Staff Update

Dear Trinity Church and friends,

I pray this email finds you and your family well as we continue our summertime schedule together.  

“To everything there is a season”- the author of Ecclesiastes says. I write today to share an update to our staff. It is with bittersweetness I share that Cathy Portlock Pacitto has accepted the Director of Children's Ministry position at Grace Church in New Bedford. Her final Sunday at Trinity will be July 21. 

When Cathy shared the news with me that she has accepted the new position, I was at once grateful for the nearly fourteen years of ministry that Cathy has been a part of here at Trinity Church. In her time here, she has built a firm foundation of children’s ministry with love and faith in Christ, inviting each family fully into the Trinity family right where they are. I also felt her same deep joy at the new ministry she will be a part of building at Grace. Grace Church will benefit from her wisdom, knowledge, and compassion. 

As we give thanks for Cathy’s ministry, I want to assure you that our Children’s Ministry will continue. This summer, I will work closely with Cathy before she leaves; and work with the Children's Ministry Committee for our fall Children’s Ministry programming to begin smoothly. The clergy are excited to be a part of this team and engaging with our youngest members. In the interim, clergy will lead the Children’s Homily on Sundays. We will form a search committee in the Fall to discern a new hire. 

For now, join us in person on July 21 after the 9 am service as we celebrate and give thanks for Cathy’s years at Trinity Church in the City of Boston. 

Gratefully,

The Rev. Abigail W. Moon

Senior Associate

Dear Friends at Trinity, 

One of the passages of Scripture that has always been meaningful to me is Luke 24: 13-35, the Road to Emmaus. In it, two of Jesus’ followers are traveling from Jerusalem home to Emmaus, after Jesus’ crucifixion. Their hearts are heavy as they talk together about all that has happened. A fellow traveler approaches them and engages them in conversation. They share their experiences and their sadness with this traveler, eventually inviting him to join them for a meal. It is when this traveler breaks the bread at the meal that “their eyes were opened” and they recognized Jesus, who immediately vanished from their sight. 

For me, the road to Emmaus has always been about finding God in the unexpected, about recognizing God’s presence where we might not have seen it before, and of God coming to us and taking us down a road we did not expect. 

I find myself now on yet another Emmaus Road – one that is taking me back to the parish from which I came to you nearly 14 years ago. Grace Church, New Bedford, is seeking to rebuild their children’s ministries program after a period of decline that happened during and after the pandemic. They have very recently called a new rector, and in their parish profile, identified ministry to children and families a top priority. They have asked me to come be a part of that rebuilding. Grace is where I first heard God’s call to children’s ministries, where my husband and I were married, where long-passed members of my family were parishioners, and it is a parish I deeply love. Yet, as excited as I am about this new opportunity, I shall miss you all. 

I shall miss worshipping amid the sublime beauty that is Trinity’s sanctuary, I shall miss hearing Trinity’s transcendent choir. I shall miss the “holy chaos” of the Christmas Eve pageant, the excitement of the three Kings (and their chocolate coins!) at the Epiphany Brunch, the creativity and love the children put into the Easter Gardens during Holy Week. 

I shall miss all those who I have had the deep honor of ministering with – Church School teachers, Children’s Ministries Committee members, Nursery caregivers, those who I have had the privilege to count as colleagues on Trinity’s staff. 

Above all, I will miss the children. I shall miss hearing their voices in the classrooms, I shall miss being with them at homily, I shall miss little ones coming into and growing out of the nursery. To all those who so graciously “shared” your children with me and entrusted me with their care during my years here, thank you. You, and they, have blessed me beyond measure. 

Trinity has taught me a great deal – the ins and outs of a large, urban parish, what it is to be part of an incredibly gifted and dedicated team, both lay and ordained, how, when met with a challenge, a parish can meet that challenge and rise above it (think of what we all did together during the pandemic!!). 

Above all else, you have each taught me, in your own way, what it is to be part of the Beloved Community. And for that I will always be grateful. 

I look forward to continuing our walk together during my remaining weeks at Trinity. I pray that we continue to recognize the risen Christ in our work, in our worship and in one another. I bid your prayers as I prepare for this next step in my own journey. Be assured that you are ever in mine. 

Faithfully and with love, 

Cathy Portlock Pacitto 

Outgoing Minister for Early Childhood