Candidates for Bishop Announced

Last night, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh announced the names of four priests who have been nominated to be the next Bishop of Pittsburgh. Additional candidates may be added by petition before the April 12, 2012, election. You can read details on the diocesan Web site. The blog Our Pittsburgh Diocese is offering to be a clearing house for information about the candidates.

R.I.P. Father John

I just learned from Doug Starr that Fr. John Thomas has died. A service for him will be held at St. Paul’s at 1 o’clock this Saturday, January 11, 2012. The e-mail notice from St. Paul’s is here. (An update of the service time for the Friday visitation is here.)

Please pray for Janet and for John’s family.

Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord: And let light perpetual shine upon him.

State of the Parish

I attended Adult Forum yesterday morning. This had been described on the parish Web site and elsewhere as a “State of the Parish Meeting,” which sounded interesting. I failed to read the fine print, however, which indicated that the discussion was largely to be about financial matters:

State of the Parish Meeting

Please join us this Sunday, January 8 between the 8:45 and 10:45 services to review where we stand financially and address questions and comments from the congregation.

That said, the presentation, by Bob Johnston, with the help of PowerPoint slides, was both helpful and encouraging.

For those who missed the presentation, here are some highlights:

• We enter 2012 debt free.
• 2011 ended with a $7,000 surplus.
• Although more pledges have been received since the last report, the stewardship campaign did not reach its $650,000 goal. (Current pledges were stated as about $581,000.)
• Present estimates show a $25,000 shortfall in 2012, though the intent is to have a balanced budget this year.
• The presentation only involved the operating budget, but several off-budget items have been moved into the operating budget. (This improves transparency in the long-run, but made the numbers presented a bit harder to put into perspective.) In response to a question, Bob admitted that this would increase our diocesan assessment slightly.

In response to a question from the floor, Bob said that the capital campaign had pledges of $660,225, with about $90,000 already collected. Exactly how the money will be spent has not been decided, but Bob suggested that a committee would probably be formed for the purpose.

Helpfully, Bob sent me a copy of his presentation, which you can see here. Note that the slides in the appendix were not shown yesterday.

As you will see from Bob’s slides, the full financial accounting of the sort presented in the annual report was not available yesterday. I asked if we would have a session before the annual meeting in which those who were interested could ask questions about the parish’s financials. Bob didn’t have a problem with this—we have had such a meeting in the past, which avoided long financial discussions at the annual meeting. Lou, however, wanted to have such a meeting after the annual meeting. Of course, last year, we avoided discussion of financial issues by Lou’s arbitrarily cutting off debate at the annual meeting. I hope that does not happen again.

Refuge or No Refuge?

I am not a regular attendee of the 6 PM Refuge service. I was ill for most of December, however, and haven’t rehearsed with the choir in weeks, so I thought I would worship at the evening service today.

I arrived at St. Paul’s about 5:55. Only one car was in the parking lot, though one entered the lot just behind me. I headed for the door nearest the elevator, waiting for whoever was getting out of the other car. Unfortunately, I discovered that the  door was locked. It only took a few minutes to determine that all doors were locked, and, except for a second floor room in the education wing, no light could be seen in the building.

By the time I returned to the parking lot, seven people had gathered for a service that, apparently, was not going to happen. We speculated that the service had been cancelled because of the Steelers game, but two people had checked the church’s Web site in advance to be sure that the service was indeed scheduled. After waiting for a while, we all went home.

When I checked the church’s Web site, I found this notice for the week of January 8:

Refuge at St. Paul’s

Refuge at St. Paul’sresumes [sic] with a new Season of Clarity this Sunday, January 8 at 6:00 p.m. Come early for the prelude and stay late for a glass of wine. Refuge is a multi-sensory, contemplative, and creative worship service. It is not to be missed. Refuge is a truly unique and moving service.

 So, why was there no service? I have no idea.

I take away three thought from tonight’s disappointing experience:

1. Why are we even bothering with a service that can only attract seven worshipers at the beginning of a new “season”?
2. How  do we expect to develop a congregation for a service that is often cancelled for one reason or another and sometimes doesn’t happen for no apparent reason?
3. Not everyone planning to attend Refuge can be expected to check the church’s Web site, but what does it say about our concern for worshipers when checking the Web site doesn’t even help?

“[T]ruly unique and moving service” indeed!

Update, 1/9/2012, 10:11 AM: In response to an e-mail question, Kris gave this explanation for yesterday’s lack of a Refuge service:

Yes. I am going to put an apology in the weekly email. The heat is out in the church and there is an electrical problem with some of the outlets in the chancel. With those difficulties on top of there being a playoff game we decided it best to cancel.

We announced it at church, called the usual suspects, put it up on facebook, and unfortunately, when we went to send an all parish email found there was an issue with the network and couldn't send one out. We didn't realize this until after church was out. I was going to put signs up but got distracted and left without putting them up. I apologize for forgetting the signs.

