eThepisTle
St. Paul’s Church builds bridges — to God, to one another, to the city and beyond.
The RecToR A NoTe fRom
Dear Friends,
Wasn’t Christmas just wonderful again at St. Paul’s?! Many thanks to all who had a hand in making it a great celebration! I am amazed at how we continue to grow as a faith community in deep and meaningful ways as we make the yearly remembrance of the Incarnation special for all who find their way through our doors.
As a culture, we are fascinated with new year’s resolutions -- a new year, a new me. With all the pressure to reinvent ourselves, it is no wonder that we find it difficult to keep our resolutions – isn’t it why cartoons like these are so funny?
As children of God, we never need to be made new; we are wonderfully created, as our prayer book says. Yet, that doesn’t mean we can’t constantly strive to improve in our faithful following of Jesus.
Each season of the Church year gives us the opportunity to focus on different parts of our lives as disciples of Christ: Epiphany calls us to be lights to the world. Having encountered the Light of the World in Jesus this Christmas, we are encouraged to share that light, that faith, hope, and love with others. A word of comfort, volunteering at a soup kitchen, visiting someone who is lonely, forgiving someone who hurt you: whatever you do, may Christ be known and seen through you.
A blessed New Year to you and your loved ones!
Your friend and Rector,
(The Rev’d) Robert A. Picken
Cover Photo: Bishop Kara Wagner Sherer greets Mary Critikos and Carol Panzer during the Peace on All Saints’ Sunday.
The Vestry Vignette
In December, the Vestry met to discuss both old and new business and review the first draft of the 2025 financial ministry plan (aka budget). At our January meeting we will again review and vote on the 2025 budget as well as make final preparations for the Annual Meeting, which will be held on Sunday, January 26th.
Of considerable and continued discussion was the proposal, with subsequent unanimous approval, to add an LG Pump System in the sanctuary. This energy-efficient, quiet, cooling system will use evaporator coils to remove humidity, exhausting outdoors. An exterior condensing unit will move fresh air through cooling coils and air handling units in the basement will evenly disperse cooled air into the sanctuary. All of this uses the existing duct work. This proposal from Kenron Industrial, Inc., who installed and maintains our boilers, was reviewed extensively and recommended by the Property Committee after consultation with outside experts and visits to neighboring churches with similar systems.
For over two decades, the leadership and congregation have discussed cooling and dehumidifying the sanctuary to make the space more hospitable and usable for the parish, partner organizations, and others during the warmer months. About eight years ago, we obtained our first rough estimate and much discussion continued over the years. Many companies were consulted and three years ago multiple bids were received and revised since then. As is our practice, the proposal, estimated to cost $270,000, was reviewed and discussed at multiple meetings.
45% of the funding has been provided through unsolicited gifts, including a restricted bequest from an estate. The remainder will come from the long-term capital reserve — not “the endowment.” You may recall that this reserve was established in 2020 for capital projects and investments in property and this Vestry-designated fund, along with the balance of our investment portfolio, is carefully managed by our investment advisors. As with the far larger water abatement and restoration project in the parish hall, there will be no unusual or special draw from unrestricted funds and the use of funds does not decrease the revenue in the operating budget.
After this project, we will have about a half-million dollars in this unique fund with no projects of this size on the horizon.
With aging real estate, there are always smaller projects that will need attention and the Vestry will continue to address these according to needs-based prioritization.
The Vestry is convinced that this project is a well-thought out and financially sound decision, as well as one that will increase usability, community engagement, and hospitality. You will receive regular updates, as always, as the project progresses.
St. Paul’s Vestry:
Erin Glanton, Warden
Ingrid Stanlis, Warden
Kevin Frisch
Julie Gedro
Brent Johnson
Swing Harre
Mara Hazzard-Wallingford
Christopher Moore
Floyd Bayley
Laura Carr
Chari Krenis
suNdAy, JANuARy 26Th
ANNuAl meeTiNg
Vestry Election - Slate of Candidates, 2025
TheSt. Paul’s Nominating Committee is pleased to present the slate of outstanding candidates to you for 2025 voting.
Candidate for Warden: Ingrid Stanlis
Candidates for Vestry (Class of 2027): Lila Kennedy, Les Kernan, and Abuk Mabut
Ingrid Stanlis has completed her second term as warden. She is eligible to be nominated for a third term and has agreed to serve. Lila Kennedy, Les Kernan, and Abuk Mabut are nominated for their first term on the Vestry.
