It’s very nice to see some friends getting good publicity!
[Diocese of Southern Ohio] Mary Wanamaker spends most of her time in real life. She works at Columbus State Community College in the mathematics department and is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, a newly restored Gothic Revival building in Capitol Square in the heart of Columbus, Ohio’s capital and largest city.At Trinity, Wanamaker serves on the vestry, chairs the hospitality and newcomer committee, and manages the church’s website.
But in her downtime, this 49-year-old engages in “Second Life” — an online, 3-D virtual world created by its residents. Here, she’s a member of the Anglicans in Second Life and participates in virtual worship services at the Anglican cathedral on Epiphany Island, a “virtual cathedral” where the first worship service was held July 2007. So far it has developed into a congregation of 271 people from across the world. It features traditional Anglican architecture, with vaulted gothic ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows. But its construction is revolutionary — it took only four months to build.
I’ve been attending Compline services at the Cathedral in Second Life since my first week “inworld.” Mary Wanamaker is my inworld friend “Cady Enoch,” who also has done a lot of the work on the cathedral itself or adding attractive new features to Epiphany Island. Mark Brown is “Arkin Ariantho,” a very pleasant fellow who uses voice chat when he records his sermons. Due to the world-wide scheduling challenges, there are services at very odd hours – some to accomodate London time, some to accomodate New Zealand time, and so on.
It’s a beautiful “build” and a very pretty island, with interesting places to explore.
If you’re a resident of SL, this link takes you direct to the cathedral:
If you’d like to explore, download the software at www.secondlife.com, and look me up inworld, I’m “Lelani Carver.”
Epiphany Island, I love it! I gather secessionist riffraff are persona non grata?
Actually, that subject doesn’t come up – I might be hanging out with people who don’t approve of the liberal wing of the Episcopal Church, but it doesn’t seem to matter very much. I think it’s seen as safe haven or neutral territory, although I suspect most of ones that aren’t American are pretty sympathetic.
And the mainline Protestants and many other religions are on the island just across the canal, but there’s a good deal of visiting back and forth.
I found Epiphany Island in SL, and it has been great! Look me up next time you are in SL.