A MESSAGE FROM DEAN THOMASON

Dear friends,

It is my delight to share the news that The Rev. Canon Walter B.A. Brownridge will serve as Saint Mark’s Theologian-in-Residence during 2021. In this role, which is grant-funded and was delayed several months due to the pandemic, Canon Brownridge will bring his manifold gifts and considerable experience as he engages the cathedral community at periodic intervals as theologian, priest, preacher, teacher, and ministry consultant. We look forward to his presence among us, which will be virtual until pandemic restrictions allow for him to travel to Seattle safely.

Canon Brownridge writes:

Canon Brownridge was recently called by the Bishop of Vermont to serve as Canon to the Ordinary and Canon for Cultural Transformation for that diocese. He begins that role in the new year, transitioning from his current post as Associate at Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He formerly served as Associate Dean of the School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee, and I came to know him during his five years as Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Honolulu. Earlier in his ministry, he served as a Canon of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, as the nation transitioned from apartheid rule. Prior to ordination, he practiced law as a federal prosecutor and in the area of public policy development. Canon Brownridge is a contributor to the recently published book, Preaching Black Lives (Matter) (July 2020, Church Publishing). His essay/sermon is titled “On the Occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the Arrival of the First Enslaved Africans to British North America.”

Canon Brownridge is scheduled to preach on Sunday, January 17, 2021, and will lead a portion of the Vestry retreat in February. As the year unfolds, he will preach periodically, teach, consult with ministry leaders, staff and vestry, and serve as facilitator of theological reflections and consultant for curricular visioning with a special focus on the cathedral’s efforts to address systemic racism.

I look forward to Walter engaging our community at regular intervals in the course of next year, and I hope you will join me in welcoming him. I am,

Gratefully yours,

The Very Reverend Steven L. Thomason, Dean & Rector