The Nominating Committee is charged with presenting a single slate of candidates with one person nominated for each open position. Nominations “from the floor” are available and can be made at, or prior to, the Annual Meeting in January. Nominations prior to the Annual Meeting allow the candidates to include their biographical information in the Epistle and be included on ballots. To be nominated “from the floor” the nomination must be made by a parishioner in good standing, meet the requirements for the office, agree to stand for office and be seconded by 10 additional parishioners in good standing. Anyone interested in the definition of “in good standing” or “requirements for office” should contact Erin Glanton or the church office.
Ingrid Stanlis
Members of the Nominating Committee: Floyd Bayley, Laura Carr, Kevin Frisch, Julie Gedro, Nancy Grear, Doug Kelley, Chari Krenis, Pat Moran, The Rev’d Rob Picken, (Ex-Officio, non voting member), and Erin Glanton (Chair, with no vote, except in a tie).
Ingrid began attending St. Paul’s in 1996, when she moved to Rochester. She has previously served on the Vestry, and is currently a warden, an usher, a lay reader, and chair of the Stewardship Council. Along with other parishioners, Ingrid completed the two-year College for Congregational Development course ln 2022. She has served two terms as Warden, from 2020 to 2024, and is eligible for a final term.
In addition to her activities at St. Paul’s, Ingrid is on the board, and is President-elect, of the Chatterbox Club. She previously served on the board of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for many years, including two separate times as board chair, and at various times also chaired three search committees, the governance committee, and the finance committee of the RPO. She is now on the Honorary Board of the RPO. Her other previous board positions included the Society for Chamber Music Rochester, Rochester Business Alliance, the Country Club of Rochester, and, while living in Vermont, First Night Burlington and Vermont Public Radio.
Ingrid’s career consisted of over thirty years at KPMG, primarily as an audit partner specializing in the not-for-profit sector. Her clients included several major universities in the Northeast. She retired from KPMG in 2011.
Ingrid lives in the city of Rochester, and in her spare time enjoys spending time with friends, reading with her book club, singing in the New Horizons chorus, attending operas in New York City, and traveling.
Lila Kennedy
Lila Kennedy joined St. Paul’s in 1986, when she was active with the youth of the church, assisting with the youth group, Sunday school and the preparation of young candidates for their confirmation.
She returned to St Paul’s in 2015, after a 25 year hiatus to South Florida, where she moved to raise her family.
Since her return to St. Paul’s, Lila has been active as an usher,and the monthly lunch making ministry for St. Joseph’s house. She was pleased to be installed as a member of the Altar Guild earlier this year, taking on the added duty of being responsible for all the ordering of supplies for this important ministry.
Away from St. Paul’s, Lila has been a Physical Therapist for 42 years. She is currently working as the Director of Rehabilitation at the New York State Veterans Home in Batavia. She lives in Brighton, close to her eldest son, who lives in the city. She travels frequently to Florida to visit her father,or Des Moines, Iowa, where her younger son resides.
Lila was proud to be asked to serve on the Vestry of St. Paul’s.
Les Kernan
Les Kernan is an attorney and the General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of PathStone Corporation, a not-for-profit organization based here in Rochester. Les lives in Macedon with his wife, Pattie.
Les has been privileged to be a member of the St. Paul’s community since 1983, and his adult children, Emily, Caroline and Nick, were all baptized at St. Paul’s. Les has served as a clerk, member and Warden of the Vestry, and has served as a Eucharistic minister, an usher, a lay reader, and a delegate to the Diocesan Convention. Les also serves as a member of the Trustees of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, and is the chair of the Diocese’s Investment Committee.
When asked to serve again as a member of the Vestry, Les enthusiastically accepted: “St. Paul’s has been and continues to be a very important part of my life. I would be honored to serve our faith community on the Vestry again, and to make a meaningful contribution to our wonderful congregation.”
Abuk Mabut
Abuk Mabut arrived in the United States in 2010 from South Sudan and joined St. Paul’s three months later. She credits her membership at St. Paul’s to the DeLuccio family and their support of her. She found St. Paul’s welcomed her with open arms. In 2011 Ring, her son, was baptized here and later attended St. Paul’s Child Care Center until starting kindergarten at public school. Atong, her daughter, now five, and Yai, her son, now two and a half, were also baptized at St. Paul’s. Ring sings with the choristers and all three children are active and involved at St. Paul’s.
Abuk currently serves as a board member of Water for South Sudan. In the past she was a member of the board of directors for Family Promise (RAIHN) and also volunteered by serving breakfast to families on Saturdays and helping in the office.
Abuk has been employed by Wegmans since 2014 and currently works in the prepared foods department. Abuk and her husband, Gumgum, recently bought a house in East Irondequoit and live there with their three children.
Abuk is looking forward to serving on the vestry and helping to add new ideas to the life of St. Paul’s.
sT. pAul’s youTh gRoup
The St Paul’s Youth Group had a great fall this year & are looking ahead to much more fun this Spring!
