Doing & Done outreach
Doing & Done outreach
Doing & Done
is the page that highlights the outreach activities and contributions of Christ Church Rochester to our local community as well as the larger world community. That’s the Doing part. The Done part is activities and moments past that reflect the heart of who we are.
Let’s start with Doing.
There is a reason this NewsMagazine is called the SONG. Genesis refers to God speaking the Creation into being. Some of us think that God may have sung it.
Music is an outreach at Christ Church Rochester
starting with Compline and Candlelight Concerts! Compline is performed by the Christ Church Schola Cantorum on Sunday nights at 9:00pm, every Sunday from October-May. Candlelight Concerts are on the First Sunday of the month and precede Compline at 8:30pm. There is also Tuesday Pipes, a world class concert every Tuesday at 12:10, all of these events are freely offered to anyone who walks in.
Click on the image above for more details
Compline, Candlelight Concerts, and Tuesday Pipes are gifts of world class music which provide a holy space for spiritual enrichment. All are offered free of charge.
We are a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester and contribute to the work and ministry described below.
Click on the image above to visit the Family Promise website
Update
FAMILY PROMISE Update August 2023
Current needs at the Center:
The next time you're grocery shopping or running in to your favorite pharmacy or box store, consider picking up a few extra bottles of body wash, body lotion, or all-purpose cleaning spray to drop off at 142 Webster Ave.. We are low on these items for families in the Shelter Program.
Upcoming Gala for a Good Cause! Heroes for Homelessness!
SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 | 6PM | LA LUNA AT HIGH FALLS
$100 a ticket. Hero costumes encouraged! Go to https://www.fpgroc.org/gala
Click the image link above for details
"Family Promise of Greater Rochester" is one of the organizations Christ Church Rochester supports through volunteers and donations.
This letter to the church below, outlines continuing opportunities for involvement. We are doing this and welcome people outside the parish to participate, if interested, by following the links to this needed work.
A NEW COMMUNITY
Second Saturdays at Family Promise is a new community we'll create together centered around housing and racial justice. We'll volunteer together and learn alongside one another for the benefit of families facing homelessness.
https://www.fpgroc.org/second-saturdays
A few Augusts ago, Family Promise changed its way of operating from having families stay in churches, moving to a new church every week, to using motels and apartments for those families. They found this causes less stress to the families, who often stay with the program for many weeks before they are able to secure permanent housing, and the frequent moving was taxing to the families, especially the kids. Their website (https://www.fpgroc.org/) is full of opportunities we continue to have to help the families that Family Promise assists, whether it's through donations or volunteering your time. I will be asking the parish from time to time to help with special requests from Family Promise. Christ Church has supported this organization for more than 20 years, and we will continue! Here are a few links mentioning their current needs. Thank you for all you did to support Family Promise, previously called RAIHN (Rochester Area Interfaith Housing Network), in the past, and please continue to support this important work!
Galentine’s Day Tool Drive
Help us build a better toolbox at Family Promise! As we continue to move toward owning 142 Webster Ave, maintenance tasks will fall to staff and volunteers to handle.
Our current, small, overflowing toolbox just isn't going to cut it. Sign up to purchase or donate these new or gently used high-quality (please) items - tools can be dropped off or delivered to the Day Center
--Deb VanderBilt
Volunteer Training & Current Volunteer Job Opportunities
FAMILY PROMISE Update December 2022
Friends,
We're just over the halfway mark toward our $60,000 end of year fundraising goal! Thank you for making it possible for FPGROC to shelter families experiencing homelessness and to keep so many others from eviction or from becoming unhoused. To date this year, 30 families have entered the Shelter Program and 96 families (including 182 children) have received support through Prevention & Diversion funding and case management.
Having a better understanding of homelessness is critical to eradicating it. Check out the housing and shelter facts below, and learn more about each by clicking the links. If you learned just one thing, forward this email to a friend or family member to spread the word!
Finally, please give today and join us in promising families at risk or or experiencing homelessness a little hope and joy this holiday season and into the new year to come.
