Introducing our new Interim Director of Communications

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

I am delighted to introduce our Interim Communications Director, Char Mansfield. Char (they/them) is a Princeton Theological Seminary MDiv recipient living in town until they finish their MSW at Rutgers in 2025. Originally from Seattle, WA, Char also has family throughout their homeland of Sweden. On top of being our Interim Director of Communications, Char is currently writing a book on the profound calling of Christian living. Attempting to follow this radical way of Jesus in their own life, they hope to develop and inspire Christian intentional communities as a reinvigoration of the koinonia practices of the early church for our modern world.

Char’s responsibilities will include maintenance of the website, overseeing the weekly e-Pistle, and managing the livestream of our Sunday worship.  We are truly blessed to have Char as part of our team. He will undoubtedly enrich our community. Please extend a warm and gracious welcome.  

I would also like to express my gratitude to Tom Scott, Nithila Peter, Annie Bryson, Phil Unetic, and Emily Pruszinski who will be guiding us through a search process for a permanent Communications Director.

Peace to all,
Paul

Update: Sunday Picnic 4-7PM

Kick-Off Sunday at Trinity Church

Blessing of the Backpacks

For some of us, the advent of a new school year is exciting. We hear West Side Story lyrics (“The air is hummin’ and somethin’ great is comin’… “) in our heads and tap dance to the bus stop. School shopping is the absolute best – bouquets of pencils delight us. We just can’t wait to color code our planners. For others, a new school year brings trepidation and an onslaught of anxious questions. Will I like my new teacher? What if my best friend isn’t in my class? … What if I get a bad grade?... don’t make the varsity team?... 

No matter where your kids fall on this spectrum, they will likely carry a backpack to and from school. These backpacks may be mostly empty or crammed full of books and papers. No matter how full they are of stuff, they will contain hopes, dreams, fears, and questions for each new season and each new day of this academic year. If you are a teacher, you will be carrying supplies back and forth to your classrooms as well. 

We invite you all (Preschoolers through High Schoolers, Teachers, College Students, Grad Students, & Professors) to bring those backpacks and schoolbags to Trinity on September 17. Bring them empty or full. Invite a friend! Adults, even if you’re done with school, you are welcome to receive a blessing for your work. If you’d like in on this, we invite you to bring your briefcases, tote bags, or backpacks as well. The priests will bless the bags during the 10:30 a.m. service, to honor all the hopes, dreams, and fears that accompany the new school year, and to ask for God to strengthen, sustain, and encourage all our children as they learn and grow throughout the year. 

The folks at Illustrated Ministries have designed this year’s tag with a simple reminder: You Matter! God sees all of us, knows all of us, and loves us – each of us matters to our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Knowing this, you can pass this message on to your neighbors, near and far. There are color versions of these tags, pre-laminated, so you can attach them and go. Or if you’d like to decorate your own tag, Emily has black and white unlaminated versions of the tag for you to color yourself. 

God’s God Us & We’ve Got This!

Emily

Readings — Three Irish Women Poets

Tuesday, September 26 at 4-5:30pm 
in Pierce-Bishop Hall

Please RSVP to Colette Breen at colette_breen@yahoo.com.

In this collaborative reading three acclaimed Irish poets, Jane Clarke, Katie Donovan and Catherine Phil MacCarthy reflect on a changing Ireland. In the process, they explore how poetry may reveal and restore the past, giving memory and story legitimacy.  They affirm Michael Longley's assertion that "A poet must look after words... And he must not use them as a mere tool, but rather make with them..."

Jane Clarke has published three collections with Bloodaxe Books, The River (2015), When the Tree Falls (2019) and A Change in the Air (2023). Jane received the Ireland Chair of Poetry Travel Award 2022, the Listowel Writers' Week Poem of the Year 2016. A Change in the Air is short-listed for the Forward Prize in Poetry 2023. She grew up on a farm in Co. Roscommon and now lives with her wife in the uplands of Co. Wicklow. janeclarkepoetry.ie

Katie Donovan has published five collections, all with Bloodaxe Books (UK). Her most recent, Off Duty (2016) was short-listed for the Irish Times /Poetry Now Prize. Her work has appeared in the best-selling anthology Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times and The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women Poets. She edited Ireland's Women: Writings Past and Present.  She grew up in a farm in Co. Wexford and now lives in Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin. katiedonovan.com

Catherine Phil MacCarthy has published five collections of poetry including Daughters of the House (2019) and The Invisible Threshold (2012) - short-listed for the Irish Times/ Poetry Now Prize. She is a former editor of Poetry Island Review and was awarded a month-long residency at Varuna, the National Writers' House, NSW, Australia (2022) for work on her forthcoming collection, Catching Sight.  A native of Limerick, she lives in Dublin.      catherinephilmaccarthy.com