Kris

Steps to Narthex Complete

I was surprised the other day when I noticed that the repaired steps at the Mayfair Drive entrance to the narthex had finally been graced with railings. Back in August, I had asked “Where Are the Railings?” so it was gratifying to see that railings had finally been installed.

As I have come to expect of “improvements” at St. Paul’s these days, there is a downside to the new railings. Although they seem very competently installed—they are sturdy and do not look like an afterthought addition—they do not match other railings and seem, well, excessively elaborate, calling attention to themselves, rather than to the building. (A fellow parishioner described their fanciful curlicues as “ froufrou.”)

Here is what the Mayfair Drive entrance to the narthex looks like now:

Mayfair Drive narthex entrance with new railings (click for larger image)

Of course, the railings are not totally dissimilar to the railings on the front steps, on the steps leading from the sidewalk to the Mayfair Drive entrance to the narthex, or on the steps at the entrance near the church office. All have similar balusters, with heavier balusters at the ends. Whereas all the other railings have handrails that terminate in a simple curve—see photo below—the new railings end in ungainly extensions supported by extravagant, curvaceous wrought iron constructions. Rather than looking like appliances one might see on an English country church, the new railings seem more appropriate for a New Orleans whorehouse.

Curved railing on front steps (click for larger image)

Detail of new railing (click for larger image)

Detail of plan for steps (click for larger image)

How do these architecture disasters happen? Plans for the project were posted without comment in the undercroft in September 2010. (See “Good News/Bad News.”) Those plans—see detail at right—carry this note: “WROUGHT IRON HANDRAIL TO MATCH EXISTING” In no way do the new railings conform to that instruction! Of course, as I noted in my post “Construction Progress?” the plans also carry this note: “NEW CONCRETE STEPS, BROOM FINISH, TINT CONCRETE TO MATCH LOWER BUILDING STONE COLOR TYP [typical]” The new steps in no way match the limestone of the building. One wonders if St. Paul’s hired an architect to draw up plans for the steps but saved money by not engaging the architect to oversee construction and assure that it was consistent with the plans.

I am very anxious about the projects being funded by the recent capital campaign. (I plan to discuss this in greater detail in a future post.) The rebuilding of the narthex steps was planned without a call for parishioner input—I would have argued for limestone steps to match other steps to the building, even though the steps being replaced were concrete—was not completed according to the architectural plans, and required at least 15 months after plans were drawn up. Will other projects be executed with equal nonchalance?

Some Unwelcoming Practices

In describing my experience at the St. Paul’s Thanksgiving service—see “Thanksgiving Review”—I failed to mention some things we do that are unwelcoming. I want to redress that oversight here.

Particularly now that we are facing months of cold weather, the cloakroom off the undercroft will be getting a lot of use. Why is it that no one seems to think of turning on the light in the room to make it obvious to everyone, even visitors, what the room is for? Given the location of the Coke machine, it would be easy for someone to think the room is for vending machines. I use the cloakroom a lot, and I usually throw the light switch when I enter it.

This leads me to another observation. Unlike most people, I often wear a hat. Even if I’m not wearing a hat, I may have a book, music, or other baggage with me that I need to park somewhere. Unfortunately, the shelf above the clothes hanger in the cloakroom is often taken up with junk that no one seems capable of finding a place for. This is inconsiderate. Also, there may be mops or other objects in the cloakroom. This is not an inviting environment for member or visitor. The cloakroom should be inviting and functional. It seldom is.

I tried—unsuccessfully, it turns out—to convince Jane Little that she wanted to join me at the Thanksgiving service. Jane spends most of her time in a wheelchair, and being in her wheelchair would certainly have been a prerequisite of her attendance. The obvious place to park a wheelchair in the church is in the first pew in front of the pulpit. The modesty screen is truncated there to allow placement of a wheelchair. I noticed Thanksgiving morning that the end of the piano was nestled into that spot, making it impossible to place a wheelchair there. Such a welcoming gesture!

Conversation with Transition Committee Chair Tonight

The chair of the Transition Committee for our next bishop, the Rev. Nancy Chalfant-Walker, will be hosted by Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh in a program tonight. Nano is well-known by St. Paul’s parishioners, as she recently served as the parish’s interim rector. She now heads the committee that manages the selection and consecration of the next Bishop of Pittsburgh once the slate of nominees is fixed.

Chalfant-Walker will discuss the work of her committee at a program that begins at 7:30 PM at St. James, Penn Hills, 11524 Frankstown Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235-3199.

PEP describes the program this way:

Our program will be a conversation with the chair of the bishop’s transition committee, the Rev. Nan Chalfant-Walker. The transition committee picks up responsibility as soon as the final list of candidates is determined. This committee shapes the way the walk-abouts will be structured and how the electing convention will be run as well as planning the consecration, farewell to Bishop Price and the support of our new bishop as he/she begins to really connect with the diocese. This is YOUR CHANCE to give input on how you would like to see the walk-about sessions go. This will be the main interaction any of us will have with the candidates before our new bishop is elected. Come on Monday and get your 2 cents in!