I’m looking forward to being back with all of you this Sunday! It has been a wonderful sabbatical and I’m excited to share what I’ve been doing the last three months. I have travelled to several places and had some extensive down time right here in Kansas City. I have to say it was strange driving by the Cathedral at various times and not turning in to park!

My time away started by driving to Chicago for Mary-Mullis’ graduation from Columbia College Chicago. It was a great weekend filled with family and friends. We drove back to Kansas City only to fly back to Chicago a few days later in order to fly to Europe for two weeks. We began in Paris, then went to Tuscany, Italy, and finally on to Rome. It was beautiful, but it was hot. Europe had a heat wave that only got worse after we left! We visited many places such as Notre Dame and the Louvre in Paris, the Accademia and Uffizi in Florence, and the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. We saw many other sites and walked a lot. While in Tuscany we took day trips to beautiful old walled cities such as Certaldo and Monteriggioni. We tried to see three Episcopal Churches while there as well. Part of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, we wanted to see the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (the American Cathedral) in Paris, St. James’ in Florence, and St. Paul’s-within-the Walls in Rome. Well, we saw two out of three. The American Cathedral was closed to the public during the week due to construction in the Nave. We worshiped at St. James on Trinity Sunday which was lovely. We went to St. Paul’s on a Saturday and they had three weddings scheduled that day, so it was closed to the public. But, as luck would have it, the property manager saw us and let us in to look around. Other trips over the sabbatical included driving trips to Michigan, to Sewanee, TN, and to Augusta, GA to visit Beth’s mother.

Now it’s back to work! I’m excited about all of our upcoming events and look forward to participating in them and getting back to Cathedral life. Thank you to everyone who made this sabbatical time possible: Wardens and Vestry, clergy and staff, and all of you, thank you!

Please continue to pray for one another, for our Cathedral family, our nation, and the world.