08.28.24

Interim Rector - Reverend Pamela “Pan” Conrad

Dear Memorial Church Family,

This past Sunday with great joy and sadness, we celebrated Rev. Grey Maggiano and his family’s final service with our community. In his final sermon, he reminded all of us that our church already has what it needs to sustain ourselves, and perhaps even grow in new, surprising ways. Now it is more important than ever to turn to the person sitting next to you in church -or in the Zoom box- and tell them how glad you are to see them. Love sustained us before, and love will sustain us moving forward.

And as the saying goes, “when God closes one door, they open another one…” the vestry is pleased to announce that this week, they signed an agreement with the Reverend Pamela “Pan” Conrad who will serve as our Interim Rector beginning on September 3rd. Reverend Conrad comes to Memorial with a remarkable career having served as rector of St. Albans Episcopal Church in Glen Burnie and most recently as an Interim at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Edmondson Ave. in Baltimore. She has master’s degrees in music composition, geology, divinity and a Doctorate in Geology and Mineral Physics. As a member of the Mars Perseverance Rover Mission she often uses her passion for science to connect people’s faith with the wonders of creation. We are very excited welcome Reverend Conrad to Memorial and hope you will join us for her first service on September 8th at either the Faith at 8 service or worship at 10:30 a.m. 

Finally, the vestry is committed to maintaining our connection as a caring faith community. We wanted to check in with all of you to see how of you are doing in this period of transition. We were hoping you might consider taking a brief survey by clicking here to let us know how you are and if you would like to have someone from Memorial reach out to you. 

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to the vestry with any questions or concerns you might have. 

With God’s love we hold strong.

Peace, 

Stacy Wells, Beth Torres, Steve Howard, Dave Toia, Keenan Dworak-Fisher, Scott Purnell-Saunders, Tom Penniston, Ryan Sturm, David Dimmock, Amy Krulak, Wendy Yap

Where are we? July - September:

• Celebrating the Ministry of Rev Grey+ - Farewell Service and Festive Coffee Hour on Sunday, Aug 25 at 9:30 am

• Transition Planning - Memorial's Officers and Vestry are vetting Interim Rector candidates to serve us during our search for our next Rector. A collection of supply clergy will lead worship until an Interim is in place.

• Worship with the Canon for Transitions, The Rev Kristin Krantz+ on Sunday, September 22 at 10:30 am. Rev Kristin+ will join us to talk through the Diocesan transition process and answer your questions.

What's next?

• Over the Fall, we will gather as a community to discuss where we are going as a parish and prepare for the search process.

• When we are ready, we will begin the search process. Most likely, this will start in early 2025.

• Call our next Rector. The Vestry prays that our next Rector will be with us in September 2025, if not sooner. 

Wondering, What can I do? Excellent question!

• Pray for Memorial. May God grant us wisdom and patience as we seek the Holy Spirit during this transition process.

• Pray for the Rev Grey+, Monica, Isabella, and Nicolas as they say farewell to Baltimore and embark on new ministries and adventures in North Carolina.

• Be present and participate - consider how you are called to be a part of the transition process and beyond.

Questions? Contact Stacy Wells at srwarden@memorialepiscopal.org or any member of the Vestry.

07/31/24

Vestry Response to Grey's Departure

Dear Memorial Church Family,

It is with equal amounts joy and sadness that Grey informed the vestry that he, Monica, Isabella, and Nicolas will be leaving Memorial at the end of August to follow his calling to a congregation in North Carolina. As the spiritual leader of our parish, Grey has shepherded this community since 2016, and has been a moral compass, prophet, and caretaker to all of us. He has worked tirelessly to serve our community spiritually and emotionally, with kind gentle humor. We are deeply saddened to see him go and yet grateful for the incredible gifts he and his family have given us. 

Memorial has a meaningful history of demonstrating unconditional love and caring for others,

as the service on June 30th showed, by detailing the history of the LGBTQIA+ community within our church. During this time of transition, it is more important than ever to remember the lineage of love and compassion that has carried our congregation for decades and will continue to define our future.  

The process of selecting a priest to serve as the rector for a church involves deep discernment, which will be undertaken in the upcoming weeks and months. The vestry is committed to keeping Memorial’s spiritual family informed and involved in the conversation as we move forward. We need your voices, ideas, and prayers as we collectively navigate this process. Grief, confusion, and uncertainty are all natural parts of losing a parish priest, especially one we love so deeply. This is also a chance for our congregation to delve, with hope, into Memorial’s next chapter— the threads of Grey’s wisdom are woven into the fabric of our community, and we bear a joyful responsibility to share those gifts with others, to offer unconditional safe-haven and hope in Baltimore. 

The vestry is committed to listening to the wider congregation and will share updates on the process of selecting a successor. Memorial will be guided and supported by the diocese of Maryland. The vestry is committed to being a visible and supportive presence at worship services as we continue this process together. Please reach out to us with any ideas or concerns you might have. 

