Search Committee for the Permanent Rector

Bishop Approves St. Patrick’ Parish Profile

The Rt. Rev. John Chane, the Bishop of Washington, has given his enthusiastic approval to the Parish Profile of St. Patrick's Church. The Search Committee has led this process over the course of the past year, involving hundreds of parishioners new and old, focus groups, a parish history day, and countless conversations, formal and informal. It also included participation and input from the Day School and Head of School, Peter Barrett. The Search Committee and the Vestry worked very hard to fine tune it and give it the full endorsement of both bodies. It is a document that will be sent to candidates for Rector of St. Patrick's, giving them an overview of the past, present, and future hopes of this community. It will also appear online on the St. Patrick's website so that all parishioners and clergy who might be interested in submitting their names as potential candidates can get an introduction to our parish. This is a very significant step forward in the process, and we owe a major debt of gratitude to all who played such a role in shaping, informing, and producing this important summary of who we are and what we hope to become. Many, many thanks to all!!!

JEL+

Update from the Search Committee

Dear Members of St. Patrick’s Parish,

On behalf of the Search Committee, I would like to provide an update on where we are in the search process:

The Committee continues to meet at least every other week, sometimes weekly and is also holding conference calls during the week as needed to keep the process moving at a good pace. The application process closed at Church House on April 30 and we have received all of the candidate profiles, work histories and personal assessments.

The charge for the Search Committee during the first part of May was to review the materials of each candidate and rank them based on the baseline qualifications agreed upon by the Search Committee and Vestry. We have determined that each qualification will have equal weighting. For this initial review process, baseline qualifications looked at the number of years of ordination, length of time as Rector, administrative experience, history of some involvement with children and/or Day School, community outreach and length of stay in previous positions.

Upon initial review of these rankings, it was clear that 15-20 of the applicants were strong candidates, 10-15 did not have the appropriate job experience for St. Patrick’s and 10 were candidates that had “some unique past experience.” The Search Committee met to discuss this group of candidates in mid-May and determined that we wanted to “learn more” about several of these candidates and determined to include this group in the request for answers to written questions.

Thank you letters have gone out to all candidates. One group of candidates received a letter requesting they submit answers to four questions (they have two weeks to return their written responses). The other set of candidates received a letter thanking them for their interest in St. Patrick’s and wishing them well in their discernment process. Once the Search Committee receives these written responses, which is currently scheduled to be the first week of June, we will once again begin a review and ranking process to evaluate each candidate to determine who will move on to the phone interview phase.

Looking forward, we are finalizing our set of questions for the phone interviews and are working with the consultant to conduct two practice phone interview sessions. This will allow the Search Committee to refine the process of how the phone interviews will be conducted, so each member of the Search Committee has a specific role and set of responsibilities. And, we are developing our answers to questions we anticipate receiving from potential questions from candidates during the phone interview.

We will then visit several of the candidates at their own Parish. The goal of these visits is to gain first-hand knowledge of their preaching style, the dynamic of their Parish and of them personally.

The Search Committee remains grateful for the support and guidance provided by the entire St. Patrick’s Community as we continue to move along this journey. If it were not for the input from so many of you on what qualities and attributes are most important in our next Rector, we would not be where we are today. As always, please let me know if you have questions. On behalf of the entire Search Committee, we are thankful for the opportunity to serve our Parish in this important ministry.

Peace,

Cheryl Crispen Bitsberger