Return from Synod

It was a dark and stormy night... delightfully gloomy Pacific Northwest morning in which we received Fr. Daniel, Josephine and little Danny back after their (what seems like) long absence. Josephine's recital at UC Santa Barbara went well: one more step toward her doctorate. Following the recital they went up to Chico for Synod, and returned home yesterday.

Nancy also returned yesterday from Synod, which ended yesterday at noon, arriving back even before the McGraths. The other members of our delegation were still in transit and so we did not see them this morning.

Fr. Daniel gave us a report on Synod (our diocese's annual conference, which he noted as being the diocesan equivalent of our Annual Parish Meeting). He observed that the early days of our province were a rough time, with so much of what is required to run a province and its diocese to be learned by doing, but he also noted that Bishop Provence is an able administrator who now has our diocese running in good order.

(I should add a note here that our bishops, while we expect them to be administrators, are also not allowed to become distant from pastoral care. Our canons, I am told, require our bishops to be the Rector or Vicar of a parish, and so Bishop Provence is the Rector of St. Thomas' in San Francisco.)

Fr. Daniel also reported that a number of excellent candidates were interviewed by the Standing Committee during Synod. As it is the availability of qualified clergy that is the limiting factor on the province's growth, this is good news indeed.

And speaking of growth... there was a sign in the Narthex (later transferred to the Parish Hall) this morning announcing a baby shower to be held in the Parish Hall June 10th. The church family of St. Bartholomew's is soon to welcome an addition.