News and Parish Life

The Life of St. Paul's

Closing out 2024's Summer Fun Nites

We ended our monthly summer fun nites Monday (Aug. 19) with the gang decked out in the gear of our favorite sport and team -- with a little Steelers/Browns rivalry and a really confusing relay thrown in. Thanks to all who planned and joined us for the three nights of fun: Pirate Nite, Superhero Nite and Sports Nite.

Returning champions

The ladies of St. Paul's represented at our Whine with the Ladies at Nelson's trivia night. For the second month in a row, we were the champs!

August Newsletter: The Way of Love, not the way of violence

Summer fun: Golf, trivia and superheroes

St. Paul's got together for summer fun throughout July, including a superheroes night, golf outing and women's "whine night," where the team took first in trivia night competition. The fun continues into August with the kickoff of the Hall of Fame parade (Aug. 3 at 6 a.m. on our lawn), a sports-themed family fun night on Aug. 19 and another whine night on Aug. 21.

Scenes from the Triennial Convention of the Episcopal Church and the Union of Black Episcopalians

July 2024 Newsletter

St. Paul's Butterfly Lady presents at the
June's Episcopal Triennial Convention

Carol Sutek will present a workshop on the butterfly as a symbol of the resurrection at the 81st Triennial General Convention in Louisville June 23-28. The workshop explores how Christians adapted the life stages of the butterfly to represent our life, death and resurrection through Christ.

Carol has long been a nurturer of and advocate for butterflies, and she introduced fellow member Tammy Patterson to international efforts to tag and track Monarchs as they make their journeys of thousands of miles each year. (Tammy is known on TikTok as the Monarch Whisperer -- https://www.tiktok.com/@savethemonarchs -- and she and Joe celebrated their marriage at St. Paul's last fall by releasing tagged Monarchs.)

Carol presented her workshop at the Provincial V Assembly Spring Retreat, and the Rev. Thomas Soltis provided this report:

A religious symbol is a representation of sacred significance. Christian symbols date back to early times when the majority of ordinary people could not read or write, and printing was unknown. Some Christian symbols were borrowed from earlier non-Christian religions.
For example, the ancient Egyptians saw a similarity between the wrapping of mummies and the cocoon-like chrysalis of a butterfly. Both the Egyptians and Greeks placed golden butterflies in their tombs as symbols of resurrection and immortality.
Christians at the time adapted these symbols and gave them Christian meanings:
The butterfly became a symbol of the resurrection of Christians to eternal life through the redemption of Christ. Human comparisons were made to the four stages in the life cycle of the butterfly.

Butterfly egg: Human life in the womb
Caterpillar: Human life on earth
Chrysalis: Death and grave
Emerging Butterfly: Resurrection from the Dead

Note: The 81st General Convention, where the Episcopal Church's new presiding bishop will be selected, will follow the 56th annual conference of the Union of Black Episcopalians. Mother Robin will be attending both gatherings. For more on the candidates for presiding bishop, go to "The Episcopal Church" on our "About" page.

St. Paul's joins The Union of Black Episcopalians, church leaders nationwide and The Daughters of the King in Louisville

Mother Robin will be posting regular updates on our Facebook page from both the conference of the Union of Black Episcopalians and the triennial convention of the The Episcopal Church. For updates, click here.

The national Episcopal Church is gathering for its 81st General Convention, a triennial session meeting this year in Lousiville, Ky., June 23-28.

One of the primary purposes of the convention is to select the next presiding bishop -- the successor to the Most Rev. Michael B. Curry -- to a nine-year term. You can find out more about the candidates by clicking here.

St. Paul's Priest-in-Charge Robin Woodberry and Carol Sutek are making the trip to Louisville.

Also gathering in Louisville the week before the convention is the Union of Black Episcopalians (click here for more), where Mother Robin has been invited to preach at the service celebrating Juneteenth on June 19. The annual conference will wind up with a tribute to Presiding Bishop Curry, who will deliver the keynote sermon Friday night.

And Carol will be presenting a workshop she's previewed at the regional gathering of Daughters of the King on the symbolism of butterflies and the resurrection.

The national triennial convention also will consider resolutions on subjects ranging from the Israel-Palestine conflict, the U.S. church's role in boarding schools that separated Native American families, immigration and environmental stewardship.

The General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church. Every three years it meets as a bicameral legislature that includes the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, composed of deputies and bishops from each diocese.

At the 206th Diocesan Convention, the deputies for Ohio were elected. The deputies are:

The Rev. Bridget Coffey - St. Andrew’s, Toledo
The Rev. George Baum - St. Timothy’s, Massillon
The Rev. Vincent Black - Ascension, Lakewood
The Rev. Debra Q. Bennett - Our Saviour Akron
Dianne Audrick Smith - St. Andrew’s Cleveland
Eva Warren - Harcourt Parish, Gambier
William Powel - St. Paul’s Cleveland Heights (Chair)
Jenna Bing - St. Hubert’s, Kirtland

For profiles on the five candidates for presiding bishop, click here.
For more information from the Episcopal News Service on the issues before the General Convention, click here

June 2024 newsletter

From Mother Robin's desk

The month of May was off and running for me. I was co-facilitator of the “Seeing the Face of God in Others” training provided by the Diocese with a focus on dismantling racism. It was a double honor for me in that many of our Vestry members were in attendance and St. Paul’s hosted the training. I offer my thanks to Vestry members; Demi, M.L., Marcia, Cara, Rob, Tammy, Douglas, and D. Swope for leading by example.

Of, course we had another opportunity to fellowship together with the Cinco de Mayo party. Great fun!! I have to thank Victoria, Nancy, Carol, Shirley, and Jeff for helping to make it a great and festive event. And what can I say about our Wednesday Whine Nite? It was such a wonderful time we had as we enjoyed each other’s company and got to know a little bit more about others.

May provided us with two Feast days of Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. Thank you Barb, Spencer, and Carol for sharing your language talents for Pentecost.

I was able to attend the Clergy Conference again this year at Geneva-on-the-Lake. It was the best conference by far! Not only did it provide a spiritual component, but we also received tools to help us in leading our ministries. But what made it THE BEST….the time we had at the local Adventure Zone. We all basically turned into a bunch of big kids! We rode bumper boats, go carts, played putt putt (I lost) did rock climbing, played video games, and rode rides. It was such a refreshing time with my colleagues and I am grateful to Bishop Anne and her staff for finding it important to build some fun into our time together.

As I prepare to move into the month of June, I’m focused on several activities that will keep me engaged for most of the month. I have been selected along with several other clergy by Bishop Anne to become a College for Congregational Development (CCD) trainer. I am being sent to Seattle, WA for a 1-week immersion to begin the process. I am humbled and honored to be able to engage in such a transformative work.

I will also be attending the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) Convention in Louisville, KY. This will give me a great opportunity to experience the Black Episcopalian dynamic of our church which will also include a Juneteenth celebration, which I am very excited about attending.
And lastly, the General Convention will follow the UBE in Louisville. It is at this convention where the Episcopal Church will elect its next Presiding Bishop to replace our beloved Bishop Michael Curry, who has completed his term. Again, it is very exciting to be a part of this historical moment in the life of our Church.

But it gets even better!!!! I will be able to be in Louisville to support our own Carol Sutek, who will be presenting a workshop entitled, “The Butterfly: A symbol of the Resurrection”. (pg. 22) We are so proud of her and I’m glad I can be there with her to share all of the love from the St. Paul’s family. So, please keep me in your prayers as I maneuver my way through these next 30 days. To God be the Glory!!!

Happiest of days to Mother Robin,
other moms of St. Paul's and moms everywhere!

Mother's Day photo by David Rotthoff

The gardens of St. Paul's

Thanks to Tammy and Joe Patterson for their landscaping labor and talents in resetting the memorial garden and other beds on the north side of St. Paul's. Their work includes the area planted by Girl Scouts along the sanctuary two years ago, and the memorial garden where everyone is invited to rest and meditate.

Angel celebrations, remembering those we've loved

“Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't heal.” Thomas Moore

Once a quarter, a public service will be provided to remember and celebrate our dear departed angels who have anniversaries of death during those months.
These services will be held in the Guild Hall and will NOT include communion. But they will be intentionally crafted to fully bring honor to those whom we love but are no longer with us. And prayerfully, they will assist those who are still grieving and healing from their loss.
These services are open to anyone who feels the need to attend, not just St. Paul’s members, so tell a friend!
The first service will be on Sunday, June 30th @ 3p. and will cover dates from January through June. The next service will be held on Sunday, September 22nd at 3 p.m., and will cover dates from July to September.

If there is someone whom you would like to honor, please contact the church office at 330-455-0286, and leave your information.
In Loving Memory of: ___________________________________ Date of Remembrance: __________________________________
Submitted by: __________________________________________

St. Paul's members got a front-row seat to the eclipse at Bellwether Farm

The night sky at Bellwether Farm. The Diocese of Ohio retreat sits near Wakeman, Ohio, and was right in the center of the path of totality for Monday's solar eclipse. Photo by David Rotthoff

Canton was in the 124-mile path through Ohio for the rare solar eclipse on Monday. But better seats for the eclipse were about an hour northwest of here at the Diocese of Ohio's Bellwether Farm.

Despite whispy clouds, it was straight in the center of the path of totality, between Oberlin and Norwalk, and the farm hosted a three-day "Path of Totality Festival," which began April 6.

Sunday morning began with Holy Eucharist in the worship barn, and Monday marked the Feast of the Annunciation with Morning Prayer.

All meals were farm-to-table fresh. A local band performed a blues/jazz mix before a feast of s'mores by the campfire. Guests from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania and beyond got to spend time with the goats, sheep, chickens, cows and dogs who call the farm home. There also was meditation, fishing, canoeing, kayaking and hiking. And the early spring sound of peepers sang them to sleep.

Then all eyes (with special eclipse glasses, of course) turned to the sky Monday, for about four minutes of the total eclipse, and throughout the hours in which the moon moved into the path of the sun and then eased its way back out.

For more of David Rotthoff's photos of the farm, click here.

May newsletter

Thanks to the Sonnenberg Station men's ensemble

Thanks to Sonnenberg Station for a concert Saturday afternoon (April 6) at St. Paul's that honored choral arranger, Alice Parker, and offered selections ranging from "Shenandoah" to a Swahili version of "The Lord's Prayer."
Also filling the sanctuary were two original compositions by Andrew Bolton of our sister church, St. Tim's.
More from Sonnenberg Station about its heritage:
Sonnenberg Station began in Spring, 2006 with a simple goal -- a few men gathering to sing songs of faith and everyday life.
From churches and businesses, to universities and concert halls, Sonnenberg Station men's choral ensemble has performed in more than 70 different venues to appreciative audiences throughout Ohio.
Their repertoire features beloved classical pieces as well as contemporary selections and everything in between, several from original arrangements written by the group's director, Tim Yoder. Each season’s selections draw from traditional spirituals, fun folk tunes, and always include a few lighthearted surprises, all covering a variety of cultures, eras, and styles. Tim Shue directed Sonnenberg Station until 2018 when he was replaced by the current director, Tim Yoder.

April newsletter:
A whirlwind and looking ahead

Holy Week begins

Palm Sunday began with a blessing of the palms in the Guild Hall, then a procession around the church to the 5th Street SW entrance that first opened to parishioners with construction of the new sanctuary in 1923.

March newsletter:
A time for introspection and to celebrate women, St. Patrick and Easter

Mother Robin preaches joint celebration of Absalom Jones, Barbara Harris and our ability to make a difference

Episcopalians from throughout Northern Ohio gathered at the Church of Our Savior in Akron Saturday (Feb. 10) to celebate the Feast of Blessed Absalom Jones and Commemoration of the Right Rev. Barbara Harris.

Jones and Harris are giants in the church, he a formerly enslaved person who became the first Black priest and she the first Black woman to become bishop. Both challenged the Episcopal Church to confront its own racism and to promote change within the church and throughout the world.

St. Paul's Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry underscored that message in her sermon, which wove in the Super Bowl, Usher and the need for all of us to continue to confront racism, sexism and other sins that interfere with our relationship with God and each other.

The Right Rev. Anne B. Jolly, the 12th bishop of Ohio, was celebrant for the service, which began with an African drum gathering right and included steel drums, sacred dance and an affirmation of faith and renewal of a commitment for social justice. The Rev. Debra Bennet, Church of our Savior's rector, presided.

Bishop Anne closed the service with a blessing and sending that concluded: "May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done."

Holy Baptism:
A celebration and commitment for all

The Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry baptizes Sutton William Wade Sunday. "You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever." Photo by David Rotthoff

St. Paul's celebrated the baptism of Sutton William Wade Sunday (Feb. 11), as family, godparents and the church committed to helping him build a foundation with God.

"Sustain him, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give him an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage and will to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works."

February newsletter: Pancakes, Lent and service

Annual meeting:
St. Paul's celebrates 2023 and looks ahead for 2024

St. Paul's 154th annual meeting on Jan. 21 included the election of new Vestry members Rob Vail, Tammy Patterson, David Swope, and M.L. Schultze, and gave thanks to those whose terms are coming to a close: Stephen Johnson and Valerie Frear. The Vestry retreat will be Feb. 16 and 17.

Faiths working together to reduce gun violence in our community

Scores of lay and clergy faith leaders gathered at St. Paul's Saturday (Jan. 13) to train and support each other in "Ministering to a Less Violent Community."

Mother Robin and Lynne Dragomier co-chaired the half-day session sponsored by the Interfaith Violence Prevention Coalition of Stark County. Also speaking and sharing strategies to reduce gun violence were Rabbi John Spitzer, rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel; Mustafa Ozguler, secretary of the Islamic Society of Northeast Ohio; the Rev. Edward Keck, a retired Catholic priest; the Rev. Hector McDaniel, outreach pastor of Union Baptist Church, and Laurence Bove, professor emeritus of Walsh University.

