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April 11, 2023

Dear Trinity Family,

Trinity is committed to living into our mission statement: “Inspired by Christ, Trinity Episcopal Church strives to love our neighbor, do justice, and walk humbly with God." Inspired by our mission statement and along with our baptismal commitment to “seek and serve Christ in all persons,” I founded the Legacy Committee in the fall of 2020. They were asked to carefully consider how to honor the contributions of those who have been foundational to our church, while also acknowledging that their history - and therefore our history – may include things we now regret. The charge of the Legacy Committee is to help us celebrate the inspiring, and often complicated history of our parish while also moving thoughtfully into our future. I am grateful to the thoughtful and prayerful work done by this group dealing with a challenging issue. Below you will find a link to the full report of the Legacy Committee which I commend to you. 

Legacy Committee members include: 

Virginia Weinmann, Co-Chair

Ted George, Co-Chair

Ron French

Barbara Waller

Nell Bolton Butler

Keith Crawford

Sherman Boughton 

Heather Lonian

Bo Farrell

Tina Grant, Secretary 

I also reached out to members of the Trinity family who have close ties to our past, to seek to understand their hopes and fears, and determine a course of action together. These conversations have enriched my own perspective and that of our parish family in ways we could never have imagined. 

Throughout our work, the theme we found ourselves returning to again and again, was our desire to expand rather than contract the dimensions of our esteem. Following in the footsteps of Christ, we seek to model inclusion rather than exclusion, unity rather than divisiveness, grace rather than judgement.

It is in this spirit of addition rather than deletion that the Legacy Committee recommended that we expand the honor of naming our Bishop Polk Hall to include all Trinity Church and School clergy who were subsequently called to serve the church as Bishops. We intend to change the name to Bishops Hall and include therein a plaque to honor all ten Bishops whose leadership was formed in important ways by the Trinity community. 

Bishops who served at Trinity Church and School, New Orleans include:

(1841–1864)

The Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk, Diocese of Louisiana

(1868-1890)

The Rt. Rev. John W. Beckwith, Diocese of Georgia

(1870-1899)

The Rt. Rev. Henry N. Pierce, Diocese of Arkansas

(1879–1888)

The Rt. Rev. Samuel S. Harris, Diocese of Michigan

(1880-1891)

The Rt. Rev. John N. Galleher, Louisiana

(1883-1902)

The Rt. Rev. Hugh Miller Thompson, Diocese of Mississippi

(1898 to 1935)

The Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Gailor, Diocese of Tennessee

(2003-2015)

The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray, III, Diocese of Mississippi

(2007-2022)

The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith, Diocese of Southwest Florida

(2019-present)

The Rt. Rev. Phoebe A. Roaf, Diocese of Western Tennessee

We will have a Town Hall on Thursday April 20 at 6:00pm to share this report with the parish. I am also pleased to announce that the most recent Bishop on our Bishop’s list, The Rt. Rev. Phoebe Roaf, will be with us to celebrate this new chapter in the life of our parish on Sunday, May 21, a wonderful commemoration of Trinity’s past and future.

In Christ,

The Rev. Andrew Thayer