10/13/2022
My Dear Kindred in Christ,
The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that โfor everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.โ It is with deep sorrow that I write to tell you that the time has come to close the Church of the Holy Trinity. Our numbers have dwindled, despite the valiant efforts of our active congregants, until we can no longer sustain the kind of ministry for which God called us to this place. Under the circumstances, the only way for us to continue faithfully responding to that call is to do so as individuals worshipping elsewhere.
As with most matters in the Episcopal Church, the closure of the Church of the Holy Trinity is a process. That process began with several weeks of prayer and conversation among the active members of our congregation about how we might be called to adapt and whether we had the resources (of various kinds) to do so. The past several years have been particularly difficult, not only bringing the challenges of COVID but also removing key members and neighbors from us through death and re-location. The effort to respond faithfully has exhausted us. The conclusion of the congregation was that the time had come to close.
The next step in the process was for me to notify the Bishop. His immediate response was pastoral. Because I already had been scheduled to be absent for September 4th and 11th, the congregation was prepared to gather for Morning Prayer. Instead, on September 4, Bishop Sparks preached and celebrated at Sunday Eucharist in my absence, ministering to the congregation. Afterwards, he met with the congregation to hear its account of the situation and to explain how the process of closing would proceed.
Upon my return on September 18th, the congregation and I discussed arrangements for the following next steps:
โข 10 am on Sunday, October 9, 2022โI will end my ministry as the priest at the Church of the Holy Trinity with a Service of Leave-Taking, presided over by Bishop Sparks. This service will be live streamed via our usual channels.
โข 10 am on Sunday, October 23, 2022โBishop Sparks will preside over a service of secularization for the church property. This service will not be live streamed.
If you are receiving this letter, it is because you have, at some point, been invested in the life of the Church of the Holy Trinity. We invite you, therefore, to honor that investment of love and prayer by joining with us as we draw this ministry to a close.
Once the church property has been secularized, the Diocesan Property and Loan Committee will develop a plan for the disposition of the parishโs belongings. I will be involved in that development, so if there are particular items to which you have a personal connection (for example, a family member donated that item, or your ministry in the parish made use of that item), please let me know in writing. Once such reasonable requests have been honored, every attempt will be made to distribute parish belongings among the other parishes of our diocese so that objects may remain in the ministries for which they are intended.
Part of the plan development will involve ongoing work at 915 N. Olive Street throughout the Fall. The congregation has committed to maintaining the Unity Garden through the end of the growing season. We will maintain the property. We will collect the mail, including ongoing utility bills. We will allow our renter to remain in the rectory as long as the Diocese maintains ownership of the property.
Eventually, the Property and Loan Committee will submit its plan in the form of a resolution to the Standing Committee. Once the Standing Committee has (amended and) approved that resolution, the congregation will be invited to participate in a final vote to approve or reject (not amend) that resolution. Once approved by the congregation, the resolution will come before Diocesan Convention (presumably in Fall of 2023), and, upon its approval by Convention, the parish will have been formally dissolved.
When a ministry has become unsustainable, we may be tempted to view it as a failure. Here I must remind you that, even as we have struggled in recent years, God has worked through us to minister to the hungry and the sick, the lonely and the lost. We have celebrated baptisms, weddings, and funerals. We have sent our children to Summer Camp. We have hosted our local Neighborhood Association. Along the way, God has touched many lives, including our own.
As we go our separate ways, may the time we have spent together as the Church of the Holy Trinity enrich the ministries we engage elsewhere. Godโs call to us has not fallen silent. Go in peace to wherever that call is beckoning you.
Blessings,
Terri+