Count me in for Hope & Joy - Donate now!
With hope and joy,
Kim Hunt-Uzelac, Executive Director
Twice as many people can be housed at one time in apartment-based shelter than was possible in the rotation model.
Once limited by van size (14 seats), Shelter Program numbers are now capped by family number (currently 6) rather than participant number. In early summer, there were 29 individuals staying in apartment-based shelter at one time!
FPGROC received more calls for shelter in August 2022 than any other month since opening our doors in 2004. The numbers don't lie. It's hard out there. You know it, and we know it.
100% of families in FPGROC's Shelter Program have income and a majority are working outside the home or receive SSI.
Stereotypes about homelessness lead us to believe that those experiencing it should be working harder; but that's a gross misunderstanding of the problem. In reality, families are working but minimum wage and SSI benefits do not equal a living wage.
Due to a lack of affordable housing in Rochester, between 2018 and 2022 FPGROC's average length of shelter stay increased from 35 to 54 days.
Why is the length of stay longer? Rochester's limited affordable housing stock and increasing rent prices leave low-income families with very few choices.
Extremely low-income families are forced to spend between 70 - 95% of their income on housing.
By definition, "affordable housing" is spending 30% of a household's income on rent and utilities. Affordable housing builders use the Average Monthly Income (AMI) of the area to determine base rates, which far exceed low- and very low-income household earnings.
Clicking on the image above will take you to A Meal and More’s website
Over 10,000 meals were served through Meal and More in 2022. Thank you to all the volunteers and staff for supporting this ministry.
A Meal and More was started as a direct outreach of Christ Church by parishioners and grew to a non-profit, IRS tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, which enables a broader base of community support. Christ Church continues to host A Meal and More in our church building, and with donations, and some volunteers from within the congregation.
Your donations to ERD will be doubled by a matching grant through the end of the year. This applies to Gifts for Life, too. Take a look at the website. https://www.episcopalrelief.org/
Episcopal Relief and Development
ERD is a National Episcopal effort focused on international aid. Click on the image below to go to ERD’s website.
We at Christ Church support this ministry with donations.
ERD works for a better future for people struggling with natural and political disaster, entrenched poverty, and disease, while promoting community involvement and education. They are helping communities prepare and recover from climate-influenced disasters.
We at Christ Church are part of that work though our donations. To learn more and to make your donation, go to episcopalrelief.org. To make a donation by mail, send it to Episcopal Relief and Development, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield VA 22116-7058. By phone, call 1-855-312-4325.
Last year, Episcopal Relief & Development adopted a new strategic plan titled Working Together for Lasting Change, which lays out our goals for the next seven years. By 2030, our aim is to equip 350,000 trusted change agents in a movement to advance social cohesion and resilience for four million people annually around the world. This is an ambitious agenda, but we have no doubt that we are called to think big.
The new strategic plan affirms our core commitments as we advance our work in our priority areas: early childhood development, gender-based violence, climate resilience and disaster response.
AND
If you would like to help supply food, water, and shelter for Ukrainian refugees fleeing from the war, go to episcopalrelief.org/ukraine-crisis. If you would like to know about many other ways that you could direct your donation, go to episcopalrelief.org. In words from the ERD homepage, "We facilitate healthier, more fulfilling lives in communities struggling with hunger, poverty, disaster and disease." We are part of that work when we contribute. To make a donation by mail, send it to Episcopal Relief and Development, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield VA 22116-7058. By phone, call 1-855-312-4325.
Link to the ERD website
We also share our Garden.
The Cooney Family Garden is a green-space in downtown Rochester where people meet and relax. It is part of the butterfly migration zone. It is also home to outdoor art. The Contemporary Art Gallery, RoCo is partnered with Christ Church to make this possible.
Clicking on the image above will take you to the RoCo website.
Christmas 2022 at Christ Church
Christmas 2022 at Christ Church
Christmas at Christ Church 2022
Christmas was so glorious, so spectacular, that I thought you might want to enjoy it again and visit it from time to time. Here are the posters, the music, and the links to the livestreams. Happy After Christmas! (For as long as you want) After all, people are always saying that they wish it could be Christmas all year long. And here you don’t have to worry about shopping or what’s on sale.