In addition to our regular gatherings, we also were given a great opportunity to go rock climbing one evening at Central Rock Gym! I enjoyed watching our youth push themselves and climb higher and higher as they grew more comfortable. You could see their confidence grow and their nervousness fall away as the evening continued on. As for me, I think I can still feel some of that soreness in my arms!
As we look ahead to the spring, it will be very full for us. We will be engaging in some time of mission work a couple of times and will make a couple of fun outings, as well as continuing our twice-a-month gatherings. We began a conversation about the different names of God and what they can shape our understanding of God this fall. As we move through the spring, we’ll be having similar conversations about Jesus…Wonderful Counselor; The Way, The Truth, and The Life; the Good Shepherd, and several other names that help us understand who Jesus is, and who Jesus can be for us in our walk of faith.
The Youth Group is open to all students grades 6-12 and we meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month. It is open to parishioners and friends alike. Each gathering has a time to check in with each other, a lesson or teaching, dinner, and games. We close each gathering with Compline from the Book of Common Prayer which offers us a peaceful closing to our time together and a prayerful beginning to the students’ week. Keep an eye out for all the great things that we are up to and thank you to everyone at St Paul’s for supporting our youth!
The Newcomer’s Dessert on Sunday, December 8th was a fun evening of hot cocoa, music, tasty treats, and decorating the office Christmas Tree.
Christmas Eve at St. Paul’s
lATesT News suNdAy school
Thank you, families, for having your children participate in our annual children’s Christmas pageant! It is so heartwarming to see them portraying and sharing the story of our season. Having the children be active participants of our church service is a blessing, and we are so grateful for them.
Looking ahead for our winter, our Sunday school class (PreK-5th grade) will continue to meet each Sunday starting promptly at 10:00 am. We rejoin our families in the church service prior to communion. I encourage families to be timely, as we like to do all the faithfully fun class activities like stories, games, crafts and of course our beloved snack time.
The latest news on our lessons, nursery and all upcoming events for families is emailed each week. If your family is not receiving that, please contact me at awelker@stpaulsec.org so I can add your family.
Thank you to everyone who purchased gifts for this year’s School 9 Giving Tree! We stuffed two cars overflowing with gifts. Thanks to you we have helped make the holidays so much better for 47 children at School 9. A special shoutout and praise to Laura Hayden for coordinating the efforts this year!
A huge “Thank You” to Kurt, Keegan and Tyler from CSTM for donating their time and talent to install our Christmas wreaths, year after year!
Christian Education
Sunday Bible Study at 9:00 am
Lectio Divina, January 5th – March 2nd
Join your fellow parishioners in a prayerful and structured conversation about the Sunday Scripture lessons. Led by one of the clergy. Our 9:00 am Lenten Program will begin March 9th and will run through April 6th. Topic TBA.
Sunday Book Group at 11:30 am
The Light We Give by Simran Jeet Singh
Sundays, Jan. 5, 12, 19; Feb. 2, 9
Epiphany is a season of light. Part memoir, part spiritual journey, The Light We Give is a transformative book of hope that shows how each of us can turn away from fear and uncertainty and move toward renewal and positive change.
Lenten Soup ‘n Study
History of Hymnody with Dr. John Sherer
Tuesdays, March 11, 18, 25
Soup Supper at 6:00 pm. Program at 6:30 pm. Compline at 7:15 pm.
Sacred Ground Conversation
Beginning in March, we will again engage in Sacred Ground conversations. The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on the intersection of European American, Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories. Open to all, participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day –all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.
Our Rector, Rob Picken, will facilitate these in-person sessions with days / times determined by the group. Please let Rob know if you are interested in this important conversation as soon as possible.
music depARTmeNT sT. pAul’s
The music program at St. Paul’s has recently been building bridges into the community in lots of ways.
On November 24th, Organist and Director of Music, John Sherer, led a class at St. Paul’s for about 30 people focused on the music of Advent and Christmas giving those that attended a sneak preview of music of the season at St. Paul’s. John explained many stories about the composers and music heard in our worship services, especially the diversity of the music coming from Uruguay, Mexico, China, Nigeria, and the several spiritual and gospel pieces.
Later that same day members of the St. Paul’s Choir made dinner for the Lutheran and Episcopalian students at their chapel service Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). After preparing the meal at St. Paul’s they sang an anthem in the RIT service, John played the organ and Rob Picken preached. Then all enjoyed getting to know each other better and eating the meal that was prepared by the choir members.
