A House of Prayer for All People Announcements 2015 February 1st Profile of the Reverend Mary Elizabeth Haddad By Walter Wells PARIS – L.A.’s Beverly Hills, San Francisco’s Nob Hill, New York’s Park Avenue, and now Avenue George V in Paris. “Another fancy zip code,” said Mary Haddad. “I didn’t really need it, did I?” But 75008 goes with the territory, so to speak. Mary’s appointment to six months as interim priest associate at the American Cathedral provided an impressive addition to an impressive list, she agreed. The Reverend Mary Elizabeth Haddad, Canadian by birth, priest through serendipity and dynamic even when sitting and talking quietly, expects to be with our parish until the summer. She plans to return then to the job she interrupted to come here, which is full time caregiver to her mother, who is 94 and who lives in Toronto. Like being a priest, the caregiver’s job is centered in love. It’s also a job Mary is committed to until the end of her mother’s life. The trail that led her to the priesthood began with the global economic downturn of the 80s, which hit communications companies harder than most. Mary, a communications graduate of the University of Windsor, had worked as an assistant television producer for Canadian Broadcasting in Windsor, Ontario, Detroit’s neighbor across the river. To cope with failing revenues, the CBC took a path that many media companies have followed since. Mary was among those who lost their jobs. The next landing was easy enough. She joined the staff of the University of Windsor School of Music as concert manager and publicist. Three years there, and then something unexpected: She became a restaurant owner. A favorite soup and sandwich shop whose specialty was pâtés was on the market – the French woman who owned it was going back home to Lyon. Another three years later, Mary’s advice about owning restaurants was “Don’t do it – just have your friends to dinner.” Broke and out of work again, she headed across the straights to a Toyota dealership and became a sales star. She was a natural, and the experience was invaluable. “Everything I know about being a priest I learned selling cars.” It sounds provocative (would you buy a timeworn religion from this priest?) So she explains: “It’s all about connection and communication. If you can’t connect with the buyer, if you can’t communicate with them, then you won’t make a sale.” It’s understood that you could substitute “parishioner” or another word from the glossary of the faithful and her point would be the same. After a year and a half and a lot of earnings success – salesperson of the month, salesperson of the year in 1992 – she had a conversion experience during Eucharist at Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, in the Detroit suburbs. Conversion? She insists on the word. “I was a nominal Christian, an Anglican. But something happened at that altar. And I will never forget the way the priest pressed the bread into my palm.” And what happened next was another move, but more in the spiritual direction that the Holy Spirit was pushing her. Through friends in Beverly Hills she landed there as verger and sexton at All Saints Church. “I was really the sexton,” She said. “I cleaned the church.” In less than the fullness of time she was also preaching. The verger-sexton-preacher. We’ve heard her sermons from our pulpit. Perhaps we have heard her also from some of the sermons that are online. If we’ve heard her, we know how logical it was for the verger to take to the pulpit. As the Toyota sales manager told her in Detroit, she’s a natural. I think of hers is a voice of our age as well as for it. It’s a voice that reflects experience and that communicates through irony and edgy understated humor, often self-deprecating. But there’s an eloquent point to the sermons. She closes the deal, she makes the sale. ...continued at the end of the Announcements. This Week at the Cathedral Sunday, February 1st 9 :00am 9 :15am 9 :45am 10 :30am 11pm 12 :30pm 12 :45pm 4pm 6pm Holy Eucharist Polls Open Annual General Meeting Extraordinary General Meeting Holy Eucharist with Choir Ministry Reports Parish-wide Lunch and Fellowship Dimanches Musicaux Concert Special Eventide – Service in French Monday, February 2nd 12 :00pm AA Tuesday, February 3rd 9 :15am 12 :00pm Morning Prayer AA Wednesday February 4th 12 :30pm 3pm 5pm Holy Eucharist Music Discovery Class Children’s Choir Practice Thursday February 5th 12pm 2:30pm 7:30pm AA French-English Conversation Adult Education -- Serenity Prayer Friday February 6th 12pm 12pm Mission Lunch AA Sunday, February 8th 9 :00am 9 :45 am 11pm 12 :30pm 4pm 6Pm 7 :00pm Holy Eucharist Adult Forum Holy Eucharist with Choir Journey to Adulthood Dimanches Musicaux Concert Eventide Welcome Reception Dear member of the American Cathedral in Paris: 2015 Annual General Meeting, Sunday, February 1st - All Members Invited to Attend Lunch to Follow The main business of the American Cathedral in Paris is the programs and ministries that define our parish and enable us to carry out the work that God has called us to do. We carry these ministries out by planning, praying, volunteering and by executing sound management and budgeting practices. Each parishioner is an integral part of our community and we invite you to come to the AGM to learn and be a part of "Our