Trinité Spring 2018

VOLUME 13 N 2

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN CATHEDRAL IN PARIS

“MY GOD, THY TABLE NOW IS SPREAD”

SPRING 2018

Contents The Magazine of The American Cathedral in Paris SPRING 2018 – VOLUME 13 N 2

Dean and Rector The Very Reverend Lucinda Rawlings Laird Cathedral Canon The Reverend Mary E. Haddad Canon for Music Zachary Ullery

Editor Judith Bell Associate Editor Nancy Janin Editorial Advisor Walter Wells

Art Direction/Design Anastasia Komnou

Please send comments to: publications@americancathedral.org

The American Cathedral in Paris 23 Avenue George V 75008 Paris France Tel: +33 (0) 1 53 23 84 00

www.americancathedral.com

p. 4 p. 6 p. 9 p. 12 p. 16 p. 21

– Dean’s Letter – The daunting task of finding a new Bishop – A Catholic looks at Anglicanism – A legacy of love and cheerful giving – Spring is in the air, and love is in our history – Cathedral teens join a Junior Guild mission to clothe children in need p. 24 – Godly Play – Sunday school attendance is on the rise p. 28 – “Je ne parle que le français, mais la Cathédrale Américaine est mon église”

Letter from the Dean

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I BIND UNTO MYSELF TODAY THE STRONG NAME OF THE TRINITY,

BY INVOCATION OF THE SAME, THE THREE IN ONE, AND ONE IN THREE. (Hymn 370) We are the American Cathedral in Paris – that’s how we are known, and that’s what our website says. It’s an easy way to recognize us. But our real name is The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, and before we were a cathedral we were the Church of the Holy Trinity.

Trinity is a fairly common name for Episcopal Churches (I think it’s the second most popular, after Christ Church). But I wonder if the founders of our church gave it much thought? They named the Church after a doctrine, and a name and description of God that actually appears nowhere in Scripture. Every Trinity Sunday when I struggle with my sermon I wish they had chosen something less complicated (so that perhaps I could be absent, or ask someone else to preach on Trinity Sunday).

Sunday School descriptions comparing the Trinity to a three-leaf clover, or ice/water/steam are not particularly helpful in the long run. Three ways of seeing God? We poor humans can only stand in awe and are

reduced to babble when we try to name or describe God – although there are hundreds and thousands of ways we try. But three-persons-in-one, or an undivided Trinity, is hard to grasp.

I can’t say I have reached a full understanding, but over the years I have come to value this naming of God. It’s not just each of the “persons” – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier – although I can appreciate those. I don’t pray to the Trinity, but I can pray to God the Father, through Christ, in the unity of the Spirit. But what’s really important is the space in between, the connections, the relationship.

Relationship. The doctrine of the Trinity tells us that God is about relationship. That relationship is an integral part of God’s own nature.

In the fourth century, the Cappadocian Fathers talked about the flow between the persons of the Trinity as a “circle dance” (perichoresis) between the three.

As Richard Rohr says, “they were saying that whatever is going on in God is a flow that’s like a dance; and God is not just the dancer, God is the dance itself!”

A dance. An unbreakable, eternal relationship of love.

Mutuality. AND, as we discover in Christ, a dance we are invited to join. That’s the God we worship.

Three-in-one and one-in-three. God is about unity, one whole coming out of separate parts; one dance, not separate dancers.

So we are named Trinity. And it makes sense, does it not, that we must be about relationship, and about unity – and about inviting others to join the dance?

So we are ecumenical (Joe Coyle puts it better than I ever could in his article in this issue). We welcome everyone, absolutely everyone – so we say - and we do our best, our imperfect best, to live this out. And the deeper we plunge into the mystery of the Trinity, the more we find we must widen our circle. Not just other Christians. Not just people of other faiths. Everyone, absolutely everyone. We promise in our Baptismal

Covenant to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” (emphasis mine). We invite everyone to join the dance.

The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is many things for many people, and we do scores of things.

Maybe you got married here. Maybe you love the music. Maybe the Cathedral community supported you in a difficult time, in grief or mourning. Maybe your children are in Sunday School here, or you spent a few years here long ago when you were in Paris and you cherish the memory. It doesn’t matter what or how or who. These are individual pieces. What’s important is coming together to find the wholeness that reflects the eternal Trinity. It’s about all of us – past, present and future - and even those who never heard of us.

Our mission, our vocation, is to invite everyone to join the dance of love.

May the blessing of the holy and undivided Trinity be yours this day and forever.

Yours in Christ, Lucinda+

By Nancy Janin

congregations, many of those of the Convocation and of various other Convocation-related entities. We range in age from our 30s to our 70s.

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“We seek someone to challenge us and be challenged by us, someone to care for us and be cared for by us …”

The daunting task of finding a new Bishop When in the fall of 2016 Bishop Whalon announced his decision to resign in 2019, it was hard to take the news in. It seemed a long way off and for most parishioners Bishop Pierre, who became Bishop in 2001, was the only Bishop of the Convocation they had ever known. Yet, in its continually surprising fashion, time has flown and here we are in the spring of 2018 faced with discerning who will pick up the crozier and lead the Convocation as our next Bishop in Charge.

appointed by the Council of Advice and confirmed by the Convention delegates. Our Presiding Bishop must approve our choice, but it is ours to make.

The first steps of the process are the work of the Search and Nomination Committee. Just as the 12-member jury in the US is meant to be a representation of the general populace, we 12 committee members are meant to mirror the diverse membership of the churches and missions of the Convocation In the Episcopal Church, unlike of Episcopal Churches in Europe. most other denominations, Amongst us are a banker, a tax parishioners have the privilege and collector, a lawyer, an aeronautical the responsibility of choosing their engineer, a physician, a health care bishops, not directly but through specialist, a writer, and of course PHOTO OF CROZIER AND MITRE BY FELICITY HANDFORD representatives -- in the Convocation, clergy; we are expats (long-term) the Council of Advice elected by delegates from each and natives, live in seven countries, worship in nine congregation at the annual Convocation Convention, Convocation congregations (and one in the US), and have and the Bishop Search and Nomination Committee, served in virtually every leadership role in our respective

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A task that requires focus, planning, communication, hundreds of hours of work, and a lot of prayer Although fairly straightforward, the many steps to go from posting a “job” opening to choosing three or four candidates for the Council of Advice’s decision require focus, planning, communication, hundreds of hours of work, and a lot of prayer. Some steps are consecutive, some can be done in parallel. Some require consultations of the committee as a whole while others fall to teams or individuals. Some require writing skills and others, technical abilities. In short, the process is both logical and complex, and it’s a bit overwhelming too, particularly as this is the first time any of us have discerned a call to the episcopate. For these reasons, the Council of Advice engaged a search consultant, a priest who is now part of the national church’s transition ministry team. He helps keep us on track and on time.