Happy New Year!

Members of St. Paul's were joined by our friends at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, Shilo Baptist and other downtown churches to celebrate each other and the arrival of the New Year on Dec. 31.

The afternoon moved from thanks for 2023 to hopes and prayers for 2024. Mother Robin's digital scrap book captured so many of the special days of the last year, from her ordination and appointment as priest-in-charge of St. Paul's, to efforts toward racial reconciliation in our community and world, to weddings and baptisms, to the downtown historic church tour and celebration of the 100th birthday of St. Paul's sanctuary.

Thanks to so many for sharing food, spirits and the joy our pastand the future, including (but not limited to) Carol Sutek, Susan and Rich Phillips, Jeff Nowlin, Nancy Suba, Tori Roshong, Valerie Frear, David Lewis, Douglas Colmery and the Rev. Robin Woodberry.

January 2024 newsletter

Seeing in the New Year
with St. Paul's family and friends

With confirmation,
Tammy Patterson takes the next step

St. Paul's Tammy Patterson was confirmed Sunday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Cuyahoga Falls by the Rt. Rev. Anne B. Jolly, bishop of the Diocese of Ohio.

Bishop Jolly's message during the service was to assure Tammy and the three members of St. John's who were being confirmed or received, that they will never be alone, that God and a community of faith are with them always. She also congratulated them for making a bold statement of faith and affirmation of a commitment to spreading God's presence in our world.

Tammy was sponsored by M.L. Schultze. She joins Cara Warren, Demetrius Corruthers and Bob Frank in formally being confirmed or received in recent years to St. Paul's.

Interfaith strength to help our community

The 44th Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. Photo courtesy of Anthony Montagno, music director, Trinity United Church of Christ.

The 44th Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service: Keeping and sharing the faith

"May we commit to each moment, as an opportunity to begin again, an opportunity to be grateful together -- grateful for each other, grateful with each other."
The Rev. Gordon McKeeman

More than 200 people -- Christians, Jews and Muslims -- gathered at St. Paul's Tuesday night for Stark County's 44th annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.

The evening centered on the core message woven throughout the world's dominant faiths, to love our neighbors. The evening included prayers from various traditions and began with this pledge:

Creator God we are of many religions but of one faith in you.
We pray that the love with which you created each of us
will in fact develop in us a true unconditional love for one another,
for our friends and for our enemies...as you have taught us to do.
We pray for an end to violence, which so offends your law of love,
and we humbly ask for your forgiveness and mercy
that we may grow in your love.
We have gathered here to rightfully give you thanks and praise;
for our cosmos , our world, and our humanity;
for all we are, for all we have, and for all we are yet to be,
as we would be nothing without you. Amen

Deacon Mark Fuller of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church organized the gathering of faith leaders. The Rev. Robin Woodberry, priest-in-charge of St. Paul's, delivered the homily, St. Paul's Music Director Edward Grimes conducted the community choir and St. Paul's Musician Emeritus William Kendrick led the anthem "Come You Thanksful People Come," that he composed for the interfaith effort several years ago.

The free-will offering collected more than $1,300 to seed next year's all-volunteer Thanksgiving Baskets Downtown distribution. A reception and fellowship followed the service in the Guild Hall, and the St. Michael's chapter of the Knights of Columbus sent everyone home with Thanksgiving blessings and a loaf of freshly baked bread.

A big thank you to the leaders of this year's service, including:
Canton City Lutheran Parish, the Rev. Diana Thompson
Christ Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Ben George
Church of the Covenant (PCUSA), the Rev. Kathryn Ophardt
Islamic Society of Northeast Ohio, Br. Jaffar Juma
Romanian Catholic Diocese, St. George Cathedral, Bishop John Michael Botean
Shaaray Torah Synagogue Hazzan Bruce Braun, Spiritual Leader
Fr. Ed Keck Retired, helping at various parishes and with Pax Christi
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church Deacon Phil Tischler, Jeff Fricker, Music Director
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry, Edward Grimes Music Director William Kendrick (MD Emeritus)
Temple Israel Rabbi David Komerofsky
Trinity United Church of Christ Anthony Montagno, Music Director
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Canton Deborah Kotte, CLM
Zion United Church of Christ the Rev. H. Paul Schwitzgebel (Ret.)

You can find the entire service by clicking here to link to our Facebook page.

A huge thanks from Thanksgiving Baskets Downtown

Volunteers get set for the morning rush at the Cultural Center for the Arts.

Thanks to everyone who stepped up over the last three months to provide Thanksgiving dinners to hundreds of families throughout our community.

For more than three decades, Thanksgiving Baskets Downtown has provided turkeys and groceries to our neighbors. It's an all-volunteer effort that unites our local Christian, Jewish and Islamic faith communities as well as local businesses, agencies, nonprofits and individuals. The leadership team includes representatives of St. Paul's, Christ Prebyterian, Temple Israel and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church.

Saturday (Nov. 18), we distributed nearly 900 turkeys and StarkFresh grocery gift certificates at the Cultural Center for the Arts.

This year's outreach began with registration in October, including two signups at St. Paul's. And it will conclude Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with Stark County's annual Interfaith Service, held this year at St. Paul's. Each year, the free-will offering from the service seeds next year's Thanksgiving Baskets effort.

Thanks to Linda, Bill, Bonnie, Brenda, Ed, Demi, Marcia, Cara, Valerie, Susan, Karen, Peggy, Rick and David for many hours of volunteering and to the entire St. Paul's congregation for supporting this ministry.

Financial contributions to the 501(c)(3) can continue to be through www.thanksgivingbasketscanton.org

Farewell to Sally Irene Davis, 1933-2023

"Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light."

We said farewell Sunday to Sally Davis, a poet, artist, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, whose long service to St. Paul's included Vestry, Altar Guild, Eucharistic ministry and as a charter member of the Daughters of the King St. Elizabeth Chapter.

Sally was 90 when she died at The Inn at University Village in Massillon surrounded by loved ones on Nov.11 after a lengthy illness.

She was born in Dennison, Ohio, on January 4, 1933, to the late Wilfred Dickinson and Eva (Nicholson) Dickinson.She and her husband, Dan -- a Marine veteran of the Korean Conflict -- were married for 57 years before he died in 2009.

Sally graduated from McKinley High School in 1951 and attended Kent State University of Akron. She held a real estate license with Dohner Realty, Akron and retired from Ohio Bell Telephone Company after 29 years of service and was a member of Telephone Pioneers of America.

Her retirement years were dedicated to service through the St. Paul's Episcopal Church as a charter member of St. Paul's Daughters of the King, St. Elizabeth Chapter, as well as a Eucharistic Minister for pastoral care, serving on the church vestry, evangelism committee, and Altar Guild.

Sally's artistic and creative talents included painting, drawing, and poetry. Sally was also the founder and editor of the Ohio Bell newsletter for many years. Most of all, Sally's love for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was undeniable. Each one of them was blessed with personal memories of laughter and creative projects all intertwined with the teachings and love of our Lord and Savior.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Daniel H. Davis, a veteran of the Korean conflict who died in 2009; sisters and brothers-in-law, Shirley (William) Walker, Stella (Henry A.) Steiner, Paul Weber, and brother and sister-in-law, Robert (Ruth) Dickinson.

She is survived by her sister, Margaret Weber, daughter, Janeen (Kevin Vick) Lutz; son, Daniel H. (Debra) Davis, Jr.; grandson, Nicholas (Nicole) Baker; granddaughter, Julianna (Taylor Worthley) Lutz; step-grandson, Joshua Lutz; great-granddaughters, Macy and Allie Baker; great-grandson, Theo Lutz Worthley.

By Sally Davis
1973 [written while driving from Florida to Ohio]

I’ll be traveling with Jesus
For the rest of my days.
I’ll be following His footsteps
Through eternity’s maze.
And you want to know something
That is making me grin?
I won’t ever cry
When I say goodbye

An invitation from St. Tim's

Blessing of the Animals

Honoring St. Francis, blessing our pets,
welcoming the Rev. Anna Sutterisch
and thanking Mother Robin

Sunday morning raised lots of joyful noise as St. Paul's honored St. Francis with our annual Blessing of the Animals. We also welcomed the Rev. Anna Sutterisch, Canon for Christian Formation for the Diocese of Ohio, as our guest preacher and thanked our Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry for all she's brought, shared and celebrated at St. Paul's.

Photos courtesy of David Rotthoff
For photos from our First Friday animal blessing, click on this link.

Another joyous day for our parish family:
Congratulations Victoria and Kraig Roshong

First Friday Blessing of the Animals

Robin, Nancy, Buffy and Tori welcomed pets and their owners for a Blessing of the Animals next to the Arcadia Restaurant on Court Avenue NW during First Friday.

Church Women United on
local and global issues

Church Women United:
Agreed to Differ, Resolved to Love, United to Serve

About two-dozen women from Canton, Youngstown, Cleveland, Columbus and even Alabama gathered at St. Paul’s Saturday (Sept. 16) for the regional meeting of Church Women United of Ohio. (Click here for a story on the day of fellowship, service and study.)

Congratualations Tammy and Joe,
newlyweds in the St. Paul's family

Tabitha Retherford and Joseph Patterson celebrated their wedding at St. Paul's Saturday, greeting guests after the service by releasing Monarch butterflies that Tammy raised this year. Their butterflies are among the tens of thousands tagged and released by citizen scientists across North America every fall. Several years ago, Matron of Honor Carol Sutek introduced Tammy to the art and science of raising the Monarchs. (Photos by David Rotthoff)

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." -- 1 Corinthians 13

October Newsletter:
Reaching out and reaching within

Service, fellowship and faith

About two-dozen women from Canton, Youngstown, Cleveland, Columbus and even Alabama gathered at St. Paul’s Saturday (Sept. 16) for the regional meeting of Church Women United of Ohio.

The day began with song led by our Music Director Edward Grimes, a St. Paul's greeting from Daughters of the King President Serena Thurin and a discussion led by St. Paul’s Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry that explored the messages of Micah 6:8, 2 Peter 4:10-11 and Ephesians 2:10 to explore the gifts God has given each of us to serve others.

Attendees then got a glimpse of the realities of life in Ohio for farm workers, whose jobs take them from the produce farms of Hartville to the slaughter lines that process thousands of chickens each day. Jenny Fisher and Sister Karen Bernhardt of the Catholic Migrant Farm Worker Network -- accompanied by a young woman who paid $18,000 and crossed two countries to get to the U.S. -- described the determination of the workers and the low pay and risks of the work. Sister Karen also outlined efforts by groups like the Hartville Migrant Ministry to provide help including medical care, English classes and Bible study. The Church Women then examined ways they can help.

Church Women United, a national ecumenical movement founded in 1941 has more than 1,200 local and state units in the United States and Puerto Rico. It has endorsed a boycott of Wendy’s restaurants after the fast-food chain resisted calls to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food program.

After lunch provided by Daughters of the King, the group packaged hygiene kits to be distributed in response to disasters around the globe. The day ended with prayer, song and a promise to do God’s work in our own communities.

Our special St. Paul's thanks to representatives of Church Women United in Ohio for organizing the gathering, including Mother Robin, Region B Coordinator LK Williams, CWUO President Bennie J. Williams-Roper, CWUO Ecumenical Development Coordinator Constance Morrison and the Rev. Gwendolyn Johnson.

September 2023 newsletter:
Reunion and renewal

St. Paul's helps kick off the HOF parade

Once again, St. Paul's helped set the Hall of Fame Parade off right by offering our neighbors and fellow parade-goers hotdogs, donuts, coffee and water.

St. Paul's has been offering the refreshments (and restroom space) for at least two decades. We also collected more than $500 in donations from the community that will go toward our community H.O.T. lunch on the fourth Saturday of each month.

From our location at Fifth Street and Cleveland Avenue SW, we shared a prime view as the more than 100 floats, balloons, bands and football greats at the start of the parade. This year, we also got a sneak preview across the parking lot as crews gentled the Budweiser Clydesdales out of their trailers on Friday.

Thanks to everyone who donated their time, talents and treasure to bringing the day together.

Celebrating the life of Ronald Mapp: 'He made us all better'

Ron and Elizabeth with Olivia Johnson in the St. Paul's tradition they created, the annual reading of "A Christmas Carol."

St. Paul's joined the family and myriad friends of Ron and Elizabeth Mapp Friday in celebrating Ron's life and the difference he made here and afar.
As his son Peter said, his joy, humor and embrace of others "made us all better."
(Click here for a link to the service.)
After the service, we gathered in the Guild Hall, which Ron's family decorated with Union Jack flags, red ballons and banners as well as glimpses of Ron's life as a proud husband, father, grandfather and member of the multiple communities he was so integral a part of.

