June 4, 2020
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Rector's Message

This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday. This time of year someone always mentions to me how hard it must be to preach on the Trinity.

Usually in larger congregations, senior clergy will go on vacation and leave the Trinity Sunday sermon to the newly ordained curate. It certainly happened to me when I was a curate. However, I have come to love preaching about the Trinity, because it is such a  practical  doctrine.

The Trinity is not some abstract conundrum or paradoxical mystery. It relates directly to how we live, and even more to the perilous times in which we find ourselves. The Trinity tells that at the heart of the divine is a community, with equal, distinct members who also are fully capable of acting as the whole. Isn't that the kind of community in which we long to live? In which we each have our own distinctive identity, but among whom everyone can act fully on behalf of the entire community?

This Sunday, let's learn from the Trinity how to be a better community, nation and world. 
Sunday's Service
 Join us Sunday for Holy Eucharist at 9:30 AM on Facebook.

To join via Facebook, go to the church Facebook page at the appropriate time and look for the window showing that "St. Paul's Key West is now live." Click on the window.

You can open or download the bulletin for the Sunday service here .

Congratulations To
Our Graduates!
Congratulations to all graduates, including these associated with our St. Paul's family:

  • Zachary Albury, son of Pam and William Albury
  • Katelynn Balbuena, granddaughter of Betty and Ed Toppino
  • Serenity Roberts, Lemuel Robert's sister
  • Harrison Simmons, son of Mary and Dexter Simmons
  • Mason Whiteside, daughter of Lilla and Mark Whiteside
  • Eian Wilcox, son of Sharon and Robert Wilcox
  • JazLynn Yarbrough, granddaughter of Donald Curry

May they prosper and do great things in the world going forward. We are very proud of them.
Senior Warden Notes
Ray Warren
In past mentions of those who quietly give their time and talents to St. Paul's (altar guild members, coffee hour hosts, etc.) I failed to mention two outstanding regular volunteers.

Sarah and Mike Kindinger currently split their time between Indiana and Key West. Whether here or there, however, they are always involved.

Sarah led the effort last year to raise money for the current church building's 100th anniversary. The "centennial bricks" that are now in the memorial garden were placed there under her direction. That project involved working with the brick company, checking and following up on orders, sending thank you notes, arranging for the placement of the bricks and dozens of other details. It was, in all senses, an unpaid part time job, and Sarah was outstanding in her work.
Mike is one of the parish's unofficial photographers. The wonderful photo from the centennial Sunday on the opening page of the parish website is his work. He also seems to get roped into the many things that Sarah volunteers to do, like co-organizing last year's Fantasy Fest parade fundraiser.

Sarah recently helped re-write the guidelines for the parish columbarium and she is leading the effort to create a procedures manual for the church office.

As the Kindingers and many of our parishioners demonstrate, distance and split time between residences are no impediments to being a full time part of the St. Paul's community.
Book Group Taking a Summer Hiatus
The St. Paul's Book Group will have one more session, next Tuesday June 9 at 1 pm, on Richard Rohr’s “The Universal Christ,” after which they expect to take about a two-month hiatus. Stay tuned for future notices when they resume.

Weekly Events

Tim Peterson "From the Organ"

Each Thursday at noon, St. Paul's music director Tim Peterson presents an informative program on music.

Access the program live each week from the Church Facebook page. After the live session, the program remains available on the Facebook Page to watch on you own schedule.

Morning and Evening Prayer

Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is being offered on Facebook Live at 730 AM and 5 PM on weekdays. Fr. Steve is offering a short meditation during Evening Prayer, Monday - Thursday.

Thanks to Mary Simmons and Bruce Hagemann for volunteering to officiate some of the days!

To join in the prayers via Facebook, go to the church  Facebook page  at the appropriate time and look for the window showing that "St. Paul's Key West is now live." Then click on the window.

"Like" us and turn on live notifications to get a reminder whenever we are offering prayers. 


Know Your History

(From our resident church historian, Dave Eyer.)

Ellen Mallory (1792-1855) was born in Ireland in 1792. At age 13 she moved to Trinidad to live with an uncle. About age sixteen she met and married Charles Mallory, an engineer from Connecticut. They had two sons, John and Stephen. The climate in Trinidad did not agree with Charles Mallory’s health so he returned to America with his family ultimately arriving in Key West just before Christmas of 1823.

Ellen became one of the first permanent female settlers in Key West. Her husband and eldest son died leaving her a widow with a teenage son. She converted her home to a boarding house, the first and only one in Key West for many years.

Ellen was a skilled nurse and saved many Key Westers from the ravages of yellow fever including very prominent St Paul’s Church member, Judge William Marvin. Judge Marvin said of Ellen “She was intelligent, possessed of a ready Irish wit. She was kind, gentle, charitable, sympathetic, and considerate of the wants of the sick and poor.” Ellen was probably Key West’s first female business owner/operator.

Ellen is one of only six women honored with a cast bronze bust in the Key West Memorial Sculpture Garden. Together with her son Stephen R Mallory they are the only parent child figures in the Sculpture Garden. Her remains lie almost adjacent to the very prominent gravesite of William and Euphemia Curry in the Key West City Cemetery. A contemporary artwork or photograph of her has not been found. A female descendant was used as the model for her memorial bust.

[Editor's Note: It is unclear whether Ellen herself was ever a member of St. Paul's. Being Irish, she and her son Stephen were Catholics, at least until St. Paul's was founded in 1832. In that year, however, Stephen was one of the original group of men (women did not do such things in those days) who signed the Act of Association creating St. Paul's as a parish in the Episcopal Church. As a frontier town, religion was rather fluid in early Key West.]
Reminders
Sunday school is canceled during the virus emergency.
Back issues of  The Epistle  available  here .
These communications are currently edited by Senior Warden Ray Warren. Send questions and comments to the editor   here .