The watercolor painting, Christ Church High Altar, featured above is © Barbara Ford
Christmas Eve -The Solemnity of the Nativity
Members of the Christ Church Choir
Gwyneth Paker, soprano “In the bleak mid-winter"
Lydia Worboys, John Kirkpatrick, Michael Ruhling, soloists in “Gaudete" Jim Ford: harp
Noah Fields: Violin
Ryan Chan, David Higgs, Alex Little and William Porter: organists
TWELFTH NIGHT
PRESIDER: The Very Rev’d Ruth Ferguson
READERS: David Jutsum, Valerie Jutsum, Tom Foster, Elizabeth Dugdale, Shirley Ricker, Kristy Liddell, Hannah Sommers
KINGS: Mark Ballard, John Kirkpatrick, David Ying
ORGANISTS: David Higgs, William Porter, and Stephen Kennedy
These audio files will work with your phone and car speakers.
Annual Meeting 2020
Annual Meeting 2020
Christ Church Annual Meetings
Click on the image above to read the minutes of Christ Church Annual Meetings
Stuff we're doing
Stuff we're doing
The picture above is Harriet Dugdale right after her baptism on Easter 2021
ARCHIVE of Past EVENTS
When everyone, everywhere
New Fire: The Great Vigil of Easter 4/3/21
had to drop whatever they were doing in March 2020 because of the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2019, we at Christ Church had to scramble to keep practicing our worship without being in the same room together, and practice we did.
We practiced worshipping from our homes while being led by our priest, Ruth Ferguson, from her living room on a Facebook Streamed Video. We practiced getting new technology. We practiced setting up and using a YouTube channel. We practiced using ZOOM. And, every week we hoped, like the rest of the world, that soon we would be able to resume our normal lives and worship. As the pandemic lumbered on, we realized, along with the rest of the world, that there is no such thing as normal. There probably never was any such thing. We came to embrace the day to day that we had been given and the grace from God to make all that practicing mean something.
We resumed in person worship on April 3rd, 2021, The Feast of the Great Vigil of Easter, more than a year after we had shut down. We all wore masks. The next morning we has our first baptism of the new era. Harriet greeted the event with shrieks of displeasure and also joy. She now helps with Coffee Hour after the 11:00am eucharist and has also helped her mother read the New Testament Lesson on Trinity Sunday, 2022; Romans 5:1-5.
Harriet April 4th 2021
Harriet July 2022, helping with Coffee Hour
Harriet April 4th 2021
“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
We have every intention of imitating Christ and having Harriet be a role model. We have done our own shrieking in frustration, but also in joy. We enjoy serving each other and sharing the scriptures, like Harriett. We are comfortable caring for each other. We have grown together in all that practicing.
We are a downtown Rochester, New York, Episcopal church. Our building, which was built in stages as finances allowed, has been a fixture on East Avenue since 1855. Christ Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008 under the category of architecture/engineering. The church was built in a Gothic Revival style using “rock-faced red Albion sandstone,” according to a description on the National Register. The church has buttresses and flying buttresses.
We still get together to pray the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer twice every week. This is a ZOOM meeting that is open to the public through a link on our website. https://christchurchrochester.org/ or in our parish announcements, here: https://songforchristchurch.org/announcements
Below, you can see some of the things we did at Christ Church Rochester before and during the COVID19, time. The work and joy and worship of God had to be adapted at Christ Church, just as it did by everyone, everywhere.