Ronald Grenville Mapp, age 87 of North Canton, OH passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
He was born on October 20, 1935, in Shrewsbury, England to the late Harry and Marjorie (Davies) Mapp. Ron spent the majority of his working career with the Hoover Company. He began in Perivale, England as Catering Manager in 1961 before moving to their world headquarters in North Canton in 1983 where he managed the company’s VIP Hospitality property, The Hoover Estate, until his retirement in 2001. Following his retirement he pursued his life-long passion for trains, volunteering with the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, especially enjoying Christmastime on the Polar Express.
Ron was an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Canton, where he served on several committees. He was an avid soccer and baseball fan and derived great pleasure from watching his grandchildren play sports.
In addition to his parents, Ron is preceded in death by his daughter-in-law, Bridgette (Dunne) Mapp. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Elizabeth (Montgomery) Mapp, sons, Richard (Alison) Mapp and Peter (Elena Luf) Mapp, and his beloved grandchildren: Emily, Victoria, Alex, Harrison, and Kylie.
A celebration of Ron’s life will be held on Friday, July 28, 2023, at 11:00 AM at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (425 Cleveland Ave SW, Canton, OH 44702) with Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry officiating. A reception will be held at the church immediately after the service. In celebration of Ron, the family encourages those attending to dress joyfully. A private burial will take place at a later date.
The family would like to thank the staff of both Windsor Medical Center and Aultman Hospital for their remarkable kindness and compassionate care. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ron’s memory to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Celebrating one century
and embarking on another

Photos courtesy of David Rotthoff and Nancy Suba

Three of the musicians who have played the St. Paul’s Skinner/Kegg Opus 374 pipe organ for decades showcased its range and beauty to an audience of about a 100 Sunday afternoon – the finale of a weekend celebrating the 100th anniversary of the dedication of both the organ and the sanctuary that surrounds it.

The weekend began Saturday morning with our community H.O.T. lunch in the Guild Hall, the oldest continuing outreach ministry of St. Paul’s. After lunch with our neighbors, the 100th Anniversary Committee* transformed the Guild Hall for the special 100th anniversary parish dinner – an evening highlighted by fellowship among our St. Paul’s family and by a presentation by the Diocese of Ohio archivist Fr. Brian Wilbert. He detailed the challenges and successes that came with construction of the St. Paul’s sanctuary 100 years ago to the day. And, while encouraging St. Paul’s to embrace that history, he challenged us to map our course for another hundred years of service to God and our entire community.

Sunday’s Holy Eucharist service was followed by another fast transformation of the sanctuary and Guild Hall by the anniversary committee to welcome the community to the afternoon organ recital and reception. Music Director Edward Grimes and two of his predecessors, Musician Emeritus William Kendrick and David Carnell, offered selections dating back to the turn of the last century through today, from Herbert Howell’s first Psalm Prelude to the Meditation from the Opera “Thais” to “Reflection” by Walter Watson. Everyone joined in singing the final selection, filling the sanctuary with the simple evening hymn “Abide with Me.”

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:
when other helpers fail and comforts flee,
help of the helpless, O abide with me.

I need thy presence every passing hour;
what but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Just what is our Skinner/Kegg Opus 374 organ?
Click on this link for more information on the Skinner/Kegg organ, as researched by William Kendrick.

Thanks to you all!
This past weekend culminated months of celebration at St. Paul’s that began with a tour of six historic downtown churches, included a special chamber recital that raised money for StarkFresh, and embraced the historic ordination to the priesthood of the Rev. Robin Woodberry!

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make these months memorable and a joyful recognition of St. Paul’s past and future.

Thanks especially to the members of the 100th Anniversary Committee including Chair Douglas Colmery, The Rev. Robin Woodberry, Carol Sutek, Bill and Linda Kendrick, Nancy Suba, Jeff Nowlin, David Lewis, Tammy Retherford, Demetrius Carrothers, Edward Grimes, Marcia Enslen, Beth Paynter, Peggy Neidig, Barb Anderson, David and Linda Rotthoff, Rick Senften and M.L. Schultze.

And thanks to the generations of those who have come before us, ensuring St. Paul’s continues to serve our Canton community.

PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS

August 2023

July 2023

St. Paul's hosted a special recital and reception last Sunday (May 21) to raise money for StarkFresh's anti-poverty work. Deacon Robin and StarkFresh Director Tom Phillips (right) thanked musicians the musicians, cellist Daniel Pereira, violinist Jenny Cluggish and our Music Director Edward Grimes. Photo by David Rotthoff

May newsletter: HOT, Holy Week
and the history-making ordination of our new bishop

Our interdenominational church tour
celebrates a thousand years of service to Canton

As rainy skies gave way to a bit of sun, dozens of people set off on a walking tour of six of Canton's historic downtown churches Sunday afternoon. The tour circled clockwise from St. Paul's to Crossroads Methodist, Christ Presbyterian, the Basilica of St. John the Baptist and St. Peter Catholic Church and wrapping up at Shiloh Missionary Baptist.

Together, the churches represent a thousand years of service to Canton, with many of their histories dating back to the early 1800s -- nearly as old as the city itself. Guests admired soaring Gothic architecture and elaborate stained glass, learned of the successes and challenges of each church and shared a few hymns.

But the tour also emphasized the ongoing ministries of the churches in our community, helping to meet needs for housing, food, education, arts, music, social justice and racial reconciliation, as well as faith services.

The tour is part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of St. Paul's sanctuary and 154th anniversary of the church in Canton. We'll continue with a special recital and reception on Sunday, May 21, featuring our Music Director Edward Grimes and
violinist Jenny Cluggish, violist Melissa Lund Ziegler and cellist Daniel Pereira. Donations from the concert will go toward StarkFresh, a nonprofit grocery store serving food deserts in Stark County.

The celebration will wrap up with a dinner on June 24 and a community concert celebrating the Ernest M. Skinner organ's dedication on June 25.

More images from the historic ordination of Bishop Anne B. Jolly

Lay Preaching College

A Lay Preacher proclaims the Word of God in ways that inspire people to follow Christ, brings them into relationship with God, and/or strengthens their relationship with God. The annual training to receive that license will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 12 through 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 13 at Bellwether Farm. The Rev. Mike Floyd and Melanie Wahlgren will be the facilitators. A specific itinerary will be emailed after registration. The cost is $110 per person (or $140 for two people/double occupancy). The cost is $40 per person for those who do not require lodging. For more information or to register, visit the diocesan website. The application is due by May 5.

The Rev. Anne B. Jolly, first woman elected Bishop of Ohio

From the Diocese of Ohio
[Cleveland, OH] - The Rev. Anne B. Jolly was elected as Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio during the 206th annual convention on November 19, 2022, at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower. She was elected on the second ballot after receiving a majority of both clergy and lay votes.

The election concludes the year-long process of seeking a successor for Bishop Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., who began his service in the diocese in 2004.

Jolly is the first woman to be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. She was one of three nominees. The other nominees were the Rev. Dr. Elaine Ellis Thomas and the Rev. Diana L. Wilcox, both from the Diocese of Newark.

Currently serving as the Rector of St. Gregory’s in Deerfield, IL, in the Diocese of Chicago, Jolly feels her call is to shape the church so that God’s people are equipped to live lives of faith and share the love and justice of Christ’s “Kin-dom.” As the President of the Standing Committee in the Diocese of Chicago (since 2019), she served as the head of the ecclesiastical authority for two years while the diocese was in an interim period between bishops. She has previously served at Good Shepherd in Austin, TX; St. Paul’s in Chattanooga, TN; and Christ Church in Greenville, SC. (Click here for more about The Rev. Anne B. Jolly)

Addressing the convention, Jolly said, "I’m so excited and overwhelmed and ready to be with you…I want to thank everyone who has held us all in prayer…I am eager and ready to get there [Ohio] to get to know you, to listen to you, to help us solidify a vision together about how we can do things and be a part of God’s work in changing the world.”

Pending consent of a majority of the bishops with jurisdiction and the diocesan standing committees, Jolly will be ordained and consecrated on April 29, 2023, at Cleveland Public Auditorium. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preside. She will succeed Bishop Hollingsworth later next year, becoming the 12th Bishop of Ohio.

The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio was established in 1817 and is part of The Episcopal Church, a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It comprises the northern 48 counties in the State of Ohio, which includes more than 15,000 Episcopalians in 80 worshiping congregations. The current bishop is the Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., elected on November 15, 2003 and consecrated on April17, 2004.

April Parish Newsletter: Good Friday offering, Bishop's ordination and a 100th birthday celebration

Join us for our next Courageous Conversation:
Microagressions, April 18,
beginning with dinner at 6 p.m. in the Guild Hall

Have some fun with King Charles

St. Paul's is invited to join St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Massillon for a watch party for the coronation of King Charles on May 6.

The day will include a a full English breakfast,games for kids and more. The church is at 226 3rd Street SE in Massillon and the doors open at 6 a.m. (Remember, there is a five-hour time difference between here and England.)

The British monarch is considered the supreme governor of the Church of England. The Church is the original member of the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a member. In all, the communion represents more than 85 million people around the world.

March 2023 Newsletter

Driving and voting: St. Paul's opens its doors to help people with both

On Saturday, March 4, St. Paul's once again hosted a driving license reinstatement clinic sponsored by the Stark County Bar Association and the law firm of Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths and Dougherty. And this time, the League of Women Voters also joined us to help people navigate the new voter ID laws that will be getting their first test in the May primary.

The license clinics are set up to help people who have lost their licenses because of things like a lack of insurance to earn them back. This is the fourth time St. Paul's has hosted a clinic and the second time since Covid shut down many such programs.

Pro bono lawyers and staff helped about 50 people Saturday navigate the regulations and laws.

Seperately, this coming election will be the first in Ohio that will require people to have photo iDs in order to vote. In the past, they could present utility bills and about a dozen other forms of alternative IDs. But the options now are limited largely to driving licenses, state ID cards, federal veterans IDs and passports. So the LWV helped people who attended the clinic learn how to register and vote under the new rules.

Redlining in Canton: Who drew the lines and why does it matter today?

Close to 50 people gathered in St. Paul’s Guild Hall Tuesday night to share a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and to explore more closely the impact of redlining in our community over the decades, beginning with its formal adoption as national policy in the early 20th Century.

The get-together marked the first of the Courageous Conversations on Race Relations sessions on the impact of racism planned for 2023. It also resumed St. Paul’s traditional Fat Tuesday celebration, the last day before the beginning of the penitential season of Lent.

CCORR’s mission is to form and support “a diverse group of individuals creating a beloved community through courageous, open dialogue, confronting racism and the ways it causes division, by educating and empowering participants into anti-racist actions.”

Tom Phillips, director of StarkFresh, noted that begins with understanding the impact of historic decisions and policies on our cities today. His presentation Tuesday included a map of Canton from the 1930s. The colors on the map demarcated neighborhoods, grading them from most to least desirable. Green was the go-ahead for investment, a blessing for mortgages, sales and investment in infrastructure. Red was a no-go, an official designation that the area deserved little in the way of private and public attention and investment. (Blue was second most desirable, yellow was sketchy.)

The calculations that went into the color-coding were based largely on Realtors’ characterizations of neighborhoods by race, income and ethnicity. Their carefully typed notes made it clear that neighborhoods of Blacks, Jews and immigrants would be red. In Canton, the greens went to areas like Ridgewood and Harter Heights. The red lines extended out Tuscarawas Street E through the northeast and southeast.

Phillips noted that the policies that followed those maps made home loans – and therefore home ownership – hard to come by. And given that Americans’ concentration of wealth is overwhelmingly in their homes, he said, that means many African Americans continue to suffer the consequences today.

Table talk following his presentation compared the sights, sounds and even smells of each person’s neighborhood today, giving us a sensory feel for the impact today of decisions made nearly a century ago. Several people spoke of their own experiences in living with and trying to overcome the defacto segregation of neighborhoods that continues.

The next get-together of CCORR will be March 21 at St. Paul’s, with dinner beginning at 6 p.m. and a discussion of implicit bias and White privilege beginning at 6:30 p.m. You can find a self-test on implicit bias at https://www.ccorrohio.org/self-education

Here’s the complete curriculum for the monthly meetings for 2023:
CCORR Lesson #1 - Redlining
CCORR Lesson #2 -White Fragility/ White Privilege/ Implicit Bias
CCORR Lesson #3 - Microagression/ Code switching
CCORR Lesson #4 - Redlining/ Urban Renewal
CCORR Lesson #5 – Where do we go from here?
CCORR Lesson #6 - Time to take action

CCORR began in 2017 as a partnership of St. Paul’s, Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church and StarkFresh to talk about race and racism in our community. To find out more, click on this link

Please order your Easter flowers now

Absalom Jones, Barbara Harris and challenging the sin of racism

Two giants of the Episcopal Church, born in the Philadelphia area nearly 200 years apart, were honored in a diocesan-wide service at Trinity Cathedral Saturday morning.

The Eucharist celebration commemorated the life and witness of the Rev. Absalom Jones, founder of the first Black Episcopal congregation and the first African-American to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. The service also commemorated the consecration of the Right Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris, a civil rights activist and the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion.

The deacons for the service were St. Paul’s the Rev. Robin Woodberry and the Rev. Lonny Gatlin, who were ordained at Trinity Cathedral last Spring.

Barbara Harris was Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts, and the sermon delivered Saturday by her immediate successor, the Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris, urged those present to make the kind of “good trouble” urged by late Congressman John Lewis.

Barbara Harris, she noted, grew up a black Episcopalian “living the legacy of Absalom Jones,” fighting against “the sin of racism, of arrogance” in which “she knew the church was complicit.” So, she put her considerable energy, planning, intellect and humor toward defeating “the dehumanizing power of discrimination” that had lived within the church and beyond for centuries.

“Absalom knew that the church was infected by the politics of our culture,” Bishop Gayle Harris said, and it still is. Today, “there is out there an agenda to make us be fashioned in hate, to silence speaking truth anywhere, but especially to the powerful.”

But God’s directive in the words of Isaiah 58: 6-12 is “that we be the ‘repairers of the breach.’”

“We have the witness of Absalom Jones and Barbara Harris. We can, we must, go out into the world and not be overwhelmed by it. … We must unmask racism for the sin it is, a sin against God,” she urged.

