| NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS From the Office of the Bishop
(Dominion Newspaper, June Edition) -- Bishop Provenzano has announced that after several months of interviewing candidates he has named the Rev. John David Betit as Canon to the Ordinary. Father Betit, 42, has been rector of Saint John's Episcopal Church in Sutton, Mass., since 2002. He will begin his work with the diocese in a few weeks. The next edition of The Dominion will have a feature article about Canon Betit and details about the scope of his new ministry. (The term "ordinary" historically referred to one who has jurisdiction over a territory or organization. The "ordinary" of a diocese is the diocesan bishop. A Canon to the Ordinary is a key assistant to the bishop.) Betit is a 1989 graduate of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, Mass., He majored in history, with a minor in music. He earned an Master of Divinity degree in Sacramental Theology and Liturgy from Saint John Seminary, Brighton, Mass., and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. Concurrent with his rectorship at St. John's Church, he was a psychotherapist/counselor with Youth Opportunities Upheld in Worcester, Mass., providing psychotherapy for at-risk children, adolescents and families. From 2001 to 2002, Betit was pastoral associate at Saint Francis Episcopal Church, Holden, Mass., and concurrently Staff Counselor and Therapist at Stonehill College, North Easton, In the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, Betit served on the Commission on Ministry, as Safe Church Educator, and as co-director of the Diocesan Liturgy and Music Commission. In August 2002, Father Betit was received as priest from the Roman Catholic Church, Diocese of Springfield, Mass., into The Episcopal Church, Diocese of Western Mass. He has had a particular interest in liturgics, youth ministry, and leadership training and has been a participant in the Trinity Conference Center Clergy Leadership Project, Class XXII, the 2007 national Emergent Church Conference, the Reinventing Church Conference, Episcopal Church Province One Stewardship and Evangelism Conferences and the 2004 Start Up! Start Over! conference. Father Betit and his wife, Dianna, and their three children, Samuel, Sophia and Catherine, will be moving to New York soon and will reside in Garden City.
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