Dear Fellow Parishioners,
We have wonderful news to share! The Discernment Committee recently presented to the Vestry the name of the person they recommended as our next Rector. At that point their work was officially completed and it became the Vestry’s responsibility to manage the final stages of this lengthy process of transition.
Since then, we also have met the candidate, whom we found to be as impressive in person as he seemed to be based on the committee’s presentation. Last weekend we invited him to become the Rector of Holy Comforter, and we are very pleased to tell you that he has accepted our call.
The next step will be to negotiate the terms of his contract (officially known as a Letter of Agreement), and then to have those terms approved by the diocese’s Office of Transition Ministries and finally by the Bishop himself. It’s possible, though not certain, that these arrangements may be finalized between now and Christmas.
However, even at that point we still won’t be able to reveal who he is, because the procedure is for an announcement to be made simultaneously both here and at his current parish—and as you can imagine, the week before Christmas is not at all a good time for a priest to tell his congregation that he’s leaving them to take a position at another church. Until the time is right for that announcement, we must keep his identity strictly confidential, so please be patient for a few more weeks.
If all goes as planned, we should be able to share the rest of this joyful news with you in January. What we can tell you now is that we are extremely enthusiastic about the prospect of his coming to Holy Comforter—hopefully before Easter—and we’re confident you will be equally enthusiastic when you finally meet him.
We are tremendously grateful to the Discernment Committee for their hard work and dedication over the past year-plus, and for finding such an outstanding Rector for Holy Comforter. What remains to be done involves a set of important details and procedures, but the main task has now been accomplished. As the committee said last month, at the end of their final update to us all, “Thanks be to God!”
Faithfully yours,
The Vestry