“It is not enough to honor her and Absalom Jones. We must do as they did, continue to strive for justice.” And to do that, Bishop Gayle Harris concluded with Bishop Barbara Harris’ words, calling on us to remember “the power behind you is greater than the task ahead of you.

The service was organized by the Wilma Ruth Combs Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians. The offering from the service goes to the Absalom Jones fund for Historically Black College and Universities.

To see the complete service, click on this link.

Honoring the life, service and mission of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

St. Paul's honored Dr. Martin Luther King with a day of worship, service and renewal.

Monday began with a special worship service at noon with our friends and partners, Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church and Stark Fresh. The service officiated by our Deacon-in-charge, the Rev. Dr. Robin, and joined by Guest Clergy Pastor Eric Howard, focused on the challenges and hope of opening our hearts to live the experiences of others, and to see and serve their needs.

(To share in the service, click on this link.)

From there, we joined together to work in the community, preparing foods and replacing shelves at StarkFresh and preparing the evening feast for our first in-person Courageous Conversation on Race Relations since the weeks before Covid disrupted our communal and worship life.

The dinner ended with a conversation and planning for our next action steps, which get underway with our next Courageous Conversation beginning in the St. Paul's Guild Hall at 6 p.m. Feb. 21.

Join us for a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and our next Courageous Conversation on Race Relations,
Tuesday, Feb. 21 in the Guild Hall

Hope and hard pills

The next read for the Social Justice Book Group is "All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep; Hope--and Hard Pills to Swallow -- About Fighting for Black Lives."

The author, Andre Henry, is an award-winning musician, writer, and activist. His work has been featured in The New Yorker and The Nation, and he writes a column for Religion News Service and the newsletter "Hope and Hard Pills." He's organized nonviolent protests in Los Angeles, where he lives.

The book recounts how he stopped arguing those who dismiss and deny racism's continued legacy and offers a nonviolent path forward for people of color.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, called the book "a moving personal journey that lends practical insight for expanding and strengthening the global antiracist movement."

The Book Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month, and copies books are available at the StarkFresh grocery store at 321 Cherry Ave. NE in Canton.

St. Paul's outlines its missions, elects its Vestry
and approves its budget at the annual meeting

February 2023 newsletter:

Stark County Episcopalians join voices

Deacon Robin and the St. Paul's choir joined those from St. Tim's, New Life and Trinity Sunday afternoon. Photo by David Rotthoff

The Revs. Jon Coventry, Barbara Bond and George Baum Photo by David Rotthoff

Stark County's Episcopal churches -- St. Paul's, St. Timothy's, Trinity (Alliance) and New Life -- gathered at St. Timothy's in Massillon on Jan. 8 to share Epiphany lessons and carols. It's the first time since Covid struck in 2020 that the churches have held joint services.

Christmas at St. Paul's

Despite a "cyclone blast" and temperatures that plunged below zero, the St. Paul's family gathered in person and on line to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with carols and a Holy Eucharist service on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, we gathered by Zoom and online for a simply Morning Prayer.

A baptism, a confirmation
and the Bishop's affirmation
of the future of St. Paul's Canton

Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. joined St. Paul's Dec. 4th to celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent, the baptism of Ellis Edward Wade and the confirmation of JoAnne Elaine Miller (extending, once again, the Sutek family tradition in our church).

It was likely Bishop Hollingsworth's last visit before his retirement as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, which covers all of the northern half of Ohio. The Rev. Anne B. Jolly was elected the diocese's Bishop Coadjutor on Nov. 19th, and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will celebrate her ordination and consecration on April 29, 2023 in Cleveland's Public Auditorium.

Bishop Hollingsworth became the Diocese's 11th bishop in 2004. A New England native, he served churches in Kentucky and Massachusetts before coming to Ohio.

In Sunday's homily, the Bishop celebrated the inclusiveness of the Episcopal Church, but called for a place for the kind of judgment that helps us understand ourselves better so we can carry out God's work.

Jesus "was like a mirror in which (the disciples) could see themselves honestly, truthfully and beloved by God." And "taking an honest measure of ourselves" remains an essential piece "if we are going to give ourselves to God that God may use us to heal the world.

"You are exactly what God needs to heal this broken world, ... not because of us but because of God. And all of those things that make us feel inadequate or unworthy or afraid or ashamed, none of that matters. We need to own it, give it to God and God takes there.

The service was followed with St. Paul's traditional pie day, after which the Bishop met with the St. Paul's Vestry and affirmed that he believes St. Paul's has a vital future in downtown Canton.

To hear Dec. 4 service, go to St. Paul's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/stpaulscanton

Sharing faith and service in our Canton community

Canton's 43rd annual interfaith Thanksgiving service at St. Michael's the Archangel Catholic Church Tuesday night was our first in-person gathering since Covid disrupted us three years ago, and hundreds of people attended.

St. Paul's Deacon Robin joined clergy from about a dozen other faith groups -- churches, synagogues and mosques -- in celebrating the strength diversity offers in answering God's call to love our neighbors as ourselves.

A free-will offering at the end of the service will provide seed money for next year's Thanksgiving Baskets distribution. The interfaith effort in which St. Paul's has been a key partner has been providing turkeys and other Thanksgiving fixings to hundreds of families each year for more than three decades. This year saw a surge both in the number of families signing up and the costs of the food stuffs.
If you would like to contribute, you can do so by clicking on this link: www.thanksgivingbasketscanton.org

An interfaith effort to meet our community's needs

Despite a brisk wind and sub-freezing temperatures, scores of volunteers gathered outside the Cultural Center for the Arts Saturday (Nov. 19) to distribute more than 900 turkeys and StarkFresh gift certificates to families from throughout our community.

Next year's all-volunteer effort began with Tuesday's (Nov. 22) interfaith service at 7 p.m. at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 3430 St. Michaels Blvd. NW. A free-will offering is seeding our 2023 distribution.

For more than 30 years, faith groups, civic organizations, businesses and individuals have joined together to meet needs the needs of our neighbors in this all-volunteer effort. St. Paul's has been a key partner throughout Thanksgiving Baskets' history.

If you'd like to know more about the effort, go to https://www.thanksgivingbasketscanton.org.

One more reason we're in this place at this time

Some 70 people came to St. Paul's today (Saturday, Oct. 29) to get advice from volunteer attorneys and the BMV on how nevigate the complex rules that govern driver's license reinstatement in Ohio.

This is the first time since the pandemic that St. Paul's has hosted the clinic, which was sponsored by the Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty law firm. The day was organized by Dave Butz, chair of the Stark County Bar Association Pro Bono Committee, and Sara Stratton, the now retired director of Legal Aid.

St. Paul's chipped in with some paper-running, food and impromtu child-sitting services while people worked through issues including insurance and fee amnesty and payment plans.

St. Paul's has now hosted three of the clinics and expects to be a part of those planned in the months to come.

St. Paul's extends the blessing of the animals

God saw everything he had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:31

St. Paul's celebrated the Feast of St. Francis not once, but twice, last week with a blessing of the animals.

First up was the blessing of pets (in person and via photos) by Fr. Christopher and Deacon Robin in the sanctuary on Oct. 2. Then Deacon Robin, Nancy Suba and Buffy Phillips set up outside the Arcadia restaurant during First Friday on Oct. 7 to welcome pets and the community.

Each pet got a tag celebrating God's creations and a certificate from St. Paul's that read, in part:

"Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired Saint Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless this pet. By the power of your love, enable it to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen."

Thanks for your contributions

We concluded our collection of toiletries for a local men's shelter with enough toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, toothbrushes, soap shampoo/conditioner, tissues and lotion to the point of overflowing. Thanks to all who contributed!

The best seats in town -- and Hall of Fame service, courtesy of St. Paul's

Photo by David Rotthoff. For more photos of the morning, go to our News page.

St. Paul's was ready at the break of dawn Saturday, Aug. 6, with hundreds of donuts, hot dogs, bottles of water and cups of coffee to help kick off the Pro Football Hall of Fame parade.

Thanks to so many for their donations of time, talent and treasure and to Carol Sutek for spearheading this year's effort.

We raised just a shade under $500 from free-will offerings from the community, with that money going toward our H.O.T. lunch ministry. Decked out in our new blue T-shirts, we also spread the message of St. Paul's throughout downtown.

St. Paul's and unity in the Canton Community

A centerpiece of the 2022 Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic Labor Day weekend was an interfaith service downtown "for all faiths and religious denominations, a time to come together to worship, pray, give thanks and fellowship."

The service, which rain forced from Centennial Plaza to Crossroads Methodist Church, focused on the need to serve and the ability of the Canton faith community to come together to make a difference.

St. Paul's Deacon-in-Charge, the Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry, was among the preachers for the morning and emphasized the tenent of the Episcopal faith: "Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Change the World."

The service featured the acclaimed Central State University Chorus (Robin's brother is a choral alum), under the direction of Professor Carlos B. Brown.

The service was in memory of Cecilia Ponder, who passed away last November. She spent decades serving in the medical field. An avid football fan, she volunteered for the annual HBCU Classic Football Game, and helped coordinate the Pro Football Hall of Fame Roast and the Plain Local Youth Football Leauge cheerleading squad.

A joyful addition

Let’s all welcome Caysen Charles Schmidt to the St. Paul’s family and to the Body of Christ. Caysen was baptized on Saturday, August 27th. A special thanks to the Rev. Barbara Bond for serving as the officiant.

Girl Scouts partner with St. Paul's

If you look closely, you'll spot Demi in the right corner tackling some of the overgrown trees.

A special thanks to Demi Corrothers, Stephen Johnson and the local Girl Scouts for the new look along the north wall of our sanctuary. Gone are the evergreens, which over the last decade have grown to be a problem. Root systems were starting to dig into our foundation and the tops were becoming too high and thick to control.

Meanwhile the Girl Scouts, scouting for a silver project, offered to plant new trees. But first, the old ones had to go and that's when Demi, Steve, a chain saw and a suprisingly strong pickup truck got to work.

The new trees are expected to be in place this month.

Local Girl Scouts are teaming up to plant new trees at St. Paul's as part of their Silver Award project. The award is for cadets in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades who plan a project to make their community -- and the world -- a better place. Thanks to Steve and Wendy Johson for helping to launch the project.

February 2023 Calendar

Wednesday, February 8th, 6 p.m. Finance meeting via Zoom. Login information fwill be emailed.
Sunday, February 12th at noon, Anniversary Planning Committee Meeting.
Monday, February 13th, 6 p.m. Communications meeting via Zoom. Login information will be emailed.
Saturday, February 18th, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Vestry Retreat.
Monday, February 20th, 6 p.m. Vestry meeting via Zoom. Login information fwill be emailed.
Tuesday, February 21st, 6 p.m. Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner & Courageous Conversation.
Wednesday, February 22nd, 7 p.m. Ash Wednesday Service.
Saturday, February 25th, 11a.m. HOT Lunch. Volunteer sign-ups are in the Narthex.
Tuesday, February 28th, 7p.m. Social Justice Book Club. .

January 2023 newsletter

December 2022 newsletter

November newsletter

From the Deacon's Desk: Making A Difference with Our VOTE

I have heard it said that we should not talk about voting because politics don’t belong in the Church. While I agree that it’s not our place to tell you who to vote for, or to promote partisan positions, I would beg to differ on not encouraging people to vote. One of the greatest opportunities we have to truly make a difference in our communities, our state and our nation is through the power of our vote. Not only is it our God-given right, but it is our responsibility as citizens, and especially as Christians, to influence and impact our government by casting our vote for those candidates who share our values and concerns, and by voting for or against those issues that would affect God’s people in a positive or negative way.

Remember, YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of this community) in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP. 822)

Another very important election we have coming up is for the 12th Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. On November 19th, at the annual convention, we will vote on who our next Bishop will be. It’s an exciting time as we embark upon new vision, perspective and leadership. All three candidates are an absolute treasure and the choice will be a difficult one. But we have been praying that God will lead us in the one who has been set apart for such a time as this in the life of our Diocese. May God’s will be done!

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a bishop for this Diocese, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP. 818)

Reps from Canton's Chapter of Moms Demand Action
join St. Paul's for coffee hour

Following this Sunday's service, the Canton chapter of Moms Demand Action will be joining us for coffee hour and a discussion of gun violence in our community and our country.

The group has chapter sin all 50 states and is "a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.

"We pass stronger gun laws and work to close the loopholes that jeopardize the safety of our families. We also work in our own communities and with business leaders to encourage a culture of responsible gun ownership. We know that gun violence is preventable, and we’re committed to doing what it takes to keep families safe."

From the Deacon's desk

We are ALL God’s Children It was my honor and privilege to be asked to speak at the HBCU Hall of Fame Weekend Interfaith Service on Sunday, September 4th.

The service was initially supposed to be outside at Centennial Park, however, the rain had other plans. But it all worked out because Crossroads UMC opened its doors to the community where we could be warm and dry. I appreciate all those from St. Paul’s who made their way out to the service. Your support meant a lot.

In addition to the wonderful spirit of unity amongst the different faiths and denominations present, the highlight of our time was the offering of music provided by the world renowned Central State Gospel Choir. Lord those children can sing!! Their voices filled the sanctuary, hands clapped, and feet tapped. A group provided a liturgical dance to one of their selections and a young man from Winston-Salem University provided a selection on his saxophone.

Even though I am a fan of the CSU Choir because my brother sang with them when he attended, what meant the most to me, was being able to worship with others who may not necessarily worship, or believe as I do. Yet, we had enough love for God, Yahweh, Allah, or whatever name we choose to use, to enjoy our time together.

The theme for the service centered around service to others, and indeed, this is what the Lord has required from us. May we continue moving forward in that same spirit.