After meeting in early December to get to know each other, our first step was discovering what parishioners seek in their new Bishop, what is their vision for their churches and the Convocation. Meetings in many parishes and missions allowed participants to explore these ideas but in the interest of hearing from everyone including those who had not been able to attend a meeting, the committee asked each congregation to send out a link to a survey we designed to give us a fuller understanding. We were pleased to have received about 200 responses, and from every congregation.

Next, during January, we wrote a profile of the Convocation to communicate what we had heard from parishioners, to share the Strategic Plan for the Convocation that was adopted at the October 2017 convention, to give some history of our churches and of the Convocation, and to address the practicalities of serving as Bishop with the travel expectations and information about living in Paris. We designed a dedicated search website (www.europebishopsearch.org) where

BISHOP PIERRE WHALON

candidates could read the profile and download our application form. Much like a U.S. college application, ours asked for responses to five questions in addition to the usual CV, motivation letter, OTM profile (Office of Transitional Ministry personal profile kept with the national church by every clergy member), and, of course, references.

A large number of applications poured in, from candidates of enormously varied backgrounds With the website launched on February 5, it was time to advertise (although we did a bit of “watch this space” advertising beforehand so that candidates could get started

The daunting task of finding a new Bishop

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By Joseph Coyle

immediately after the website went live). Our consultant worked the internal Episcopal Church communication networks; we advertised in The Church Times, which reaches over 20,000 Anglican clergy members; Archdeacon Walter Baer plugged us on the Convocation website and in the blog, and we each contacted members of the clergy we knew who might be interested and/or to ask them to contact their fellow clergy who might be appropriate.

group of candidates. A couple of weeks later the search committee will gather for two days to come to a consensus on the three or four candidates it will present to the Council of Advice. And then, after eight months and many hours and prayers, our committee’s work will be done, except for the celebration of the time we have spent together in this effort and the privilege of having met so many exceptional clergy from around the world, doing inspiring things for our Church.

Then we waited. But not for long. The first application came in just a few days later and by the time the application period closed on March 9 we had received a large number, many more than we had expected or hoped for, from candidates of enormously varied backgrounds but all reflecting an inspiring excitement about exploring with us the Convocation’s vision and how they might serve. The euphoria over the large number of applications was tempered by the challenge of reading and reflecting on a daunting amount of written materials in addition to perusing other sources. In a lengthy phone conference we reached consensus about those who would continue in discernment and got in touch with every applicant within the next few days.

After eight months, the baton will be passed to the Council of Advice and the Bishop Transition Committee for the last steps in the discernment process

As of this spring, the committee is undertaking the same exercise again, but with our attention concentrated on the smaller number of candidates remaining in the process and with more information about each of them. We broke into teams of three and interviewed several candidates via video conferencing. Each team asked the candidate 10 set questions so that we would have some common ground when comparing them, in addition to special questions relating to the candidate. Before the calls the teams dug deeply into the application, into the candidate’s church website (if applicable), and read and listened to sermons.

Recordings of the video conferences were shared with the committee so that we could get to know the other candidates as well as we got to know those we interviewed ourselves. We will use these video conferences and other information, including reference checks, to decide on an even smaller group of candidates whom we will invite to remain in the process.

Discernment will continue with a retreat to be held in late May. Thanks to funding from the national church, the Board of Foreign Parishes and the Council of Advice, the committee will have the chance to spend several days together in deeper conversations with the small remaining

At that time we pass the baton to the Council of Advice and the Bishop Transition Committee. In the fall issue of Trinité you will hear from Anne Swardson, co-chair of this committee, which is charged with introducing the final candidates and their spouses to the Convocation (through visits to France, Germany and Italy in late September), organizing the election in late October at the Convocation Convention in Waterloo, helping the new Bishop and family in their move to Paris, organizing the Consecration of the new Bishop and celebrating the eighteen years of Bishop Pierre’s service among us.

From October 2016 to April 2019, two and a half years of reflection, of planning, of discernment – a long time from our perspective, but not from God’s.

Please come celebrate the ministry of Bishop Pierre and that of our next Bishop in Charge.

Paris, April 5-6, 2019.

Nancy Janin, a long-time parishioner who now lives in London, is Associate Editor of Trinité.

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Finding comfort in the realistic middle

A Catholic looks at Anglicanism “I am ecumenical!” These three words rang out defiantly and repeatedly at a funeral service last summer at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, New York. The deceased was Jean Lanier, a lifelong practicing Catholic and an American Cathedral parishioner with his wife, Judith, an Episcopalian.

The speaker was their son Patrick, retelling a rousing tale.

“When I was 10 years old, we moved to Paris, and I enrolled in a Jesuit school. Papa had always taught us not to associate with any particular Christian denomination. ‘When asked, he said, answer with pride that you are ECUMENICAL!!’ My school had mass every Wednesday morning, and at that first one, Communion comes around, and it’s my turn. The priest recognizes me as a new student and asks, ‘Are you Catholic?,’ to which I reply with a little more irreverence than I should have: ‘No! I am ecumenical!’

He pulled back the holy bread, and asked me to regain my seat. I was then sent to his office for an interrogation. ‘Have you been baptized – yes – where – in the Catholic Church –first communion? – yes – where? – in the Catholic Church – well then, you are Catholic. It is settled. – No! I am ecumenical! I am just

as comfortable in the Protestant church.’ We were stuck – the matter was relayed on to the Head Priest of the school and they told me that he would be calling my parents that night ….

“The phone rang and the next hour I watched Papa pacing around the apartment engaged in a theological debate of which I understood very little …. He was having the time of his life. Finally, he hung up and said ‘O.K., they will give you communion now. But when you go up there for the first time, please do not rub it in. Be humble. Close your eyes. Turn off your mind – and open your heart.’ ”

The Catholic saints inspire, as do Anglicanism’s words and music There, but for lacking the guts of Jean Lanier, go I. His example, as a Christian, humanitarian and independent thinker, will always inspire me. Lately it has helped me think hard about a more specific aspect of his ecumenism: What inspires me, as a Catholic, about

A Catholic looks at Anglicanism

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Anglicanism? There are always the words and music: the Book of Common Prayer, Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Anglican chant, the Wesleys. It’s not just that all these are so good; it’s that they deepen my spiritual life.

(On the Rome side, it’s the star saints, from St. Peter through St. Francis of Assisi, who have inspired me since childhood.)

But even more deeply compelling for me is a certain productive tension between the freedom of Anglican thought and the authority of Catholic dogma. This is no simple duality. I believe that the beating heart of Christian ecumenism is where Anglo-Catholicism meets Roman Catholicism. It is at this point where ecumenism is already far advanced. And it is from this point that the spirit of Christian unity may one day radiate out to all Christians.

particularly Catholics who are divorced and remarried or are gay.

I am not comfortable with either extreme. For me, the one lives in a utopian dream world, the other in a dystopian basement. I am most comfortable in what I consider the realistic middle, in a kind of 21st century via media, something that is as old in Anglicanism as Elizabeth I. If you take away the “Anglo” and the “Roman” and replace then with “north” and “south,” you can see the cultural contrast right away. So Anglicanism is more formal and starched in its liturgy and traditional in its music, and less formal and authoritarian in its magisterium or teaching authority. This tracks to the more northern, individualist style. At the same time, Roman Catholicism is Latin: more relaxed in its liturgy and communal in its acceptance of authority; it is modern in its hymnody and stricter and more defensive in its magisterium, still fending off the shock of the Reformation.