Another bridge was built on December 11th as members of the choir sang Christmas carols at the Episcopal Senior Life Community on Mt. Hope Avenue in Rochester. The audience enjoyed singing along with the choir on the many familiar carols of the season as the choir shared the joy and message of the season.
All these extra activities are happening as the St. Paul’s Choir continues to provide two anthems each week, the Bell Choir is offering two pieces on the first Sunday of the month and the Choristers are not only singing a benediction every Sunday, but also offering a short anthem on the third Sunday of the month.
St. Paul’s donated a three octave set of handbells that were not being used to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Brockport. This set of handbells was a redundant copy of the bells we normally use and instead of keeping them stored in a closet St. Paul’s donated them this past December. Their Organist and Music Director, Brenda Tremblay is extremely grateful because every time their handbell choir rang for a service they had to borrow handbells from another church and this was becoming more and more difficult. Now the Bell Choir at St. Luke’s have their own bells. This has no impact on the Bell Choir at St. Paul’s which will continue ringing the first Sunday of each month. If anyone is interested in joining, please contact John Sherer at jsherer@stpaulsec.org.
Looking ahead, our “Third Sunday @ 3” concert series continues January 19th at 3:00 pm as the St. Paul’s Choir, along with John Sherer and Augustine Sobeng, offer a program of African American spirituals to honor The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The program will feature “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” which was one of Dr. King’s favorite songs. We will have a guest speaker sharing some of Martin Luther King’s inspiring words and the free will offering will be donated to Urban League of Rochester. “Third Sunday @ 3” continues February 16th at 3:00 pm with a service of Choral Evensong.
St. Paul’s is launching a choir tour to Ghana! This self-sustaining choir tour is open to anyone, singer or non-singer interested in the adventure of a lifetime; and other places nearby to sing concerts and worship services, plus learn about their culture and history. On February 2 there will be a gathering to learn more about the trip which is being planned for February of 2026. Jeffery Thyer from the tour agency ACFEA, along with John Sherer and Augustine Sobeng, will give a brief overview of the itinerary and what to expect. Join us for this gathering to learn more about this exciting opportunity! For more information, please contact John Sherer at jsherer@ stpaulsec.org.
eThepisTle
25 Westminster Road, Rochester, NY 14607
585.271.2240 • info@StPaulsEC.org StPaulsEC.org
The Rev. Robert Picken Rector
The Rev. Jay Burkardt Assistant Rector
The Rev. Sue Ouellette, Ph.D. Deacon
Dr. John W. W. Sherer
Organist & Director of Music
Augustine Sobeng Organ Scholar
Amy Welker Director of Children & Youth Faith Formation
Candance Hoffman-Hussain
Susan Hall
Sunday Child Care
Sonja Slother Director of Communications & Digital Ministry
Natosche Holt Parish Office Administrator
Judy McGrath
Parish Accountant
Lisa Werner
Accounting Assistant
Bob Potter
Property Manager
Dave McEntee
Maintenance Associate
St. Paul’s table at the Rural & Migrant Ministry (RMM) dinner on November 15th.
St. Paul’s builds bridges to God, to one another, to the city and beyond.
We pray all who enter St. Paul’s experience God’s presence in this community of faith.
We welcome you to join in any of our events or church services.
You need not be a member to join in, so welcome!
Upcoming Events:
Sunday, January 5th - March 2nd:
Sunday Forum: Bible Study - Lectio Divina in the Vestry Room at 9:00 am
Sunday, January 5, 12, 19th & Feb. 2 & 9th.
Sunday Book Group: “The Light We Give” in the Vestry Room at 11:30 am
Wednesday, January 8th:
Parish Potluck Supper in the Parish Hall at 6:00 pm
Saturday, January11th:
St. Paul’s Needle Arts Ministry in Wainwright Parlor at 10:30 am
Sunday, January 19th:
Third Sunday @3pm: A Concert in Honor of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Church
Sunday, January 26th:
Annual Parish Meeting following the 10:15 am Service in the Parish Hall
Saturday, February 1st:
St Joe’s Sandwich Makers in the Parish Kitchen at 9:30 am
Wednesday, February 5th: Parish Potluck Supper in the Parish Hall at 6:00 pm
Saturday, February 8th:
St. Paul’s Needle Arts Ministry in Wainwright Parlor at 10:30 am
Sunday, February 16th: Third Sunday @3pm: A Service of Evensong WORSHIP SERVICES:
Sundays: Holy Eucharist in the Chantry at 8:00 am
Sundays: Holy Eucharist at 10:15 am
Children’s Sunday School at 10:00 am
Also available at 10:15 am Nursery Care, Livestream & ASL Interpretation
Wednesdays: Noonday Eucharist in the Chantry at 12:00 pm