The Rev. Robin Woodberry

Keeping our eye on the Covid numbers
Updated Feb. 13, 2023: Stark County remains at the low community risk level for Covid spread with case numbers, admissions and percentage of hosptal beds all coming down and remaining well below the peaks of 14 months ago. (To follow the trends, please click here.)

The St. Paul's Vestry continues to encourage those who can to get fully vaccinated and will continue to monitor the numbers and update our protocols based on total cases, hospital admissions, ICU beds, deaths, community spread and CDC guidelines.

Here are the current Covid protocols for St. Paul's.

Overall guidance: Any person who is feeling ill, i.e. sneezing, coughing, body aches, fever or other symptoms of Covid, please do not attend services or other activities in St. Paul’s. We care about your health and that of the entire congregation.

Masks: Per CDC guidelines, masks are optional inside all parts of St. Paul’s.
Choir members will have the option to be unmasked per CDC recommendations, but the music director will monitor weekly Covid statistics; if the positivity rate jumps above 5 percent, he will re-institute a masking policy. Outbreaks of other illnesses will also be considered grounds to reinstitute masking; cold and flu numbers are expected to soar as people begin to unmask.

Congregational social distancing: Congregants are asked to space themselves safely.

Pew materials: The Book of Common Prayer, Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing and pew cards are returned to the pews.

Sanitizing: The sexton will continue all sanitizing protocols, including those of the communal spaces of the church before each service. The use of Microban has been discontinued.

Communion: St. Paul's offers the body (consecrated bread) and has reintroduced consecrated wine by intinction.

Together again for food, fellowship
and Courageous Conversations

Scores of people from St. Paul's, Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, StarkFresh and other Courageous Conversation partners broke bread together -- and enjoyed a feast of chicken, burgers and dogs, ribs and dozens of side dishes and desserts Saturday.

The summer picnic at Mt. Olive was our first in-person gathering since Covid hit two years ago, disrupting our regular monthly get- togethers. sharing food and perspectives, studyiing the impact of racism on our community.

October 2022 parish newsletter

September 2022 newsletter

A question for our times: How can we love the neighbor we fear?

By M.L. Schultze, senior warden

“Can we love our neighbors as ourselves if we fear them?”
That’s a key question examined by the Rev. Rosalind C. Hughes in her book, “Whom Shall I Fear” – a book St. Paul’s will be sharing and discussing during coffee hours the first three weeks of October.

Gun violence has targeted schools, stores, parades, concerts and many other aspects of our American communal life including, yes, churches. The fear it generates can overwhelm and paralyze us as people and as a people.

But unlike the other institutions, the Rev. Hughes maintains, churches have additional challenges and resources.

First the challenge: “Is it possible to love our neighbors as well as we love ourselves while shrinking in fear from them, or locking our doors for fear they might come among us, or visibly arming ourselves against them?”

And then there’s the resource: Faith.
“Faith is certainly not a panacea for all that afflicts us. But even in our deepest grief and anger… faith – querulous, questioning, even quaking – can be a lifeline in the most stretching of times.”

“Whom Shall I Fear” reflects on the practical questions for churches of locked doors and armed security, and shares stories of survivors of gun violence. But it also encourages us to “examine the gospel for cues about where God is working in all of this chaos.”

The Rev. Hughes moved to Ohio from the United Kingdom in 2003 and holds a master of arts in theology from Oxford University and a master of divinity from Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary. She’s rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Euclid. Our discussion of her book will be led by our deacon-in-charge, the Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry (with assistance from me).

With underwriting from the Diocese of Ohio, we have purchased 25 copies of the books and will be distributing them before and after Sunday services. If you would like us to mail one to you, please call or email Peggy in the church office: [email protected] or 330-455-0286.

Kicking off the parade and supporting our Harvest Outreach Table

St. Paul's raised nearly $500 in free-will offerings on the morning of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Parade by distributing water, coffee, donuts, hotdogs and some early morning cheer. The money will support our H.O.T. lunch program -- the oldest continung ministry of St. Paul's. Thanks to all who contributed time, talent and treasure!

If you have news to share about any aspect of life at St. Paul's, please report it to Peggy at [email protected]. Also, please have your announcements to the office by Monday noon for publishing in the Sunday bulletin.

Announcements

St. Paul’s Vestry meeting
The Vestry’s August meeting is Monday Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. While we’re meeting via Zoom, at least one member of the Vestry will be in the Guild Hall should anyone in the parish want to join the meeting. We welcome your suggestions for agenda items as well.

The annual convention and our next bishop
The 206th Annual Diocesan Convention will be Nov. 18-19 at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower. This is the annual gathering of representatives of 83 parishes in northern Ohio and is expected to include selection of the new bishop. Registration will be available in the early fall. If you would like to be a lay delegate, please let any member of the Vestry know. Delegates must be certified by Oct. 28.

St. Paul's June 2022 Newsletter

Growing the family

The Day of Pentecost was a celebration at St. Paul's on multiple fronts: Deacon Robin Woodberry joined Fr. Christopher Hofer for her first service at St. Paul's; Baylor Monroe Wade was welcomed with Holy Baptism; Vicki and Larry Simpkins celebrated a wedding anniversary, a strawberry festival coffee hour honored the memory of Deb Shamlin and a cello recital capped off the afternoon. David Rotthoff captured these images of the day.

St. Paul's celebrates the newest deacons in the Diocese of Ohio

Bishop Mark Hollingsworth ordained five new transitional deacons at Trinity Cathedral on May 28. Two have special ties to St. Pauls. Dr. Robin Woodberry (second from left among deacons) is to officially become our deacon-in-charge on July1. Standing next to her is Maureen M. (Wood) Major, whom St. Paul's sponsored in her candidacy. Also newly ordained are Leah L. Romanelli DeJesus, Albert Muller and Lonny Gatlin. Fr. Jon Coventry, who began his own trip to the priesthood at St. Paul's and is now priest-in-charge of Trinity in Alliance, offered one of the lessons. And nearly two dozen members of St. Paul's celebrated the day.

Celebrating the life of ‘a good shepherd’

The Rev. Dr. Erwin M. Smuda
Jan. 28, 1936-May 24, 2020
At Saturday’s (June 18) memorial service for the Rev. Dr. Erwin M. Smuda, Bishop Mark Hollingsworth remembered Fr. Erv as a good shepherd, one who served Episcopal and Lutheran churches over a half a century with humility and without pretention, someone who was accessible, patient, constant and calm.

“Like The Good Shepherd, Erv knew his sheep and his sheep knew him,” said Bishop Hollingsworth. And the parishes to which he was called “inevitably followed him to a healthier place.”

Fr. Erv served churches in his native Minnesota and in Ohio. And after retiring from more than 30 years of full-time ministry, he took on the role of interim at 10 churches, easing them through times of transition. Among them were three Episcopal churches in Stark County: St. Paul’s, St. Mark’s and St. Tim’s.

Fr. George Baum, now the rector of St. Tim’s, likened Fr. Erv to John the Baptist, “preparing the way and making the path straight.” Fr. Erv brought “stability, stasis and essentially middle ground” to the churches he served, and “I’m forever grateful … for his making the rough roads smoother.”

Fr. Erv was serving as interim at St. Paul’s when he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Bishop Hollingsworh noted, robbing him of the voice “to which so many turned for confidence and stability.” He died two years later, in 2020, at age 84.

Born the youngest of five in Minnesota, Fr. Erv and was a teacher, youth advisor and director of education before earning his master’s of divinity degree at Concordia Seminary. He served Lutheran churches in Wyoming, Minn., and in Middleburg Heights before coming to Canton as senior pastor of Zion Lutheran Church. He earned his doctor of ministry at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and became president of the Canton Association of Churches.

Erv’s survivors include his wife, Jan, son Jonathan and daughter Rachael.
Assisting Bishop Hollingsworth in Saturday’s service were both Episcopal and Lutheran clergy, including retired Lutheran Bishop Abraham Allende. Bishop Hollingsworth called the gathering “two branches of the Jesus movement … the best of who we are as a church.”

Fr. Erv’s ashes were inurned in the Columbarium at St. Paul’s with this prayer:
“May his soul, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”

Click here for a link to the memorial service for Fr. Erv.

St. Paul's says farewell to The Colonel

To view today's service for Pete, click on this link

E. Peter Taflan
Nov. 24, 1921 – Dec. 25, 2021

The sanctuary of St. Paul's filled with the mournful sound of Taps today, May 15, as we said goodbye to the last member of our congregation to have served in World War II.

The inurnment service for Pete Taflan followed our Holy Eucharist service and remains available on our Facebook page.

Pete was the patriarch of St. Paul’s, devoting himself to our church over some seven decades. He was junior warden and treasurer emeritus, a member of the long-range planning and 150th anniversary committees. He served on the altar and as Mister Fix-It around the building, was often involved with youth activities and rarely missed a social or educational event at the church.

As importantly, his steady presence (seated with wife, Lennie, in the back row each Sunday) served as a reminder of the power of the church to nourish, sooth, challenge and serve God. He invited others to know St. Paul’s and its “sense of peace … as well as the architecture and atmosphere, the Book of Common Prayer.”

A veteran of World War II and the Korean War, Pete retired from the military with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and many at St. Paul’s still affectionately called him “The Colonel.”

He and Lennie, who died in 2018, first came to St. Paul’s in 1953. He became a sales executive at Dyneer Corp; she was a nurse. And like many young couples, they anchored their life to their faith. St. Paul’s, he recalled a few years ago, was “right in the middle of everything” with multiple choirs, a basketball team (his personal favorite), scout troops and plays. “We thrived in pretty much every respect.”

Then, and in the decades to come, Pete did his all to ensure St. Paul’s continued to thrive.
Pete died Christmas Day, a month after his 100th birthday, while visiting son Peter in North Carolina. He is also survived by daughter, Deborah Findlay. His cremains will rest in the St. Paul’s Columbarium next to those of Lennie.

St. Paul's welcomes Fr. Christopher Hofer+

Fr. Christopher Hofer+ joined St. Paul’s as our supply priest beginning Sunday and his message was a simple and crucial one: Take time to stop and hear the still small voice of God. And if you don't hear it the first time, circle back and try again.

Fr. Christopher already met many members of the family of St. Paul's when he officiated at the funeral of Nancy Pelger on Friday, April 29. And even before that, he knew Canton well.

Fr. Christopher lived in the Canton South area while earning his bachelor’s degree at Walsh University and master’s at Kent State. He was marketing director for United Ways in Akron and Canton before attending the General Theological Seminary, where he earned his master's in divinity.

His ministry included the Episcopal West Side Shared Ministry before he became rector of The Church of St. Jude in New York. And while he was in Ohio, he was a board member for the Episcopal Community Services Foundation and Community Corners. He now lives in Cuyahoga Falls.

Please welcome Fr. Christopher+ to the St. Paul’s family!

Fr. Phil+: The dictionary definition and more

Marilyn Dickinson was among those wishing Fr. Phil's blessings at a luncheon following his final service Sunday.

In his final service at St. Paul’s, Fr. Phil reiterated his call for strength in mission and the fight for justice -- and thanked the people of St. Paul’s for our four years together.
In the luncheon that followed, the people of St. Paul’s and other friends of the parish thanked Fr. Phil for going far beyond the dictionary definition of a supply priest.

Barb Anderson said Fr. Phil’s presence energized a range of efforts, from spiritual development to rejuvenating parish organizations such as the Lazarus Society; from helping to lead the antiracist work of Courageous Conversations to supporting Altar Guild in a way she hasn’t seen over her nearly four decades helping to lead that mission.

Sadly, she noted “too many of us learned of Fr. Phil’s pastoral gifts” as well, as he supported parishioners through the loss of loved ones.
Even in the worst days of Covid, she said, “Fr. Phil has done far, far more than fill the pulpit on Sunday mornings” -- though he did a good job of that as well.

“May the road leading you away from St. Paul’s be paved with blessings,” Barb said, “… as you have blessed us.”

David Lewis, the Vestry member who worked most closely with Fr. Phil over his three years as senior warden, thanked him for his guidance and presented him with a new Webster’s dictionary – making it clear the parish was listening to the homework assignments Fr. Phil often worked into his sermons.

In his response, Fr. Phil said it was an honor to have served on the leadership team of St. Paul’s and marveled at the organic and spiritual growth of Courageous Conversations. He credited the late Deb Shamlin as “the midwife and instigator in a positive way,” enlisting St. Paul’s in the fight against the corrosion of racism. He thanked our partners, Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church and StarkFresh, and urged the parish to continue “fervently praying for the Holy Spirit” to guide the effort.
As he turned to Mt. Olive Pastor Eric Howard, he thanked “a treasured friend and colleague.”

In the final prayer, Pastor Howard thanked God “for the witness of Fr. Phil” and asked God to “Bless and Keep us all now, as only you can.”

Scroll down for a slideshow of Fr. Phil's farewell

'Driving While Black:' The road to freedom with reminders of its fragility

The images author Gretchen Sorin shared during her meeting with St. Paul's Social Justice Book Group Thursday (April 28) were alternately uplifting and horrifying.

There was Chuck Berry, leaning on his sleek 1973 Eldorado, crowded Black-owned hotels and restaurants, a black family packing the car for a vacation.

Then there were the pictures that warned those families to stay out of "sundown towns" after dark -- and scores of other visual assaults those families found along the road: medallions celebrating the KKK, signs segregating bathrooms, marketing pitches using racial slurs to sell chicken.

Sorin, the historian and author of “Driving While Black,” joined the book group through its partner StarkFresh and the wider community in a virtual appearance at the McKinley Presidential Library Thursday night. The book has inspired a PBS documentary that can be viewed free through the following link: https://www.pbs.org/video/driving-while-black-race-space-and-mobility-in-america-achvfr/

Both the book and film examine how the car transformed African-American life and in doing so, says MIT history Professor Craig Steven wilder, “puts African-American history in motion.”