Catholics are putting their consciences first, dogma second. There are over 200 gay-friendly Catholic churches in the U.S. Many divorced and remarried Catholics are reportedly receiving communion despite admonitions not to by the hierarchy. This is, for me, in the spirit of John Henry Newman, a leader of the Oxford Movement that led Anglicanism back toward Catholic sacramental practice. Newman jumped ship and became a Roman Catholic, then a Cardinal. One of his most famous quotes: “I drink to the Pope, but my conscience first.”

Canterbury and Rome have more in common than either has with evangelical Protestantism

For me the most interesting things are going on here at this innermost ring of ecumenism. Some examples:

POPE PAUL’S EPISCOPAL RING

Clichés rule here. Roman Catholicism appears to the popular mind as overbearingly dogmatic and grumpy, Anglicanism as over-accommodating and wimpy. I believe that underneath these banalities is a far more complicated reality. For me there is a spectrum of values that, like politics, runs from far left to far right. At the far left is Progressive Christianity, a.k.a. post-theist Christianity, which attempts to make religion more user friendly to the modern secular mind. In doing so, I believe it substitutes niceness for depth, therapy for tragedy. It shows up at the far left of Anglicanism/ Episcopalianism. At the far right is Roman Catholic traditionalism, which is stubbornly enclosed and unwelcoming. As Pope Francis himself has noted, it rejects the people who need the Church most,

– At the end of Vatican II, in 1966, Pope Paul removed his episcopal ring and gave it to the Archbishop of Canterbury. That ring stays at the Archbishop’s seat, Lambeth Palace, and is worn by whoever is the current Archbishop whenever he visits Rome.

– The Episcopal Church is filling up with Catholics and vice versa. (See “Swimming the Tiber, Swimming the Thames,” Trinité, Fall 2013.) Catholics have long been the second most numerous group worshipping at the Cathedral.

– Vatican II put to rest the teaching that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation, accepting that the church of Christ is not exclusively coextensive with the Catholic Church.

– Pope Francis “is experimenting with a much more Anglican model for how the Catholic Church might operate – in which the church’s traditional teachings are available for use but not required, and different dioceses and different countries may gradually develop away from each other theologically and otherwise,” wrote Catholic columnist Ross Douthat recently in the New York Times.

– In line with this papal experiment, contemporary

Canterbury and Rome, in short, have more in common than either has with evangelical Protestantism, right down to dueling claims of apostolic succession.

My experience with Episcopalians colors my views, of course. My first Episcopalian friend, one of my closest in life, whom I met when I was 17, was an arrogant class snob but the most loyal of friends—and funny. I spent five years on the board of an Episcopal school in New York, which our son, Alex, attended; I found there Episcopal clergy who were humble and devoted their lives to others.

As a writer, I have my own personal heroes and both were cradle Episcopalians. One was John Cheever, still my favorite writer of fiction, whose short stories distilled the sorrows of the Episcopal upper middle class

in the New York suburbs. His reigning imagery is light, which I came to see as a metaphor for grace.

The other was Murray Kempton, possibly the most respected New York newspaper writer in my lifetime.

He loved sinners. He befriended the families of mafia dons and never betrayed their confidences. He wrote gorgeously. (Try to imagine a tabloid journalist’s prose being compared to the magisterial 18th-century style of historian Edward Gibbon.) If he missed a Sunday service, he would peddle his bike around to the parish house of the Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch on Manhattan’s Upper West Side during the week to deliver his offering. All the media and political swells attended his funeral. Per his written orders, only English Renaissance hymns were played, and no eulogies were allowed. And, like Jean Lanier, he was ecumenical.

I like to talk up the rewards of belonging to two different church communities. For Sigun and me, it is always Catholic and Episcopalian. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, where we spend our summers, the Catholic Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is an easy choice, being three blocks away. So is Holy Faith Episcopal, also three blocks away. It calls itself Anglo-Catholic. For more of a change, there is the other Episcopal church in town, St. Bede’s. A weekly standout: Sunday’s noon mariachi mass in Spanish.

The overarching lesson here comes from a Trappist monk named Thomas Keating, a favorite among Episcopalians, who recommends that we avoid overidentification with our own religious tribe. He asks: “Are you so enamored with your religion that you have a naïve loyalty that cannot see the real faults that are present in a particular faith community?”

Amen to that. For all my commitment to the Catholic, Roman and Anglo both, the theologian who guides me most in religion is Reinhold Niebuhr, a Lutheran, because he understood human nature better than anyone else I could find in my lifetime. Except one: the political philosopher Isaiah Berlin, a Jewish atheist.

Joseph Coyle, a retired Senior Editor at Time Inc’s Money Magazine, contributes frequently to Trinité.

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At Home and in the World

OUR

MISSION OUR

MISSION

By Rose Reynes

At Home and in the World

Committee. I formally joined the Committee in April 2015 as a representative for Amélie’s Angels – each member of the M&O Committee acts as a representative for the missions we support. I submitted a proposal to the Committee for the Cathedral to become a partner for the building of the school, which was expected to take five years.

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Together with Amélie’s Angels, we have built a school for 250 children in Pacasse, Haiti

Construction began in 2015 and has unfolded in three phases. During Phase I, which was completed by the end of 2016, the foundations were laid and the first two classrooms were built. Phase II, carried out in 2017, saw the addition of seven classrooms, as well as a teachers’ room and a principal’s office. The finishing touches, such as electricity, paint and toilets, are being added as part of the final phase in 2018.

A legacy of love and cheerful giving Did you know that, as a member of the American Cathedral, 10 percent of your financial contributions to the Cathedral are allocated to Mission & Outreach (M&O)? M&O supports missions both in the local Paris community and internationally which fulfill at least one of three objectives: social justice, education, and humanitarian aid. Each year, the Cathedral provides support to approximately 10 missions, and over the past three years, one of these missions has been Amélie’s Angels.

Amélie’s Angels was set up by my mother Jessie Jewitt in October 2013 in memory of her daughter, my beloved sister, Amélie Le Moullac, whose young life was cut short on the 14th of August, 2013 in an accident while riding her bicycle in San Francisco. Amélie loved to give presents, she loved children, and she loved France.

With this inspiration, Jessie created Amélie’s Angels as a fund dedicated to bringing the gifts of education, food, clothing, toys, and most importantly love and laughter, to the children of Haiti. Associated with St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, California, and supported by the M&O Committee at the American Cathedral in Paris, Amélie’s Angels has been working

in partnership with Episcopal Church La Confession de St. Pierre in Pacasse, Haiti, to bring these gifts to approximately 250 children. Initially, Amélie’s Angels supported education by funding teachers’ salaries and providing school supplies, but quickly realized that the children were attending school in a makeshift classroom in the village’s church, and decided in early 2015 to build a nine-classroom school.