We currently use our historic, exquisitely lovely, holy, sanctuary at 141 East Avenue for Sunday worship, and we have resumed in-person worship in addition to a livestream on YouTube for members of the congregation who want to participate from their homes. Music is made and music is heard, and sung, but now it’s in a bigger space, physical as well as digital. Prayers are offered together, but the locations are as diverse as the people praying. We still use our kitchen to make meals twice a week for A Meal and More, but we now serve those in need of a meal, socially distanced, in the dining room. We still hang out in small groups for Morning and Evening Prayer, but it is in a ZOOM chat room. We are meeting in the Chapel for Holy Eucharist on Thursdays at 12:00 noon, AND Compline and 1st Sunday Candlelight Concerts are BACK and in-person again on Sunday evenings at 9:00. The Candlelight Concerts are on first Sunday of the month, the half hour previous to Compline, at 8:30pm a from October-April
We pray for the health our nation and the world.
The activities and events in this section of the newsletter, therefore, are more of a history of things done before, and as such, we hope they will convey a flavor of the community at ChristChurch Rochester.
And, we hope to meet you as soon as you wander over. In the meanwhile, you can join us for worship here. https://christchurchrochester.org
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Zoom Coffee Hour The Second Sunday of Lent 2/28/21
Below, are parishioners talking about their experience at Christ Church. These MinistryMinutes were presented for a pledge drive. The value of them is not just in the pledge drive but in glimpsing the ripples of joy and caring that illustrate Christ Church Rochester.
click an image to watch a short talk
Ministry Minute with Anthony Letchworth
Ministry Minute with Hugh Gray
Ministry Minute with Eleanor Peet
Ministry Minute with Val Jutsum
BABIES!
A meal was delivered to Lisa Pigut and family thanks to Kristy Liddell, Owen VanderBilt and Elizabeth Dugdale and Vicki McCutchon. Such a fun thing to do.
Lisa Pigot and baby girl!
Paint. A lot of paint!
DONE!
We painted our beautiful space!
This was our progress.
Capital improvements are getting underway while we are worshiping from home.
Troy Simmons is the designer! He presented ideas to the committee on July 8th.
To view a previously recorded service go to the link above under “Video and Audio Services”. To participate from home (or anywhere in the world) click the link, here-
https://christchurchrochester.org/
and follow the directions to the livestream.
Some more of our PAST EVENTS
Make Art Day
Make Art Day was held at Christ Church on Friday, March 6th in conjunction with ROCO- the contemporary art gallery next door. It was a TON of Fun! It was so much fun that we plan on doing it again next year!
Recent events worth remembering…
Sunday January 26, 2020
The Christ Church Annual Meeting was held right after the 11 am service (approximately 12:35)
The annual meeting is our opportunity to manage the business of being church. We decide on leadership, the budget, and hear about the direction of the upcoming year.
The Annual Meeting at Christ Church is not like any other Annual Meeting. The complete audio of the event, along with some pictures is linked below. All you have to do is click the green button.
This was a beautiful event which can be enjoyed again by clicking on the button below.
Coffee hour after 11am service on 2nd Sunday of Advent
Stewardship Potluck Supper on Friday, November 15th-6pm
Cards for John Ford’s 90th birthday January 28, 2021 with John Ford!
Scaffolding is always about hope! Happy Pentecost, Christ Church!
3rd Sunday Lectures
are notable speakers on notable topics beginning on October 20 and continuing through April.
Compline always follows.
Dr. Porter is always a treat to hear whether lecturing or playing the organ. He has the ability to bring a powerful, heavenly atmosphere to the encounter. The lecture finishes at 8:50, just in time for everyone to go to Compline before all the good seats were gone.
Ministry Minute(s)
Candlelight Concerts &Compline
Candlelight Concert and Compline -December 1st
The Candlelight Concert and Compline season began at Christ Church, Sunday, October 6th at 8:30pm. (See poster above)
The Schola Cantorum performs the Office of Compline each Sunday at 9:00pm (October through April) and on the first Sunday of the month, Candlelight Concerts precede Compline at 8:30pm. On these first Sundays, a reception follows Compline in the Guild Room. Join us for the close of the old week and the beginning of the new.
A Meal and More
Lawn St. Wall
The Lawn Street Wall
The work on the Lawn Street wall is almost complete! Many thanks to the loving efforts of John Fields who oversaw the project and managed much of the work and Bill Heaster and crew.