Black Americans faced restrictions on where they could own homes, work and travel -- down to where they could sit on buses and trains. But the car allowed them relative freedom, including escape from the Jim Crow South.

Or, as writer Herb Boyd says in the film, it “entails so much more than the simply driving while Black. It's living while Black. It's sleeping while Black. It’s eating while Black. It’s moving while Black. So, when we start talking about the restrictions placed on Black movement in this country, that's a long history. That goes all the way back to day one.”

Sorin told PBS she recognizes that the car has a universal appeal in America.

“I think this story resonates tremendously with Americans, both Black and white, because everyone understands and remembers driving or riding in an automobile, and many people have the experience of going on an annual family vacation.
“But while these vacations may be fairly universal American experiences, Black and white travelers went down parallel roads, and the experience for Black drivers on the road is something unknown to most white Americans.
“For African Americans, travel by automobile during the 20th century posed a paradox: although cars freed them from the tyranny of the Jim Crow bus or train, they faced intimidation and even violence when they ventured out on the road.”

The centerpiece of Sorin's book is Victor and Alma Green's "Green Book," which began helping middle-class Black families navigate their vacations in segregated America in 1936. Similar guides helped led the way through communities throughout America.

Sorin told the Book Club she recognizes a historical irony in her book. The vehicle that gave African-Americans relative freedom also led to the construction of what destroyed many Black neighborhoods: The interstate highways. They sliced through Canton's southeast, Akron's northwest and thriving neighborhoods throughout the country (and she said they may be the subject of her next book).

But ultimately, says MIT history Professor Craig Steven Wilder, "Driving While Black" is an uplifting story.

"Gretchen Sorin takes us on a powerful intellectual and emotional journey that reaches from side streets to interstates and reveals how black families and communities embraced technology to claim their rights and control their destinies."

Alleluia! Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Bidding farewell to Fr. Phil

Bishop Hollingworth on the Russian invasion of Ukraine

February 24, 2022

Dear colleagues and friends,
The news reports emanating from Ukraine bring directly into our homes and hearts the terrifying reality of war. With it come emotions that including anger, fear, and helplessness. We feel these both for ourselves and for all those more immediately in harm’s way.

It seems unimaginable that, as an advanced civilization, we are unable to find ways to move toward peaceable resolutions that, in the words of our baptismal covenant, “respect the dignity of every human being” and protect the vulnerable and undefended. It is hard to accept that destruction and death constitute an acceptable way to find stability and security.

We may be thousands of miles from where the missiles are launched and the bombs land, but we are all complicit. In continually succumbing to a we/they construct in addressing our local, national, and global differences, we are inevitably led to polarization and destructive results. I offer this not in judgment, but in confession. It remains our common human condition.

As disciples of the one who said, “Peace I give to you, my own peace I leave with you,” we turn to him now for guidance and help. We hold before him our human brokenness that keeps leading us into dehumanizing behavior, and we offer our broken selves back to the God who has given us this life to share. Our prayer for the victims of this attack on Ukraine and our prayer for those who have initiated it must be accompanied by our prayer for ourselves, that we will give ourselves to peace. Such willing self-sacrifice is at the heart of all intercession. Indeed, God can do anything, but always demands our participation.

The answers Jesus gives to our prayers at this moment will doubtless cost us. They will require us to pick up the peace he has given us, his own peace, and make the same sacrifice of ourselves that he made for us. They will require us to hear what God needs of us to incarnate the peace of Christ in our own lives and be willing to pay the price.

Let us, therefore, pray for peace; for the safety and comfort of all victims in this time of fear and devastation; for those in leadership and those carrying out their orders; and for ourselves, that we will give all that we are to the peaceful resolution of all conflict:

Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquillity your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 258)

Know that you are in my prayers,
The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio

Update from the Diocese of Ohio on the Bishop Search

(Please see our Home page for the latest on the Bishop search.)
Update, May 9, 2022:
The committee charged with the search for a new bishop for the Diocese of Ohio plans to complete its first-round interviews later this month and will meet in August for extended interviews with the top candidates. The Search Committee will submit names of finalists to the Diocesan Convention in the fall for a vote.

March 23, 2022

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

On behalf of the Bishop Search Committee, I write to update you on the progress of our work. We are happy to report that more candidates responded to our position profile than we had expected based on similar searches in other dioceses. Candidates specifically cited the position profile as having helped inspire them to respond to our call. We feel blessed to have a strong group of candidates!

Based on the feedback we gleaned from nearly two dozen listening sessions with members of our diocese, we are assessing the candidates’ application materials and preparing questions for the two rounds of interviews we will conduct before we recommend a group of finalists for your consideration. Representatives from every parish will ultimately choose our next bishop at the diocesan convention next autumn. We hope you will please consider representing your parish at that important gathering.

We are grateful to those of you who participated in our listening sessions or shared your thoughts and questions with us individually. One of the concerns we heard focused on the search process itself: some had hoped the listening sessions would be held before the position profile was posted. We understand this concern; there are advantages and disadvantages to the process we followed. One of the advantages was that posting the profile sooner afforded more time to recruit candidates and assess them, which bore fruit in this case. Even so, a disadvantage is that some members of the diocese initially felt less included in the search.

Please know that we are working hard to make sure your priorities for the next bishop are incorporated fully in this search process. The position profile was not the final word on our next bishop – far from it – but was merely a call to those who might be interested. The profile gave some initial shape to the applications, but as the process unfolds, we continue to adjust that shape in response to your input, getting more fine-tuned at every stage.

The listening sessions have already informed the application materials: questions drawn from your ideas were used as the basis for short essays from each candidate. Those questions elicited important feedback from our candidates about key challenges for our diocese, including racial justice and the need to find creative ways to support and include smaller parishes outside of our more densely populated metro areas—especially parishes that are struggling. Looking ahead, your feedback continues to serve as one of our most important guides as we prepare for two upcoming rounds of interviews. We will be asking the candidates about many topics you’ve raised with us, including the importance of deacons, the bishop’s role as pastor to clergy, and the development of Bellwether Farm as an asset for all.

We have a lot of work to do before we’ll be ready to recommend to you a group of finalists for your consideration. Throughout this process, we appreciate your support, encouragement, and participation!

Halley Marsh, Chair

Three changes in St. Paul's Covid guidelines

UPDATE: The Vestry voted at its meeting on April 25th to further adapt our Covid protocols. The newest protocols are incorporated below.

At its April 25 meeting, Vestry made three major changes to our Covid protocols:

Removing the ribbons blocking off pews
Expanding the number of servers in the Chancel
Endorsing the reintroduction of the second kind of communion (the blood). The celebrant will guide us on how this will be done.

Stark County’s Covid cases dropped to a seven-day average of 17 this week, compared to the high in January of 741. While we are happy with the news, we also will remain vigilant and will continue monitoring the community Covid numbers and adjusting our protocols accordingly.

To quote Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the dean of Brown University's School of Public Health and new White House Covid-19 response coordinator: "... Think of this like the weather. When it is bucketing rain -- umbrella, rain coat, boots, are all essential. When the storm turns into a drizzle, those become less critical."

Here are our protocols, effective April 25, 2022
Overall guidance: Any person who is feeling ill, i.e. sneezing, coughing, body aches, fever or other symptoms of Covid, please do not attend services or other activities in St. Paul’s. We care about your health and that of the entire congregation.

Masks: Per CDC guidelines, masks are optional inside all parts of St. Paul’s. Vestry will continue to monitor the weekly community positivity rate and will revisit the masking policy if the level reaches 5 percent.
Choir-specific masking policies: Choir members will have the option to be unmasked per CDC recommendations, but the music director will monitor weekly Covid statistics; if the positivity rate jumps above 5 percent, he will re-institute a masking policy. Outbreaks of other illnesses will also be considered grounds to reinstitute masking; cold and flu numbers are expected to soar as people begin to unmask.

Congregational social distancing: Congregants are asked to space themselves safely.

Pew materials: The Book of Common Prayer, Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing and pew cards are returned to the pews.

Sanitizing: The sexton will continue all sanitizing protocols, including those of the communal spaces of the church before each service. The use of Microban has been discontinued.

Contact tracing will continue for each activity within St. Paul’s. Temperature taking will be discontinued.

Communion: St. Paul's will continue to offer the body (consecrated bread), and Vestry endorses the reintroduction of the second kind of communion, the blood (consecrated wine), in consultation with the celebrant.

Coffee hour and other social events will continue in the Guild Hall with appropriate social distancing. Masks are optional. Windows will be open whenever weather permits.

Barbara Nowlin:
A beloved and loving optimist

Barbara Vaughan (nee McCoy) Nowlin
Feb. 18, 1942-Feb. 12, 2022

March 3, 2022
At her funeral Thursday at St. Paul’s, Jeffrey Nowlin remembered his wife, Barbara, wearing many hats: A violinist, a world traveler, an excellent golfer – even the “Duck Lady of Edgewood.”

He remembered what Barbara was wearing nearly 53 years ago, when he first met “the most beautiful girl I ever laid eyes on,” and how she responded when he offered to pull her golf cart (“she was perfectly capable of doing it herself”). He remembered their trip in a convertible in a rainstorm heading to the Florida Keys – sheltered by nothing more than a golf umbrella; her laugh when he flooded a laundromat; her determined protection of a mother duck and her ducklings.

“But most of all,” he remembered, “she loved her family” -- sons Michael and David and daughter Kathleen, and grandchildren Madeline, Alex, Jenna, Lindsey, Elaine Grace, Ava Grace and twins Everly and Harper. And, he said, she loved St. Paul’s.

Barbara was born in Duluth, Minn., on Feb. 18, 1942, and her mother, Ruthann McCoy, died when she was 3. Her father remarried and Wirth and Dorothy McCoy included an early education in Paris and a focus on music in Barbara’s upbringing. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor of arts in applied music, the first to receive that degree from Penn State as a violinist. She continued her graduate music studies in Philadelphia, but opted instead to become a banking loan officer, a profession she continued when she and Jeffrey settled in Canton after stops in Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis.

They were married for 52 years; 21 years ago, Barbara was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. But as Jeff, Fr. Phil+ and many of her friends at St. Paul’s noted, she remained an optimist. Hers was a “richly blessed life,” Fr. Phil+ said, and Barbara was a “gift that God gave to us.”

“Death is not the last word,” Fr. Phil+ reminded those gathered for her funeral.
“The last word is resurrection.”

The family has asked that memorial donations in Barbara’s name be made to the Organ Fund of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, PO Box 21333, Canton, OH 44701-1333.

Breaking (H.O.T.) bread together again

In February 2020, we finished our monthly H.O.T. lunch fully expecting to do it again four weeks later -- just as we have every third Saturday of the month for nearly six decades. No way did we anticipate the tsunami of Covid and the disruptive impact it would have on our church life and the lives of our families, friends, neighbors and community.

Today, we resumed H.O.T. in the Guild Hall for the first time in two years and were so happy to see familiar faces among the three-dozen Canton neighbors who joined us.

Thanks to Carol Sutek and the extended Sutek clan, Cara Warren, Susan Phillips, David Lewis and others for putting on the spread of Salisbury steak, chili, potatoes, green beans, salad, cookies and, of course, ice cream.

And welcome home to St. Paul's, old friends and new!!

Fr. Phil at Mt. Olive: On voting rights
and living the legacy of Dr. King

Feb. 1, 2022

In a message focusing on ways the voting rights struggle led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is relevant today, Fr. Phil called on all the people of God to continue to stand and speak together “louder and more relentless than the evil that is upon us.”
Fr. Phil was guest preacher Tuesday at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, our partner in St. Paul’s Courageous Conversations anti-racist efforts. He had originally been invited for the Martin Luther King Day service – a plan temporarily derailed by a major winter storm. But Fr. Phil noted that Tuesday marked yet another of the many significant days in the civil rights struggle.

On Feb. 1, 1965, King wrote from a jail in Selma, Ala., after he and 250 activists had been arrested as they marched to the courthouse to register to vote. With only 1 to 2 percent of the African American people in Selma being registered, King’s letter observed, "There are more Negroes in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls."

“American history is not comfortable,” Fr. Phil noted. But understanding that and changing the course for the future is part of God’s call to Christians, and he said a large part of changing our course lies with access to the ballot box.

Quoting Dr. King’s speech from May 1957, Fr. Phil read: “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind -- it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to
enact. I can only submit to the edict of others.”

Taking part in the ongoing voting rights struggle, he said, is a way to honor King’s “lifelong passion and commitment.”

Fr. Phil called on those concerned about voting rights to weigh in with their elected representatives on everything from the Senate filibuster to the gerrymandering of state legislative and congressional maps.

St. Paul’s, Mt. Olive and StarkFresh first came together three years ago to begin a conversation about race, with as many as a hundred people gathered over time for dinner in the church hall. The meal wasn’t incidental, Fr. Phil said. “Where there’s food, there’s fellowship” and a chance to “get to know each other as human beings.”

Mt. Olive Pastor Eric Howard preached the Martin Luther King Day message at St. Paul’s in 2020. In introducing Fr. Phil Tuesday at Mt. Olive, Pastor Howard said, “He has become my friend and my brother over these past few years,” and through the relationship between the two churches – one a predominantly White Episcopal church and the other a predominantly Black Baptist church – “we have been able to peaceably and diplomatically have some very transparent and forthcoming discourses and … a lot of maturity a lot of illumination has come to the forefront.”

To hear Fr. Phil's complete message, click HERE .

Our choir is back, and Music Director Grimes invites you to join!

