PRESENTING HOLLY LYMAN ANTOLINI

Presented by John Gay and Sarah Forrester to Parish Meeting on March 9, 2008

On behalf of the search committee, John and I are so pleased, and relieved, to share with you who we have chosen as our new rector at St James, The Reverend Holly Lyman Antolini. She is a stunning individual, bringing with her with her a wealth of skills and experience that align beautifully with our needs at this time.
Early on in the process she shared the following with us:

“I perceive that ... you are a congregation full of imaginative and strong leaders, eager to call a Rector who can help St. James grow, individually and collectively, in the power of the ever-present Spirit, focusing your mission to “serve and not be served” both inwardly in your congregational community and outwardly in the wider world on your doorstep, neither forgetting that the gifts necessary for that growth are already lavished upon the congregation and just waiting to be recognized and called out, nor that all growth stems from the risen life of Jesus Christ.”

We feel that she already knows us so well. When she joins us, she will first listen, help us discern where we want to go, share with us her myriad of gifts, and help us fulfill what we have so often prayed for over the past 18 months in our search committee prayer, that she will take us to where God will have us be.

When the Search Committee met with Holly, she impressed us all with her ability to get us all talking, not only with her but also with each other. Her spirituality was evident as she began our meeting first with a prayer and then with a Taize hymn. She said that she rejoices in her ability to bring a congregation to spirituality, using Bible study, prayer groups and renewal.

There are so many reasons why we chose her.

Her sermons are excellent - her style of preaching sticks closely to the scripture and is related compellingly to everyday life. She is a natural storyteller, and her sermons are skillfully crafted, and often with a profoundly relevant message.

We found her to be a good listener, and skillful at drawing out what is really important to the individual, and in ministry groups. She is gifted in ministry discernment and conflict resolution. She is direct, does not avoid confrontation of issues, and is comfortable walking through conflict with individuals and in groups. She is not afraid to be challenging, or to ask difficult questions. As one of her references said, she is not a shrinking violet. She gravitates towards diversity because she loves to bring people together. She is a people person and works well with people of all ages, and especially teenagers. As a mother of two, I know what a challenging age group that is.

She most recently worked in a large parish as minister of congregational development in which she facilitated the design of new programs to support many aspects of church life and ministry. These programs emphasized welcoming newcomers, youth and adult spiritual development, stewardship, pastoral care, discernment of gifts for ministry, and outreach to the community locally and globally. These are all areas of need that were identified in our parish survey.

She also held a position that we recognize in our diocese as Dean of the Deanery—a pastor and convener to other priests and parishes in a large segment of her diocese in Virginia, a job she fulfilled with great energy and thoroughness. While there, she also regularly participated in clergy support groups and encouraged ecumenical activities.

She has always been an active presence in her diocese, province, and at a national level. She keeps herself up to date and cares very deeply about what is going on worldwide in the Anglican Communion. Her references were exceptionally positive, and unified in their appraisal of her. She is held in very high regard by all, including people we know such as the The Revd Stephanie Spellers and Bishop Tom Shaw, as well as by our own Ian Douglas.

Concern for and love of the environment are deep in Holly's heart. We found very interesting a past ministry of hers that reached out to unchurched youth, who worked with their hands and heart in an organic farming experience, and learned to talk about issues of faith and meditation while being grounded to the earth and creation. It was during this time, when her children were little, that she grew a large organic kitchen on her farm in Maine. Holly has worked on many other projects related to the environment and environmental theology and liturgy as well as with race and diversity issues. She served on a committee advocating for Native Americans in Maine and she also helped develop a program called the Triangle of Hope, a three-nation fellowship in Virginia that works towards retracing and helping to heal the wounds of the slave trade with contacts in Ghana and Liverpool. She has a heart for the inner city, the disenfranchised, the poor, and homeless.

Her knowledge and love of music makes her particularly suited to St James. She sat in on our service a few weeks ago and after the drumming circle Susan said her saw her with a big grin on her face. It was while singing in a choir at the ordination of the first woman priest in California, that Holly received her own calling. When John and I visited her in Virginia we greatly enjoyed her sung Eucharist and as she puts it, she plays “some semblance of classical piano”.

.She has the gift of healing, both on an individual and corporate level, and is adept with crisis pastoral care. She is non-judgmental, and accepting of all people. She references described her as being bright, active, and progressive, vibrant, a deep and careful thinker, interesting to work with, exuding a great sturdiness, and possessing a strength that is flexible not brittle. She is lacking in guile; what you see is what you get.

Holly is an excellent administrator and capable of multitasking. She has an impressive memory, is a voracious reader and is capable of juggling many balls at the same time. She discerns first before she initiates anything and is very thorough at following through until things are up and running. Her style is to delegate and collaborate and not to dictate.

A few facts about her career may be helpful. After graduating from Yale with honors in history, she worked in the secular world in California, writing cookbooks and a book on solar heating and cooling for Sunset Books. As a new Christian, baptized into the Episcopal Church as an adult, she was a course designer, leadership trainer, publicist, curriculum designer, and Board member of the Lay Academy of the Episcopal Diocese of California. She was called to the ordained ministry, and attended the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, where she received a Masters in Divinity in 1991 with honors. She attended several training seminars for church development and leadership training. She then served as a priest in charge of several small congregations in Maine. During this period she worked hard to build up these churches from a small base to a viable size. Her previous job was as Associate for Congregational Development in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. She served in that capacity until September 2007, leaving the post because a new rector was being called.

In her “sabbath time,” she loves gardening, hiking, reading, praying, swimming, playing the piano, entertaining her two cats, Pauli & Prisca, and expanding her culinary horizons, cooking with her two “foodie” daughters, Tina, 25, who is a radio reporter for NPR affiliate WFCR in Amherst, MA, and Tessa, 23, with a BFA in acting from Boston University, launching her career in New York City.

While she has many of the skills we seek in a rector and has served as interim, priest-in charge, and assoc. rector of a very large church, this is her first time as a “regular” rector. Therefore it would be great if we could support her in whatever way we can as she eagerly makes this new transition.

Holly wants to open the doors of St James to the world around us, so that the rest of Cambridge and Somerville can see the reverence of the holy space that is our church. She hopes to put down deep roots here, as she gets to know us and our community, so that together we can build a ministry, not only within our walls, but in the larger world.

This process has a been a long 18 months but it has been so worth while. Your prayers and our hard work have brought us and Holly together. We are so thrilled. We can't wait for you to meet her so that we can get going.