Special Vestry Meeting

Hello St. John’s family, 

I greet you in the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. 

I write to you today to give you a little bit of a roof update. Thank you for your patience on this matter. 

Work has been paused for much of September, as the contractor has been doing some emergency work on some of their other, deferred projects. They made this decision as our project is currently stable and “hoarded in” (encased in tarps), so that work can progress even if the rains begin. 

While this has paused progress on the project, it has also provided a helpful bit of breathing room to take stock of things. They will be back on our roof in early October. 

In August, when the work on the tower section of the roof began in earnest and the siding was finally removed, it was discovered that water had been coming in from many different places around the tower for a long time. You can see in the pictures from the report put together by the contractor (attached) just how serious this has become. If you would like to climb a ladder and have a closer look at the work being done, please let me know, I would be happy to show you.

I am glad that we are dealing with this now, even though it has been a headache, before it became even more expensive, or worse, dangerous. 

While everything is fixable (and is being fixed), unfortunately a lot of the work of demolition, construction, and the new materials required to replace the rotten wood were outside of the scope of work for the original contract. 

Because of this, we are calling a special vestry meeting for after the 10am service on Sunday October 16th. At this meeting, we will give a more fulsome update. Voting members of vestry consist of all baptized members of the congregation over the age of 15 who have been accustomed worshippers within the parish for the previous 3 months (if you have any questions, please let me know). Non-voting members of vestry are still welcome to attend, learn and ask questions.  

We are currently in conversation with the diocese on a couple more details, and so we will share some additional information when we have it, prior to the meeting. 

Finally, I just want to say, feeling frustrated, tired or discouraged is OK. I totally understand. However, I just want to let you know that I am not afraid or discouraged. I believe that we can overcome this, that we will continue to flourish as the Body of Christ in this place. I continue to be so excited and honoured to be your priest and pastor – a fellow traveller on the way of Jesus.  

Your brother in Christ, 

CG+