WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2025

A Cathedral Commons Forum with the Rev Canon Rich Weyls

This past summer marked the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea (325). Martin Luther considered it "the most sacred of all councils." The decrees of the Council helped us find language to describe what we mean when we say "God." We will explore the historical context of the Council while reflecting upon its rich theology in order to discover significance for today. Rather than being a list of intellectual propositions, the Council is a gift to the church and an act of praise to God.

UPDATE: The slides for this presentation can be seen here. 

The handout with the original text of the Creed as adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 can be seen here.

Canon Rich closed the forum with a prayer to the Holy Spirit written by Pope Leo XIV in his Apostolic Letter on the occasion of the 1,700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Here is that prayer: 

Holy Spirit of God, you guide believers along the path of history. We thank you for inspiring the Symbols of Faith and for stirring in our hearts the joy of professing our salvation in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father. Without him, we can do nothing. Eternal Spirit of God, rejuvenate the faith of the Church from age to age. Help us to deepen it and to return always to the essentials in order to proclaim it. So that our witness in the world may not be futile, come, Holy Spirit, with your fire of grace, to revive our faith, to enkindle us with hope, to inflame us with charity. Come, divine Comforter, source of harmony, unite the hearts and minds of believers. Come and grant us to taste the beauty of communion. Come, Love of the Father and the Son, gather us into the one flock of Christ. Show us the ways to follow, so that with your wisdom, we become once again what we are in Christ: one, so that the world may believe. Amen.

Pope Leo's remarks at the joint liturgy in İznik (Nicaea) with Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I can be heard here.  

A complete video of the forum is now available below. 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2025

Join Canon Michael Kleinschmidt, Rebekah Gilmore, and members of the Evensong Choir for reflections and discussion on their summer pilgrimage to serve as choir-in-residence for a week each in Lincoln and Durham Cathedrals, England. The forum will be led by Evensong Choir Members James Wilcox and Molly Porter, and some choir members will share some music that was sung during the pilgrimage.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 6:45–8:15 P.M., in person in Bloedel Hall and online via Zoom

WITH THE REV. ADAM CONLEY

The recent election of Sarah Mullaly as the first woman to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury is an historic event. What is the Archbishop of Canterbury all about? How did this clerical role gain such primacy? What does the recent election mean for the Episcopal Church, the Church of England, and the worldwide Anglican Communion? Fr. Adam will guide an exploration and discussion of the role, meaning, and impact of the Archbishop of Canterbury for Anglicans across the globe. He will offer stories of his personal experiences at an enthronement of a past archbishop and share perspectives on the current archbishop from different corners of the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

UPDATE: Download the slides from this presentation here.

The following references and resources were shared at the forum:

• An NPR interview about the appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury
• An episode of the Holy Smoke podcast, "What can we expect from the first Female ABC?" (Oct. 3, 2025) [NB: Fr. Conley recommends this single episode, not this podcast as a whole.]
• This article from The Living Church, which outlines the diversity of responses to Sarah Mullaly’s appointment
• The Anglican Communion at a Crossroads (2018) by Christopher Craig Brittain and Andrew McKinnon
• Anglican Theology: Postcolonial Perspectives (2024) by Stephen Burns and James Tengatenga
• The Anglican Tradition from a Postcolonial Perspective (2023) by Kwok Pui-Lan
• Christianity and Social Order (1942) by William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury,1942–1944)
• Love's Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness (2003), ed. Geoffrey Rowell, Kenneth Stevenson, and Rowan Williams
• Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction (2006) by Mark Chapman
• The Book of Common Prayer [...] According the Use of The Episcopal Church (1979)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2025

Rick Samyn is the Pastoral Assistant for Social Justice at St. Leo Church in Tacoma. A former Capuchin Franciscan Brother, he has been beekeeping for 24 years. In this forum, Rick will invite us to expand our view of what it means to live incarnationally. We'll learn and talk about how to renew our bond with creation, taking St. Francis of Assisi as our guide and honeybees as our model.

Watch a recording of this forum:

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 6:45–8:15 P.M., in person in Bloedel Hall and online via Zoom

Does joy just seem too difficult to come by these days? Does it seem irresponsible or naïve? Maybe you don't feel like you can be joyful, don't know how to, or don't deserve to?

Local author Shemaiah Gonzalez shares stories from her new book Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight. In her collection of short essays on defiant joy, Shemaiah reflects on how she gradually learned to see joy not as an indulgence but as a necessity—a way of life and the fruit of faith. Shemaiah will led us in conversation to notice God in the mundane and magnificent.

Once you start looking for joy, you might start finding it everywhere. It's time to live joyously.

UPDATE: A complete video is now available below.

Find links to purchase the book here.

The prayer with which Shemaiah closed the forum can be read here. 

About the presenter

Shemaiah Gonzalez is a writer with degrees in English Literature (BA), Intercultural Ministry (MAPS) and Creative Non-Fiction Writing (MFA). She thrives in moments where storytelling, art, literature, and faith collide. Her work has appeared in America Magazine, Image Journal’s Good Letters, Ekstasis, The Curator, and Loyola Press, among others. A Los Angeles native, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, whom she has known since she was 14 years old, and their two teen sons.