St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Canton, Ohio
All are welcome!
Sunday services begin at 10:25 a.m. in person or online
(Please note that St. Paul's livestreams and posts all our services on Facebook)
(Please note that St. Paul's livestreams and posts all our services on Facebook)
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Alleluia!
We have joyful news to share with the family of St. Paul’s: Dr. Robin Woodberry has accepted our call to become the next spiritual leader of our church.
At its meeting last Friday, the Vestry unanimously approved the recommendation of the Search Committee, and Robin accepted the call Saturday. A native of Youngstown, Robin is the daughter of a pastor and deacon, married to her high school sweetheart, a mother of five, grandmother of five and had been an ordained Baptist minister since 2005. She’s also been the executive director of the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches. Like our own Jon Coventry, Robin took the path to the Episcopal church and priesthood later in life. And like Jon, she’ll be ordained into the transitional-diaconate (and become St. Paul’s deacon-in-charge) before she becomes our priest-in-charge. Robin graduated last year from the Anglican Studies program at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. She’s completing her field work at Christ Church in Hudson, and here’s what one of her many supporters at the church shared with our Search Committee when they visited the service she officiated on May 8. “We have been privileged to journey with Dr. Robin Woodberry, our very own Candidate for Holy Orders, as she has moved through the seminary and diocesan training necessary to become an ordained priest. Her growth during this time has been extraordinary. Already a highly educated theologian, Robin is motivated by love, service to others, and a strong faith in God’s grace, which are all themes I hear in her excellent sermons and see in her interactions with our parish and staff.” Christ Church Rector Charlotte Collins Reed praised Robin’s people, pastoral and preaching skills and noted that she has facilitated Christ Church’s discussions of race and has been willing to share her own experiences “without judgment and with humor and grace.” "Her love of Jesus is obvious and her enthusiasm and energy for ministry run deep,” Rector Reed added. Robin’s coming to St. Paul’s is the culmination of more than five years of dedicated work by our Search Committee. Theirs would have been hard work in the best of times, but it was made so much harder by the challenges that a worldwide pandemic presented for our church and every church. Still, the committee headed by Barb Anderson crafted the parish profile and captured the core values of St. Paul’s – the values that ultimately attracted Robin to us. And the committee – even as some of its membership changed -- continued to advocate passionately for the right fit for St. Paul’s. We thank all the members who have served including the original committee of Barb Anderson, Jon Coventry (who began his own journey to the priesthood during this process), Douglas Colmery, Marilyn Dickinson, Olivia Johnson, Bill Kendrick, Dick Reinbold and Deb Shamlin (whom we lost to leukemia in the early days of the pandemic); and we thank those who came on board in recent months to help bring a unanimous recommendation to Vestry: Karen Merrin Swope, Demetrius Carrothers and Susan Phillips. Robin told Search Committee members that after her first meeting with them, she went home and prayed. And her prayer was a simple one: That God would help the people of St. Paul’s grow to love her as she loves St. Paul’s. To that, we can only say, “Amen!” Joyfully yours, The Vestry of St. Paul's Episcopal Church Members of the Vestry and Search Committee will be available during the coffee hour this coming Sunday to answer any questions you may have. Robin will be ordained an Episcopal deacon at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 28, and all the people of St. Paul’s are invited to celebrate with her! She will join Fr. Christopher Hofer for her first service at St. Paul’s on Pentecost Sunday, June 5.
Keeping our eye on the Covid numbers
Stark County and the rest of Ohio have seen an uptick over the last 30 days in the average number of Covid cases. Daily reported cases are now averaging 35 in Stark County, still well below the high back in January of 772. It is believed the reported case numbers are artificially low because many people who take home tests do not report the results, but hospitalizations and community spread also remain low. (Click here for the latest numbers.)
The St. Paul's Vestry continues to monitor Covid and will update our protocols based on case numbers, hospital admissions, ICU beds, deaths, community spread and CDC guidelines. 
Source: Covid Act Now
We continue to urge everyone who is able to get fully vaccinated and for everyone to maintain safe-distances.
Here are the current Covid protocols for St. Paul's, 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. '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." 
St. Paul’s is a radically welcoming Episcopal community in downtown Canton, grounded in faith, called by God’s Love to minister to the world.
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 |
For links to today's inurnment service for Pete Taflan, click here.
Up next at St. Paul's:
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 much 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.” 
For more photos of Fr. Phil's farewell, go to our News page by clicking on this link
If you have news to share about any aspect of life at St. Paul's, please be sure to report it to Peggy at stpaulsoffice@att.net. Also, please have your announcements to the office by Tuesday morning for publishing in the Sunday bulletin.
St. Paul's newsletter
Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for the April 2022 parish newsletter, which includes a photo montage from Holy Week.
Anti-Racism Train-the-Trainer Session
The Commission for Racial Justice is seeking new people to bolster our ranks of those leading the two day Seeing the Face of God in Each Other Anti-Racism training. We are holding a Train- the-Trainer session at Bellwether Farm on May 20 and May 21 (Friday and Saturday). Your expenses for the training will be covered and trainers are paid to lead the training. If you are interested, please complete the Anti-Racism Trainer Application Form by May 6. If you have questions, please contact Allison Hauserman at abhauserman@yahoo.com or Margaret D’Anieri at mdanieri@dohio.org.
“I don’t want to work for God like some kind of nice boss. ... I want to live with God, now and forever. Evangelism is joining God in whatever God is doing in the world.”
The Rev. Dr. Tricia Lyons Please note: St. Paul's livestreams and posts all its worship services on its Facebook page
By entering St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Canton, Ohio, and by your presence here, you consent to be photographed, filmed, livestreamed, and/or otherwise recorded. Your entry constitutes your consent to such photography, filming, livestreaming, and/or recording and to any use, in any and all media for St. Paul's and The Diocese of Ohio. If you do not agree to the foregoing, please do not enter this area.
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We at St. Paul's welcome you. If this is your first contact with St. Paul's or any Episcopal church, we invite you to explore the Seekers Center, which offers a detailed look at our traditions, practices and the application of our beliefs in today’s world. Please join our church family to see us firsthand in all-encompassing, loving action.
We at St. Paul's welcome you. If this is your first contact with St. Paul's or any Episcopal church, we invite you to explore the Seekers Center, which offers a detailed look at our traditions, practices and the application of our beliefs in today’s world. Please join our church family to see us firsthand in all-encompassing, loving action.
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Giving made easier The Diocese of Ohio has partnered with Giving Tools to help with online stewardship for St. Paul's and other parishes. Please click on the church icon at left to visit our Online Giving page. Please join us for services online on our Facebook page every Sunday beginning at 10:25 a.m.
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St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Avenue S.W.
Canton, OH 44702-1625
Our secretary, Peggy, remains in the office Monday thru Thursday
8:00-Noon.
There are no office hours on Fridays.
The office email is stpaulsoffice@att.net;
and you may leave a message on the phone voicemail
(330)455-0286
425 Cleveland Avenue S.W.
Canton, OH 44702-1625
Our secretary, Peggy, remains in the office Monday thru Thursday
8:00-Noon.
There are no office hours on Fridays.
The office email is stpaulsoffice@att.net;
and you may leave a message on the phone voicemail
(330)455-0286
