to heart, “You only want people at your wedding who will support you in your marriage.” So it will be a small wedding with their nearest and dearest and with a lovely reception in Barkhamsted.

They are already beginning to get involved in the church community. They will be volunteering at the soup kitchen and Rebecca expressed interest in joining a mission trip, possibly to Costa Rica. When she and John visited there on vacation, they brought educational items for the Bribri tribe which is quite unique in that the people speak their own language and are struggling to hold onto their original traditions and customs.

John served seven years with the US Army and was deployed to Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. He received his degree in Cultural Anthropology and History, spent some time building homes with his uncle, then took a position with a company in Newtown that specializes in market intelligence for the Aerospace/Defense, Electronics, and Power Systems industries. He became a Space System and a U.S. Defense Budget Analyst. He is now Director of Global Sales & Marketing.

Rebecca has a B.A. in Latin American studies and Economics from Boston University, is fluent in Spanish, and has studied abroad in both Costa Rica and Mexico. She is now a Defense Analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eurasia.

The company where they both ended up has two separate buildings, but they eventually got together. Meeting cute? More like meeting smart!

After years as apartment dwellers, they are currently focusing on interior design for their lovely hilltop home in Torrington. Their companions are an impressively large yellow striped cat and a much smaller black cat that were cage mates at the shelter and are now inseparable.

They both love the water. Rebecca grew up near the coast and always sailed and John visited the Cape Cod beaches as a youngster. And, appropriately, the marriage proposal took place at the Highland Lighthouse in Truro on Cape Cod. John stashed the ring in the car and as she was trying to snap a photo, Rebecca saw him get down on one knee. A photo of the lighthouse is prominently displayed in their living room.

They now sail together on a small Sunfish and are anxiously awaiting warmer weather since they prefer summer sports. Rebecca played semi-pro soccer in Mexico and John played Rugby in college.

They both share reading as a favorite pastime and John is currently embroiled in a fascinating and complicated hobby: tracing his family lineage to four of the Mayflower Pilgrims. He’s a history buff, but this sort of genealogy requires strict documentation through birth and death certificates. The result will be family membership in the Mayflower Society, and possibly the Sons of the American Revolution.

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Dora Cox is an accomplished artist, teacher and writer who has canoed along the Amazon, tracing the journeys of Margaret Mee, a well-known English watercolorist who painted flowers of the Amazon. She taught at schools in her homeland of Canada, founded an art school in Scarsdale, New York, where adult students studied watercolor painting with established American artists, and taught painting at the Litchfield Community Center for many years.

Dora has conducted artistic exchanges with many foreign countries, leading groups of women artists to Russia, Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. Her watercolors are included in private and corporate art collections in North and South America, Europe and Asia. She has sold over a thousand paintings; reproductions of her Canadian scenes have been sold throughout Canada and are highly collectible.

Bob Cox earned his Ph.D from the University of Michigan, was first employed as a Divisional Vice President for a large firm, then went into business as an independent consultant in pharmaceutical chemistry. He searched for new products around the globe, advised companies how to promote their products and how to set up drug manufacturing facilities. His travels took them both to Australia, Japan, China, Pakistan, New Zealand and India. He led two international meetings with the #1 specialists in a specific arena of medicine and pharmaceuticals.

They collaborated on Russian exchange trips, with Bob invited first to advise a Russian company on expanding and helped them put together a project for building a new plant. Dora was then asked to return to Russia with American artists visiting their Russian counterparts in their studios and homes.

Although they did not get involved in the political situation at the time, Dora did have a dramatic moment in the airport on their return flight. She had purchased a watercolor from one of the Russian artists she had grown fond of during their stay, exclaiming to the woman “This is the most exciting moment of our trip to Russia!”

Their guide countered, “No, your most exciting moment will come when you try to take that painting through Customs.”

That’s how they discovered the Russian government would not allow artwork, nor Russian currency, to be taken out of the country. However, Dora approached the situation with her characteristic, and formidable, determination. Rolling the watercolor into a tube, she carried it under her arm to the Customs desk. When they asked if the couple had anything to declare, Dora opened her large purse and said conspiratorially to two of the Customs officials, “I have several rubles and I just found out that they are not allowed to leave the country. Would you two gentlemen do me a huge favor and take them for me so I don’t get into trouble?”

The officials were happy to comply, ignoring the tube tightly clamped under her arm.

Dora is a firm believer in Serendipity and her long life has been full of those “happy accident” occasions. She believes that God has a plan for her and all she has to do is show up for it. Bob says he is aware of God in his daily life and assigns some of what he is thinking to be what God is interested in doing.

They both are originally from Canada. Bob was raised in the Anglican church, although Dora was not. After they married, she promised her mother-in-law that they would always attend the Episcopal church and she has kept that promise.

Since Dora now finds it difficult to attend church regularly, they both appreciate the LEM visits as a way to participate in the community of St. Michael’s. Dora calls these Sunday visits “the greatest blessing” and also believes St. Michael’s is extremely lucky to have Jenni as our spiritual leader since Jenni has a positive and loving outlook and an excellent sense of humor.

Nancy Rogers, St. Michael’s member and the chief fundraiser for Susan B. Anthony Project, a nonprofit agency that serves victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, was recently recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the state’s Fundraising Professional of the Year. She was recognized with the award based on results, career achievement, leadership, creativity and commitment to professional development.

“To be successful in fundraising, one needs a meaningful cause and a good team to work with. At Susan B. Anthony Project, I have both,” Nancy said in a statement to the press. “Our clients struggle with abuse and trauma and fight to rebuild their lives. They are the true heroes.” Susan B. Anthony Project provides free services to 20 Litchfield County towns.