Cooney Family Garden Dedication
It took place on October 20
The Garden at Christ Church is Dedicated in Loving memory of Anne Cooney
The Event was attended by a representative of the Bishop, Prince Singh, and the Mayor of Rochester, Lovely Warren.
Legacy Meetings
The Legacy #session will be in Spring 2020.
Blessing of the Pets-October 6th
The Feast of St. Francis was October 4th.
St Francis was famously a friend to all living creatures.
On Sunday morning October 6th at 11:00am,
Pets were blessed.
Pet owners were blessed.
Everyone watching were blessed.
We started in the garden out front.
All were welcome!
All pets were welcome!
School #9
Wanda Labrador, Community Service Coordinator at School #9 (pictured above with Vicki McCutchon) was thrilled with all that was donated to their food cupboard. She was so thankful for all that was received .
Te Deum
Tiffany window is lit.
photo credit- Vicki McCutchon
Let there be Light
Changing Lightbulbs (the EVENT!)
You may have heard an old joke, “How many Episcopalians does it take to change a lightbulb?”. The answer has to be; “Is scaffolding involved?”. In the case of our lightbulb changing event, which happened on September 7th, the answer was yes, scaffolding was involved! The pews were moved. The scaffold was built. The new bulbs were installed, and the brightness is more bright. A great big “thank you” to everyone who helped from everyone else. Mark your calendars for volunteering around Easter, when we’ll do it again. Don’t miss out on the fun.
Graduate Send-off Blessing
2019 Rochester International Jazz Festival
@ Christ Church ~ Made in the UK Series ~ June 21st-29th
High Tea
Christ Church was one of the stops for the NY Landmark Sacred Sites Tour again this year.
It was held on May 18, 2019. Here are photos of the Tour and High Tea.
Make Art Day
Make Art Day
MAKE ART DAY
@Christ Church
Candlelight concerts
Candlelight concerts
Donations to Christ Church "Friends of Music" are greatly appreciated.
#4- January
The Candlelight Concert for January was on January 5, 2020. The featured organist for this event was Benjamin Henderson.
#3- December
The Candlelight Concert for December will occur on the First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2019. Alden Wright is the featured organist.
#2- November
Organist, Willam Porter will perform works by Cornet, Byrd, and Sweelinck.
This was a beautiful kick-off to the candlelight concert season.
#1- October
Malcolm Matthews
Bruhns, Homilius, Mendelssohn, Vierne
Members of the Schola Cantorum: 2019-20 season
Soprano: Hannah Duff, Katie Hillstrom (cornetto, Sarah McConnell, Aika Ito (Violin), Anne Maria Jurica, Alexandria McNeely, Amanda Mole, Mary Mowers, Melissa Palfey, Karin Theobald, Amy Steinberg, Jared Wallis (cornetto)
Alto/Countertenor: Ben David Aronson (sackbut), Noah Fields (Violin/viola), Sarah Johnson, James Kealy (& bass and organ), Honey Meconi, Salvador Lopez Portillo, Caroline Robinson, Julie Ruhling, Fiona Stout, Lydia Worboys
Tenor: Benjamin Henderson, Isaac Hutton, Thatcher Lyman (assistant director), Malcolm Matthews (& organ), Jordan Moore (sackbut & tenor), Jacob Montgomery, Dale Nickell, Chris Petit, Trevor Scott, Keane Southard, Jenson Wall, Alden Wright, Haotian Yu (& Bass), Stephen Zugelder (Tenor sackbut)
Bass: Joshua Bassette, Mark Ballard, Charles Berofsky, Luke Brennon, Dillon Downey (Bass sackbut), Jonathan Falk, John Kirkpatrick, Samuel Robertson (& Tenor II), Michael Ruhling (assistant director), Peter Schoellkopff, Yan Yue
--------------------------------------
Stephen Kennedy, director
Thatcher Lyman, assistant director
Michael Ruhling, assistant director
Ben David (sackbut instructor)
Lawn Street Wall
Lawn Street Wall
Lawn Street Wall
Lawn Street Wall
Washing the wall
photo credit- John Fields
photo credit- Joe McCutchen
photo credit- Joe McCutchen
photo credit- Joe McCutchen
L&C2019
L&C2019
Advent Lessons and Carols
was such a beautiful event that I’ve included the audio file so that you can hear it as often as you would like. Clicking on the individual program images below will enlarge them.
