The Society of King Charles the Martyr-American Region will hold its 36th annual Mass and luncheon on Jan. 26 at Nashotah House Theological Seminary. The liturgy commemorates the martyrdom of King Charles I on Jan. 30, 1649.
Society members and all others interested are invited. A luncheon will follow, for which reservations are required at $25 per person. Checks payable to Nashotah House, memo line SKCM, should be received by Jan. 18 at 2777 Mission Road, Nashotah, WI 53058.
In recent years Royal Martyr Day has drawn greater recognition in North America. In 2015, General Convention took preliminary action to add this observance to the church calendar.
Founded in London on Easter Tuesday, 1894, and active in North America since then, the society is one of the devotional societies initiated by Anglo-Catholics in the 19th century. A major objective is to win general recognition of the Royal Martyr’s faithfulness unto death in defense of the Church, her episcopal government, and apostolic ministry.
Today, all Christians enjoying the patronage of King Charles the Martyr may become members of the society, a U.S. tax-exempt organization not formally affiliated with any ecclesiastical entity.
Although the majority of the society’s more than 400 American Region members are in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, other members come from various other Anglican jurisdictions, the Roman Catholic Church (including the Ordinariate and Eastern Rites), and Orthodoxy.
Membership is $15 per year and includes the semiannual SKCM News magazine and the usually monthly email Communiqué. New members pay $25 for their first year, which includes devotional materials; student members, a new category, pay $10 per year.
The society has grown by nearly 40 percent in the last several years, since setting up access to PayPal through its website.
For membership and other information visit the society’s website or contact David Lewis, treasurer and administrator, at membership@skcm-usa.org.
The society’s board of trustees recently elected new officers: the Rev. Steven C. Rice of Winston-Salem, N.C., president; Jonathan Jensen of Naples, Fla., vice president-membership; the Rev. Canon Jonathan J.D. Ostman, SSC, of Marshall, Va., vice president-devotional; and Phoebe Pettingell of Providence, R.I., secretary.
Adapted from the Society of King Charles Martyr-American Region
