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by Molly Lanzarotta, search committee co-chair

 

April 12, 2009 - Many months have passed since we posted an overview of the rector search process on the St. Paul's web site (http://www.stpaulsbrookline.org/stpaulsoverview.html) where we highlighted some of our goals for St. Paul's and our hopes for our new rector. These goals and hopes were derived from the all-parish appreciative inquiry that kicked off the rector search process and were articulated in the parish profile that was sent to our 41 applicants at the beginning of our discernment together.

 

Along the way, we've communicated the search committee's progress to the congregation through announcements at church, in the parish newsletter, and at the annual meeting.  The committee has reviewed dozens of applications, conducted hours of phone interviews, made five site visits to candidates' parishes, and made dozens of reference calls. Now it is spring, Easter has arrived, and a spirit of new beginnings and new hope is in the air.

 

We are in the final stages of the rector search, with three wonderful finalists.  These final candidates will each make a mid-week visit to St. Paul's, and visits will include an interview with the full search committee as well as a meet-and-greet with the vestry.  For the three finalists, this visit is a chance to see the church, the neighborhood, the rectory, and, in some cases, visit schools. The candidates - sometimes in the company of their spouses or partners - get to know St. Paul's better as they contemplate an enormous move that affects not only where they work, but where their family lives. At the end of this stage of the search, the committee will meet and select one final candidate who will be recommended to the vestry. 

 

Some of the steps of the search process sound confusing to parishioners (and at first to some committee members, too!) such as - why do committee members need to trek all the way to (fill in a state or a country) to visit the candidates?  Why do final candidates visit St. Paul's mid-week, instead of on a Sunday?  Who is making the final decision?

 

Sub-groups of the search committee visited our five semi-finalists at their home parishes in order to get a sense of them in the context of their ministry.  These visits, as described in an earlier newsletter, were extremely informative. 

 

The final three candidates visit St. Paul's mid-week in order to keep the process confidential and to prevent what might turn into a popularity contest if the entire parish was introduced to all three.  Because of the many hours, days, and months both the final candidates and the search committee have invested up to this point, the most thorough and informed decision will be able to be made by the search committee, who received their hiring charge from the vestry.  The vestry, as the leadership of the parish, will make the actual call to our final candidate, but it is very rare that a vestry rejects the work and recommendation of a search committee. It is a courtesy to have the vestry meet the three finalists at the meet-and-greets during their visit to St. Paul's, but the vestry's role is not evaluative at that point, but rather, is meant to help the candidates get to know St. Paul's better and to answer their questions.

 

The search committee doesn't have a hard date where we know we will be able to announce a new rector to St. Paul's.  But everyone should feel heartened that we are on schedule. We are very excited about our final candidates and we are confident that we will have a new rector by the end of summer/beginning of fall as planned.

 

Overall, what has it meant to be choosing a new rector for a church?  At St. Paul's, it has meant asking ourselves why we do what we do - why we think being together in worship and community and service to others is important.

 

It has meant being open to considering all sorts of people as our potential church leader, and being honored by the thoughtfulness, depth, spirituality, creativity, and talent of our applicants.

 

For the search committee of 13 parishioners, it has meant many hours of meetings, interviews, visits, reference calls, report writing, soul-searching, and hand-wringing (ok, maybe that last part's just me).

 

It's meant being open to God's grace in our lives, individually and collectively, and trusting that the spirit of love is guiding our efforts and our search.