At that same time, I was approached by Thomas Girty, former chair of the M&O Committee, to attend an M&O meeting and present Amélie’s Angels to the

DEDICATION CEREMONY FOR THE “ECOLE CONFESSION DE ST. PIERRE,” LED BY PÈRE NOÉ BERNIER

PÈRE NOÉ BERNIER WITH JESSIE JEWITT, AMÉLIE’S MOTHER, AND CHARLES LE MOULLAC, AMÉLIE’S BROTHER

UNVEILING THE SCHOOL’S PLAQUES

In January 2018, my mother and brother, Charles Le Moullac, traveled to Pacasse for the dedication of the school. As on prior trips, they were welcomed by Révérend Père Noé Bernier, who looks after 10 churches in Haiti, including La Confession de St. Pierre in Pacasse, and who is currently on the shortlist of candidates for next bishop of Haiti. On Sunday, January 21, Père Noé celebrated mass and performed 55 baptisms! Reflecting on the experience, Jessie remarked, “The service lasted four hours, though I was mesmerized the entire time.

I was immediately struck by the faith and joy of the people, as they sang and danced throughout the entire service. Our common bond that day was the Episcopal

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A legacy of love and cheerful giving

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liturgy and our shared faith. My favorite part of the service was the offertory, when the women proudly processed down the aisle, bearing gifts of fruit, live poultry, sugar cane, and whatever they had to offer in lieu of money. The service was truly beautiful and inspiring.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.”

According to Charles, “The highlight of this trip was witnessing the sense of community in Pacasse and seeing how much the school is a gathering place, not just for education, but for other activities as well. The school is located right next to the church, and together, they are the heart of the village. While Amélie is physically gone, her giving spirit – or as my Haitian friends call it, “lespri” – is now forever ingrained in the fabric of Pacasse.”

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January 21, 2018, marked a culmination of the efforts of Amélie’s Angels and its partners. The total cost of building the school amounted to €57,000, of which the Cathedral contributed €26,000. According to Jessie, “Amélie’s Angels has profoundly affected the lives of hundreds of people, and it simply would not have been possible without the Cathedral’s generous support.”

UNVEILING THE SCHOOL’S PLAQUES

The service was followed by a ceremony at the Ecole Confession de St. Pierre, led by Père Noé. During the ceremony, Père Noé dedicated the school to Amélie and unveiled two plaques – one commemorating the dedication ceremony and another reading “Cette école est dédiée à la mémoire d’Amélie Louise Le Moullac et en honneur de sa vie – this school is dedicated to the memory of Amélie Louise Le Moullac and in honor of her life.”

Amélie, though you continue your path on a different shore, know that your Cathedral family has continued to walk that path with you, helping your light shine as a beacon of love in this world.

As a member of the Cathedral, I am honored to know that my fellow members and I have contributed to the success of this project – and many others.

As Amélie’s sister, I am incredibly grateful to you for your support, and am deeply humbled to see the impact she continues to have on the world.

CHILDREN OF PACASSE ATTENDING THE DEDICATION CEREMONY FOR THE “ECOLE CONFESSION DE ST. PIERRE”

At Amélie’s memorial service in August 2013, I delivered a eulogy citing Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, in which he encourages them to live lives of generosity, telling them, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Amélie was the most cheerful giver that I have ever known. That day, I urged everyone to give in turn to others what she

PHASE I OF SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION – 2016

a beacon of love in this world. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be cheerful givers and make the world a brighter place.

Rose Reynes, chair of the Mission & Outreach Committee, has been a member of the Cathedral since childhood.

She currently sings in the choir and serves on the Cathedral Vestry.

CHILDREN OF PACASSE ATTENDING THE DEDICATION CEREMONY FOR THE “ECOLE CONFESSION DE ST. PIERRE”

had given to them – laughter, joy, love – and to give all these things freely and cheerfully, so that though we grieved, we would feel hope in knowing that we still have our lives to give, and we had the opportunity to give them like Amélie.

August 14, 2018, will mark the five-year anniversary of Amélie’s death. Amélie, how far we have come in that time. Though you continue your path on a different shore, know that your Cathedral family has continued to walk that path with you, helping your light shine as

AMÉLIE LE MOULLAC 1989 - 2013

By Kate Thweatt

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TWO CEREMONIES IN TWO DAYS: THE WEDDINGS OF GEORGE AND EDITH VANDERBILT George W. Vanderbilt and Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, June 1898 Celebrating cathedral weddings for more than 100 years.

Spring is in the air, and love is in our history!

After the worst wet winter in Paris in sixty years, with rainy days dampening our spirits, spring has finally sprung, and you can feel it in the air! And where does everyone’s fancy turn? To thoughts of love and marriage, of course.

In celebration of Spring and all the love that is in the air, it seemed only fitting to dedicate an article covering marriages at the Cathedral to celebrate all of the happy couples, from all corners of the world, who have graced our great nave with vows of everlasting love.

Throughout the years, the Cathedral has provided a beautiful setting, and Paris an exotic destination, for many marriages. In recent years, the most frequently asked question to the archives committee is whether a relative or friend was married at the Cathedral on suchand- such a date. These requests send the keepers of our

archives off to research dates and signatures, and then photograph the findings, sending them by email to a pleased relative or friend.

Our history of weddings goes way back. Last summer when parishioners Bill and Sybille Holmberg, with their two daughters, Olivia and Eleonore, were traveling through Virginia and the Carolinas they visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Much to their surprise, they learned that George W. Vanderbilt, who built the grand estate as well as partially financed our Cathedral, had married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser on June 2, 1898, in Paris at the American Church of the Holy Trinity, as the Cathedral was known then. Here, the Holmbergs share with us an article on the wedding, posted by Judy Ross on May 14, 2014, on Open House, the official blog of the Biltmore.

The religious ceremony was held at noon the next day at the Church of the Holy Trinity, attended by family and close friends. Before the ceremony began, George had to present their civil contract to the clergymen and sign the wedding register. An eyewitness account from the Philadelphia Record reports: “It was a union of quiet contentment…. There probably never was so unostentatious a Vanderbilt wedding since the family made its millions. It is true that the church was full of costumes and the company was very fine, but there was an altogether marked quietness of tone and an absence of display.”

In June 1898, George W. Vanderbilt and Edith Stuyvesant Dresser were married in Paris on June 1 and June 2. Why two ceremonies? The first was a civil service and the second was a religious ceremony, in accordance with French law dating from the French Revolution.

Popular opinion had assumed the wedding would be a grand affair, possibly at George Vanderbilt’s home church of Grace Episcopal Church in New York City.

Despite the speculation, the couple decided to be wed in Paris with as little fanfare as possible – as little as possible for a Vanderbilt, that is.

George and Edith were first married in a 15-minute civil ceremony at 3:00 p.m. on June 1, 1898, by the mayor of Paris at the Town Hall of the eighth district on the Rue d’Anjou. According to one newspaper article, the couple had to comply with all the requirements of French law; the civil ceremony was complete with family witnesses, baptism certificates, the marriage certificate for George’s parents, and proof of American citizenship. The couple signed a contract of marriage and at the end of the civil ceremony, George and Edith left the hall separately; it would have been scandalous for them to be seen together before the church ceremony the following day.

