Care Closet The Care Closet provides personal care items, cleaning supplies, and other household items on a rotating schedule to our neighbors in need of assistance. The Care Closet is run by volunteers from the parish and serves the Maplewood-Edgerton area. We are once again serving the community on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, from 9:00am to 11:00am. Please call (585) 458-4682 to make an appointment.

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Prison Ministries Ascension has hosted several ministries recently, until COVID-19 put them on hiatus for an indefinite time. They include: SMART, a local association of agencies working on reentry issues "The Landing Strip", a part of the Alternatives to Violence program run by the Quakers for released prisoners Cephas of Western N.Y., a program going into the State Prisons Rochester Interfaith Jail Ministries, Inc. Ascension is the home of Rochester Interfaith Jail Ministries, Inc., a nonprofit charitable corporation. The work we do follows Four Spiritual Truths: Every inmate and prisoner is loved and lovable Every person is deserving of respect and acceptance Our true nature is fundamentally good and beautiful We are all needed in helping to heal our world Our mission is to bring this message to those whose lives are telling them otherwise. This is our calling. Our History Rochester Interfaith Jail Ministry was started in 1971 as an outreach of the Rochester Council of Churches. As the jails evolved and their needs changed, R.I.J.M. moved from serving as a ministerial resource to a missional project, bringing value to the inmates. Our Program We run our groups like a college seminar. The textbook is “Houses of Healing” by Robin Casarjian. Groups run 7–12 weeks, depending on the needs of the facility. Each inmate receives a copy of the text and a workbook, and is expected to read the assignments in them to prepare for each class. We watch a video made by Ms. Casarjian in a Massachusetts Prison and discuss. The program helps the students be aware of the foundations of their issues, to work on them and be more prepared to participate in society. Our Community Activity RIJM is a member of SMART (Safer Monroe Area Reentry Team) whose members offer help to people recovering from incarceration. (This agency is transitioning to become RAWNY ) Ascension offers former prisoners, their families, and friends a place to meet to deal with issues related to the Justice System. We send a representative to the County Criminal Justice Council Meetings. We offer a “Welcome Home” gift to be distributed by the State Parole office, containing toiletries for releasees. (They get food stamps, but any public assistance goes to their landlords.) We staff a table at the Parole “New Releasee Orientation.” Ascension/R.I.J.M. is an associated group of Kairos , an international prison visitation program. Ascension is an associated parish with the Episcopal Diocese of Florida’s prison ministry . Ascension is a member of Diocese of Rochester Prison Ministry Committee .

