Betty Jean Zartarian Duke, 72, of Henrico, VA went to be with the Lord on Thursday, October 5, 2023 at Memorial Regional Hospital. She was preceded into heaven by her parents, Mushak and Alice Zartarian. She is also preceded by her step-mother, Ruby Zartarian. She is survived by her husband and soulmate of 23 years,
By Pat McCaughan
Posted May 11, 2021
The Rev. Yesenia Alejandro, the Diocese of Pennsylvania’s Hispanic missioner and vicar of Philadelphia’s Church of the Crucifixion, addresses worshippers before a Tuesday food distribution. The church, which was shuttered before Alejandro took over, provides food to some 1,000 people weekly. Photo: Courtesy of Yesenia Alejandro
[Episcopal News Service] Six months after making history as the first Latina ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, the Rev. Yesenia Alejandro is now feeding an average of 1,000 people a week at a South Philadelphia church that until recently had been shuttered.
“When I got ordained a priest, the bishop said to me, ‘We’re going to appoint you as Hispanic missioner,’” Alejandro told Episcopal News Service recently. “Right after that, they told me about this church that was closed and said, ‘Go there and reopen it.’ I said OK.”
As we peer cautiously into spring, the weather is still fickle but the light is stretching daily and green shoots are beginning to burst from hedges, frozen ground and sodden soil. It will be just a few short weeks before our gardens demand us to become active gardeners again, nurturing them after a long and – for many of us – fierce winter.
But before we get to work I’m going to catch up on some of the many queries sent in by you that I haven’t had space to answer over the past few months.
I’m always grateful for the questions you send in, not least because it keeps me connected to the problems and concerns of your gardens rather than those of just my own. So please keep them coming and remember, we can only publish them if you include your name and address.