Although there are no wedding photographs available, newspapers described the bride’s attire. Edith – a striking figure at six feet tall – wore an understated Empire-style gown in creamy white satin of French design, with a court train trimmed in the same lace worn by her grandmother nearly a century before.

According to the Philadelphia Record, her veil was decorated with lace worn by her mother. Regarding the family lace, the New York Journal declared: “It is an admirable thing to have lace, and it is also an admirable thing to have ancestors, but when one can have both lace and ancestors it is most admirable.”

After the ceremony, the wedding party, family and friends attended a breakfast at Edith’s apartment on rue Vernet. Natalie Brown, Edith’s sister, provided two bottles of special champagne that their maternal grandfather had set aside at Edith’s birth, to be served on her wedding day. From there, the newlyweds left for Geneva by train to embark on a four-month European honeymoon.

Celebrating cathedral weddings for more than 100 years.

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Fast forward to our own time, and we have the honor of celebrating the unions of some of our most cherished parishioners, who have graciously shared their wedding stories with us.

Jérôme Chodron de Courcel and Whitney Gray Hardy were married on Saturday June 14, 1975, by The Very Rev. Robert G. (Bob) Oliver.

Sent on a Rotary International Graduate scholarship to Sciences Po in 1973, little did I imagine that I would meet my future husband on my 10th day in France!

We happened to be houseguests at two different homes in Normandy, and we met when our two groups got together for sports and a picnic.

I hit four out of five targets (again, “neglecting” to mention that I had sharpshooter status in riflery for three years straight at summer camp). At this point, the stranger went to his car, got his camera, and took a picture of me on that very first day.... two years later we were married, had three Franco-American children, and will celebrate our 43rd anniversary in June! - Whitney de Courcel

Jean Michel Roland Plantin and Amy Kathleen Linder were married on Saturday, June 24, 1989, by The Very Rev. James R. Leo. The summer of 1989 was hot and sunny in Paris, yet when you are planning a wedding with a reception in the gardens of the American Cathedral, I still remember the feeling of relief when I woke up on my wedding day to see “soleil”! I arrived at the Cathedral midmorning to finish the icing on our wedding cake. Later that day my husband-to-be would see the top slip off, as it was being transferred from the kitchen, which was downstairs at the time, only to be caught by my sisterin-law. Luckily, I had some left-over icing to correct the damage.

We had one of the very few “parish weddings” of that time. It was a bilingual service with Dean Jim Leo officiating, and Father Tom Edwards assisting. Banns were posted the three Sundays before the wedding, the

JÉRÔME AND WHITNEY DE COURCEL ON THE STEPS OF THE AMERICAN CATHEDRAL

My future husband came up to me and started making fun of my very American tennis socks (the ones with little pompoms at the back of the ankle, to keep them from slipping). So I promptly chose someone else for my partner and proceeded to beat this insolent stranger at tennis (“neglecting” to mention that I had played varsity tennis in college). We then moved to target shooting. This time, I let the tall dark stranger explain to me in great detail how to aim and shoot a rifle - then

Jerome Pruett, a singer with the Opéra de Paris, and husband of the then Cathedral choir director, sang a beautiful Ave Maria during the communion.

AMY AND JEAN MICHEL ROLAND PLANTIN

head of the Flower Guild at that time, Hélène Sullivan, worked with family and out-of-town guests to make amazing flower arrangements, and the choir sang.

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FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: PHILIPPE GOSMAND, FRÉDÉRIC CHARTIER, GUY LARENAUDIE, DIDIER GOSMAND, JENNIFER CORTRIGHT GOSMAND, ANNE POURET, ELIZABETH CORTRIGHT, TAYLOR CORTRIGHT.

AMY PLANTIN AND THE AMERICAN CATHEDRAL CHOIR OF 1989

Our reception in the Dean’s garden was perfect, with a string quartet and balloons being released.

Finally married, we spent our first night in the tower apartment of the Cathedral – a wonderful gift from Jim and Patsy Leo, one they would give again for our first wedding anniversary. – Amy Plantin

Didier Gosmand and Jennifer Jane Cortright were married on Saturday, May 28, 1994, by the Rev. Benjamin Shambaugh.

Didier and I were drawn to the Cathedral in 1994 for three reasons: the exceptional quality of the music under Ned Tipton’s direction, the beauty of the nave and cloister garden, and Canon Ben Shambaugh’s friendly yet profound approach to marriage preparation.

Little did we know that the wedding was just the beginning of not only our commitment to each other but to the Cathedral community. Over the years we’ve been active in the choir and Sunday worship, Love in a Box and Les Arts George V, baptisms and Building & Grounds, pilgrimages and the youth program, vestry service and stewardship.

Twenty-four years later, the Cathedral has enriched our lives. It has helped cement our marriage by grounding us in a vibrant community that is spiritual, educational, social and musical. The Cathedral family has supported us every step of the way: raising children, meeting life’s challenges, mourning losses and celebrating successes.

We are grateful to be a part of this very special place. – Jennifer Gosmand

Luis Maria Roth and Jennifer Anne Dalrymple were married on Saturday, October 9, 2004, by The Very Rev. Zachary Fleetwood.

Jennifer and I met in Paris when she came from San Francisco to study at the Sorbonne for a year and I moved here for a change of scenery from New York.

Squash games followed by lunch constituted the courtship of sorts (no surprise that we take the children to the courts some Sunday afternoons). We were married at the Cathedral on a rainy Columbus Day weekend in 2004. Finding taxis was impossible due to the weather and simultaneous automobile shows, so the out-of-towners dashed into the service as quickly as they could, the ceremony having begun precisely on time in order to clear us out before the Saturday francophone service.

One particularly confused groomsman arrived late because his secretary had informed him over the

Celebrating cathedral weddings for more than 100 years.

By Sigun Coyle

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phone that we would be married at the “American Theatre”. Nevertheless, the wedding unfolded as it should, and Dean Fleetwood performed the ceremony with customary grace. And we still remember fondly the premarital counselling conducted in the congenial environs of Chez André! – Luis Roth

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LES ENFANTS DU MONDE Kate Thweatt, a former Junior Warden, is member and founder of the Archives Committee.

LUIS ROTH AND JENNIFER DALRYMPLE

THE ROTH-DALRYMPLE FAMILY

WE MADE HISTORY If you haven’t had a chance to read Cameron Allen’s book, you should. It’s a fascinating walk through our past, meticulously researched and delivered through an impressive narrative.

We learn how, while on a sabbatical year from the law department of Rutgers University, Cameron was interested in writing about marriages between American heiresses and titled Europeans, so he asked the resident Dean Leo if he could consult the parish marriage registers. After several weeks of noticing Allen’s arduous note taking, Dean Leo said to Allen, “ You know, we’ve never had a history of this congregation written, and I think that you might be the person who could undertake it.” And so he did.