The Rev. Abidhananthar John Rev. Father Abidhananthar John, Abi John, has been an ordained priest since 2004 under The Church of South India and currently serves at the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, New York at The Church of the Ascension. He has pastored to both rural and urban congregations in the Madras Diocese and served among the grassroots level for Dalit Christian Communities. For a decade, he has served as the Director of Dalit and Adivasi concerns in the Diocese of Madras for a four- year term. He writes sermons in Tamil to equip the lay leadership towards a bold theological vision. Abi served in nearly 78 parishes in 8 different Pastorates which gave him ample opportunities to have team time with leadership. As the associate director for the lay department in the diocese of Madras, Father served in Saint George’s Cathedral as its associate priest. Under the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, Abi was called as Rector at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church during 2017 – 2018. Here, the issues of poverty, unemployment and drug addiction prevail. He was actively engaged with the local community and paved a way for building hopes to make the American Dream possible for his parishioners. His association with the fire department made some remarkable avenues in the growth of the church, also. Eventually, he was called to be the Priest-in-Charge at Saint James’ Episcopal Church, Watkins Glen and Saint John's Episcopal Church, Catharine, New York. He envisioned many programs during the covid pandemic, especially calling women from both churches to align together with the International Women’s Conference which has been continued since 2017. The last conference was held on Zoom. Abi and Angeline coached the people of God for a meaningful ministry in Schuyler County… Christmas Caroling, Summer School of Love for all children, and sharing Pongal and the feast. Abi wrote the curriculum for the Summer School of Love, involving laity and the public to carry on the vision. The Pongal Festival enhances the plural design of God. Barnie Parker Sharing Shed was begun allowing for food items for poor and needy people to be available, anytime. The International Women's Forum Seminars led to “Women Helping Women” a training for unemployed women sponsored by a grant from the S E District. There have been rural migrant ministries at local dairy farms, Valentine’s Day programs with the elders and widows, a Children's Scripture Program, Portable Gardens for the young children in collaboration with Girl Scouts to bring awareness about our planet and its eco systems. The Learning Pod Program sponsored by the Lions Club helped students during the worst of Covid-19. Community gardens, at both the churches, helped to stock the shed. Free coffee in the winter was handed out during February before school or work. These are some of his initiatives during Abi’s ministry at St. James’ and St. John’s. During his service at Watkins Glen, Abi also helped a youth to discern his calling to do ministry by enrolling at CRCDS. After a two-year contact at Watkins Glen, Abi had an invitation from the Church of the Ascension, and the vestry called him as a priest in-charge on September 13, 2021. Eventually he was installed as the Rector of the Parish on November 12, 2022 after being called in March. He is deeply engaged in the refugee ministry and joyfully works with the people of Ascension in doing effective ministries. Since 2019, Father Abi has been a member of COM and his passion for mission, prayerful and diligent ideas and his experience in the Church do complement the discernment engagement to COM towards a powerful ministerial engagement. He engages with a diocesan team in equipping young people to discern their ministerial call for a passionate ministry grounded with the philosophy of love. He studied under the late Dr. James H Cone, the Father of Black theology, at Union Theological College (Sacred Theology-STM 2014-2016) New York, which envisaged him to do a comparative study between three religious philosophies grounding three great personalities, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Ambedkar. He also did his research on Dalit Christian Reservation, Dalit Politics in Tamil Nadu as well as about the Dalit Religion. In India, he has organized many seminars, rallies, and workshops to educate and empower Dalits to assert their rights. He had his schooling at Dharma Murthy Rao Bahadur Kalevala Cunnane Chetty Hindu Higher Secondary School, Tiruvallur, TamilNadu, India. He is a political science graduate (B.A., M.A., M.Phil.,) from Madras Christian College, Chennai, and completed His Bachelor of Divinity (M.Div.,) at Gurukul Theological College, Chennai. He was an active member of the Student Christian Movement of India and represented it in a political camp held in Italy at Agape Ecumenical Center, Prelim, in the year 2002 as an exchange student. He was a resource person at New York SCM- WSCF team in March of 2014. He achieved the highest level as resource person at the College in the year 2003 and was honored with eight awards in the class. Father Abi John was also awarded the “Derick Prize for Regions” by the Senate of Seram pore in the year 2004. Currently, he is doing his part time doctoral program at CRCDS while Church of the Ascension continues to grow in numbers, programs, and spiritual services which are open to all people of all genders. Beyond his work in the church, he is pursuing a Doctorate at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, where he studies part-time on his day off. Church of the Ascension is proud to support his endeavors and leadership through loving team wo rk. To be in touch with Father Abi please email him at ascpriest@aol.com .

Ascension Choir The Ascension Choir is a dedicated group of volunteers, joined by four Choral Scholars from the Eastman School of Music. Ascension has a long history of excellent choral music; the choir sings on Sundays at the 10:15 am service from the beginning of September until Pentecost, and currently rehearses on Wednesday s from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Our Choral Scholars this year are: Maeve Berry Madelin Morales Adam Catangui The mission of the choir is to support and adorn the liturgy at Church of the Ascension through hymnody, Anglican chant, plain chant, and weekly anthems. Towards this goal we sing a wide range of repertoire sourced from the Renaissance to today, and often collaborate with the Ascension Youth Choir to encourage the next generation of musicians. We are always happy to welcome new choir members; please be in touch with Minister of Music Mitchell Miller if you are interested in joining or trying out the choir - all are welcome!

Collection Counters & Ushers Collection Counters are responsible for counting and depositing money received as pledges and other donations at all church services. Our team of Ushers always aim to greet members and visitors in a way that makes them feel welcome and included in our church family. If you are a newcomer please ask one of our ushers for one of our "Get Acquainted" information folders.

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Men's Group The men's group heads up parish clean-up days. They also put on the Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner (the night before Ash Wednesday) and help Kevin Gall with the annual Lobster Dinner.

MEEK MEEK, the Maplewood Edgerton Emergency Kupboard, serves our regional community at least two days per week, and in keeping with current realities is redefining and restating its mission to meet these changing conditions. Church of the Ascension, in partnership with other faith communities, continues to offer to neighborhood residents food to tide them over as there are, in these days, food emergencies for individuals and families. MEEK has been responsible for distributing more than 800,000 meals to 95,000 people over the last few decades. Additional volunteers are always welcome. Please call (585) 944-3093 for inquiries.