3rd Sunday Lectures
3rd Sunday Lectures
3rd Sunday Lectures
are notable speakers on notable topics beginning on October 20 and continuing through April.
Compline always follows.
The Fifth Lecture
The 4th lecture
We were joined on Sunday, January 19 at 8pm for a lecture by Sarah and Peter Peters, addressing solutions for Rochester’s homeless population.
Join us on Sunday, December 15 at 8pm for a lecture by Terry Lehr, local historian and author, on the social history of Rochester's Charitable Institutions. The lecture will finish at 8:50, just in time for everyone to go to Compline before all the good seats are gone.
The Third Lecture
The Second lecture
The First of the 2019-2020 season of lectures
Pot Luck
Pot Luck
Tea party
Tea party
Sacred Sites Tour at Christ Church
minute(s)
minute(s)
A Ministry Minute
is a short, 1-3 minutes long, personal talk, delivered during the “Parish Notices” part of the worship service. It is a way to get to know some of our people better, and hear about the feelings they have for Christ Church.
#1 Owen Vanderbilt-
The one in the blue circle is Owen.
I’m Owen VanderBilt, a 2nd-generation member of Christ Church. I was baptized in the font; I was bribed to sit through sermons with a Hersey's kiss when I was young; I volunteered at the alter as everything from incense holder to crucifer. When I first joined the choir at age 13, I was a boy soprano, but I quickly dropped to an alto and then ended up a tenor. Unless there's an unexpected change I don't think I'll ever make it to the final level of base. I've toured as a member of many choirs and visited many, many churches, and it has clarified why I love Christ Church so much. I don't think I've ever experienced a church with this level of musical expertise, this beautiful of a space, and our deep feeling of community. Christ Church has a truly unique and special marriage of high church liturgy while remaining inclusive and active in outreach. Personally, I cannot imagine my life without the presence of Christ Church. I learned how to make beautiful music in the back of our sanctuary, I learned how to be a member of a community over cookies in the guild room, I learned how to ice skate with the youth group across from our parking lot. My identity has been immeasurably shaped by my relationship with this church.
Right now I'm in graduate school and although I can't contribute very much to the church financially, I am so happy to be able to give of my time as a member of the choir and as the leader of the Youth Group. When I get a teaching job, I look forward to more deeply supporting this place of worship that has been so instrumental in my formation. I truly believe Christ Church is a unique space in the relationships and opportunities it offers. Thank you for all you have done to make sure this building and this community continues for both newcomers and those who like me have grown up in this very special church.
The one in the red circle is Dave
#2 Dave Jutsum-
I have wrestled with what to say, today. Why do I, Dave, attend Christ Church? What does it’s community mean to me? I have succeeded in creating an outline which I have lovingly titled, “ Dave’s Five Year Plan For Christ Church “ That’s one point in the outline for each year we have been here.
I wanted to say how excited I am about knowing God, and being known by Him. I mean, it’s got to start, there. The high and lofty One who inhabits eternity reached down to me, a sinner, and washed me, and brought me into his marvelous presence. God opened my heart to hear him say, “ I have loved you with an everlasting love. “
I wanted to note, in passing, that God has given to me a special way in which to receive his love, and to worship him: in and through liturgical worship. All of his wonderful stories are there, and we get to return to them, week after week. I would look up and say, “ and Christ Church does liturgy really, really well. “
3. I thought I would remark in passing that, for many reasons, I consider myself to be, secretly, the richest person in the room, today. God has given me so many gifts. One of them is our Christ Church community. Not what we will be, but who we are: a very rich place, today, filled with interesting people. I have not always found it easy to get to know you; but, I celebrate how wonderful you are.
