THE CANTERBURY TALES

Transcription

1 THE CANTERBURY TALES JULY 2018 Gina Kuemmel, Mia and the Reverend Scott Leannah The parish community of St. Thomas of Canterbury welcomed our new rector, Fr. Scott Leannah, and his family on Sunday, July 8 th. Treats and coffee were offered after both the 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM services to afford all parish members an opportunity to personally meet and get to know Fr. Scott and his family.

2 Fr. Scott celebrates his first Eucharist with STOC Fr. Scott greeting parishioners after the 8:00 and 10:00 AM services

3 Gina Kuemmel and Mia meeting STOC parishioners Treats awaiting the celebration!

4 FR. SCOTT S MESSAGE Dear Friends, I am writing this on my fourth day as your Rector in my new office, within your new parish office building (aka the rectory )! This is your parish office building, so please feel free to stop by no need to knock, just come in. If you are familiar with the building, the large open dining/living room space is where Tami, our Parish Secretary, works. It s also an ideal meeting space. My office is in what was the den, and it s ideal for pastoral work, pastoral counseling and spiritual direction, and work at my desk. The rest of the building includes a kitchen, two other meeting areas, and a basement that is partially remodeled and very usable. Your vestry and I plan to make the parish office building fully accessible and so a ramp for the front door is forthcoming. While we do not yet have this building 100% the way we d like it to be, it s coming along wonderfully. I am so grateful to our parish wardens, vestry members, treasurer, and all who have worked so hard to make this transition a reality. What about the space where the offices used to be? Our hope is to transition this area to become an area for fellowship and gathering. Our narthex is not very roomy, to say the least, and so opening up this area seems like a good way for the parish to gain a bit of extra space on the main level. This is currently a work in progress. Tonight we will interview three candidates for the position of Parish Music Director. Each one is very well qualified and I am excited about building a relationship and sharing ministry with our next musician. The truth is I ve been searching for candidates even before I formally started here at St. Thomas. I m excited that we have three candidates so soon after my start date. This is normally a bit of a down time in parish life while people enjoy summer and all it brings. My hope is to get started by getting to know you all and listening to you and giving you a chance to get to know me. To that end, there is a sign-up sheet on an easel in the narthex. I d like to ask you to please sign up for a time to meet with me we can get together in my office

5 or at your home. For planning purposes, I m guessing 45 minutes, give or take, will be enough time. My goal is to meet with each household in the parish. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. A bit about me: I am a Wisconsin native, having grown up in Sheboygan. I did my undergraduate degree at Marquette University, double-majoring in English and Philosophy and minoring in Theology. I completed a Masters of Divinity degree at St. Francis Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Rembert Weakland on May 22, I served in three Roman Catholic parishes in both Walworth and Milwaukee counties, and I was also assigned as Co- Director of Ministry to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for the archdiocese. I have celebrated mass and preached in English, Sign Language and Spanish. In November of 2003, I was received as a priest in the Episcopal Church and began ministry at St. Mary s in Dousman in December of Three years later I was blessed beyond belief when Gina Kuemmel and I were married. St. Mary s parish was growing steadily throughout this time and so in the fall of 2008 (at the start of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression), the parish began a capital campaign with the goal of building a new parish church. We completed the church and dedicated it in April of Gina and I adopted Mia, our daughter, in June of She is now 12 years old and attends school at St. Gregory the Great on 60 th /Oklahoma. My last Sunday at St. Mary s was on June 10. At that time, St. Mary s had grown from being 36 th to the 5 th largest parish in the diocese. It continues to be a vibrant parish in our diocese. My hope and prayer for our time together here at St. Thomas is that we can all grown more deeply in faith, hope and love. I hope we can figure out what we re called to do and be here on this corner, and strengthen all of the ministries that are part of this great parish. I want to get to know you, learn from you and listen to you. I am hopeful that we can grow spiritually, in terms of ministries, and numerically. Can I ask you to please join me in parish for the life, vitality and growth of our parish? Thank you and God bless you! More from me in the not-so-distant future! Fr. Scott

