The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
February 2008

Bishop's Reflections

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
Go into his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him and call upon his Name.
—Ps 100:3

In 1870 when Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle laid the cornerstone of St. Mark's Cathedral near the Salt Lake Temple then under construction, he could have had no idea what the larger site would become today. Over the years many different land owners and institutions were to become its near neighbors.

Then in the early 1990s, Bishop Bates took the opportunity to purchase the land surrounding the Cathedral, and when Project Jubilee began in 1998 we were able to pay off the mortgage on that purchase. AND THEN our dreaming began! Hoping began! Planning began! And construction began!

On Monday of this week (January 7th) I walked into the office wing of the Episcopal Church Center of Utah (ECCU) for the first time since we moved in, and I was simply overwhelmed. The staff was unpacking their offices while the contractors continued the finishing work in the rest of the building, but the whole place had suddenly come to life!

The next day our first visitors arrived—sixteen bishops from Province VIII. The residential wing of the retreat and conference center being not yet complete, they were housed nearby, but the Dean and staff of Cathedral Center warmly welcomed our three-day gathering next door.

Throughout our time together I sensed what a monumental shift was occurring in the life of our diocese. The whole new complex of buildings on this 'campus' or 'cathedral close' (as it would be called in Europe) surrounds our beautiful cathedral,

• bringing a new coherence and flexibility to our present ministry and mission;
• looking to the future of what the Episcopal Church brings to the people of Utah and to the larger church;
• and most notably of all, offering the spirit of hospitality everywhere.

There is a place here for everything a church could hope to offer—worship, education, administration, service, the arts, shared meals, meetings, media facilities, music, gardens and quiet places—all within the aesthetic of grace I associate with Anglican tradition.

Clearly it will take time for us to grow into these spaces, and that will involve as much fidelity, imagination and creativity as has gone into the construction project itself.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your trust and your support, shown in so many ways. May we and others discover here a source of spiritual nourishment that will enrich the service we bring to the world in Christ's name.

Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish

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