Cathedral, Our Joy, Our Responsibility". Every parishioner is welcome to attend, including children although only pledging members may vote. We will close the meetings with a parish-wide celebratory lunch and fellowship. Please join us! If you haven't pledged yet, you can still do so online or by filling out a pledge card and mailing it or dropping it in the offering plate on Sunday. Pledge cards can be downloaded from the website, picked up at the Cathedral office or found in the pews. It is important that you pledge in advance of the meeting in order to vote in vestry elections and to participate in the AGM. Schedule 9:15 am Polls open 9:45 am AGM begins 10:30 EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) to approve amendments to Articles of Association 11:00 am Polls close 11:00 am Holy Eucharist, including the Report from the Dean at the time of the sermon 12:15 pm Ministry Report from the Sunday School and Youth Programs 12:45 pm Parish-wide Lunch and Fellowship Please plan to join us for this important event in the life of our parish. We also invite you to commit the 2015 AGM to prayer in the coming days by joining your Cathedral community in the following prayer: A Prayer for the Annual General Meeting of the American Cathedral in Paris – February 1, 2015: Loving God, as we prepare to gather for our annual general meeting, we offer before you the many facets of the cathedral’s business— our ministries and programs, the budgets that support them and the staff, vestry and volunteers who make them happen. We prepare to gather knowing that the real work of the cathedral is love and that all of our intentions can only be realized when the spirit of love is at the heart of our agendas and encounters with one another. Help our community to reflect the kindness and compassion of Jesus whose way, truth and life teach us everything we need to know to be the cathedral in the world and the city that you so love. AMEN. Serenity in Hard Times: A Three-Week Epiphany Meditation on the Serenity Prayer with The Rev. Mary Haddad. Thursdays Feb. 5 and Feb. 12, 2015 – 7:30-9:00pm The Serenity Prayer expresses the Epiphany interplay between lightness and darkness. There are “things”— people, situations, injustices—that we cannot change or control. When we hold onto these things, we experience the inner darkness of addiction, anxiety, disappointment and frustration. When we cultivate the virtues of wisdom and courage to change the things we can, we turn toward the light where transformation and liberation happen. Serenity is the gift granted when we sigh, empty our hands and choose to let go. More light! Feeding the Hungry Would you like to try cooking for a family of 64 in our glorious new kitchen? The Friday Mission Lunch team is seeking new volunteer cooks/chefs in 2015. The Cathedral sponsors Mission Lunch the first Friday of every month, and we would love to have a parishioner or two be the head cook/sous-chef for those Fridays. Do not be anxious - there are plenty of regulars to show you the ropes and even help you with menu planning and shopping. We currently have plenty of volunteers to chop, slice, serve and clean up, but we are missing you to help create and serve great menus for minimal cost. If you love to cook and are seeking a very rewarding and fun experience, please talk to Judy Nicault or email [email protected] Thursday Study Group You may know Jesus as Lord, Savior, Healer, Servant or Friend….but what about teacher of Wisdom? Come join us to explore together the book The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault. We meet every Thursday from 10h30 to 12 noon in the Fleetwood Room. All are welcome! The Sunday Forum Every Sunday, from 9:45 - 10:45 am Topics of interest are presented and discussed in the library. The parish hall building, next to the church, is accessible through the door to the front and to your left as you sit in the pews. To reach the library, go up the stairs of the parish hall building one full flight. The library door will be right in front of you (elevator level +2). 8 February: "Insights from the Niebuhrs" (2) In her second forum on the Niebuhr brothers, Professor Anne Marie Reijnen introduces the younger Niebuhr brother, Helmut Richard ( 1894-1962), for many years a professor at Yale. Can we agree with his ferocious critique: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross"? The discussion will use as starting points HR Niebuhr's books “The Kingdom of God in America” and his well-known “Christ and Culture”, with its typology of 5 relations between Christ and culture. Where do we imagine ourselves to be situated? Ash Wednesday Mark your calendar for Ash Wednesday services on Wednesday, February 18th at 12:30 and 7:30pm. Pancake Supper (Mardi Gras style!) The youth in the Journey to Adult program invite you to a pancake supper (Mardi Gras style!) on Shrove Tuesday – February 17, 2015,in the parish hall from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The menu will be pancakes, sausages, hash browns, coffee, tea, juice, milk and the last gallettes of the season. Advance purchase is necessary: adults - 20€, children 10 years old and under - 10€. Proceeds to support the 2016 youth pilgrimage. Tickets will be available starting January 25th during coffee hour. Contact Kristen Ketron ([email protected]) for