 |  | Today, I am pleased to introduce to you our new Associate Rector, the Reverend Morgan Mercer Ladd. Mother Morgan served as priest in the roles of Sub-Dean and Canon for Faith Formation at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, NY in the Diocese of Long Island. Her gifts and passions led the development and growth of intergenerational faith formation offerings for the whole of their community and as she assisted the Dean in the administrative leadership of the cathedral community. In addition, Mother Morgan - alongside her Cathedral colleagues - co-founded and most recently served as Formation Program Director for the Center for Spiritual Imagination, a non-profit and new monastic community dedicated to sharing the gifts of contemplative Christianity with the modern world. The community at the Center has only grown over the last four years since its inception, reaching many across the country of all ages who identify as spiritual but not religious and helping to nurture the spiritual lives of the cathedral’s wider community. As we have shared many conversations and after her visit to St. Paul’s a few weeks ago, it became clear that so much of Mother Morgan’s sense of her ministry and giftedness aligns with many of our values and gifts at St. Paul’s as well as my own ideas and hopes for the future, especially as we seek to live into our recently adopted strategic plan in these next few years. Adding her to our team only continues to feel like an unexpected gift of the Holy Spirit for which I am so grateful.
Mother Morgan’s ministry with us begins on Sunday, August 25. We will have a festive coffee hour in her honor that day where she will be joined by her husband Matt and her son Grayson (who will be joining the 4th grade class at St. Paul's Day School this Fall!). Please join me in welcoming her to our community with the loving and warm embrace you all show, in the name of Jesus, to all who come through our doors.
In addition, since Mother Brittany joined our team last June, she has quickly established herself as a joyful, faithful, loving presence in our community. Her impact in just one year’s time is hard to fully capture. I am overjoyed that even with the addition of Mother Morgan, she will continue her ministry in our community. In fact, it will only continue to grow and expand at St. Paul’s where her ministry as the St. Paul’s Day School chaplain is filled with signs of new life and as her work in our church community no doubt will continue to grow, too. In recognition of her dedication and hard work, her ability to build loving and caring relationships with our children and their families (and all of us!), and for all that she does for me and for us that so many do not see, I am pleased to name her an Associate Rector at St. Paul’s as well. She has become a trusted colleague and friend and I am so pleased that will only continue in the future. I, and all of us, are immeasurably blessed to have these two good priests helping to lead the way with us at St. Paul’s.
It is a true testament to the continued vibrant movement in the Holy Spirit in our midst and to the faith and generosity of all of you that our community continues to grow as we seek to live in and share the love of Jesus at St. Paul’s. It is an immeasurable gift to me to get to do that with our team of staff and clergy in this place. And, it is an immeasurable gift to me to get to do so with all of you. Please know how grateful we all are to do this work with all of you who give so much of who you are to serving, worshiping, and loving Jesus who loves us more than we can ask or imagine. We are grateful for you, we love you, and we now look, with you, to a hope-filled future as we continue to build the Kingdom of God on earth in our own corner of God’s creation–all of it led and sustained by the Holy Spirit and with God’s help.
Faithfully,
Fr. Steven
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