Questions and concerns can be directed to:

Stacy Wells, Senior Warden: srwarden@memorialepiscopal.org

Beth Torres, Junior Warden: jrwarden@memorialepiscopal.org

(or any member of the vestry)

A final service celebrating the Maggiano’s ministry and time with Memorial will take place on Sunday, August 25th beginning with worship at 9:30 a.m. and followed by a gathering afterwards.

In love and appreciation,

Stacy, Beth, Steve, Dave, Amy, Scott, Thomas, Ryan, Wendy, Keenan and David

07/09/24

Memorial Family,

Change is hard. And change is necessary. Like many of you, I am grieving the coming departure of our beloved Rector and his lovely family. And having a few more days to process this news, I am beginning to see the opportunities and possibilities that come with change and transition.

Over the coming weeks, we will celebrate and give thanks for the gift the Maggiano Family is to our community, sending them off to their new home with our love and prayers; we will grieve the loss of the familiar and comfort of consistency; and then we will begin to dream together about the Memorial of tomorrow and who is called to lead us there.

We will do this, as we always have, together as a Memorial family.

Our commitment to you is to keep you informed about the transition and to keep the parish running smoothly.

You will be hearing more from your Vestry on what to expect during this transition. We intend to be more visible at worship services. Please come to us if you have questions - be on the lookout for our shiny new badges.

I will close with a reminder from Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge the Lord, and the Lord will make straight your paths." (3.5-6)

God has a plan for Memorial and we have seen that lived out over the decades with Memorial leading the way on social and justice issues. What's next for us? Let's find out together.

With love,

Stacy

Senior Warden

07.02.24

Close:

Please mark your calendars for Sunday, August 25th for a Farewell Liturgy for our Rector

You may direct any questions on the transition to the Senior Warden - srwarden@memorialepiscopal.org or the vestry.

Happy New Year from your Vestry!  After several years of not being able to gather in-person for our annual leadership retreat, the Memorial Vestry and Grey escaped the City to Marriottsville where we were surrounded by nature and began our work. We welcomed Dave Toia, David Dimmock, and Scott Purnell-Saunders. I am very excited to have their energy, experiences, and perspectives joining us.

We used "The Just Kitchen" by Derrick Weston & Anna Woofenden for inspiration and as a guide. We were lucky to have Derrick with us to challenge us and dive deep into his work and how it relates to the concept of a just Church. If you were with us on Sunday, then you had an opportunity to hear Derrick for yourself. If you missed it, you can watch the recording by clicking the button below. We explored hope & joy, letting go, and transforming from scarcity to enough. And there were conversations we wanted to have and didn't have time.

The Vestry will be using "The Just Kitchen" throughout Lent (spoiler: Ash Wednesday is next Wednesday) and we invite you to join us. We will be hosting meals and conversations each week. No requirement to read the book, but if you want a copy the Church has copies for $20. Stay tuned for a schedule. Come, eat, chat, and make a new friend.

A common theme from our time is a recognition that it is a privilege and honor to serve our Memorial family. Thank you for your confidence in us.

Warm Regards,

Stacy Wells

Senior Warden

02/05/24

srwarden@memorialepiscopal.org

The Sabbatical Comes to a Close

Fourteen weeks ago, we said goodbye, for a spell, to our hard-working rector and his family, as they took some time to fulfill some of their dreams, to travel and explore, and to be together in ways that haven’t been possible in a long time. 

At the same time, the parish laity took on full responsibility for running our parish church, to experience what is required to do that in 2022, to try some new things, and maybe gain some insights into what kind of parish we want to be as we move – please, God – into a post-pandemic future.

It will be exciting and revealing, in the next few months, to compare notes with Fr. Grey.  What did he think about while he was gone?  What new experiences widened his vision?  What things did he miss, and look forward to having/doing again when he returns? What things was he hoping he would not find the same as when he left? And we will share with him our wins and our challenges: What things did we discover are sustaining, and what things have we thought better of, on reflection?  The vestry and congregation will find ways to have conversations about these things.  

As your senior warden, it has been my canonical duty to lead in managing the church’s property, affairs, and common life with integrity, and to see to it that we continue to care for one another, continue as witnesses of our Lord, and continue the patterns of worship that strengthen our faith and make it accessible to others.

I can tell you that my eyes have been opened to some realities these last weeks.  One is that an awful lot of great stuff happens here.  Our 10:30 Sunday worship soars with the talents of amazing vocal and instrumental musicians. Our children delight us as they respond to a revived Sunday School program.  We have been inspired by eloquent preaching of diverse clergy from across the diocese.  Every week, our newsletter has had a prayerful reflection written by a member of our laity.  We have folks with the technical know-how who are tackling our most stubborn Zoom/wi-fi issues, resulting in systems with increasing functionality and reliability.  Our Faith @ 8 Sunday service is growing, and its members find spiritual sustenance in its nontraditional pattern of worship.  On December 3, an incredibly fun (I promise!) party is planned, to welcome Grey and family back, and this party will double as a fundraiser for the church.