6 DEACON S NEWS AND NOTES By now Summerfest is over, Father Scott has joined us and the 79 th General Convention is a moment in time! In future Tales I will give you stories and details of my time in Austin and decisions made during the convention. July 18 th is the Executive Council conference call to accept the diocesan budget for 2019 that will then go to our diocesan convention for approval. I will be at Nicholson House the 20 th and 27 th. If you are in the area please stop in for tea and a tour. Again, my New Year s Resolution: Wonder as a noun, verb, idiom or adjective. Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. E.B. White Peace and Prayers. Deacon Marge

7 DIOCESAN BEAT OUR DIOCESAN CONVENTION October 13 th 2018 St. John s Northwestern Military Academy, Delafield, WI 9:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. Nominations for open offices are due to the Nomination Committee August 13 th, per the Canons, 60 days prior to the convention. Here are two more open offices: Trustees of Funds and Endowments and Title IV Disciplinary Board. Please consider running for these offices. The roles and responsibilities of Trustees of Funds and Endowments: The Trustees of Funds and Endowments would like to provide information to any potential new board member prior to accepting a nomination to serve on the board. The board wishes to share our philosophy and commitment to serve the Diocese of Milwaukee. We are a working board. Potential board members will be better able to serve with knowledge of these expectations. The Board meets four times per year for regular meetings. These meetings are held in January, April, July and October and the current time is the fourth Thursday of these months at 10am. The meetings last about two hours. Three of these meetings are held at Bishop Nicholson House in Milwaukee and one is held in the Madison area. The above meeting dates/places are reviewed by the board at its first meeting each year and are adjusted to meet the needs of the majority of board members. Each board member becomes a part of one or more operating committees. These committees assume responsibility to achieve our goals as determined by the TFE board annually. As our goals change each year, so will these committees. Each committee determines its necessary meeting schedules. Additional time is required by Board members for these committee meetings. The current committees are: Communications/Marketing - Create programs to assist in our mission/vision. Innovative Investments Develop and recommend investment alternatives. Research Review administrative fees and ROI data to maintain competitive position. Planned Giving Provide education and training of TFE members which will allow them to introduce this topic to their home parish.

8 The board has an annual review/goal setting meeting on the first Saturday in November, usually at a parish mid-way between Milwaukee and Madison. The newly elected members, from convention, are expected to attend this meeting. This special meeting usually starts at 9am and concludes by 3pm. Your faithful attendance at these meetings will ensure the ongoing success of Trustees. The role and responsibilities of the Title IV Disciplinary Board: By virtue of their vows at ordination, clergy accept responsibilities and accountabilities for doctrine, discipline, worship and obedience. Title IV is the (national) canon of the Episcopal Church that deals with ecclesiastical discipline with regard to these accountabilities and responsibilities, and requires each diocese to create and maintain a court to be known as the Disciplinary Board, consisting of not less than seven members. The members shall be both priests/deacons and lay persons, with clergy having a majority but not by more than one member. Members serve three year terms. Within 60 days of each diocesan convention, the Disciplinary Board convenes to elect a president for the following year. Other than that, the work of this body depends on whether or not there are matters under the purview of Title IV to come before the Disciplinary Board. Also, the diocesan convention committee has selected this year s DIOMIL READ book for the continued discussion about racial reconciliation. This year the 2018 Diocesan Convention will discuss Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving. I have an extra copy for anyone who would like to read it. PEACE.

9 JULY JUBILATIONS ~ Thoughts from your Senior Warden I ve always loved July, and not just because it is my birthday month. I love the fact that July is full on summer. June always has those last days of school and August welcomes the first days of school, but July sits there filled with summer possibilities. This July is no different. For St. Thomas this July means the start of a new rector and all the possibilities Fr. Scott brings to STOC. As I write this Fr. Scott has completed his first week with us and is preparing to celebrate his first masses with us. He has set up his office and has sat in on interviews for a new music director. Things are moving full speed ahead and I am excited by that. As Senior Warden I want to make sure all your questions are answered, and that the parish continues to stay informed of all the things that are going on at STOC. Part of that information is making sure you know about compensation regarding Fr. Scott. As we stated previously he will maintain his current home. By doing that it leaves the rectory open to new possibilities as you can see by the administrative offices being moved over there. What this also means is that we need to provide Fr. Scott a housing allowance that is increased from what we paid Fr. Mark because Fr. Scott is living in his own home. There are other increases as well; Fr. Scott has additional years of experience, so his rate of pay is higher which in turn increases the pension contribution. Fr. Scott has insurance that is himself plus one, so that cost is higher; but you should know that Fr. Scott also pays 10% of his health insurance cost, something we have not had previously. These are additional expenses, and they are all things the vestry examined when we went through the process of calling a new priest. I know some of you are numbers people and will want to examine this to the penny, and I welcome that, we will gladly provide you with financials, like any other month, but I made the choice, for the sake of the Tale, to only outline things briefly. Other information you should be aware of is that St. Thomas will receive Development Funds from the diocese, in the amount of $40,000 a year. WHY? The diocese recognizes what an amazing place St. Thomas of Canterbury is. They have seen the things we can do and want to continue to encourage us to grow beyond what we have done before so that we can thrive in ways only God has imagined for us. The funds will come monthly and have been committed for a period of at least 5 years. Initially these funds will help cover our new expenses, but

