Dean Letter: Listening Sessions

Hello St. Paul’s,

Happy Easter!

You’ve often heard me quote our mission statement: Love Christ, Serve Others, Welcome All. But maybe you are less familiar with our vision statement, declaring that the Cathedral “serves as a center of transformative love, faith and service: an inclusive, Christ-centered community that welcomes all people on their journey of faith.” Such a vision engages us in formation as a loving Christian community, expressing that love to our neighbors in tangible ways.  As we emerge from the isolation of the pandemic, Chapter is now beginning a process of listening to you about how our buildings and entire campus can best support our mission and reflect our identity. We want to hear from you!

It’s essential that we hear from every member of St. Paul’s, as your particular experiences of and dreams for St. Paul’s will form the substance of our discernment about the future.

Our process will launch officially on April 14^th, when some of our parish leaders will meet and be trained as facilitators for a series of small-group conversations carried out via Zoom.

We have published a short survey, in both English and Spanish, to capture your thoughts in a few questions. These same questions will form the basis of the small-group conversations. Some of those conversations will focus on groups that meet regularly or have an interest in common, such as the choir, or those engaged in outreach ministry. In case none of the focused conversations work for you, we are also offering two congregation-wide conversations, one at 12:00 noon on April 20th and another at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, April 27th. There will be twelve conversations in all, listed below this text in the blog post of this letter. Please RSVP online for the conversation of your choice.

I hope that every one of you will both feel invited into the process and take the opportunity to be heard—-in a way that feels most comfortable to you—either by online survey, group conversation or both!

The conversations and survey results will influence our planning with an architect as we consider how best to ensure that our physical space reflects the core values and vision of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

We are entering a new season in the church’s life, not only a liturgical season but also something new as we live into a post-pandemic world. The past year has changed us all, and now we are ready to move forward into our bright future. I am excited to see what the months ahead hold for our parish family.

Don’t forget that this week we will start offering a simple Communion service in the cathedral at 10:30 am. Be sure to sign up through the weekly email today, as the number of attendees is currently limited.

See you on Sunday!

Your sister in Christ,
Penny

CLICK HERE to take the survey