Bible Study Each week you have the opportunity to deepen your relationship with God through our Sabbath-day Bible Study. Bible Study is held in person on Sundays at 9:00 am in our library, accompanied by light refreshments. During this time we explore God's word in fellowship with one another. Through prayer and discussion we nurture our relationships with God and open our hearts to his plan for our lives. For more information call the church office at (585) 458-5423.

Change Ringing on Our Tower Bells Welcome to our website entry. As a potential visitor to our tower, whether to ring (welcome!) or to watch us ringing and learn what it’s about, we will greet you warmly, take you upstairs to see the bells, show you how we raise and ring the bells, and answer all your questions. The sound of church bells has become an iconic symbol of worship in the Christian Church, informing hearers that a service is about to start, and inviting worshipers. That is particularly true in England, where the art of change ringing was developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (every second village in England has a bell tower, and towns and cities have several). The custom has spread around the world, mostly to places where the British had colonies. Rochester’s Church of the Ascension is pleased and proud to have such a set of bells, installed in its tower in 2015. There are many things that make these bells a unique feature in the Rochester community. They are beautifully tuned, but because of the manner in which they hang, they do not ring tunes, they ring changes on the order of the bells. When the bells are well rung by experienced ringers, the result for listeners is a beautiful musical experience, although change ringing is not usually considered a performance art. Unlike a carillon or a chime, at which a lone person pulls or pushes or otherwise manipulates a large keyboard to ring a tune, a peal of change-ringing bells requires one person per bell. Each person pulls on a rope that hangs down from the bell chamber, on a floor above the ringing chamber. In Ascension's tower, the ringing chamber is at ground level, so it is easy to watch the ringers. There are ten bells at Ascension hung for change ringing (defined as the ringing of sets of church bells or handbells in a constantly varying order; see Wikipedia for basic and general information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_ringing .) Because of considerations of safety and volume , people cannot see the bells as they actually ring, but here is a brief clip of Ascension's ten bells swinging and sounding forth: "Bristol Royal" rung on Ascension's Tower Bells From here in western New York, the nearest similar change-ringing bell tower is in Toronto, Canada (175 miles away); and if we stay in this country, the nearest are in Pittsburgh (300 miles), Kent School, Kent, CT (also about 300 miles), New York City (340 miles), and Philadelphia (350 miles). For more information about change ringing at other bell towers in North America, see www.nagcr.org . For more information about ringing and bells worldwide, see www.cccbr.org.uk . Chris and Helen Haller, the major donors of the bells, selected the persons to be honored by having a bell named after them. Some are very personal choices, some are notable Rochester names, and some are notable national, international, or bell-ringing people. Our lightest bell, “Trudy”, weighs 375 pounds, and the heaviest, “Martin”, weighs 1267 pounds. That may sound intimidating to non-ringers, but the fact is that they are well counter-balanced and swing on modern bearings, so that it does not take unusual effort to ring them. Anyone weighing over about a hundred pounds can ring most bells. Each of our bells is inscribed with the name of the person honored, and one or two appropriate lines from Stanza 106 of “In Memoriam” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Chris Haller reading “In Memoriam” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson The expert workers at Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England (a firm with centuries of experience) drew up the plans, cast and tuned the bells, and made the frame and fittings that enable them to swing. Everything was shipped to Church of the Ascension, and installed in the waiting church tower. The Ceremony of Blessing and Dedication took place on November 21, 2015, with The Right Reverend Prince G. Singh, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, presiding, and our Rector at the time, The Rev. Dahn Gandell, welcoming those attending. Here is a video showing highlights of some of those events: The arrival, installation, and dedication of the ten bells at Church of the Ascension When at least three ringers are available, we ring the bells before and after the 10:15 AM Sunday service. We are fortunate to have a computer-actuated chiming mechanism also in place, that can chime changes before the service if fewer ringers are available. We have practices twice a week, for an hour and a half after the service on Sundays, and on Friday evenings between 6:30 and 8 PM. Yes, it takes plenty of practice to learn to ring and to improve and advance our skills. This is what change ringing looks like: C hris Haller, Helen Haller and the English bell hanger, Neil Thomas, ringing on the first day the bells were rung If you are considering a visit to ring or to watch the ringing, please check with Chris Haller (585-203-7457; ringer2@mac.com ) to confirm that ringing will take place on your proposed date. Also call Chris if you think you are interested in learning to ring; a series of one-on-one lessons can be arranged at mutual convenience, to make you ready to ring with our band in the regular practices.