Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., San Diego Episcopal Bishop James Mathes will lead such a service at St. Pauls Cathedral, near Balboa Park at Fifth Avenue and Nutmeg Street. Its emphasis will be on prayer and healing for those affected by the firestorms. Afterward, there will be pastors available to pray and talk with people. The cathedral also is a drop-off site for donations.
Members who came to St Nicholas via Holy Innocents in Hoffman Estates will remember meeting +James Mathes when he was Canon Mathes of the Diocese of Chicago. He listened as we tried to outline some plans and offered us suggestions, but at that point we were still a couple of years away from grappling with the issue of merger vs. closure vs. continuing. It was helpful that he was there, but it was clear that we had to figure things out for ourselves, as the diocese didn’t really have a lot of resources to allocate a small, struggling mission unless we could show growth potential within a couple of years.
It’s good that Bishop James is now in a position to offer help and the gift of compassion to people affected by the terrible firestorms.