4. Finally, I would thrillingly conclude with the description of a dream I really had one night: It was dusk. Individuals and small groups of people were walking down the various sidewalks that lead into Christ Church. There was this remarkable sense of anticipation in the air. I think that everyone felt it, but no one talked about it. We knew that something very, very special was going to happen that evening. I entered the building. I went up some stairs, and into a kind of anteroom to a theater box. There was (my wife) Val. She was wearing an incredible golden gown. She was radiant. She looked up at me. We both knew what was coming next. We were about to meet Him, face to face.
5. I would end my talk with a pithy conclusion: I am excited to meet God inside the walls of Christ Church, today, with our particular, eclectic congregation. And a special thanks to those who gave us a new Lawn Street wall.
The one in the green circle is Sam.
#3 Samantha Smith
My name is Samantha Smith and I was baptized Catholic, raised Baptist until certain circumstances (at an early age) created a decision to take my family out of church. I always have felt the love of God and always have admired the beauty of this amazing world so in my 20s I began searching for answers. Answers to why we see all the variations of religion surrounding us. I have moved over 20 times in my adult life and have checked out all sorts of churches along the way, never finding a real sense of admiration to God. I moved back to Rochester in 2016 and the moment I saw the outside of Christ Church I knew I had to check it out. I was engulfed with the all its beauty and more impressively it's diversity. I felt a great sense of peace from the very first visit. As I learned more about Christ Church and it's involvement with the community I was hooked. I had already begun working with the homeless program called REACH and I am so honored to be assisting now with RAIHN. Being able to represent Christ church is a true blessing. I love that everyone has been so kind, welcoming and that the fellow parish actually believe in me! Christ Church has changed my life in so many ways and I will forever be grateful.
Garden Dedication
Garden Dedication
Mayor Lovely Warren addresses the attendees for Anne Cooney’s Garden Dedication.
Bishop Prince Singh was in India with his mother and could not be with us, but he sent a representative.
The Cooney Family
Let there be light
Let there be light
Changing lightbulbs is a major event at Christ Church. The pews get moved. The scaffold gets built. It is a team sport! Thanks to all who helped. And don’t forget to join the team in the spring of 2020.
Legacy
Legacy
Legacy Meetings
My mother used to say, “No one gets out of this life alive.” I think it is safe to say that most of us do not like thinking about our own demise, yet it will happen some day. I was appreciative of the fact that my parents had the foresight to plan for it and discuss it with me, which made things MUCH easier when the time did come. Unfortunately, most people do not have that experience. With that in mind, your rector and a small committee of church members will be offering a series of meetings to address end of life concerns.
Can your survivors answer these questions to your satisfaction? What kind of service do you want? Do you prefer full body burial or cremation or body donation? Which readings would you like read at your service? Which hymns and music would you like at the service. These are only a small number of the questions which might arise at the time of death. At our legacy meetings we expect to discuss them and many others, using excellent materials developed by The Episcopal Church Foundation.
Our motivation is to facilitate decisions ahead of time and to keep your wishes on file in the church, so that when the time comes, there is no doubt as to what should transpire. You will be hearing about the various meetings very soon, so please plan on attending them and do your survivors a favor by lifting this burden off their shoulders.
Te Deum
Te Deum
Te Deum Tiffany window is finally lit!
Carl Zizzo, the owner of Dynamark Electric Inc., arrived with a push around electric lift on July 21, 2019. This was an answer to years worth of prayers.
This event was years in the making ⬆️ and on Monday July 22, it finally happened! East Avenue has the view at night that has been desired for so long by so many people.
The photo of the window lit at night from East Avenue is thanks to Vicki McCutchon. We want to also thank our lighting contractor for this job, A.J. Hetzke from illuminFx, Zach Dumrese and Carl Zizzo (pictured) of Dynamark Electric. The lift went up all 37.5 feet! And a really big shoutout to our own Moses Roland who was instrumental in getting the church ready and overseeing the project. A big round of applause! 👏
Grads
Grads
Our Graduates
Spencer was not able to be present for this occasion.
