Dean Letter: Life After Jeff

Hello St. Paul’s,

As you know, we will say goodbye to Jeff Martinhauk on Sunday, and thank him for five plus years of faithful and loving service to our community. We will miss Jeff, his pastoral presence, his preaching, his strategic mind, and, not least, for his broad spread of skills, including some that clergy typically lack. Jeff has had a lot of different responsibilities at St. Paul’s, and I am sure you are wondering how all these will be covered, both short-term and long-term.

My first priority has been to secure immediate coverage for various ongoing tasks while we look for the right person to succeed Jeff as assisting priest. We have a number of retired and underemployed clergy in the area who will help us out with presiding and preaching. But Jeff has had oversight of several other ministry areas. We are fortunate to have an abundance of riches in the form of talented and experienced people in the congregation, and some of our part-time staff are willing to extend their hours to add responsibilities.

Our children and family minister, Maya Little-Saña, has been covering for Wayne Riehm, our communications coordinator, while he’s been out on parental leave. Now that Wayne is back the two of them will continue to collaborate on communications. We will have help from within the congregation on evangelism and external communications, the welcome and incorporation of newcomers, the audio-visual ministry, Sacred Ground in Action, and the Thursday courtyard service.

I am in conversation with someone who can take on some of the Spanish-language ministry, maybe in the fall, so that I can provide executive oversight across the board and perhaps be more involved in formation and stewardship.

On the capital campaign, which we are renaming the Ministry Expansion Project, we are going to focus for the time being on firming up the project plans and making sure every member of the congregation has a good understanding of the potential and importance of our proposed projects, including the outreach center, the music center, and needed enhancements to the Great Hall building. The LLC continues to work on a plan for fully furnishing and equipping our space in the new building. We will be hearing the report on the recent Listening Sessions at several meetings in the coming weeks, and I hope you will attend and ask questions.

If you’ve been on the fringes of the cathedral community, or if you are new to the congregation, now is an excellent time to get involved in one or more of our ministry areas. We need everyone to participate!

While the life of the cathedral continues on from day to day, we are starting the process of searching for the next assisting priest. The high cost of living in San Diego makes it a challenge to attract clergy here, and the likelihood that we will continue to need additional help for some of the more technical tasks adds to our budget challenges. Please keep me, the staff, and Chapter in your prayers, and ask God to send us the right person. I’m sure they are out there!

I am very grateful for all the staff and parishioners who have come forward to offer their assistance in this time of transition. Our mission and ministry will, God willing, continue uninterrupted, and I ask your patience for any minor stumbles as we adjust to this latest change in our corporate life.

Your sister in Christ,
Penny