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April 2021 Gazette – St. Paul’s News

St. Paul’s News

St. Paul’s Worshipers Return to Sanctuary

On March 21st Episcopal churches in Northern Ohio were able to invite worshipers into their churches again. There are limitations on seating since we will remain 6 feet apart but St. Paul’s believes they have adequate seating for all who choose to attend in person. To ensure there is appropriate space, everyone is asked to call the church office in advance for seating each week, especially on Easter! There will be an outdoor Sunrise service at Perry’s Victory South Seawall. Bring your own chair or a blanket to sit on the seawall.

St. Paul’s was limited to live stream services only from mid-December until March 14th. We did not celebrate the Eucharist throughout the nearly three-month period. The Bishop of Ohio, out of concern for all people, encouraged all Episcopal parishes to live stream and limit building use with very few exceptions. During the three-month period the bishop asked the clergy not to offer bread and wine to parishioners out of concern of spreading the virus. Starting March 21st, we were able to offer bread to all using precautions more stringent that what you find in restaurants. Episcopal churches will continue wearing masks and we will not be singing when music is played until we receive updated guidance from our bishop. We all want to keep everyone safe. We expect to wear masks as long as they are requires in stores, airplanes and medical offices.

March 14th was the one-year anniversary of our livestreamed worship services. We livestreamed from the church with people present, we livestreamed our outdoor golf-cart services, we livestreamed from the labyrinth and much more. Although we’ve gotten a little better and updated the some of equipment we use, we look forward to the time when everyone feels comfortable coming to worship in person. We use our limited resources to the best of our ability. It is not a production like you find in the large cathedrals, just our own church without the bloopers removed. Until everyone can join us, St. Paul’s vestry is committed to continuing our livestream worship.

ZOOM Makes Church Meetings Possible

ZOOM was hardly in our vocabulary at the beginning of 2020. Looking back over the past year we’ve found ZOOM is the way to let everyone stay connected. St. Paul’s vestry meetings use ZOOM. The church changed the By-laws to adapt the information added to Robert’s Rules of Order last September. St. Paul’s use Robert’s Rules as a guide for our vestry meetings. In January our parish Annual meeting took place over ZOOM. This means our snow birds were able to participate in our meetings. Other meetings and discussions also take place on ZOOM as well. St. Paul’s vestry continues to work to maintain the facility and prepare for the time when we have more people in the church than we have this past winter. We have new green altar hangings on the way since the previous set was over 50 years old.

Speaking about White Fragility

St. Paul’s 2021 Lent discussion is based on a book titled “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin J. DiAngelo. At one point it was Amazon’s #1 best seller. The book provided our Lent discussion with a springboard for conversation about racism, a word with many more layers of meaning than is understood because we really do not talk about the origins of racism in the failure of white society to understand the structural nature of racism. The author says white fragility is the phenomenon by which white people become angry, defensive, or hostile when confronted with the idea that they are complicit in systemic racism. Robin DiAngelo examines explores the history of the existing racial hierarchy, and makes a powerful case for why it is incumbent upon white people to accept their individual and collective responsibility. If you want to join a conversation about how we can make a difference, please call Mo. Mary at St. Paul’s where the conversation will continue in April.

St. Paul’s Survey of Members and Friends

St. Paul’s vestry appointed a Search Committee in September 2020. They are charged with the responsibility of preparing materials to help the parish describe itself to others. Over the winter they developed a survey and sent it to many of St. Paul’s members and other friends of St. Paul’s. The responses (over 60 received) helped craft the description of the parish personality using a narrative document. At the March 2021 vestry meeting the draft narrative was approved by the vestry. The next step is to post the information on the Episcopal church’s web page used by clergy and parishes across the United States and in a few other countries and territories. All Episcopal clergy can look at the parish narratives to see if they may be interested in sending their resume. Here in Ohio the resumes are sent to the Diocesan office in Cleveland for review before being forwarded to the parish.

Although there is no specific timeline, St. Paul’s is preparing to review the resumes with the expectation to call another clergy person to serve the parish. Mo Mary agrees to remain on the island until this person can be identified. Once that takes place she plans to change to a different style of clergy position where she serves various parishes for a short period of time. She will assist in places where their clergy are taking a sabbatical, are out for maternity leave or parishes who are between clergy. This is not considered retirement. She is a 3/4 time priest at St. Paul’s now. Some of the work she will do may be full time. Other times she may help smaller churches who do not have resources to have regular clergy.

The search committee at St. Paul’s still has many more things to do before they are ready to recommend a priest to the vestry. Over the past 156 years St. Paul’s has had 36 different clergy serve the parish (one was here twice – very early in his career and again when his children were in high school. Some are here for a short period and others remain much longer. St. Paul’s search committee updates the parish about their progress in the weekly parish news. If you want to subscribe, please contact the parish office.

 

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