Diocesan Altar Guild Presents Tudor Silk Stoles to Bishop BrewerOctober 18, 2017 • Jeff Gardenour  • DIOCESAN FAMILY • REACHING OUT

Folks may notice a little bit of England, and definitely a lot of color, when they visit the Bishop’s Oratory.

Following up on a “wish list” for 2017, the Diocesan Altar Guild (DAG) of the Diocese of Central Florida recently presented four new stoles to Bishop Greg Brewer for use in services in the Oratory at the Diocesan Office. Stoles are part of the vestments a priest wears.

What’s unique about the gift is that the stoles are made in white, green, red and purple to match the white, green, red and purple burses and veils presented to the bishop two years ago.

“Eve Hyatt, a DAG board member who has created other vestments, banners and linens for several of our Central Florida clergy, personally made the four stoles after obtaining the matching facing fabric Rose Tudor silk from England with the lining of silk douppioni. It required approximately 18 to 20 hours to complete each stole,” said DAG assistant directress Kathy Shearer.

The stoles were the latest gift presented by DAG to fulfill the bishop’s wish list, according to Shearer. She said the bishop provides the Diocesan Altar Guild a wish list every year or so with several suggestions to provide for the Bishop’s Oratory.

Approximately 20 individuals currently constitute and work hard for the Diocesan Altar Guild, with at least two or three members coming from each of the diocese’s five deaneries. The well-balanced group pools many unique ideas to create items for the Bishop’s Oratory, as well as for the Canterbury Chapel in Oviedo and the Camp Wingmann Chapel in Avon Park.

“Each year, we provide whatever each of these chapels need,” Shearer said. “We have provided money for prayer books, glass cruets and linens. Eve Hyatt created a new fair linen for the unusual altar at Canterbury.

“We have also provided repurposed stoles and chasubles for Father Jon Davis at Canterbury and Father Deke Miller at Camp Wingmann,” Shearer said. “The past few years, we have also been invited to prepare for the Celebration of Holy Eucharist at the Annual Diocesan Convention.

“As a board, we are available to assist the directresses and directors within our deaneries,” Shearer said. “We send information via emails and we publish four CF diocesan newsletters annually.”