A review of the book in the Spring 2014 issue of Trinité is available online at https://issuu. com/americancathedralinparis/docs/trinite_ spring_2014. If you would like a copy of the book, please contact Kate Thweatt at: thweatt@ noos.fr or order online at amazon.com.

Cathedral teens join a Junior Guild mission to clothe children in need Every Friday, up to 30 refugee kids, mostly from Africa, dig into a made-from-scratch lunch at a shelter deep in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Several things are worth noting about this scene.

Monde, adds that members of his office began to go en maraude – cruising – to find homeless unaccompanied young children as well. Other humanitarian associations also brought in children.

First, the miracle of Enfants du Monde. Second, the fact that the kids have made the lunch themselves.

Third, the growing link between Enfants du Monde and the American Cathedral.

The youngsters find shelter, food and schooling at Enfants du Monde. They stay until they are 18, when Enfants du Monde is required by law to let them go, though by that time, the youngsters have their residency papers.

Enfants du Monde – Droits de l’Homme (EMDH) was founded in 1996 by a priest, a lawyer and some friends, seven years after the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations. The plan was simple: the police would hand over unaccompanied migrant children roaming the streets of Paris.

Dominique Habiyaremye, the director of Enfants du

In 2010 the Red Cross took over the association.

Things have changed since then: Enfants du Monde is now under the wing of the Val de Marne département, which evaluates the minors. A public prosecutor or a judge for children then sends them to Enfants du Monde. According to Mr. Habiyaremye, this

Les Enfants du Monde

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arrangement has brought stability all around for the youngsters, as well as for the staff. Before 2010, the employees had a working contract of one year; now they have contracts for 15 years. And the kids are safely under the supervision of French law.

I encountered Dominique at Enfants du Monde, located in Kremlin-Bicêtre on the outskirts of Paris. He showed me the offices and the classrooms, all staffed by volunteers who run classes from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, followed by another set of volunteers who arrive in the afternoon to help with homework. We then found the cook busy preparing lunch in the tiny, sparkling kitchen. The simmering chicken smelled delicious.

Right next to the kitchen is the dining room. Nearby are the small, spartan bedrooms, although clean, each with three beds neatly made up. Huge washer/dryers line the hallway. There is another building close by in Villejuif where six rented apartments shelter around 20 of the older kids who are taught to become autonomous, to learn to cook for themselves, to wash their own clothes and to prepare for a life on their own.

This is where they get trained to be able to enter the official French FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, PANY AND SHEILA school system or to join a professional school to learn a trade. One team is with them during the day, and at night, another team takes over. In 2017, Enfants du Monde took care of 101 youngsters.

The Friday lunches take place at the Centre Social Germaine Tillion at Kremlin-Bicêtre. On average a visitor encounters a dozen youngsters preparing lunch for themselves and their classmates. Some of the kids we can understand, others speak among themselves in their native language, mainly from African countries, all are busy. At one table, some are chopping cucumbers, spring onions, tomatoes, and herbs, cleaning lettuce,

slicing eggs in two, and putting all these ingredients into different bowls to be assembled later on big platters as a mixed salad for the first course. At another table, kids are peeling and chopping onions and garlic, green peppers and whatever other vegetables are needed for the main course. The menu changes almost every week. Sometimes the kids decide to do a dish from their homeland, so they might cook Congolese, Afghani or Indian food, all absolutely delicious. At the stove, strong young men bend over pots sautéing and stirring meat, while the rice cooker is ready to be used.

One young man is cutting about a dozen baguettes into neat slices. Three or four others are setting the tables in the dining room.

“I never know how many kids I will find whenever I help Sheila cook. Sometimes there are 20 of them, sometimes more, sometimes fewer.

It depends how many unaccompanied young people who roam the streets of Paris are brought to Enfants du Monde.”

All of this happens under the watchful eye of Sheila Bennett, a Junior Guild member, who has been cooking for and with the youngsters from Enfants du Monde every Friday for the last 16 years. Pany, a sweet, tiny Thai woman, also a volunteer, has been Sheila’s “sous-chef ” for years. After retiring from UNESCO in 2002, Sheila started volunteering at Enfants du Monde. Soon she decided, with the help of another British volunteer, to do the weekly Friday lunch for the children. At that time she spent 30€ per lunch, cooked on two hot plates and a microwave, for about 15 to 20 kids. She had to use the office itself, which was about half the size it is today. Now the cost is around150€ for a much more ample lunch for between 40 and 50

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youngsters every week. At the beginning, there was very little money available. At one point, there was no money at all for the Friday lunch, so Sheila took up a collection at a Junior Guild cocktail party, which kept the lunches going until more money could be found.

Around 10 years ago, Sheila suggested to the Junior Guild, of which she was a long-time board member, to make a donation to Enfants du Monde. Enthusiastically accepted, the money the Junior Guild raises, mainly through its annual Christmas Fair, is earmarked to support associations that help children and women; Enfants du Monde fits the bill perfectly. The JG Board is always invited to the annual Christmas lunch celebration. During last year’s lunch, the JG president, Emily York, presented Mr. Habiyaremye with the JG’s 2017 donation in the form of a check for €1,000.

I think with fondness of the times I have spent at these lunches. I still have the Christmas menu from eight years ago stuck on the side of my bookcase in my small office. Each guest received a personalized drawing by one of the kids on the cover of their menu. Mine has a black

and white flying cow, with a grin on its face, with goofy eyes, its udders showering milk into a pail; the cow is surrounded by dozens of hearts. It is a happy drawing.

It still warms my heart.

During a tour in late winter, while with Dominique, it became blazingly clear to me how the Junior Guild’s mission could be expanded into a project for the Cathedral. A small boy of 10 or 11, dressed in a t-shirt and sandals without socks, wandered into the office, asking in French, “Dominique, have you seen my jacket, I’m cold?” At which he replied, “No, I haven’t seen it, go look for it.” A few minutes later, he came back, beaming, wearing his jacket.

“And where did you find it,” Dominique inquired.

“In the dryer!” the young boy exclaimed.

From witnessing this exchange, it was obvious that these kids don’t have enough clothes. So I thought, why not ask the parents of our teenagers at the Cathedral to donate clothes that their children have outgrown.

Quickly, the idea became a plan with two of our teens taking in charge this much needed clothing drive.

This new Cathedral outreach, the first to be managed by teens alone, will be off and running soon.

Sigun Coyle, active in the parish in many ways, writes frequently for Trinité.

By Erica Labous

ensuring that the children of the American Cathedral in Paris receive the very best of their energy, creativity and love. Further supporting Joyce and the team is the dedication of the Cathedral’s seminarian-in-residence, Tyson Rosberg, and the never-ending spiritual guidance of Dean Laird.

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“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” Psalm 98:4

Godly Play – Sunday school attendance is on the rise

The increasing pitter-patter of little feet you hear through the halls and into the nave of the Cathedral is the sound of the ever-increasing number of children attending our thriving Sunday School program.

