A farewell
Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the joys of being a multi-clergy parish is that we often play a role in the beginning of the ministry of new clergy. We benefit from their energy and faith and have the opportunity to be shaped, in wonderful ways, by them even as we also provide a place for the Spirit to draw new gifts out of them.
It is with both joy and sadness that I am announcing that Fr Mark Schultz will be leaving Saint Philip’s in the Hills, after serving for four years as our Curate for Children, Youth, and Family Ministries. He has accepted a call to be the Associate Priest for Pastoral Care at Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
This will, of course, allow Mark and Erich to return to a city they love and for Mark to serve a parish that will benefit enormously from his gifts. Saint Thomas is an ideal match, in so many ways, and he will find there a community eager for his commitment and devotion.
His last day with us will be Sunday, October 24. We will share news in the next week about transition planning and the like but we will say goodbye well first.
When we began the search for a priest to form and pastor children, youth, and families, it was a bit of a selfish task for me, I’ll admit. As a parent, I wanted to find someone with whom I hoped my boys would connect and from whom they could learn. Mark has done that and more.
At each turn, he has shown a remarkable care for our children and youth. He has advocated for them to be included in all parts of the life of the parish as full members of the Body of Christ. He has done them the enormous service of taking their faith seriously—of seeing them as being pastors, prophets, and theologians in their own right.
Mark brought practical skills to his role—organization, communication, and the like. What he did, more than that though, was provide a model for those of us looking to live the full faith in our whole lives. We saw, daily, his devotion and prayerfulness—and that kind of faith is rare. A friend who spent some time working with him said to me, “He’s the real deal.” They meant that Mark inhabited the role of a priest by taking the shape and demands of being a priest seriously—because he takes Christ seriously.
Mark has been a pastor to our boys, a prophetic voice, an inspired preacher, a gifted teacher, and more. He will take all those gifts to his new church. My dearest hope is that the gifts he has shared here multiply and that we see his love of the Gospel continue to grow in the hearts of those with whom he has ministered here.
Perhaps no language is more honest than tears and I will say that both of our boys were honest in their response when they learned he was leaving. Of course it is a time for the sadness of parting but it is, even more, a time for joy as Mark shares his ministry with a new community and shapes its members, too. I hope you will congratulate him and thank him for the many ways he has been a priest, friend, and pastor here.
Mark’s personal farewell is in his letter here.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Robert