It is with enthusiasm and joy that we announce the restarting of choir at St. Paul's! I have been able to reach out to most previous choir members. If I have not reached out to you yet, please expect an outreach from me soon. This is also an opportunity for those who have not previously sung in choir at St. Paul's to prayerfully consider taking part in this important (and extremely fun) ministry at St. Paul's. There is no audition process and participation in this ministry requires no formal training or experience. It does require a love of singing and a willingness to learn. Everyone is welcome, without exception. There will be an organizational meeting and a bit of singing on March 17th, 7:30 p.m. in the chancel at St. Paul's.
If you are interested please contact me with any questions or concerns by phone: 330-968-7487 or email: [email protected].

The Cleveland Chamber Choir's premier of Cecilia McDowall's newest work

St. Paul’s Music Director Edward T. Grimes was among the Cleveland Chamber Choir voices this past weekend celebrating the music of award-winning composer Cecilia McDowall. The free public concerts included the world premiere of McDowall’s newest composition, “On the Air (Dear Vaccine)”.

McDowall was the 2014 winner of the choral category of the British Composer Awards and her music has been performed worldwide, including by the BBC Singers, the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain and the Kansas City Chorale. The Saturday and Sunday concerts featured other compositions by McDowall and works by Britten, Tallis and Stravinsky and the composer participated in a pre-concert talk about her inspirations and compositions.

Edward is a tenor with the 32-member Cleveland Chamber Choir, which debuted in 2015. For the weekend concerts, the choir was accompanied by choruses from Kent State, Cleveland State, Youngstown State and Case Western Reserve universities.

As with all the choir concerts, a free-will offereing was collected with a portion going to community charities. The performances are also available on the choir's YouTube and Facebook pages.
For more information, go to [email protected]

St. Paul’s selects its new leadership team

Update: At its organizational meeting Feb. 5, Vestry selected officers for 2022:

Senior Warden M.L.Schultze
Junior Warden Carol Sutek
Clerk Cara Warren
Treasurer Douglas Colmery
Assistant Treasurer David Lewis

The Vestry Retreat will be Feb. 26th at 9 a.m.

The annual congregational meeting via Zoom on Jan. 23 elected the new Vestry for 2022, giving the parish a lay-leadership team combining fresh perspectives with long institutional knowledge.

Unanimously elected to new three-year terms are Demetrius Carrothers and Cara Warren, who have quickly embraced the parish and the difference it can make in Canton. We profiled both in the October newsletter, which you can find at the bottom of this page.

The congregational meeting also waived a limit for this year only on the number of terms Vestry members Carol Sutek and M.L. Schultze can serve. Each will serve one additional year. (Senior Warden David Lewis consulted the Diocese regarding the policy).

In alphabetical order, here’s the list of Vestry members for 2022.
     Demetrius Carrothers
     Douglas Colmery
     David Lewis
     Valerie Frear
     Stephen Johnson
     Richard Oloya
     M.L. Schultze
     Carol Sutek
     Cara Warren

Parish milestones
Newly ordained Fr. Jon
Congratulations to John Coventry who, culminating a journey that began at St. Paul’s, was ordained an Episcopal priest on Jan. 19.

Jon became Trinity Alliance deacon-in charge last year and is now the priest-in-charge of the parish across the street from University of Mt. Union. He will continue his decades of work as a drug and alcohol counselor as well.

Jon began exploring the priesthood while he was a member of St. Paul’s, where he served on the Vestry, and the parish has supported his journey as he attended Bexley Hall seminary in the midst of the pandemic. Among those from St. Paul’s helping to celebrate his ordination was Maureen Wood, who also began her journey toward the priesthood at St. Paul’s.

In comments during the ordination, Bishop Mark Hollingsworth welcomed Jon, noted his route to the priesthood was a circuitous one, and predicted a new journey that’s only just beginning.

Pete Taflan passes on Christmas Day
Just a month after turning 100, Pete Taflan died while staying with his son in North Carolina.

“Pete has enriched St. Paul's immeasurably,” said Senior Warden David Lewis. “He was involved in nearly every aspect of St. Paul's. Fr. Phil asked if he could be considered a patriarch of St. Paul's. Absolutely. He will be missed greatly.”

Pete served St. Paul’s for seven decades. He did it in formal roles, such as junior warden, and in recent years, he was treasurer emeritus and a member of the long-range planning and 150th anniversary committees. But he also was someone who was nourished by the church and invited others to experience “the sense of peace … as well as the architecture and atmosphere, the Book of Common Prayer.”

A veteran of World War II and the Korean War, Pete retired from the military with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and many at St. Paul’s still affectionately called him “The Colonel.” He and his wife, Lennie, who died in 2018, first came to St. Paul’s in 1953, and they raised their daughter, Deborah (Findlay), and son, Peter, in the church.

From our archives: A celebration of Pete
If you’ve heard that Pete knew Philander Chase personally, somebody’s kidding with you. But Pete did turn 100 on Wednesday, November 24th!!! And even if he can’t tell you much about the founder of the Episcopal Church in Ohio, he may regale you about his nearly 70 years at St. Paul’s.

During that time, Pete has been part of just about every social, community and organizational facet of St. Paul’s life. He has served on the altar. He has served as Mister Fix-It around the building while junior warden. He was often involved with youth activities. And rare is the social event he’s missed in all these years.

When money has been an issue – namely, the scarcity of it – it has been Pete to the rescue. So prized has been his understanding of dollars and cents that when he hinted at retirement a few years ago, the vestry bestowed on him the title of treasurer emeritus (and financial adviser emeritus and everything emeritus) just to make sure he’d not be too far away when money matters nagged again.

Indeed, he remains loyally tethered to church life as a member of the church’s long-range planning committee, while also helping out as a member of the 150th anniversary planning committee.
Sunday, you’ll find Pete in his customary spot in the back pew, where he and wife Lennie so often worshipped. Lennie passed away on Jan. 27, 2018, but daughter Deborah joins her dad on many Sundays. (Son Peter lives in North Carolina.)

Pete and Lennie arrived at St. Paul’s in 1953. He was a veteran of WWII and Korea and retired from the service at the rank of lieutenant colonel, the reason people today still call him “The colonel.”

He landed a job as a sales executive at Dyneer Corp. She was a nurse. Like many young couples, they anchored their life to their faith, and that meant many church-related functions. Adults enjoyed each other’s company at dances and dinners and bowling. Kids had baseball and basketball, choir and scouting. The church even had its own theater program.

“We were right in the middle of everything,” Pete said in our newsletter not long ago. “We were really the epitome of the area. Everybody knew St. Paul’s. And the activities within the church—we had everything. An adult choir, boys’ choir, girls’ choir, a basketball team (which was one of Pete’s personal favorites). We had a Boy Scout troop. We put on plays. We thrived in pretty much every respect.”

But what really attracted him to St. Paul’s “was the sense of peace … as well as the architecture and atmosphere, the Book of Common Prayer.”

As the suburbs beckoned in the mid-to-late 1950s, many church members followed. City populations declined as young couples could find affordable housing in the townships. As inner cities hollowed out, churches struggled financially and saw fewer worshipers in the pews. Churches like St. Paul’s worked hard to redefine themselves but have had trouble keeping up with the changes required by an increasingly secular society. This church has been retro-fitted many times to meet community needs: after-school children’s programs, food pantry and Meals-on-Wheels, an in-house clothes store, support to substance abuse programs, community music performances, not mention Thanksgiving Baskets.

Not long ago, Pete offered his theory:
“I think it’s an ‘I know’ mentality.” he said. “I know everything, so there’s no need to look anywhere else for answers.”
For Pete, the most compelling answers have often been found right here at St. Paul’s.

The search for Bishop Hollingsworth's successor

The Bishop Search Committee recently interviewed two bishops to discuss The Role of a Bishop. The Bishops’ interviewed are the Rt. Rev. Jennifer Lynn Baskerville-Burrows and the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe. We hope you find these interviews of value as we, as a Diocese, search, discern and elect our next Bishop. The link to the interviews are available.

St. Paul's welcomes
Fr. Christopher+

Fr. Christopher Hofer+ celebrated his first Holy Eucharist service with St. Paul's on Sunday, May 8.
Fr. Christopher lives in Cuyahoga Falls and earned his bachelor’s degree at Walsh University and master’s from Kent State, before being awarded his master’s of divinity from The General Theological Seminary. His ministry has included Episcopal West Side Shared Ministry and serving as rector of The Church of St. Jude in New York. Please welcome him to the St. Paul’s family!

Trying to sort the information wheat from the chaff?

The League of Women Voters is offering a free workshop on Saturday May 7 titled: "Pop the Disinformation Bubble."

The workshop from 10-11:30 a.m. at the main branch of the Stark County District Library offers practical advice for anyone trying to figure out how to distinguish lies from facts in all kinds of media.

The program is being done in association with Building Bridges for America which, like the League, is a nationwide all-volunteer organization that shares "the goal of building a just and equitable democracy."

The workshop is both in-person in the second-floor meeting room of the library at 715 Market Ave. North, in downtown Canton (handicapped accessible) or via Zoom. Those wanting to participate virtually should go to www.cantonlwv.org for a Zoom link.

Featured in the workshop will be Caz Margenau, a leader with Building Bridges who will help people "learn to identify disinformation, understand how and why people believe lies, and how empathy can be used to help us differentiate between truth and fiction.

The goal of Building Bridges for America is “delivering racial equity, bridging rural and urban communities, reforming democracy, and creating a sense of belonging.”

See and hear: Witness to Wartime

The Canton Museum of Art is opening an exhibition this week titled "Witness to Wartime: The Painted Diary of Takuichi Fujii.”
Fujii was 50 when the war between the United States and Japan began and was one of 100,000 Japanese Americans forced into incarceration camps during World War II. In the camps, he kept a diary with hundreds of ink illustrations and later created more than 130 watercolors.
s part of the exhibition, Karen Jiobu will share her personal story of being an internee this afternoon at 2 at the Cable Recital Hall at the Cultural Center.

St. Paul's 2022: What will it take?

M.L. Schultze, Sr. Warden

In some ways, 2022 is a reset year. We’ve resumed in-person Sunday services and are gathering again on Fridays through Lent for Stations of the Cross. The Guild Hall is open for our monthly H.O.T. lunch with our Canton neighbors and for coffee hour after Sunday services. Wednesday Book Study is beginning a new video series, “Witness at the Cross.”

But 2022 also offers St. Paul’s a chance at more than a reset. It’s a chance to move ahead, revitalized and re-energized – fully understanding that we face challenges, but also opportunities.

Think of this as the year of: “What will it take?” What will it take to do the things that strengthen our ties to each other, to our community and to God? This doesn’t mean massive projects that require big money, long time-frames and dramatic changes in direction.

It means a range of ideas – some big, some small and some falling in the middle. It means inventorying the resources we have and the resources we need to respond to a challenge and grab ahold of an opportunity. It means consulting with the people and groups in the church and beyond, inviting them to join us and focus us.

It means arriving at a blend of actions that do what the Rev. Dr. Tricia Lyons identified at the Diocesan Winter Convocation as “micro and macro evangelism”: The experiences that strengthen our everyday foundation AND take us to the mountaintop.

It means purposeful joy – or maybe a joyful purpose.

Toward that end, the Vestry Retreat on Feb. 25 included an open-ended exercise, covering a table with ideas of short-, medium-, and long-term actions, things we can integrate into what we already do and things that can take us in a new direction.
The list is long. And it is incomplete, awaiting your input as well.

Vestry will be coming together at the next meeting (6 p.m. on March 21 in the Guild Hall), to select at least one from each category and to begin answering the question: “What will it take?”

Thanks to Clerk Cara Warren’s careful notetaking, you’ll find the list of the ideas below (Some are repeated because they came up more than once.) This list is separated by time frame, but Cara also has categorized them by the type of activity:

Building and grounds
Communications
Inreach
Outreach
Services-Worship
Spiritual Formation

We've posted the lists on the bulletin board in the Narthex and will be happy to send you electronic copies. And we’d love to add your questions and ideas as well, so please share them with a Vestry member or mail them to [email protected]

LONG-TERM

Support group for caregivers
How do we minster to lapsed Catholics?
Partner with Canton city on events planned for downtown, eg Earth Day celebration in Centennial Plaza
Can we partner with someone with a small bus to set up rideshare with nursing home/wheelchair access?
LGBTQ+ outreach
How can we welcome and minister to AA and NA groups?
How to minister to LGBTQ+ community?
Hold concerts to grow awareness for our church and improve income
Meditation time and space
Na/AA meditation supports
Sober House
Engage with the arts community
Increase access to livestream for members and non-members
Clothing giveaway at HOT, hats gloves, etc.
Partner with social service agency for clothing for adults
Incorporate social service info at HOT
Engage with Crossroads
Further explore use of buildings by other groups
Articles/presentation on items of interest (church architecture terms, instructional/informational Eucharist)
Website beef up content
Support StarkFresh grocery store
Ecumenical faith alliance
Transportation to church
Memory garden
Prayer time on schedule for open chapel

MEDIUM-TERM

Finish community room
Tutoring
Host children’s African choir again
List sign requesting specific ways to donate items or time
Coffee hour list donations
Dialog with other downtown churches
Children’s books
Bible study group
Connect with downtown businesses & residents
Refuge of Hope partnership clothing & volunteers/clinic
Good karma cupboard
Do we have ministries/knitting group?
Revive spiritual formation classes
Spiritual formation classes
Outreach committee to do good works in community
Community room showers & laundry
Friendship center partnership
More community projects missions
Mission involving foster children
Clean up day 2 x a year for the church
Clean up day spring and fall
Little library

SHORT-TERM

Visitation committee to visit new prospective and existing members
Return to and expand Courageous Conversations
Revise mission statement
MOW Monday route (additional route) they need delivery drivers towards Louisville
Speakers to spread news of St. Paul's to other groups and get ideas for St. Paul's
Hand out small flyers about our church at HOF parade
Lights
Shared vestry email box
Lenten journey project
Meditation or prayer at a set time
Calendar and bulletin more explanation
Sung responses in liturgy
MOW
Set goals measurable metrics for each vestry meeting
Straighten up sanctuary/Narthex
Prayer request repository in central location
Additional services weekday mass and return to Evensong
Evensong
Wed night service
Open 5th Street door
Signs around the building (do we have our hours posted for services?)
Signs outside building

The Diocese of Ohio invites you to a close encounter with God's beautiful creation

Join friends for the best week of the summer! Bellwether Farm is a working farm with fields, forests, and facilities sure to transform lives. Our traditional overnight summer camp lets children immerse themselves in fun, engaging activities which seek to teach healthy social, nutritional, and environmental practices, while providing a safe context in which to encounter God's beautiful creation. Campers will have an opportunity to learn about organic gardening, animal care, and creative cooking. They will also participate in traditional camp activities including swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts, fishing, campfires, and field games. The Bellwether Farm staff is invested in the life of every camper, seeking to inspire future generations to become passionate leaders in the world around them. Registration is now available!

