PRESS RELEASES

St. Paul's Begins Search for a Director of Music

January 24, 2008

Richard Alexander, St. Paul's Music Director of 38 years will retire at the end of September 2008.  A committee has been formed to guide the search for his replacement.

The Music Director is a full-time member of the senior staff providing creative leadership of a music ministry that supports and encourages the worship of the congregation.  Staff strive for cohesiveness, fun and an energy that is contagious.  A congregation of 400 households, Saint Paul’s values an outstanding choral and music ministry within the parish as well as to the community. 

Ours is an auditioned choir of 40 voices including 6 paid soloists.  The organ is a 4/110 Aeolian-Skinner, with divisions in the chancel, nave ceiling and gallery.  The 3/70 chancel section is the last instrument to be personally finished by G. Donald Harrison.   Renovata Studios describes Saint Paul’s as “one of the finest examples of Neo-gothic church design in the U.S.” 

There are 3 services each Sunday.  The 9 a.m. worship is an alternative liturgy led by a Children’s Music Minister.  The principal worship is at 10:30 a.m. with full choir, sermon and Eucharist.  All Sunday worship is the Holy Eucharist: Rite II.  A Master’s Degree and minimum of five years experience is preferred.  Compensation is competitive and if desired can include an apartment at the church.

Chestnut Hill is located in the northwest corner of Philadelphia.  It has often been called a “suburb in the city.”  The church lies within two blocks of two commuter rail lines with frequent service into downtown Philadelphia(about 30 minutes).    Initial inquiries may be made to: ccutler@stpaulschestnuthill.org, or to the address below.

Please click the following link to obtain the position description (PDF).

Rector invited on mission of peace to Israel/Palestine

January 24, 2008

The Rector will join a unique group of Muslim, Christian and Jewish clergy and lay leaders across the Delaware Valley to promote interfaith understanding and peacemaking. For Christians, this mission of peace will take place during Easter week beginning March 24. The interfaith delegation will travel to Israel/Palestine to learn compassionate listening by hearing the stories of Palestinian and Israeli politicians, peace activists and ordinary people living each day in harm’s way. A main purpose is to see if engaging the most difficult and challenging conflict in the Middle East can help us engage the conflict and violence in our own city. After our return, as Muslims, Christians and Jews we will speak about the value of compassionate listening as a means of overcoming hatred and a way to begin conflict resolution.

In addition to Cliff, the delegation includes Imam Jamil Abdullah of Masjid Muhammed in Philadelphia; the Rev. Blake Blakesley of Newtown Presbyterian Church; the Rev. Robert Coombe of Yardley United Methodist Church; B.J. Davis, Executive Director of the Peace Center in Langhorne; Dr. Susan Burger of the Greater Bucks County Peace Circle; Mitch Chanin, Director of the Jewish Dialogue Group; Rafiyq Friend of Nasir Mosque in Philadelphia; Sister Diane Guerin, Justice Coordinator of the Sisters of Mercy; Maria Hornung, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia; the Rev. Dr. William Jacobsen, Associate Director of the Bucks County Human relations Council; the Rev. Alfred Krass of the Coalition for Peace Action; Imam Abdul-Malik Ali of Masjid Taqwa in Trenton, NJ; Rabbi Sandy Roth of Kehilat HaNahar in New Hope; Naeem Sultan of Masjid Muhammed in Philadelphia; Jerry Schenkman of the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors; the Rev. Charles Stephens of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Titusville, NJ; Larry Snider, the coordinator of this peace delegation; and Leah Green, Director of the Compassionate Listening Project based in Indianola, Washington.
This group’s website is: www.compassionatelistening.org

St. Paul’s and Heavy Metal: E-Waste Recycling Drive

June 8, 2007

Following its celebration of Rogation Day and the Creation on May 14, 2007, this week St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill completed a successful 3-week collection drive to recycle E-waste (large electronics components).  This was one of several projects this year to protect the Creation.  In October 2006 it held a forum for the community to see, discuss and plan actions based on “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s film on global warming.  The parish started a collection drive to recycle TechnoTrash (small electronics items).  St. Paul’s also committed to buying a portion of its electricity as wind power, Pennsylvania’s growing renewable energy industry. 

“Recycling is what each of us must do to complete our stewardship as technology users,” said Cliff Cutler, rector of St. Paul’s.  “As users, we’ve gained such amazing benefits from technology.  Keeping dangerous aterials out of landfill is the way we can follow through and give thanks for those benefits.”

The Sustainability Committee collected items from parishioners May 21-June 3.  More than 30 monitors; 30 plus CPU's; 19 printers, faxes and scanners; plus assorted peripherals were dropped off.  The Committee had arranged for pick-up and recycling by Elemental, Inc., the local EPA-licensed business located in Northeast Philadelphia (www.eleminc.com).  Through theparish’s small item collection, more than 140 pounds of TechnoTrash have already been recycled through GreenDisk (www.greendisk.com).

Recycling projects are based on the need to keep lead, mercury and other heavy metals out of landfills.  Technology components must be dismantled to remove such metals.  If technology equipment and items are disposed of in regular trash, toxic elements can leach into water supplies, poison fishing, and also be released into the air.

Proper recycling is labor-intensive. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church sponsored he drive because of the importance of the result. Many parishioners donated money to offset the cost of pick-up and recycling.  (The cost is ased on the type and number of items.)

In May the Staples store on Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill (and at other locations) began to accept E-waste for recycling.  They charge $10 per item for monitors, printers, scanners, and other items.

”Staples has made it possible for everyone to recycle,” the Rev. Cliff Cutler said. “Please save your unneeded items and take them in the next time ou shop there. Remember how much we’ve gained by technology.  Do your part to protect our island home, this planet Earth.”

Click here for a printer-friendly PDF copy of this announcement

Mississippi Bishop Duncan Gray to speak;

Supper and Evening Prayer with OMC Parish to

benefit Hurricane Katrina relief.

November 6 , 2006

The Right Reverend Duncan M. Gray III, Bishop of Mississippi will speak on the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the deep needs that still cry out to be met along the Gulf Coast of our country, at a 6 p.m. supper and 7:30 p.m. prayer service to which the whole community is invited and in which both Our Mother of Consolation Roman Catholic and Saint Paul's Episcopal Churches gather together to celebrate their 150 years of ministry on November 10, 2006 at St. Paul's Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. at Chestnut Hill in the City of Philadelphia.  The proceeds from the dinner and the offering at worship will go to send relief to this crippled area of the United States. 

Rebuilding the churches is the foundation for rebuilding the community in Mississippi and Louisiana especially among the poor, the vulnerable and distressed.  As two churches in Chestnut Hill, OMC and St. Paul's cannot celebrate the longevity of their own ministries without being mindful of those churches along the Gulf Coast whose ministries have so suddenly and overwhelmingly been cut short. 

Bishop Gray of Mississippi comes with a message of restoring hope in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  He leads a rebuilding campaign called "Darkness into Day" whose first phase is to raise $6.5 million to rebuild leadership, ministries and buildings to set the foundation of the church upon which the foundation of restored community can be built.  All are invited to dinner and worship at St. Paul's on November 10, the proceeds from which are going to the Gulf Coast.  Your prayers and generous help will bring new life and a new day to Katrina's dark clouds of storm and destruction.  For more information call the Revs. Cliff Cutler at St. Paul's (215-242-2055) and Bob Bazzoli at OMC (215-242-0430).

22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19118
Phone: 215-242-2055 | Fax: 215-242-1620

Copyright 2005 St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Photos: L. Bindrim, SJU Press; Ken Garner; Diane Powell; St. Paul's Archives

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