Dear friends:
It is with considerable sadness that I announce that I will not seek an extension to my contract when it expires on June 30, approximately six weeks from now.
Members of parish council will know that the Bishop and I had agreed tentatively to a two-year extension. Recent events, however, have overtaken Rachel, me and the children and, after having discussed our situation with Bishop Stephen, we are all agreed that a conclusion to our ministry here at the Epiphany was the best possible solution.
My father’s illness is the chief motivating factor in this decision. When this news was made public, it quickly became apparent that, in spite of strong support from their church and local community, my mom and dad needed the support of family closer to home. Rachel and I immediately began to pray to discern just how we ought to respond to this new and troubling situation. When Rachel was offered work in Shawville, and the family was offered free housing (neither of which we were looking for), it seemed as though God answered the question we asked.
I am not leaving the Epiphany for another position, whether in parish ministry or another field. In the short term, I will be helping to care for my dad and turning again to writing, an activity I love but which has been left fallow for too long.
I am grateful to God for you, and to you for the generous way in which you have welcomed Rachel, me, and the children into the life of the parish. I am thankful for the friendships we have established here and for the ministry in which we have shared.
I look forward, over the next few weeks, to saying good-bye properly to many of you.
I do hope that, if we’re ever heading west on hwy 17 on a Sunday morning, there’ll be room in a pew for us should we pop in.
Warmly Tim