Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

Whether you went to bed on Election Day happy or disappointed, you awoke the next day to a sober morning. Our world is in the midst of a global economic crisis, once-powerful national industries are threatened with bankruptcy and our local housing market is plagued with foreclosures.

At Trinity, these global, national and local problems are experienced by individual members and the Trinity community as a whole. Members of the Cathedral congregation have lost their homes. Some have lost jobs. Our retirees are seeing their retirement funds diminish in value and our young families have to make difficult decisions about their ability to educate their children or even how to make ends meet.

The Trinity endowment - that great gift and blessing from our founders - has suffered from the poundings in the equity markets reducing both its overall value and our ability to rely on its income.

Your Vestry, along with your Dean, is faced with difficult choices as we plan for the coming year. The good news (and yes, there is good news) is that our 2009 stewardship campaign has so far resulted in an increase in the number of pledges, and many people have increased the amount of their pledges. The bad news is that we have lost important pledge income because some people have lost jobs and others have moved away.

With this in mind, we want to ask you to do three things.

First, if you have not made your stewardship commitment for 2009, please do so today. You can pledge online here.

Second, if you have not paid your 2008 pledge in full, please consider doing so today. The amount needed to fulfill the 2008 pledge commitments is $96,325. We need to collect all of this in order for us to meet our budgetary responsibilities to you and to all who rely on us. You can pay online here.

Third, we want to ask those who are able to consider making an additional gift this year to cover those who because of lost jobs, illness or other circumstances are unable to meet their 2008 pledge. We know this is a sacrifice. But each Sunday, (and these days probably every day as well) we pray the prayer Our Lord has taught us. "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." The petition for forgiveness, as recorded in St. Matthew's version, literally rendered, is: "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." For those who are able, we ask you to forgive the debts of those of our congregation who cannot meet their well-intended obligation for 2008 by making this additional gift at this time. Make a gift online here.

We ask this with humility and our solemn promise that along with our Dean we will be faithful stewards of your sacrifices and commitments. God bless Trinity Cathedral and all of her children.

Faithfully,
The Vestry of Trinity Cathedral

David Cratty, Senior Warden
Patricia Roberts, Junior Warden
MJ Hilker, Treasurer
Jeffrey Ackroyd
Gene Karlen
Aretha McCreary
David Miano
David Posteraro
Corrine Wallner
The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean

P.S. Earlier this fall, many of Trinity's elected leaders reflected on what stewardship means to us. You can read those reflections and listen online here.