WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Hello Danvers and Peabody Friends: As we move forward and think about the blessings of a merger, I thought this might serve as food for thought. Sing out if you have suggestions for a new, blended entity that we can all call our spiritual home:

A List of the Most Common Names for Episcopal Churches
Compiled by Fr. Chris Yaw, Associate Rector,
St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Battle Creek, Michigan with help from www.theredbook.org

What follows is an unscientific accounting of the 121 most common words found in the names of Episcopal parishes. There are approximately 7,500 Episcopal churches. Many parishes have more than one name in their title, such as Trinity and St. Philip or St. John the Divine. In cases such as the former, this counts as two designations, one for Trinity and one for St. Philip. In the latter case, the Divine is simply dropped and this parish is counted as St. John. In the case of the word Christ this includes parishes named Christ Church and Christ Episcopal Church etc. Please note multiple listings for similar words, ie. Our Saviour and Our Savior, also St. Ann and St. Anne. Please feel free to contact me with any corrections or questions at chris@stthomasbc.org.        

     Ranking /Parish Name                  Number of Parishes

1. Christ                                                            527

2. St. John                                                         524

3. Trinity                                                           520

4. St. Paul                                                         488

5. St. Andrew                                                   311

6. Grace                                                            281

7. St. James                                                      276

8. St. Luke                                                         261

9. St. Mark                                                        244

10. All Saints                                                    237

11. St. Peter                                                     210

12. St. Mary                                                     206

13. St. Stephen                                                173

14. Good Shepherd                                         170

15. St. Thomas                                                149

16. Chapel                                                        146

17. St. Michael                                                128

18. St. Matthew                                              123

19. St. George                                                 101

20. St. Francis                                                  95

21. St. Alban                                                     92

22. Ascension                                                  91

23. Epiphany                                                    91

24. Emmanuel                                                 89

25. St. Philip                                                     85

26. St. Barnabas                                              77

27. Calvary                                                       75

28. Cross                                                           71

29. Redeemer                                                  70

30. St. Martin                                                   68

31. Memorial                                                   66

32. St. David                                                     66

33. St. Timothy                                                66

34. St. Christopher                                          64

35. St. Ann                                                        63

36. Holy Spirit                                                  60

37. St. Augustine                                             55

38. Nativity                                                      54

39. All Angels                                                   50

40. Resurrection                                             48

41. Our Saviour                                               45

42. St. Anne                                                      43

43. Advent                                                        42

44. St. Bartholomew                                      41

45. Transfiguration                                         40

46. Matthias                                                    35

47. St. Margaret                                              33

48. St. Joseph                                                  32

49. St. Elizabeth                                              31

50. Christ the King                                          31

51. Incarnation                                                30

52. St. Patrick                                                  30

53. Messiah                                                      28

54. Apostles                                                     27

55. Holy Comforter                                        25

56. St. Jude                                                       22

57. Holy Family                                                22

58. St. Dunstan                                                21

59. Zion                                                             21

60. Holy Innocent                                           20

61. St. Aidan                                                     20

62. St. Nicholas                                               20

63. Holy Communion                                     20

64. All Souls                                                      19

65. St. Simon                                                    19

66. Samaritan                                                  18

67. St. Columba                                               16

68. St. Gabriel                                                  16

69. Atonement   `                                            15

70. Faith                                                            14

71. San Juan                                                     13

72. St. Bede                                                      13

73. St. Cyprian                                                 13

74. St. Agnes                                                    12

75. Immanuel                                                  12

76. Annunciation                                             11

77. Peace                                                          11

78. Jesus                                                           11

79. St. Edward                                                 11

80. St. Gregory                                                10

81. Mediator                                                    10

82. St. Ambrose                                               9

83. St. Clare                                                     9

84. Our Savior                                                  9

85. St. Martha                                                 8

86. St. Anselm                                                  8

87. St. Mary Magdalene                                8

88. Santa Maria                                               8

89. St. Boniface                                               7

90. Hope                                                           6

91. Jerusalem                                                  6

92. St. Catherine                                             6

93. St. Helen(a)                                                6

94. St. Monica                                                 6

95. St. Benedict                                               6

96. St. Edmund                                                6

97. Intercession                                              5

98. St. Cuthbert                                               5

99. St. Charles                                                 5

100. St. Richard                                               5

101. Reconciliation                                        4

102. San Jose                                                   4

103. St. Phillip                                                  4

104. St. Bernard                                              4

105. St. Hilda                                                   4

106. St. Simeon                                               4

107. Bethany                                                   3

108. Falls                                                          3

109. Lord                                                          3

110. St. Chad                                                   3

111. St. Hilary                                                  3

112. St. Katherine                                           3

113. Asaph                                                       2

114. Blessed Sacrament                                2

115. Creator                                                    2

116. Crucifixion                                               2

117. Holy Name                                              2

118. Love (Beloved)                                       2

119. St. Ignatius                                              2

120. St. Teresa                                                2

121. St. Theodore                                           2

Time to Move

Oh, yeah - well, when I lived in Peabody, one of my best friends attended St. Paul's! - not true but I hope it got your attention .

