Sabbatical Plans: Family, Faith, and the Future of EDSD

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been your bishop for almost exactly six years now. I arrived here in San Diego to begin my new work on May 5, 2019, and was ordained as bishop on June 15, 2019. It has been a wondrous journey, full of surprises (pandemic, anyone?), challenges, unexpected grace, and the joy of seeing big visions become reality. I give thanks to God each day for the honor of serving God, the church, our congregations, and all of you in this ministry. God is doing great things in EDSD.

Now, after six years, I am planning a sabbatical. My letter of agreement allows me a four-month sabbatical after six years of service, but after discussion with the Standing Committee and Executive Council, I plan to take two months this year and two months in a future year. I will be away from July 4 through September 7 this year.

What is a sabbatical? As the name implies, it is a time of rest, or sabbath, away from normal duties. Our diocesan policy says, “A sabbatical leave for clergy in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego shall be a period away from responsibilities of the congregation for a time of spiritual, relational, physical, and vocational renewal to improve the effectiveness of the clergy person’s ministry.” Most of our priests have sabbatical provisions in their letters of agreement, and if your priest hasn’t taken one lately, please ask them to consider it! Clergy often get so immersed in the day-to-day work of ministry that they need a time of refreshment to pray, rest, read, reflect, and gain new energy and ideas for their work. A sabbatical is intended to benefit not only the clergy person, but also the congregation or ministry context, by allowing the clergy to take a step back and return with new focus for ministry.

As for me, I am truly looking forward to this time away. I do need rest after a very busy and challenging season of ministry. And this summer brings two blessed events to my family: my older daughter and her husband (who live here in San Diego) are expecting my first grandchild in July, and my younger daughter and her fiancé are getting married in August. So this will be a wonderful time for me to focus on my loved ones.

In addition, I plan to go to a spiritual retreat in late July at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. This will be a retreat for worship, prayer – and singing gospel music! I am not a trained singer, but I love to sing, and I look forward to a time of joyful participation in a choir. Being ordained doesn’t allow me to sing in a choir, and this will be a time to briefly return to a beloved lay ministry. I also plan to take classes to improve my conversational Spanish. Although I studied Spanish in college and in an immersion program in Mexico during seminary, my conversational Spanish is rusty, and I look forward to improving it. Since I have lately been making trips to Tijuana to launch our new Comunidad de Luz migrant shelter for women and children, I have been faithfully practicing my Spanish using the telephone app Duolingo every day, and have seen great improvement in my ability to communicate. Now it’s time to take it to the next level with conversational Spanish classes.

My other big project for my sabbatical is to get to know my new hometown of San Diego better. When I arrived here in May 2019, I “hit the ground running” and didn’t have time to immerse myself in San Diego life. I want to go to all the museums (in Balboa Park and elsewhere), spend some leisurely time at the zoo, do tours in the local area, go to beloved area restaurants with my husband and others, and really experience the best San Diego has to offer. I love our community, and want to know it better.

Of course, I have an ambitious reading list of everything from theological works to novels, and I hope to spend time reading each day. And I plan to spend time in prayer and discernment of how God is calling us to ministry in our diocese in the coming years. We are beginning a new strategic planning process in EDSD this year, and I hope my sabbatical inspires me with new discernment of God’s call.  

While I’m away, Standing Committee will continue its work under the leadership of its president, The Rev. Paul Carmona. Executive Council will continue under the leadership of first and second vice presidents, Mr. Jamie Glorieux and Ms. Cynde Durnford-Branecki. The diocesan office will be led by The Rev. Canon Gwynn Lynch, Canon to the Ordinary, with the support of Canon for Mission Jason Evans, Canon for Finance The Rev. Jeff Martinhauk, and our whole great diocesan staff.

As for specific bishop ministries, I have asked The Rt. Rev. David Rice, Bishop of San Joaquin, to fulfill my role in case of any new Title IV cases that might arise during my absence. My predecessor, The Rt. Rev. Jim Mathes, who is officially an assisting bishop of our diocese, has graciously agreed to field any routine bishop requests, such as giving approvals to clergy who wish to officiate for people remarrying after divorce. I will retain ecclesiastical authority, and will be responsive to any urgent questions that might arise in that capacity – however, I will not be checking my EDSD email! For any questions you might have that you would ordinarily direct to me, please contact Canon Gwynn at GLynch@edsd.org or my executive assistant, Erin McDougal, at EMcDougal@edsd.org, and they will help direct you to the right place.

I give thanks to God and to EDSD’s leaders for allowing me the grace of this time away for rest, refreshment, and renewal. You all will be in my prayers every day.