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The Standing Committee and I have invoked Canon 29 to name Church of the Mediator in the Bronx as a vulnerable congregation.
We are organizing renewal with our congregations across the Diocese. Stabilizing our local communities to focus on mission and not survival represents a key element of the strategy.
- Canon 29 supports congregations in trouble. The Standing Committee and I have invoked its provisions nine times in the last two years to replace Wardens and Vestry with Administrative Authorities that can provide needed resources in a difficult moment.
The Mediator congregation had hoped to develop its property— but a 2023 full assessment report showed the planned project was financially unworkable. The congregation has defaulted on a $1 million development loan made in 2022 from the Diocesan Trustees.
Over the past several years we have deeply engaged with Mediator’s vestry and clergy. Canon for NYC Victor Conrado, Canon for Vulnerable Congregations Aaron Hudson, Canon Alissa Newton, and I have met with Mediator leadership multiple times.
We have named two successive outside review committees to explore a path forward. Last summer we appointed the Rev. Kurt Gerhard, the Rev. Kristin Miles, De Young Chan; last fall we named Peter Saros, the Rev. Gareth Evans, the Rev. Emily Lukanich, and the Rev. Rigoberto Avila to work with the Vestry.
- We are always first concerned about pastoral care and congregational health. Property development presents a longer-term possibility. Vitality comes first. Development can’t serve as a survival strategy.
- For Mediator, we have also been concerned about the physical safety of the building. Based on safety assessments, we asked the congregation to move to another neighborhood space; they had declined.
- We’ve drawn a firm line under the Trustee loan for Mediator and other development projects that haven’t gone as hoped. We won’t provide additional resources for building operating costs.
After 18 months of conversations, we asked the Standing Committee to act because of these questions about congregational development along with concerns about voting irregularities in vestry elections at Mediator’s recent annual meeting.
We have asked the second review committee to serve as the Administrative Authority to focus on pastoral care and congregational safety.
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We have also thanked the Rev. Luis Gomez for his leadership as priest-in-charge; his last Sunday at Mediator will be May 10.
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The Rev. Filomena Servellon has agreed to serve as parish chaplain beginning early this summer.
It’s a hard moment. Mediator has served as a community of belonging for its congregation and a beacon for its neighborhood. We are committed to the next chapter of presence in the neighborhood and in the Bronx.
Mediator’s congregational leaders intend to continue their work as a bilingual and intercultural community.
- It’s my commitment to stay in conversation with congregations and clergy through difficulty and disagreement. We stick together through anxious moments. I also hope that we can build trust so that we can keep our commitments to each other.
- Canon Hudson is coordinating engagement with congregational leaders and connecting resources across the Diocese for support.
More broadly, we are committed to expanding resources to stabilize congregations navigating change and support health, vibrancy, and growth. More than 100 congregations have participated in the College for Congregational Development. Two of Mediator’s congregational leaders are participating in the current training.
Thanks to Canon Hudson, Canon Conrado, Canon Newton, and chief of finance & operations Judi Allen do their work.
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