The Rev. Beth Frank's farewell
Update: Click here for a link to Beth Frank's funeral
The funeral service for The Rev. Beth Frank, a friend of St. Paul’s, will be Saturday, Feb. 5, at Trinity Cathedral at 11 a.m. It will be shared at satellite sites in four of the parishes in the Diocese of Ohio where Beth served: St. Mark’s, Canton; St. James, Painesville; St. Paul’s, Medina; and St. Andrew’s, Toledo. You can also participate in the livestreamed service from home.

Beth, who died Jan. 21, was an interim Episcopal priest with a sharp sense of humor. From her obituary: “In a sermon to a new parish she talked about her life as follows. A Yiddish proverb says, ‘Man plans. God laughs.’ Beth believed her path to the priesthood provided plenty of material for God and God's angels at their weekly comedy nights.”

Before becoming a priest, she was an attorney specializing in f air housing and civil rights litigation, taught English in Beijing and Hong Kong and coordinated athletes and volunteers for the Special Olympics.She served as vice-chair of the Standing Commission on World Mission for the national Episcopal church and was active in the Diocese of Ohio companion relationship with Belize.

Contributions in Beth’s memory may be made to a medical services ministry in Nigeria that she particularly cared about: Kateri Medical Services. (www.KateriClinic.org)

New Consecration Sunday meets the spiritual challenge

New Consecration Sunday on Nov. 7th was the culmination of our stewardship program and it was wonderful to see so many of you in church in person on that day.A huge thank you to all those who attended and completed Estimate of Giving cards as well as those of you who couldn’t attend but have already mailed back your cards.

For those of you who still have cards at home, please return those to us asap as it really helps the Vestry in planning our church outreach activities for 2022 to know what gifts are being provided.

This year, we challenged you to think spiritually about stewardship and answer the question, “What is God calling me to give?” It is my honor to report that more than 50 percent of you ‘stepped up’ in your giving for 2022 and at this stage I can report that the total amount promised is now over $124,000, which is more than a 11 percent increase over last year!

My personal thanks go out to the stewardship committee for this year -- Barb Anderson, Douglas Colmery, David Rothoff, Karl Roshong, Cara Warren -- and to Fr. Phil for all his guidance. I would also like to thank those parishioners who gave personal witness and assisted with our various “temple talks,” Demetrius Carrothers and Susan Phillips.

I trust that you all enjoyed your freshly made sandwiches from Deli Ohio that were provided as a celebration of New Consecration Sunday. I had the turkey bacon avocado and Wendy had the spinach apple brie, both of which were very tasty! Hopefully, in 2022 we will be able to have a catered lunch and gathering of our church family in person. Until then, stay safe, healthy and happy.

Yours in Christ,
Steve Johnson
Stewardship Committee Chair

Ted Milton Dunbar, 1925-2021
Ted and Frances Dunbar were mainstays of St. Paul’s and each other’s lives. They were married for 67 years until her death in 2015, and no one doubted it when he described her as the love of his life.

But he was proud of other things as well, including his son, Ted, daughters Elizabeth Toth, Janice Farley and Barbara Dunbar (a missionary in Japan), nine grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He often shared pictures and stories of them all with his St. Paul’s family as he headed out of Sunday service. But he also had plenty of time to listen to the stories of others.

Ted was a World War II veteran, who entered the U.S. Coast Guard at age 17. Throughout his lifetime, he demonstrated an “uncanny knowledge of all sea-faring vessels.”

He served in the Pacific Theater on the troop transport USS Callaway and after more than three years, was honorably discharged as a Water Tender Petty Officer First Class. He and Frances participated in yearly Callaway reunions all over the United States.

Ted spent 57 years as a steam boiler operator, retiring from the VA Clinic in Brecksville. A member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, he loved researching the history of World War II and Canton.

“He was known for his humor, kindness, work ethic and being the family fix-it man,” his obituary recalled.

Charles Morgan Jr., 1921-2021
Like Ted, Charles Morgan was a World War II vet who served in the Pacific theater and loved the water.

He’d worked his way through Case Western Reserve University with the Interlake Steamship Company and joined the Marines at the start of the war, earning his wings at the Naval Air in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the war, he was a captain, squadron leader and decorated dive-bomber pilot.

After earning his law degree at the University of Michigan, he specialized in labor mediation and arbitration and was known over his nearly 60 years of practicing law “for his calm reasoning and resolution skills.”

His community service included the boards of the Deuble Foundation and Aultman Hospital.
He and his wife Mary (Polly) were married for 67 years until her death in 2010.

He is survived by children Brian of Massillon and Megan Morgan of Takoma Park, Md., four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.

St. Paul's Newsletter, April 2022

St. Paul's Newsletter, March 2022

If you have any news concerning any aspect of life at St. Paul's, please be sure to report it to Peggy at [email protected]

Also, please have your announcements to the office by Tuesday morning
for publishing in the weekend's bulletin.

St. Paul's Newsletter, February 2022

St. Paul's Newsletter, November/December 2021

St. Paul's Newsletter, October 2021

St. Paul's Newsletter, September 2021

Letters from the Bishop

Covid guidance from the Diocese of Ohio, effective Sunday, June 13, 2021
Beginning Sunday, June 13, decisions regarding the use of masks, singing, serving food for coffee hour and feeding programs, reception of the sacrament, and the physical spacing of participants at any in-person gathering will be the responsibility of each individual congregation’s clergy and lay leaders. Please read the entirety of this letter carefully.

Continued progress in understanding the nature of the coronavirus and increasing success in limiting its spread through vaccination, as reflected in amended guidelines from the CDC and state health agencies, allow us to move further toward subsidiarity in pandemic response and procedures. The availability of sound scientific resources and the intimate knowledge of their communicant base increasingly support individual congregations in making decisions that best meet their particular circumstances.

I recognize that in some places this may result in a transfer of frustration or disagreement from episcopal to parochial leadership, and I regret any increased burden on our clergy and lay leaders after all that they have endured over the past 15 months. Nonetheless, the breadth of our parishes in almost every demographic and characteristic makes it increasingly difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all set of protocols that adequately responds to their varied contexts.

Masks
The makeup of our congregations differs considerably from parish to parish. Those with relatively fewer communicants, all of whom are fully vaccinated, are, according to CDC and state guidelines, at low risk as sites for COVID-19 contagion. Requiring masks in those settings is now no longer considered essential by the State of Ohio.
Other parishes, on the other hand, whose attendance regularly fills the available space, or whose communicants either include families with young children or hope to include such families, may appropriately feel that wearing masks is a discipline warranted by their commitment to the health of the particularly vulnerable. This would likewise be a reasonable and responsible practice for congregations with communicants unable to be vaccinated due to some other health condition.
Thus, the decision about whether and at which services the required use of masks is appropriate is best determined by parish leadership.

Singing
Singing will be permissible both out of doors and indoors, with or without masks, as determined by each parish. This applies to parishioners, soloists, and choirs. As with all in-person practices, attention to safe practices is paramount and should be determined by leaders and encouraged by all.

Food
Food may be served at church and outreach events alike, as directed by safety policies and practices established by clergy and vestry. This includes coffee hour, receptions, formation events, community dinners, and any event at which food and drink may be offered.

Reception of Eucharistic elements
While I will continue to encourage strongly that the Eucharistic sacrament be received in one kind (bread only), that decision will also be the responsibility of parish leadership, with the final say resting with the clergy. There are certainly a few congregations in which every attendee may be fully vaccinated. Drinking from the common cup, however, or reaching one’s hand into the chalice for intinction may well remain uncomfortable to many and unsafe for some. It is important to teach the Doctrine of Concomitance as an assurance to communicants that the sacrament is complete when received in one kind only, i.e., in either the bread or the wine.
On a personal note, as a recovering alcoholic I have received the Eucharist in bread alone for over 35 years. For me, not unlike for those who would choose to do the same in this time of pandemic, this was solely to protect me from a grave and chronic illness – alcoholism. In all of that time, I have never felt a diminution of the Eucharistic presence of Christ.
If a congregation considers distributing the consecrated wine at this time, I strongly urge that it be done cautiously, patiently, and after providing appropriate teaching so that communicants will feel free to choose not to receive.

Conclusion
Restoring the option to return to any of these practices is in no way an indication that doing so is the appropriate and correct determination for a specific congregation or event. That choice, as with all issues in Christian community, is a responsibility, not a right. It should be considered thoughtfully and humbly, not measured simply by one’s own desires, rather, as Jesus directed his disciples, in light of its implications for the well-being of “the least of these my brothers and sisters.”
As always, Brad Purdom, I, and all members of the Bishop’s staff are available to assist in exploring these or any issues regarding in-person gathering.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio

March 21, 2021
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Thank you for sustaining your heroic efforts to maintain parochial community as we continue to combat the coronavirus. I share everyone’s longing to return to in-person gathering. The numbers are finally trending in a positive direction, as a result of adherence to the protocols requested and required by federal, state, and local government agencies. Just last Thursday, the first four of the 48 counties in the Diocese of Ohio have turned from red to orange, one of which is home to an Episcopal congregation. At the same time, a number of epidemiologists are expressing caution about a potential surge at the end of March from the variant strains currently being diagnosed across the country. While we monitor that possibility, we can begin to consider the possibility of return to in-person gathering for worship, formation, and governance.

To that end, the decision of whether in-person gathering for worship, formation, and governance is safe and appropriate will return to parish leadership for services and events beginning on the 5th Sunday in Lent, March 21. This will give every congregation time to consider carefully and thoughtfully what will be best in their specific context.

No congregation is required to return to in-person gathering and no communicant is expected to participate if and when it does. The parochial responsibility for making this decision in no way implies that in-person gathering is necessarily appropriate. The decision of whether to participate is an individual obligation that concerns one’s own health and that of others.

No member of the Clergy is required to participate in in-person gathering for worship, formation, or governance at this time. Members of the Bishop’s Staff will not be expected to visit parishes for gatherings of any sort until the county in which they live and the county in which the parish is situated are at Level 1 or 2 (Yellow or Orange, respectively) and the staff member has received a COVD-19 vaccination or otherwise feels secure.

To every extent possible, all vehicles for “virtual” participation (Zoom, Facebook Live, YouTube, etc.) should be continued and enhanced.

In carrying out this responsibility, it will be critically important for clergy and lay leaders to give serious consideration to a range of available data and guidelines. These include:

The Ohio Public Emergency Level (1-Yellow, 2-Orange, 3-Red, 4-Purple) of the county in which your parish is geographically situated. Updated ratings are released every Thursday. Extensive county-specific data is available on this site by clicking on the name of your county in the drop-down to the right of the map. (These data do not include the incarcerated.)
The Ohio Public Emergency Level of the counties contiguous to the county in which your parish is geographically situated. People regularly cross county lines for many reasons, including church attendance.
The Ohio Public Health Advisory System’s Summary of Alert Indicators.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidelines for protecting oneself and others.
The Episcopal Church’s Toolkit for COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution.

Beginning the 5th Sunday in Lent (March 21), parishes resuming in-person gathering must:

follow all existing guidelines regarding the wearing of masks, physical distancing, sanitizing, restrictions regarding singing by congregation or soloists, the sharing or distribution of food, contact tracing, and the use of buildings for community service ministries or by outside groups, and
at least one week prior to resuming in-person gathering, submit this brief, online report. The purpose of this report is to facilitate communication and coordination with Mission Area deans and diocesan staff members for sharing valuable information and helpful resources and communicating best practices.

A pre-recorded, online worship service for the Second Sunday of Easter (April 11) will be made available to all congregations by the end of this month. The hope is that this will provide a modest break in responsibilities following Holy Week and Easter.

Finally, if any vestry, clergyperson, or lay leader is experiencing difficulty in making these decisions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any member of the Bishop’s Staff for assistance. There is a wide diversity of perspective on every aspect of COVID-19 response, and I know that when decision-making about gathering moves from me back to parish leadership, so, too, will move some of the division and divisiveness that accompany it. The challenges of this time need not threaten our unity, rather may they bring out the best in our vocation to be Christian and exhibit, within our congregations and beyond, what it means to be the Body of Christ.

Know that you remain always in my prayers and affection.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio

Blessing of the Animals

October Newsletter:Reaching out and reaching within

October Newsletter:
Reaching out and reaching within