So many of us fondly remember our childhood Sunday school experiences, I certainly do. With fondness, I look back at Mrs. Ropes and Mrs. Zoltowski, two of

registered children in June 2017, to 86 children in March 2018, we have also been blessed with a new Sunday School director, Joyce Chanay, who brings with her lots of great ideas while she continues the wonderful work of all past Sunday School leaders.

Together, with a faithful team of 33 volunteers, some

my Sunday School teachers at my church in a suburb of Detroit. I clearly recall the stories they taught us, and getting dressed up as an angel for our Christmas pageant. I reminisce about the ice cream social at the end of the year and I remember breaking off into our respective classes each week after singing songs together; songs that I still sing today to my twin boys.

How many of us can remember the words to “This Little Gospel Light of Mine,” “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” or “Jesus Loves Me”? These are the years and moments that shape a lifelong journey of faith.

Thriving in a Christian society At the American Cathedral, the 2017-2018 Sunday School year has already proved to be an exciting one. Not only has our attendance increased from 46

of whom have been giving their time to this mission for over a decade, others have little ones attending, some have grown children, and still others have no children of their own, but in common, they are all dedicated to

The Episcopal Church requires that all who work directly with children complete the Safeguarding God’s Children training program Further, to foster a safe worship and fellowship experience, the Episcopal Church insists on anyone working directly with children must complete the Safeguarding God’s Children program. A training that promotes a proactive approach for he prevention of sexual abuse of children and youth, in everyday life and ministry.

The reasons for our growth spurt aren’t clear, but we have a hunch it’s due to more visibility – the CHIC program, for Children in Church – plus more mentions of what we are doing in the service bulletin and e-newsletter. And the invaluable word of mouth.

The Sunday School curriculum draws upon Godly Play, a teaching method developed by an Episcopal priest

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Godly Play – Sunday school attendance is on the rise

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named Dr. Jerome Berryman in 1984 at his home parish in Houston, Texas who was inspired by his years of work with children and his advanced Montessori studies with Sofia Cavaletti, a major Montessori contributor, in 1971.

Godly Play teaches children through prayers, bible stories, art projects and music. It’s a child-honoring way of preparing them to join in the worship and life at the Cathedral as they develop a deeper understanding of stories, symbols and rites. Children are encouraged to enter into Bible stories and relate them to their personal experience. This method guides them in spiritual development as an individual by showing them the appropriate moral behaviors expected of people living within a Christian community. Week after week of coming to Sunday School many parents find their children beginning to retell Bible stories, wondering aloud about the meaning of these stories, not to mention the pride they have in explaining the art project or drawing they may have made.

Besides the Godly Play lessons, new this year is the Children’s Church that is held each quarter in the Parish Hall. This very lively teaching moment brings all four classes of Sunday School together, and any parents or members of the congregation who want to join, for a worship service and a Godly Play lesson led by a member of the clergy. Here we see the little 3-4-yearold Doves, the 5-6-year-old Fish, and the 7-8-yearold Lions singing and worshiping alongside the big 9-11-year-old Arks. This unique opportunity fosters a sense of community and belonging and helps make it easier to socialize and create bonds that go far beyond Sunday morning.

On Children-in-Church Sunday, the children ushered, collected the offering and acted as lectors One of this year’s highlights was the Children-inChurch Sunday held on February 11, 2018. The Sunday School children and their teachers assisted at the 11:00 a.m. worship service by ushering, taking the offering, and acting as lectors. This was a moment of

pride and was an important opportunity to bridge the gap between classroom and nave while immersing our children into the beautiful structure and sensibility of worshiping as a community.

Also new to this year, we are working on class milestones. These are targets we hope to have our students complete by the end of the school year: The Doves are working on the important Bible stories of Moses, Noah’s Ark, David & Goliath, and memorizing Psalm 23:1; the Fish are working on The Lord’s Prayer; the Lions are studying John 3’16 and the 10 Commandments; the Arks are taking on the Books of the Bible and Mathew, chapter 25.

And finally, putting into practice how we live and work in a Christian community, the Sunday School participates in various missions throughout the year.

In December each of our four classes made a box for both a boy and a girl for the “Love In A Box” program, on Palm Sunday the Sunday School kids donated food items for “Friday Mission Lunch” as well as made drawings and cards for the children at the Arab Evangelical Episcopal School.

These are exciting days for the Sunday School! Without our team of volunteers, clergy and the parents who are committed to this ministry our growth would not be possible. We’ve all seen (and may have even been in the shoes at one time in our lives) the exhausted parents who brave Paris traffic, public transportation or the dreaded Sundays when the Champs-Élysées is closed for an infinite number of reasons, to bring their little ones to church. To get the kids dressed in their Sunday best, fed and out the door in time for Sunday School is not always an easy feat, but one well worth conquering.

Children learn by observing. But they learn even more by participating. So we pray for the continued growth of this ministry and we give thanks for all the joyful noise we are blessed with.

Erica Labous is a Detroit native who has lived in Paris for more than a decade. She is a business English coach, Sunday School teacher and mom of twin boys.

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By Sigun Coyle

back and forth on a regular basis. Fortunately, he was home for the birth of their third child. Although he had just returned to Toulon that morning, at 3 p.m. their son was born, a month premature. It was as if the child had thought, “I’d better come out now, before my father leaves again!”

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One parishioner’s story

“Je ne parle que le français, mais la Cathédrale Américaine est mon église” “I only speak French, but the American Cathedral is my home,” says the elegantly dressed, carefully made up and coiffed Jacqueline Eychenne. In 2002, she happened to be walking on Avenue George V and passed by the Cathedral just when the French priest, Father Bernard Vignot, was at the door and invited her in. He showed her around the Cathedral and introduced her to the beloved Father Jacques Bossière, who became her spiritual guide and friend. The two priests invited her to come to the Saturday evening French service, which was being held at the time. She did, and she was instantly hooked.

As a young woman, Jacqueline married a young officer enrolled in the Ecole Navale, comparable to Annapolis.

The year he graduated, he was sent off on the cruiser Jeanne d’Arc on an eight-month around-the-world mission. Two weeks before his departure, he became the father of twins. Sadly, while he was away, one of the twins passed away. Jacqueline learned all too quickly

what it was like to be married to the Navy when she had to bury her son without her husband by her side.

As a navy officer’s wife, Jacqueline was obliged to endure her husband’s long absences. Based in Toulon, her husband served in the Algerian war and traveled

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, SYLVIE BOTETEME, ANNIE HUYCK, JACQUELINE EYCHENNE, AND DONNA FLEETWOOD

In time, they had a fourth son. And then, another tragedy struck. The surviving twin, Philippe, who at the time was 23 and had attended St. Cyr JACQUELINE EYCHENNE AND ANNIE HUYCK (comparable to West Point) was given a command in Lunéville, in eastern France. One day, while crossing the street, he was struck down by a truck. At 11 p.m. that evening, Jacqueline received a visit from an officer in full uniform. Her husband was in Dakar, Senegal, at the time, and she thought something had happened to her husband and nearly fainted. The officer took her in his arms and said, “No, it is not your husband. It is your son stationed in Lunéville. You will never see him again.” Once again, Jacqueline had to deal with the death and well as face Philippe’s young fiancé alone. Only three days earlier, he had called his mother to tell her of the engagement.

