Episcopal Church in Navajoland May 2026

Episcopal Church in Navajoland

Southeast Region Vicar Report to Province VIII Quarterly Meeting

1. Calendar:

Election Convention, June 12th, a day of discernment for Clergy and Laity, June 13, beginning at 1 PM MST, Convention Eucharist, followed by the Election of a Bishop in the Missionary Diocese of Navajoland.

This election has been on our calendar for several months now. Please pray for Navajoland that we will successfully attain our Din4 leader next month. 

In the coming days, our Din4 leaders will form “Talking Circles” as we implement our Hooghan Learning Circle curriculum as a guide to understanding our new “Missionary Diocese” as the building up of a traditional “Hooghan” meaning “Home” in the Din4 language. 

The dates for these “Talking Circles” are still being developed but the understanding is that both candidates will also in attendance to these “talking circles” with the three regions of ECN. It should be decided soon because the election is now not that far away.  

For my two-minute piece about my faith journey, I would have liked to share what identifies me as a Navajo woman, my four clans, I am Red-Cheeked People’s clan, born for Zia Pueblo or Hairy Ones, Weaver clan, my maternal grandfather’s clan is the Folded Arms People clan, and my paternal grandfather’s clan is the Red Streak in the Water People’s clan. I need to identify who I am in that way. 

2. Two opportunities for ECN Youth to attend two separate Mission Programs. The first is thanks to GJ Gordy our Communications Director for ECN and also a member of Executive Council got some of our young women to attend the Province VIII Youth Pilgrimage happening at the end of July in the Diocese of Hawaii. (July 28- August 1, 2026)

3. The other Youth Program is the opportunity for our ECN Youth to join our partners from St. Mark’s Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to do a cultural exchange with their Youth in D.C. for a week in July (July 6-14, 2026)

4. My Faith Journey two-minute spiel

My faith journey has been a hard, rocky one. It all started with a call on a mountain top, but since I reside in the desert, this was a high cliff plateau in my homeland of Southeastern Utah, where I received a calling from the Holy Spirit to become an Episcopal Priest. I am the youngest and only daughter of our late, and the first Din4, Bishop Steven T. Plummer Sr. My father had been gone from our world for 3 years when I got my call. I was working as a Public Health Nurse through the AmeriCorps program in southeastern Utah. It was called “AmeriCorps and the Medically Underserved in Utah.” This program allowed us, AmeriCorps members, to help combat healthcare inequities for medically underserved populations in Utah through the Utah Healthcare Corps (UHC). Managed by the Association for Utah Community Health (AUCH), members served as Community Health Workers to reduce economic, geographic, and cultural barriers by connecting vulnerable Utahns with primary care, insurance, and social resources.

 My work at Utah Navajo Health Systems from 2009 to 2011 helped me understand my calling and my need to attend seminary, which is a longer story in itself. But looking back on why I am still an Episcopal Priest and why I continue this crazy faith journey, which has had so many transitions, in this now Missionary Diocese, you need to understand my calling to the Priesthood. Thank you for the opportunity to share this.

Respectfully submitted by:

Rev. Canon Cathlena Plummer

Vicar of Southeast Region and Canon for Spiritual Formation in

The Episcopal Church in Navajoland.