News from the Congregation May 1, 2020
Appreciation and Love for Rev. Canon Patti Welch; Sunday Programming (Job Bible Study, Worship, Coffee Half-Hour With Patti, Adult Formation Class - Daily Office) YESS Bible Study, Reading Group, Compline
Canon Lee
In one of her final letters to her friend Gustave Thibon before her premature death at the age of 34, the French philosopher Simone Weil wrote about the connection between friendship and the pain of separation:
God has given us the joy of meetings and the sorrow of separations. We should welcome these gifts, like all the others, with our whole soul, and experience to the full, and with the same gratitude, all the sweetness or bitterness as the case may be. Meeting and separation are two forms of friendship and contain the same good, in the one case through pleasure and in the other through sorrow.... Let us love this distance which is wholly woven of friendship, for those who do not love each other are not separated.
"For those who do not love each other are not separated."
I have been thinking of this profound paradox as we approach the Rev. Canon Patti Welch's final worship service this Sunday, May 3. The sadness of losing a beloved colleague has been compounded by the physical separation that does not allow for a proper goodbye.
I know many of you feel the same way.
But, as Simone Weil writes, the sadness of separation is really another form of friendship. So while we cannot do anything to reduce our physical distance in this time of pandemic to say goodbye to Patti in person, we can at least allow ourselves to feel our sadness fully, as a way to honor what she has meant to us over these years.
There is a lot I could say about Patti as a valued colleague and as a clergy mentor to a new priest, but then this newsletter would never end. So I will just end with this:
One thing I am going to miss most about Patti is her expert use of emojis. The Dean and Cathedral Chapter have an active and ongoing group text message conversation, where we share funny stories or interesting articles or work-related information. Patti will often respond to something particularly "out there" with a few cleverly chosen emojis that never fail to make me LOL.
So, goodbye Patti! Congratulations on your new call in Oregon. We will miss you!
The Rev. Canon Steven Lee
Canon Pastor and Vicar
THIS SUNDAY, MAY 3
(To access each program on Zoom, click the link in the title.)
10:00 AM - Integrity in Crisis: A Bible Study on Job
Join the Vicar for a series of classes on the Book of Job and learn how this timeless text can address our suffering in this difficult time.
10:00 AM - Digital Sunday School Materials Emailed
11:00 AM - Congregation Watch Party for Cathedral Worship Service
Watch the Cathedral worship service on Zoom with other members of the Congregation.
You can also watch the Cathedral Worship Service
On Facebook: http://facebook.com/StJohnDivineNYC
On the Cathedral website: http://www.stjohndivine.org
12:00 PM - Special Digital Coffee Half-Hour in honor of the Rev. Canon Patti Welch
This week the digital coffee "Half-Hour" is hosted by the Congregation Wardens, Marsha Ra and Tim Dwyer, and Sub Dean Patrick Malloy, in honor of the Rev. Canon Patti Welch's final Sunday at the Cathedral. Send personal messages for Canon Welch to this email address: http://goodbyepatti@stjohndivine.org
12:30 PM - Adult Formation Class on the Daily Office
Sub Dean Malloy continues his class on the history, theology, and practice of the Daily Office.
***There is ONE LINK for all Congregation programs on zoom, which you can access by clicking here
WEEKLY CATHEDRAL CONGREGATION PROGRAMS
(To access each program on Zoom, click the link in the title.)
Tuesdays | 6:00PM - YESS Bible Study
Wednesdays | 6:30 PM - Congregation Book Group
Wednesdays | 8:30 PM - Congregation Compline
Marsha and Tim
About ten years ago, I realized that it was time for my daughters Sophie, then aged 7, and Caroline, 5, to be baptized. By that time, they had been attending Sunday school with Donna Devlin for several years and were both students at the Cathedral School. My husband Marc is what some people refer to as a “secular Jew”: he acknowledges the high Holy Days and makes a good chicken soup, but isn’t a member of a synagogue and always insists on having the final say on our choice of Christmas tree (who knew a Christmas tree could look nebbishy?). He was happy to have me take the lead in guiding our daughters’ spiritual lives, and always comfortable with the broad multifaith welcoming spirit of the Cathedral and the Cathedral School.
But I knew that the sacrament of baptism – having his daughters being “marked as Christ’s own” would be a very big leap for him, and perhaps a bridge too far. When I finally got up the courage to raise the topic with him one evening, he sat silently for a long moment and finally said ‘I’ll have to discuss this with my Rabbi.”
“Honey,” I replied, “you don’t have a Rabbi.”
“Sure I do!” he said. “Reverend Patti. Let me talk with her.”
I don’t know the details of their conversations, but later that year Marc stood next to me in the crossing, beaming with pride as his daughters affirmed their desire to be baptized.
I share this story because it illustrates the way Patti has, for so many years, reached across boundaries real and imagined to share the message of God’s love for all. As an ordained Lutheran in an Episcopal Cathedral and a Protestant chaplain in a school with many Catholics, Jews, and agnostics, she has never allowed labels or perceptions of difference to get in the way of that message.
Anyone lucky enough to catch one of her Sunday sermons knows what powerful, gifted, and insightful preacher she is. But only a small number of us had a window into her ministry at the School. There, she explored the creation stories of different faiths with children in the lower school and the evolution of world religions with those in the upper school. She organized holiday Evensongs where the children would commemorate major holy days from across the religious and cultural spectrum, helping the children to find in them all the shared values of community and the love of the Creator. I can think of no image more adorable than the youngest kids bringing their favorite “pets” to school in early October for the “Blessing of the Stuffed Animals,” nor few things as moving as watching the children write the name of a deceased loved one on a large memory scroll at the All Saints Evensong. I feel so incredibly fortunate that my daughters were able to explore their spiritual selves with Patti as a guide.
In the midst of this pandemic, we are of course profoundly grateful that Patti and her lovely family are in good health as they leave us to begin the next exciting chapter of their lives. But is so difficult to contemplate saying goodbye without a hug or a clasped hand. Somehow it just doesn’t seem fair.
If I had the skills to compose a prayer, I would ask that God convey to Patti the true depth of our love and appreciation for her years of service to our community, and that God accept our gratitude for sharing her with us.
Godspeed, Patti.
Marsha and Tim