Dear friends in Christ,
More than a year ago, I asked the Venerable Jean Chess to join my staff as Director of Administration and Archdeacon in order to take on several immediate and critical tasks then facing us. Among these were the need to reorganize the daily operations of the diocesan office and to coordinate the renovation and return of that space to Trinity Cathedral.
As I'm sure you are aware, Jean has now completed these and much more with the competence and gracious care she brings to all she endeavors to do. In recent months, she has also focused on advancing our safe church practices and compliance with state child protection laws, and as Archdeacon, she has been especially helpful to me in clergy-related matters.
Accomplishing the tasks I asked of her has now allowed Jean, after a serious and lengthy discernment, to accept an offer to return to full-time employment in the corporate sector and resume her ministry of witness in the workplace. Her last day with us at the diocesan office was July 20th. Her daily presence will be missed, but I am grateful that she will continue to be an influential deacon in the diocese and at St. Andrew's, Highland Park.
I am pleased to announce that our new Director of Administration will be the Rev. Canon Ted Babcock, the retired Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. Ted and his wife, Lyn, recently moved to Mt. Lebanon. I know him to be an accomplished scholar, a caring pastor, and an experienced executive both in the Church and in the business community where he worked for a quarter-century prior to his ordination. In addition to taking on the lion's share of clergy deployment matters, Ted will bring his considerable skills and experience in congregational development to help guide parishes and vestries through leadership transitions, and generally assist parishes seeking help in administrative and personnel concerns. Ted will take up his position on August 1, and I will ask Diocesan Council to confirm his appointment at their September meeting.
Please join me in prayers and gratitude for Jean and Ted as they begin their new ministries among us.
Faithfully your bishop,
(The Rt. Rev.) Dorsey McConnell