10 eventually the hope is they will allow us to be Christ in the world and explore all that God calls us to do. This is only the beginning. I can t wait to see where we go. I would be remiss if I didn t spent part of this column recognizing how easy this transition has been because so many of you have stepped up and asked, what do you need, how can I help? Thank you to the vestry for stepping up and working tirelessly to get things done whether it was a long vestry meeting, moving the office or closing up the church, or any other number of tasks, they were there. Thank you to Pam Kasper for her continued dedication to putting out the Tale each month and being around, camera at the ready. Thanks to Bob Stewart for taking on the project to repurpose the old office space (especially since it means he s working with the Village of Greendale!). Thanks to Deacon Marge for serving as a bulletin proofreader and for working to make sure everything with services ran well. Thanks to all the ministries that continued to move forward to make sure things continued uninterrupted and allowed things here at STOC to seem normal. Thanks to Kris Reed for serving as our treasurer and our tech support, especially through the office move. Special thanks to my family who has done all sorts of crazy things to help out in these last few months and not blinked when I said that I was again going to be at church. And a most special thanks to Tammy Wyman who has been working tirelessly to make this transition work. Tammy has willingly done whatever it takes to make things move forward. She has served as a great sounding board these last few months. Her insight and wisdom (as well as her furniture finding skills) have been so helpful. I know, without a doubt, that I missed someone in my listing and it is not on purpose. Know that I appreciate everything big and small that has been done to help get us through this transition. I realize more and more each and every day how amazing the people of STOC are. As always, I welcome you to contact me with your concerns, comments, and questions. Feel free to talk to me before or after services, or call, text ( ) or (Margaret.Done@gmail.com). I look forward to continuing to work with each of you. Peace and Blessings, Margaret

11 LITTLE THINGS (Additional Thoughts from Margaret) Little things, for many those are the things they remember. My brother in law and his wife opened a B&B in Vermont. We were able to stay there last summer for a night and I still can t get the amazing Vermont made soap that they have in all the guest rooms out of my mind a little thing, but it had a BIG impact. I found out that the little things we hold dear here at St. Thomas also have a BIG impact on others. Earlier this month the office received a call with an interesting request. There was a bride requesting communion bread from STOC to use at her wedding. This young lady is not a member at STOC, but she has been here for mass as a visitor. She told me she would even take the recipe and make it herself, if we would share it with her. Now, I have a copy of the recipe because I intend, one day when life slows down a bit, to help make it, so I know from talking with women wiser than I that it can be a bit tricky to make the first time or two. I put in a call to Claudia Stewart and asked if she happened to have time to make communion bread for this bride (who needed enough for 150 guests!). Claudia didn t hesitate to say yes, and I was quickly able to tell this bride that she would have this little thing as a part of her wedding. When I told her this she was overjoyed, telling me how special this would make her wedding. It s those little things we take for granted that are the little things that make a big impact on others. What a wonderful, unexpected way to be Christ in the world. Thank You for sharing your talents, and STOC s tradition with others Claudia!

12 ANNOUNCEMENT SUBMISSIONS Do you have an announcement to submit to the bulletin? If you have computer access, please start using our online submission form found on the website. To find it go to Click on the Contact Us tab. Page down to the submission form and enter your information. This form will submit your announcement right to the office. Since it will be typed already it will improve accuracy and speed of inserting submissions. No computer access, NO PROBLEM! Just fill out a form in the church office! NEWS FROM THE OUTREACH COMMITTEE SCHOOL SUPPLY COLLECTION Yes, it s that time of year again. Our annual school supply collection is on through August 5 th. This year our school items will be going to the Next Door Foundation and will be used to provide needed school supplies for K4-Primary grades. Most needed items are: book bags, writing paper, pencils (colored and black), paintbrushes, crayons and glue sticks. Thank you for making a difference in a child s life!

