The Vestry decided to grant this important title to the Rev. Rebecca Justice Schunior to reflect her importance to our community and to underscore that she is our spiritual leader during this period of the transition. "Priest-in-Charge" is a commonly-used title in the Episcopal Church for parishes that are in transition between Rectors and when an Interim Rector is either not being hired or has not yet been hired. It is usual practice that the Priest-in-Charge is not a candidate for Rector.

Are we not planning to hire an Interim Rector?

We are planning to hire an Interim Rector, likely in May, and no later than June 1. Senior Warden Grady Hedgespeth and his successor will be working with the Diocese of Washington to identify potential candidates, meet with those individuals and ultimately determine whom to hire. The parish budget for 2015 has funded an Interim Rector position beginning May 1 and through the end of the year.

What happens to Justi after we hire an Interim Rector?

Once we hire an Interim Rector, Justi will return to her role as Associate Rector. Justi has agreed to remain with us until we hire a new Rector, and as long after that as is mutually agreeable to Justi and the new Rector. Though Justi may remain as Associate Rector for a time after a new Rector is called, it is likely she will move on. Justi has had valuable experience at St. Mark's that will help her as she enters search processes for clergy leadership in 2016; many other assistant/associate rectors from St. Mark's have gone on to lead other churches.

Is it true that we are waiting to hire an Interim Rector because we cannot afford one sooner?

It is true that our budget for 2015 is balanced in part because we are waiting three months to hire an Interim Rector. But that was not the only, nor even the most compelling, reason to wait. First of all, we wanted to make sure that we hire the right Interim Rector, someone who really understands St. Mark's and our unique qualities. To do so will take some time, and we did not want to make any rushed decisions. Moreover, we wanted Paul Abernathy's last month at St. Mark's to focus on celebrating his ministry and not be distracted by an Interim Rector search. In addition, the leadership felt that we already had a strong leader for St. Mark's on staff in the person of Justi Schunior. Having Justi as Priest-in-Charge for a few months before the arrival of an Interim Rector allows the parish leadership to make a thoughtful decision regarding our Interim Rector and provides Justi an important career development opportunity.

Are we getting Justi some help during this transition period?

Yes! On February 15, we will welcome the Rev. Josh Thomas to St. Mark's as a regular "supply clergy," which means someone we contract with to provide help during a specific period. Funding for his contract is contained in the Transition account of the Vestry-approved 2015 St. Mark's operating budget. Over the next three months, Rev. Thomas will be available to help Justi and our community on a periodic basis. He will be presiding and/or preaching at some Sunday services, helping with pastoral care and doing some teaching. Thomas is Executive Director of Kids4Peace International, a grassroots interfaith movement that empowers Israeli, Palestinian and North American youth to be agents of change in their communities.  A graduate of Dartmouth College and Union Theological Seminary (NYC), Josh served congregations and campus chaplaincies in Boston, New Hampshire, Atlanta and Seattle, including Church of the Apostles - a Lutheran/Episcopal "emergent" congregation in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.  Josh is moving to Washington, DC this spring, to establish Kids4Peace's headquarters here.

In addition to Josh, there will be other guest preachers in the coming months.

What is the current state of the search process for a new Rector?

The Discernment and Search Committee (DSC), co-chaired by Nadine Hathaway and Jim Ashley, has been hard at work for several months. Right now, the committee is in the middle of a 60-day effort to collect thoughts and feedback from members of the St. Mark's community. A series of home gatherings around the region have been going on, usually dinners with a small group of parishioners and a member of the DSC engaging in discussions about your vision for St. Mark's. Over the next several weeks, there will be a series of Town Halls at which everyone is invited to discuss two questions: "What keeps you here?" and "What do you hope to see in our next Rector?" Please take advantage of these opportunities to make your voice heard. For details about what the DSC is doing, visit their website at www.stmarksdsc.wordpress.com.

When will we hire a new Rector?

The DSC timeline calls for a Parish Profile to be completed this spring. This document is an important guide to who we are and what we want to be, which all prospective candidates will read carefully to learn more about us. Once the Parish Profile is completed, we can enter formally into the Search process. Our current timeline is to begin reviewing candidates this summer, narrow the list down to a handful of finalists in the early fall, and then to call our new Rector late in 2015. We expect our new Rector to be with us in early 2016.

I have heard that part of our financial "problems" stem from paying our Rector too much and/or that we had to pay him a lump sum at the end of his tenure. Are those rumors true?

No. The compensation for our former Rector (and, for that matter, our next Rector) is driven by several factors, including Diocesan guidelines for priest compensation (the details of which can be found at  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8PcDzLlqQpYbDhaME16cElzaWM/edit?pli=1).

These guidelines factor in the priest's experience and the size of the parish they serve. In addition, there are a variety of market forces such as the high cost of housing in the area and Paul's 37 years of ministry, nearly half of it with us, to take into consideration. When these factors are considered, his compensation was well within the Diocesan guidelines.

In 2012, Paul was contractually eligible for a six-month sabbatical. Given that we were deep into planning for the Vision 2020 project to renovate and expand our Parish Hall building and about to start construction, Paul opted not to take a sabbatical at that time. Last year, after Paul's decision to retire in early 2015, the Vestry negotiated a compromise that had two parts. The first was to allow Paul to take three months of his sabbatical during the summer of 2014. The second was to pay him for the untaken remainder of his sabbatical. He was given a lump sum from the Parish Reserve account for that amount in January 2015. This account was established a decade ago for just such unusual expenses and can only be accessed by unanimous votes of both the Finance Committee and the Vestry.

I am concerned that the finances at St. Mark's are in trouble and that there is a lack of transparency in our financial life. What is being done about these issues?

First of all, our finances are managed by an experienced Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer, Penny Hansen and Andrew Stafford, and an active 11-member Finance Committee, all of which report to the Vestry on a monthly basis.   On March 1, we will have a Finance Town Hall meeting after all three services, at which parish leaders will make a presentation about the current state of finances at St. Mark's. There will be slides to view and handouts available. We will attempt to answer as many questions as parishioners have about our finances.

The reality of our financial situation, however, is that our income is lagging behind our expenses. On the expense side, we have keep things pretty flat in recent years, but there are increases to utility costs that result from our new space, as well as interest payments on our loan. In both 2013 and 2014, we have had to dip into our designated funds to meet our monthly and yearly obligations. This is not a sustainable path. We need to increase income and that means we need to attract more pledging members and encourage our current pledging members to do more if they can. One of the most positive results from this year's canvass was that the average pledge amount rose by 6.5%, a very healthy increase. Moreover, we plan to make a concerted effort to increase pledging in 2015 by returning to an "Every Member Canvass" - a process done in the past at St. Mark's in which the goal is to have a face-to-face conversation with every single pledging member to build relationships, explain our financial situation, encourage generous pledging, answer questions and increase the sense of belonging to this community. There will be more details in the spring about how to get involved in this important effort.

As far as transparency is concerned, we intend to post the recently-approved 2015 budget both in Baxter Hall and on the parish website, and include the monthly Treasurer's Report to the Vestry in the minutes of the meetings (also available on the web). Since this year's budget is an anomalous one, with new expenses and unusual staffing patterns, the Finance Committee will produce quarterly reports for distribution throughout the year. In October, we will return to having Parish Managers budget-building meetings, which did not occur this year because of the many major unknowns in our financial picture for 2015. We will seek frequent opportunities to brief different groups within the church and make sure that financial briefings are a part of leadership gatherings whenever they occur.