March 30. We continued our annual meeting, which had begun in February via Zoom due to a snowstorm, with a celebration of the 15th anniversary of our rector’s installation. Actually Pam came to us as priest-in-charge 17 years ago and preached her first sermon on March 2, 2008.
Wardens Pat Krol & Rebekah Shore were joined by Jill Silverstein of Central Reform Temple in congratulating our rector Pam Werntz.
May 4. Our rector presided at a memorial service in Lindsey Chapel for benefactor James Theodore Bartlett (2/13/1937 – 11/7/2024). A beloved member of our congregation, Jim served for years as chair of our Finance Commission.
May 11.We dedicated our third pulpit statue to the Rev. Dr. Suzanne Radley Hiatt: theologian, prophet, priest, professor, and advocate.
Ordained as one of the Philadelphia 11 on July 29, 1974, this “bishop to the women” served as an inspirational mentor to many, including our rector, whose dedicatory sermon can be watched about 28 minutes into our recorded service. For Dr. Hiatt’s connection to Pauli Murray, please see We’ve Come This Far by Faith. We thank Ted Southwick and the friends of the late Dr. Hiatt for supporting this project.
Sculptor Ted Southwick smiled while our rector asperged his figure of the Rev. Dr. Suzanne Hiatt. Photo: JG Bullitt
Marianne Iaucco, vestry member (2007-08), Clerk of Vestry (2009-10); Mary Blocher, Treasurer (1995), vestry member (2007-11); Anna Pauline Zeusler, vestry member (1990-93)
Dec 21. We bade farewell to Mary Blocher and Marianne Iauco as they joined our diaspora in order to be closer to family after their four decades of service on our vestry and Worship Commission. Pauli Zeusler, who had known them when she served on our troubled vestry in the early 1990s, came to the luncheon they gave the parish before their departure.
Dec. 22. The Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew II, Bishop of Ohio (1994-2004) and our Associate Priest for many years, died in Boston. Born 20 Dec. 1939, he was the namesake of his great uncle J.C. Grew, US Envoy to Denmark & Switzerland, Ambassador to Turkey & Japan, then Undersecretary of State during WWII. The Grew family held Pew 62 from the foundation of Emmanuel, and Annie Clark (Mrs. Henry) Grew held the deed for Pew 51 from 1897-1925.