Rector's Weekly Report
July 17, 2011

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Marian and I as we continue to deal with the disappearance of her son, David. The space of unknowing, as you can appreciate is very difficult. Marian has wisely gone on temporary leave from her parish as she takes time to grieve what might be and to regain the strength that this ordeal has taken from her. While she is on leave I have been appointed Priest-in-Charge of her parish. The parish is fortunate to have great gifts of both clergy and lay people to carry on her absence so my involvement will be very limited primarily to making sure that schedules are in place to insure that worship services are covered. Again we ask simply that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers in the weeks ahead.

As part of my responsibilities as Regional Dean I am responsible for a sign-out process with clergy who resign or retire from a parish within our region of Fort Sackville. The Rev. Stephen Ashton has resigned as rector of Trinity Parish in Fairview and I met with him to carry out this process on Wednesday morning. Apart from that I have spent several blocks of time attending to office duties. Thank you for your understanding for what has been a reduced presence by me over the past week and know that this will return to normal and that at any time I am available for any pastoral emergency.

In the entryway of the church you may have noticed that we have placed a Suggestion Box. We invite you to make regular use of this  opportunity to suggest ways that we might improve or build on the things we do here at St. Andrew`s. Thanks to Rick Morash for providing the box.

May our lives be a blessing to God`s presence among us.
Rev. Mike