13 JULY/AUGUST OUTREACH Our Next Generation provides quality academic support, social enrichment, tutoring/mentoring, homework help and personal leadership development programs, all focusing on one-on-one relationships. When students arrive at the campus every day, they know exactly what they can expect: a satisfying and nutritious meal, an exciting and engaging lesson with a small group of their peers, and a calm supportive learning environment in which to complete their homework. Young people can achieve success. Our Next Generation inspires them to imagine more for themselves and gives them the tools to pursue the opportunities available. If they can see the possibilities, nothing can stop them. For 25 years, Our Next Generation has been committed to sharing their time and talent to support the youth of the Milwaukee area community. Last year ONG touched the lives of more than 1,000 youth and their families. Volunteers have donated 100,000 hours of their time running these various programs for the students. All this time and talent is supported by your treasure. Our July/August Outreach donation helps to support this wonderful organization. Please be generous. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, tutor or volunteer, please call ONG (LaToya Sykes, President and CEO) at Thank you for sharing. Blessings! RUMMAGE SALE Due to a lack of a sufficient number of volunteers, the planning rummage sale has been cancelled. Our thanks to Dee Dixon for trying to move things ahead, but alas, sometimes things just don t fall into place. All things have a lifespan; perhaps this one has run its course.

14 SPOTLIGHT ON MINISTRIES St. Thomas of Canterbury Community Garden Mark and Joan Lamson along with Noelle Gehlhaart have been the driving force behind the dream and reality of the St. Thomas of Canterbury Community Garden. In addition to laying the groundwork for the garden and obtaining a grant to planning and constructing the garden itself, these three individuals along with their committee (Donna Celsor, John & Linda Cram and Sally Gregg) have made the garden a reality. The community garden is in its second year and a huge success. This year saw additional plots, classes offered to the gardeners and a coveted slot on the Greendale Garden Gazing Tour. A strong connection has been forged with the Greendale community, particularly the Food and Nutrition Group (FANG) which is a division of the Health Department of Greendale. The Community Garden is a welcome addition to Greendale and St. Thomas. We are blessed to have this group of individuals ministering to the community s health and nutritional needs. Joan, Mark and Noelle at last season's end of year gardeners' cookout

15 COMMUNITY GARDEN NEWS The St. Thomas of Canterbury Community Garden will be part of this year s Greendale Garden Gazing Walk. The 24 th Annual Garden Gazing Walk will be held on Saturday, July 14, 2018 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon starting at the Greendale Gazebo. The tour is free. Joan and Mark Lamson will be available for tours/questions/answers for the gardeners and people attending the Garden Gazing. An updated Community Garden Information handout will be available soon ~ hopefully in time for the garden tour. Water and Fencing Hats off and big applause" to Joan and Mark Lamson for all their hard work in getting the underground water system set up and installed, ordering and hanging the Greendale Community Garden sign and staining the fence! New Garden Sign Greendale High School Art teacher, Pam Merkel, and student artist, Cecilia Brozynski, made the garden sign a reality just in time for the Garden Gazing Walk. A big thank you goes out to these two community members for their creativity and hard work. New Garden Sign Plants are popping!

16 JULY/AUGUST CELEBRATIONS BIRTHDAYS ANNIVERSARIES Kathleen Beuscher July 10 Scott & Donna Celsor July 11 Ross Worzalla July 10 Mark & Irene Slyfield July 15 Angelina Mecikalski July 12 Michael & Terry Greiten July 16 Brian Klumb July 15 Roy & Margaret Wyman July 22 Karen Leszcynski July 17 Donald & Judith Stormoen July 25 Fred Pederson July 19 Paul & Erika Stoving August 2 Shelly Wawrzonek July 19 Matthew & Margaret Done August 9 Margaret Done July 20 Thomas & Kathi Beinlich August 12 John Zick July 30 Barb Miller July 31 Bridget Done August 3 Lorraine Herzstock August 5 Brett Beinlich August 6 Jessica Wigand August 6 Patricia Brunelli August 8 Lukas Carstens August 8 Randy Schraw August 9