Here's another observation: Even though our church is not a large one, its ambitions are large, and it contains enough people and initiatives so that something is always happening!  There are work flows and projects that must be managed, pastoral needs to attend to, unexpected events in our aging buildings, unexpected events in our aging selves (!), unexpected outcomes that arise from the execution of our ministries, normal but vexing conflicts that arise because we’re all human and fallible, and unexpected developments of many kinds that are utterly beyond our control.  

Running Memorial Episcopal Church is a job too big for one person. But, during the pandemic, we fell into a pattern of relying on Grey way too much.  We didn’t do it out of meanness, or out of not caring about our church.  We did it out of the same pandemic exhaustion that gripped nearly everyone.  For most of us, getting through these nearly three years has required all of our energy just to keep ourselves, and children, and our vulnerable adults, alive and healthy.  Our energies for the church have been diminished, and we fell into a pattern of letting Grey take up the slack.  Dutiful servant that he is, he took on the enormous challenge, but it was not sustainable.  

Along came the sabbatical, which Grey had the good sense to take in order to preserve himself, and us, for the long haul.  Quite a few in our congregation stepped up to do the work that needed to be done, with joy and determination to renew our commitment to making Memorial a beacon of the justice that Christ came to earth to make manifest.  By grace, the “wins” that I noted above resulted.  The Holy Spirit, always waiting patiently for us to hear her call, is stirring in our hearts again.  

Our task now is to renew and sustain our attention to the Spirit’s call, and not to revert to relying on our rector to do it for us. Together, with us doing our part in God’s work, we can do so much more than Grey can do on his own, amazing though he is.  

I hope that we will each prayerfully consider what part we will play as we move forward, and respond with a resounding “Yes!” when Grey or a fellow parishioner come asking for the gift of our time and talent.  Let us go forth, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.  Alleluia!

Bill Roberts.

11/09/22

A Note About Pastoral Care During Grey’s Sabbatical

If you have a pastoral need, please reach out to me at srwarden@memorialepiscopal.org Lois Eldred and I will address general pastoral concerns. For pastoral emergencies, such as a death or serious illness, I will reach out to Deacon Natalie.

Bill Roberts,

Senior Warden

Leadership During the Sabbatical

A Message from the Senior Warden

For the 6 years that Grey Maggiano has been our rector, we’ve been engaged in a process of learning about our past as we have charted a new future. We began by examining the racist and exploitative first century of Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore; learned how Memorial rectors and vestries actively promoted racist policies; discovered that designs of streets and public structures in Bolton Hill, and even some of the iconography in our own sanctuary, reflect segregationist intentions; had our eyes opened to the impact of chattel slavery on living members of our congregation today; gained a new understanding of the role we can play in healing the damage that lingers from a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow white supremacy, and began to devote large amounts of our time and treasure to the task of repairing the breach through reparations within our ZIP code.

For his leadership, including his research to uncovering long-buried truths about our past, his capacity for building relationships with often-neglected parts of our community, his inspiring and prophetic preaching and teaching, his pastoral care for us through countless personal and corporate challenges, and the fact that an awful lot of it occurred against the backdrop of a major sanctuary renovation during pandemic-related disruptions, he has earned a sabbatical. A time of rest, learning new skills, recharging his inner reserves.

As your senior warden, it is my responsibility to guide the continuity of leadership, stewardship, worship, pastoral care, and all the other things that make us Memorial Church, during Fr. Grey’s absence.  Yikes!  Grey does so much!  How will I ever get a handle on it all?  To paraphrase Dr. Leonard McCoy, of the Starship Enterprise, “I’m just a country nurse!”

To my relief, it has become clear this isn’t my responsibility alone.  Our vestry embodies wisdom borne of decades and decades of collective service at Memorial.  As I write this, they are working on a gala fundraiser on October 22 (save the date!), to assure our fiscal stability.  I am chairing a sabbatical planning committee composed of current and past parish leaders that have been meeting since early May to think through and plan for our programs and operations, including weekly worship, youth formation, communications, our building renovations and maintenance, and the uninterrupted continuance of our many ministries.  I’ve also been attending staff meetings, learning some of their patterns and systems, and looking at how we can support them while gaining a new perspective of what a wonderful resource they are.  I have been humbly grateful for all those who have said yes to my requests to get involved and help me think through the tasks and responsibilities ahead.

Serving on the sabbatical committee with me are Kathleen Capcara, Beth Casey, Deacon Natalie Conway, Daviedra Sauldsberry, and Stacy Wells.  In addition to the continuity planning that I’ve mentioned above, the committee is also looking at how we make this time our own sabbatical, parallel to Grey’s – how we will rest, yet also try new things, reflect on where we’ve been, and where we’re going.  In future communications, we’ll make sure you know who is filling what specific roles, and how you can reach out if you need us, or if you want to offer to help.

Of this I am certain:

We’ve got this.  I mean all of us – the whole congregation.  There have been and will be challenges, but this is a community bound together by God’s love.  It operates out of deep mutual regard, and it listens for God’s call.  I am looking forward to this segment of our journey, and especially to welcoming Grey back on November 13 (another date to save!), when we can begin to joyfully share, he with us and we with him, our insights from this unique experience.  

Come, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit awaits us!

Bill Roberts

07/12/22

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