The latest from the work pilgrimage in New Orleans

Here is Pastor Nik's latest posting:

Our Daily Bread during this Work Pilgrimage

When we arrived in the Crescent City around 7 o'clock on Sunday evening, we were all ready for dinner. So, we unloaded our luggage and settled in at the big, old Garden District house that the Diocese has set aside for groups like ours, and then we went in search of dinner. For a while we bounced around the Garden District before a local directed us to Franky & Johnny's on Arabella Street.

We have a only a few meals out since arriving, but this dinner has been - by far - the best meal we've enjoyed on this trip. We had 'gator soup, softshell po' boys, catfish, boiled shrimp, crawfish pie, and more. And it was all profoundly delicious.

The only downside of this wonderful meal is that it set the bar high, and none of our other meals - though good - have compared to our Franky & Johnny's feast. Also, we were all wishing we had another couple of hours to sleep it off when 6 o'clock Monday morning rolled around and we had to be up and getting ready for our first day at the works site. But these amounted to a small price to pay for such a great feast shared with such good company.

St. Paul's work pilgrims stop in Birmingham on their way to New Orleans

Our youth and their adult leaders are on a work pilgrimage to New Orleans to continue the work of cleanup from Hurricane Katrina. Pastor Nik Forti is posting his blog about their travels, and he added an entry about their stop in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday:

It was about 8:30 in the morning yesterday when we left Gadsden, Alabama for the final half of our road trip to New Orleans. But we weren't on the road more than about an hour before we made a slight detour to visit Birmingham. And so we made our way through town until we reached Kelly Ingram Park - across the street from the Civil Rights Institute and across the intersection from the 16th Street Baptist Church.

To read the rest of his blog, click HERE. I will keep you updated through the week as he continues to post.

Photos from the ordination of Nicholas Forti

The ordination of new priests is always glorious -- and I have to use the word, it really is!

The ordinations on Saturday at St. Mary's Goochland (a suburb of Richmond) were spectacular. Our own Nicholas Forti, our newest associate rector, was among those ordained to the priesthood.

It was my honor and privilege to be among his presenters, and then to stand there as part of the "laying on of hands" while Bishop Shannon Johnston ordained him.

Our other priests, Ann Willms and Heather Warren were also present to lay hands on Nik. And we had a large contingent of St. Paul's folks in the congregation.

We were definitely a sea of red -- the traditional color at ordinations meant to symbolize the Holy Spirit.

Nik's first celebration of the Eucharist as a priest will be at our 10 am service Sunday. Do please come, and come to the reception afterwards in the parish hall.

Here are some photographs from Saturday taken by one of Nik's friends, Tracey Kelly.

Up above my head, I hear music in the air

I am not preaching today. Please come hear The Rev. Nicholas Forti, our associate rector for young adult ministry, who will be preaching at all three services today -- 8 am, 10 am and 5:30 pm. We also will be serving dinner tonight to returning University students.

Here is a treat for your Sunday, offered up by Lori. This is a televised performance of Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973), who was a pioneering singer in the 1930s-40s and whose music influenced gospel and rock. She was truly a cross-over artist, bringing popular music styles into the church, and gospel out of the church and into the world. Enjoy...

Notes from the Undercroft: A new blog from St. Paul's

Please let me commend to you a new blog for your regular reading: Our new associate rector, Nicholas Forti, has begun a daily blog, Notes from the Undercroft: Subterranean epistles from a resident alien near the grounds of Mr Jefferson's Academical Village. The title is a play on the fact that our offices are below ground and across the street from the University of Virginia. Nik is off to a great start, and he's got a good list of other blogs worth checking out. You can read Nik's blog by clicking HERE.

New Associate Rector for Young Adult Ministry called

Dear Friends of St. Paul’s,

It gives me great pleasure to announce that I have called The Rev. Nicholas Forti to be our Associate Rector for Young Adult Ministry. I am very excited to have Nik join our ministry team. The Vestry has concurred in this calling, and we expect final approval soon from Bishop Shannon Johnston and the Diocese of Virginia.

Nik is a recent graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary. His wife, Eleis, is a recent graduate of St. John’s College in Annapolis. Nik is currently a transitional deacon, and we expect his ordination to the priesthood in about six months.

In his full-time associate rector position, Nik will be primarily responsible for shepherding our vibrant teenage youth group and our University of Virginia student ministries, particularly our Canterbury Fellowship program. He will be the principal liturgical leader at our 5:30 pm worship service, working with students, musicians and others.

Nik has a strong background in both of the ministries that are the focus of his position. Nik grew up in Richmond, then went to Radford University, and lived in the Canterbury House at Radford. As an undergraduate, Nik began exploring his calling to the priesthood. After graduation, Nik was the paid youth lay minister for a teen youth group at a church in Richmond; he built a Journey to Adulthood (J2A) program from the ground up, including leading youth on a spiritual pilgrimage to Scotland. He was accepted into the ordination process in the Diocese of Southern Virginia.

At seminary, Nik completed two years of field education (internship) in campus ministry at the University of Maryland; he is very enthusiastic about leading university ministry and working with students.

Eleis also grew up in Richmond, and she and Nik went to the same high school (several years apart). Eleis hopes to be involved in our social justice ministries, including PACEM, and assisting with the dinners for students on Sunday evenings. She will be studying for admission to law school.

They will both be at Shrine Mont this weekend, and I will formally introduce them to the congregation on Sunday July 18 at all three of our regular worship services (and Nik will be preaching).

Please join me in welcoming Nik and Eleis to Charlottesville and St. Paul’s.

Jim+