more information. Junior Guild Luncheon Do you remember when you first came to France, feeling at times puzzled, frustrated, and even a little lost? Did things get better as time passed? For our February luncheon, the Junior Guild is pleased to welcome two exciting guests. Shari Leslie Segall is an active author, teacher and linguistic cross-cultural trainer; and Lisa Vanden Bos is co-owner of the FUSAC magazine. They will present a fun-filled program as they introduce their book, 90+ Ways You Know You're becoming French. Whether you've been here only a month, half your life or forever, come join us for a novel, fun-filled program that is sure to be amusing even for native French!! All are welcome. When: February 10, 2015; Aperitifs, 12 noon, Lunch, 12:30 Price: 12€ members, 15€ non-members Where: Parish Hall RSVP: By February 6th to Katrina Neal-Hamel. Tel 0677289867 or 0172536528 or email [email protected] "One Knit, One Pearl" Come and knit a scarf with us for LIAB on Wednesday, Feb. 18th from 1pm to 3pm. The former co-head of Love in a Box, Jill Cameron, who moved to Hong Kong last year, visited Paris in December. In her suitcase she brought dozens of scarves hand-knit by her and her friends for LIAB. She inspired us to start a 'knitting group' right here at the Cathedral. So join us or for further information, please get in touch with Sigun at [email protected] or Regan at [email protected] Announcements Poinsettias There are still several beautiful poinsettias left over from Christmas. Please feel free to pick one up and take it home! Congrégation Épiscopale Française Une rencontre avec la Revde Fanny Belanger aura lieu dimanche 1 février à 16h dans la Garden Classroom (2ème sous-sol), en présence de Mgr Pierre Whalon. Le sujet est le lancement d'une éventuelle congrégation Épiscopale française. La Doyenne Lucinda Laird a très aimablement invité la Revde Belanger à célébrer l'Eucharistie de 18h exceptionnellement en français. Tous sont invités. Volunteers Needed Creative and practical people needed to help decorate/furnish three areas at the Cathedral. This will be fun! Do you have an eye for décor? A nose for bargains? Practical ideas about furnishing? Sondra Sefton is chairing a committee and needs volunteers. Please talk to her OR email Tony Holmes at [email protected]. Pledge Envelopes Because of a mixup with the company that produces the pledge envelopes, we don’t have them to distribute as yet. However, general envelopes will be made available in the pews until the new ones arrive. We are sorry of the inconvenience. Please make sure to include your name if you pay your pledge in cash. Dedicating Flowers If you would like to mark a special event or honor a friend or loved-one, you may dedicate the altar flowers for a Sunday. To sign up, contact Tony Holmes at(parish.coordinator@ americancathedral.org or 01 53 23 84 08) and send a check for €80 or more to the order of ‘American Cathedral’ to the Cathedral to Tony's attention. The check and dedication should be received by the Tuesday prior to the appearance of your dedication in the Sunday bulletins. French and English Conversation Group Thursdays, from 2:30 - 5:00 in the Downstairs Classroom A small, friendly group meets weekly in the downstairs classroom to practice English and French. Newcomers to both languages are welcome. Tea and cookies are served, and there is a 3€ charge per person. Upcoming Musical Events ROSSINI - Petite Messe Solennelle 30 January 2015 20:00 Ensemble vocal « Les SAISONS » Direction : Béatrice MALLERET Piano : Arlinda ROUX-MAJOLLARI Accordéon : Aude ...Continued Profile - Mary Haddad Then came seminary, at General in New York. And the rest consists of postings and positions that surprise less than pâté chef or auto sales dynamo. Readers who follow Bishop Whalon on Facebook, and parishioners who tuned into the BBC interviews after the attacks, will have noted the coincidence of Mary’s presence at Trinity Wall Street when the planes struck the twin towers. She was not that close geographically to the terrorist strikes here. She observed no “confetti” in the sky or billowing clouds of smoke, as there had been over lower Manhattan. But her emotions were overwhelming as she relived those endless New York minutes. There’s another coincidence that involves death. Her father was killed when a freak tornado struck in Windsor. She was 20 at the time, and it was a traumatic first experience with the randomness of life, in a huge reversal of fortune. As caregiver to her mother now, she feels she is, in a sense, taking her father’s place, and thus is doing something intense for both of her parents. Her father was a grocer, and her ethnic background is Lebanese and Syrian. “I grew up very tribal, very Mediterranean. Family was at the center of everything.” She has a brother who is a lawyer in Toronto and their mother lives with him and his partner, who is an artist. And she’ll be returning there as caregiver. “It’s a challenging family situation,” she said. This interruption in that ministry of caring for her mother brings up the current mission: what she will do in Paris? Six months isn’t a long time, and Mary came with no agenda, except to help Lucinda. “I want to bring whatever health I can to keep the place thriving.” There will be more to the job than just showing up on time.