Update, 1:55 pm: A story from Episcopal News Service
Deacon Terry Star, a member of Executive Council and seminarian at Nashotah House has died.
His rector, the Rev. Canon John Floberg of Saint James, Cannon Ball, N. D., released the following statement on the parish’s Facebook page:
Dear Friends:
We received word this evening (Tuesday) that our beloved Deacon Terry Star has died and left us to go on his spirit journey.
We don’t have many details. He wasn’t in chapel in the morning and missed meals and classes throughout the day. As the day wore on someone went to check on him and found that he had died – probably sometime in the night – but we don’t know for sure at this point.
His parents have been notified and I see that it is now getting onto Facebook. His parents are Charlotte and Woodrow Star of Pendelton, Oregon.
I will keep you informed on details as they become available.
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Canon John Floberg+
Terry, who was a Twitter friend to many people in the church, sponsored a successful resolution at the most recent meeting of Executive Council urging the owner of the Washington Redskins to change the teams racially disparaging nickname.
The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies and Vice President of Executive Council posted his note on the Executive Council extranet and shared it with the Cafe:
Dear Friends,
It is with great sorrow that I write to tell you that our friend and colleague Deacon Terry Star has died. He was found in his room at Nashotah House after missing worship and classes on Tuesday, and the cause of his death is not yet known.
Terry was a dedicated and passionate member of Executive Council, a fierce advocate for the people of his beloved Standing Rock, and a loyal and faithful Episcopalian. He was also smart, witty, and a good pastor and friend. His death is an enormous loss for his family, the Cannon Ball community, the Episcopal Church, and all of us who served with him.
Please join me in praying for Terry’s spirit journey, for his parents, Charlotte and Woodrow Star of Pendelton, Oregon, and for all who mourn. I will post more information about services and memorial gifts as it becomes available.
Into thy hands, O merciful Savior, we commend thy servant Terry. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee, a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of thy mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.
A release from the Episcopal Church’s Office of Public Affairs includes this quote from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori:
“The Episcopal Church has been much blessed by the ministry of Deacon Terry Star, on Standing Rock, as a member of Executive Council, and through the many relationships he had built throughout the Church and beyond. We give thanks for his life and witness, his prophetic voice, and his reconciling heart. All his relatives are grieving, and we pray that his soul may rest in peace and his spirit continue to prod us all in continuing the ministry of healing we have from Jesus.”
Here is the sermon Deacon Star gave at the recent rededication of his parish church, which had been destroyed by fire.