Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has announced the retirement of C. Kirk Hadaway, officer for congregational research; the Rev. Angela Ifill, missioner for the Office of Black Ministries; and Canon Peter C. Ng, partnership officer for Asia and the Pacific.
Hadaway, a resident of Florida, has written eight books, including Behold I Do a New Thing: Transforming Communities of Faith (Pilgrim Press, 2001), Rerouting the Protestant Mainstream: Sources of Growth and Opportunities for Change (Abingdon, 1995) and Church and Denominational Growth (Abingdon, 1993).
“Kirk’s work and service to the church has helped the church to hold itself accountable,” Bishop Curry said. “His insights, his wisdom, and his statistical analysis have helped clarify with the actual mission context that we are currently living in, and in which we seek to bear witness to Jesus Christ. He has done this, helping us to practice our faith in the contact of the hard facts of the world. Faith gets real when the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. Kirk has helped us to keep it real.”
He will retire November 30.
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Ifill’s vocation includes serving as a missionary in 1994 in Uganda; associate rector of St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and canon pastor at Trinity and St. Philip’s Cathedral in Newark.
She developed the New Visions Initiative for Congregational Renewal and Vitality; the Rites of Passage resource Rising Stars Experiences (RISE), an alternative to the School to Prison Pipeline; and the Values to Live By guide for young people. She established a Clergy Leadership Institute for the recently ordained; an Institute for Learning and Advancement for the Sudanese Community; and conducts the annual SOUL leadership skills training conference for youth and young adults and seminarians.
“Among Angela’s many contributions to the cause of Christ through the building up of our black churches in the Episcopal Church,” Bishop Curry said. “Angela has made a profound and enduring difference in the lives of young people through programs like SOUL, RISE, and support of our Episcopal HBCUs [Historically Black Congregations and Universities]. In a time when we as a society are struggling to end the school-to-prison pipeline, she has helped the church to not just lament and talk about it, but to do it. There are black young people whose lives have been changed because of her work. That is investment in the present in our black communities for the sake of our future. As we save the children, we ultimately save ourselves. Angela has helped us doing that.”
Ifill, a resident of Florida, will retire in November and will remain a consultant with the church.
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Born in China and raised in Hong Kong, Canon Ng moved to the United States in 1969 and lives in Queens. Since 1989, Ng has served as a professional lay employee for the Episcopal Church, working with national, diocesan and local church organizations, councils and networks.
“The true Christ-centered holiness, humility and humanity of Peter have made him a bridge person between cultures and peoples and churches in Asia, the Pacific Rim and the Americas,” Curry said. “He has helped us all to make real the old song that says in Christ there is no east nor west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love, throughout the whole wide earth.”
“I have been enriched by the opportunity to the witness the Church from a perspective that few are given and I am proud to have been a member of the staff of the Presiding Bishop,” Ng said.