I don't believe I can find the right words to describe to all of you how excited I am at the prospect of our families joining into one.  The St. Paul clan has so much to offer with new ideas, ways and energy.  The Calvary clan has the same to bring to the table.

Those who know me just a tad better would probably tell you that I don't see a lot of grey - I do see a whole lot of black and white so for me, at least, often clearly see the way I believe to travel or the option to select and sometimes I find it difficult to understand why others cannot see the situation as clearly as I.  I do work at getting better with this failing but more often than not, I fall back into the Bill Hooper mode.

My Sisters and Brothers, there is no doubt in my mind that our families will join if for no other reason that there are no other viable options available and we have the ability to satisfy one another's need and it has already been tested and proven that we meld well together.  The "word-that-is-not-to-be-spoken" is MERGE.  Well, after all of the conversation that has already taken place, are we or aren't we?

Yes, yes!  I know there are some minor details to address like real estate, clergy, financial status, personnel along with aproximately 74,392 other items but I might suggest to all that none of these things can be realistically or completely addressed until we agree to merge our clans.  Besides, we can hire Solomon to mediate those details!  So now before the summer break, it's time to do a lot of thinking and soul searching and if you truly believe this is God's will for us then it's time to proudly announce to the Diocese, to our respective communities and to the world that St. Paul's and Calvary Church intend to become one.  Wouldn't the first order of business be to choose a name so we can tell everyone that our new family will be called Saint "Something"?

I think June 3rd be a good day to take the first step in our journey.

God bless all!

Bill Hooper
Calvary

From Bill Hooper, treasurer of Calvary, here are meeting notes from the 5/6/12 gathering at St. Paul's.

Please feel free to join the conversation, either her or on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/ComingTogetherinFaith

Meeting Notes:  Held at St. Paul’s Sunday 5/6/12 from 3 to 5 PM

1.        Meeting addressed by 4 representative of Holy Spirit Parish, Fall River, MA – the only parish to have merged.  At the onset, there were 4 Parishes considering merger but only 3 followed through to the end.  All of the Churches were physically located in Fall River within a six mile radius of one another.  While all of the Churches may have been considered “neighborhood” churches, few if any members walked to church.  All Churches had cradle to grave members with additional mixtures of younger to older parishioners.  One complaint common to all of the Churches was lack of resources/activities for children and young members.  Each Church’s Pastor was at or very near retirement.

2.        The merger was solely as a result of financial need by the 3 Parish that merged.  One Parish had an endowment but few parishioners; one had a larger number of parishioners but little or no endowment to call upon while the last was near closing its doors.  One of the existing Parishes was considered “High”; one “Low” while the third was a mixture of both.

3.       Each Church’s Vestry recognized that church’s inability to continue operation in the long term and eventually arrived at the conclusion that a merger was the only viable alternative.

4.       The first step in the process was to discern what the various congregations had in common.  A schedule was established to attend one another’s churches on a rotating basis.  Each church would stay “home” for 3 weekends per month then visit and worship at another church one weekend per month – there was a schedule kept for this purpose.

5.       After much discussion and prayerful reflection, three of the four Vestries voted to merge.  The fourth opted to go it alone.  Once again there were lengthy discussion and a lot of prayer and reflection before the Vestries decided that nothing could be accomplished by general consensus of all of the parishioners of the three Parishes so the Vestries agree to the creation of a supernumerary “Interchurch Council” which would make all final decisions after having received input, comments and recommendations from all of the Churches as the need arose during the decision making process.  To cement the commitment, each Vestry voted to cede final authority for merger related decisions to the Interchurch Council and confirmed the vote in writing.

6.       Each Church elected 3 members to sit upon the Interchurch Council.  The Vestries and Council decided immediately that Clergy from the three Churches would not be invited into the decision making process because the people not the clergy are the church.

7.        The Council met regularly to explore what information was needed to decide the actual time line and process for merging.  They considered such questions as:

a.        Which building might be used versus construction or acquiring a new structure.  In the end, an existing church was selected.  Alternatives were too expensive.

b.      How merger related expenses, if any, would be handled.

c.       What would happen with to objects such as altars, statues, furnishing, etc.

d.      Staffing

e.       Disposal of excess real estate.

8.        The Council addressed each issue as the need arose and called upon Diocesan Resource when and as needed, particularly those dealing with legal issues.  Each Sunday, a Council Representative spoke at their respective church to update the congregation.

9.       The Council picked at date to begin combined worship at the “new” church which was a date prior to the actual legal merger.

10.   While not every person from the three parishes was satisfied with all of the decisions made by the Council, a majority of Parishioners from the three parishes joined the “new” parish.  The new parish is growing.