Upon hearing that his brother had been killed, Jean-Loup, who at the time had a good civilian job, joined the military, became an officer, and was sent to Bosnia. There, he was killed by a sniper.

Who can imagine, losing three sons out of four! She recalls that after this experience, it was as if a wall went up between her and her husband: They never spoke about the losses they had endured, yet she felt the need to talk about them all the time.

In 2002, after 45 years of marriage, he asked her for a divorce. Seeking solace, she went to the Madeleine, the church that had been “their” church, to talk to the priest. But she could not find the emotional support she needed. And that is when she found her way to the American Cathedral, where she found both the comfort and support she was looking for.

I asked her what made her come back, even when there is no longer a French service. She said it was the more than warm welcome she gets whenever she comes.

While she doesn’t speak English, she does understand some of it, and she picks up the French bulletin as soon as she arrives at church, so she can follow the readings, the Gospel and the prayers. Over the years, she has formed close friendships with many French-speaking Americans. She always attends Christmas dinner at the apartment of longtime parishioners Nancy and Neil Janin and sees other friends (including Bishop Pierre) for coffee, dinner, or lunch. With a birthday in September, for years Jacqueline celebrated with a group of fellow “Virgos”; members included Dean Fleetwood’s wife, Donna, and Canon Jonathan Huyck’s wife, Annie.

She told me in the end, “Tu sais, sans la Cathédrale je ne serais plus en vie aujourd’hui – You know, without the Cathedral, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

Sigun Coyle, active in the parish in many ways, writes frequently for Trinité.

OUR FRENCH-SPEAKING COMMUNITY In years gone by, the Cathedral undertook a French language mission to try to draw in French-speaking parishioners. A French priest, remembered as the “beloved Father Jacques Bossière, was a nonstipendiary member of the clerical staff under Dean Leo. Father Bernard Vignot was not on the staff but contributed his time to the program, launched by the Rev. Dr. George Hobson.

The mission, started in the 1990s, ended around 2005 as there was only a small number of participants, few of whom participated in the Cathedral’s life aside from attending the Saturday evening French language service.

The Cathedral attracts an appreciable number of native French speakers now, nearly all bilingual, many of whom have been drawn by our policy of inclusivity.

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ANN JAMES MASSEY Sustaining the Cathedral that sustains us

Our Christian faith sustains us, the miraculous mystery of faith.

And faith attaches to places and things – like the Cross, most obviously.

But also like our magnificent Cathedral, which needs your help to ensure that it can continue to shine its special light for generations to come.

Three pillars of stewardship sustain our missions in the world and our environment for worship – the Annual Call to Membership, or ACTM; the Friends of the Cathedral, and the Trinity Society.

Annual Call to Membership

Every fall the ACTM asks parishioners to signify their membership in our community by pledging their financial support for the year.

But it’s an opportunity that doesn’t end with the season.

If you’re a newcomer, or haven’t pledged to become a member, it’s never too late.

Friends of the Cathedral

Through Friends, members who have moved away, and all who wish to support the mission of the Cathedral, demonstrate their active commitment.

We stay in touch through regular communications – like Trinité magazine – and occasional gatherings in the U.S. And our prayers.

Oil on mahogany board

The Trinity Society

The legacy society seeks to strengthen our endowment and achieve long-term sustainability by encouraging bequests and planned gifts.

Based on scriptural and spiritual foundations, the Trinity Society can help educate all who support us on end of life issues and estate planning.

Information about all three avenues is available through the Cathedral’s web site www.AmericanCathedral.org/giving

(17”x 23” / 43 cm x 58 cm) © 2017

“THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS” Painting by Ann James Massey Despite the first impression, this is not a reproduction of a photo. Eight years in the making, the “Blessing of the Animals” has been created entirely by hand with no mechanical means and using only traditional methods. Background on the painting and the list of the participants drawn from over 33 years of source material can be found at: annjamesmassey.com/oil/blessing.

Finished at the end of 2017, the painting was exhibited in January at The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 121st Annual Open Exhibition at the National Art’s Club in New York City where it has won its first award, The Lawrence von Beidel Memorial Award.

The “Blessing of the Animals” is available as a fine art print on 120 lb. archival paper in a signed and numbered edition of 495 offset lithographs (23”x 28” / 58cm x 71cm including the white border).

Order online: www.annjamesmassey.com/order Tel: +33 (0) 1 75 51 72 45 Email: ajmassey@annjamesmassey.com

Introductory price of: $225.00 After July 1, 2018: $275.00

Mailing address: Ann James Massey 4 rue Auguste Chabrières 75015 Paris, France Tel: + 33 (0) 1 75 51 72 45 Fax: + 33 (0) 1 40 43 90 38

Mention Trinité Magazine and 10% of the retail price will be donated to The American Cathedral in Paris. www.annjamesmassey.com

Atelier: (by appointment only) 2, rue Edouard Vasseur 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, France Tel: +33 (0) 1 55 53 88 73

The American Cathedral in Paris The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity The Very Reverend Lucinda Laird, Dean The Reverend Mary Haddad, Cathedral Canon Zachary Ullery, Canon for Music Erika Bliznik, Assistant Musician Andrew Dewar, Organist Laurence Lagand, Financial Controller Tony Holmes, Communications and Community Manager Delphine Kilhoffer, Ventures Officer Sarah Norodom, Communications and Administrative Assistant Dennis Mana-Ay, Facilities Manager Efren Gonzales, Assistant Sexton Tyson Rosberg, Seminarian-in-Residence Contact: parish.coordinator@americancathedral.org – +33 (0) 1 53 23 84 08 Cathedral Vestry Robert Davis, Senior Warden Harriet Rivière, Junior Warden Mark Adams, Treasurer Anne Pouret, Clerk Class of 2018 Sophie Belouet Edward Bates Allison Glasgow-Lafontaine Luis Roth Bill Tompson

Class of 2019 Mark Adams Jacques Bossonney Thomas Girty Anne Pouret Harriet Rivière

Class of 2020 Ann Dushane Robert Davis Paul Howley Susan Greig Rose Reynes

Sophie Belouet, Bhaady Miller, and Kate Thweatt, Associate Treasurers David McGovern, Chancellor to the Cathedral Marc Lempérière, Vice Chancellor to the Cathedral

The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, Presiding Bishop The Right Reverend Pierre W. Whalon, Bishop-in-Charge The Venerable Walter Jacob Baer, Archdeacon Sophie Plé, Administrator The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is under the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Convocation comprises nine parishes and several missions.

The Convocation is under the authority of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, whose Bishop Suffragan serves as Bishop-in-Charge of the Convocation. The Bishop-in-Charge is resident in Paris and the Convocation office is located

in the Cathedral. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity serves both as a parish church and as the Cathedral for the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.