Adapted from the Diocese of Massachusetts
The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, Bishop of Massachusetts, has appointed the Rev. Karen Coleman to serve as the acting Episcopal chaplain at Boston University.
She succeeds the Rev. Cameron Partridge, the Episcopal chaplain at BU since the fall of 2011. Partridge has accepted a call to become rector of St. Aidan’s Church in San Francisco, beginning in November.
“We bid farewell to Cameron Partridge with deep affection and gratitude for his service not only to the BU community, but to the whole diocese,” Gates said. “Karen Coleman will bring to her ministry at BU a passion for building bridges between academia, the church, and the world.”
Coleman’s appointment is effective immediately to allow for a transition before Partridge’s departure. Partridge’s final service at BU will be a Vigil of All Hallow’s Eve with Communion, at Marsh Chapel, at 7 p.m. Oct. 31.
The BU chaplaincy is a half-time position. While serving as acting chaplain, Coleman will continue as half-time rector of St. James Church in Somerville, a position she has held since 2010.
The Very Rev. John P. “Jep” Streit, Jr., dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston since 1995, has announced his plan to retire in February 2017.
“I am grateful to have served here for such a long, good time, so much has happened. I am very proud of how we have lived into Bishop [William] Lawrence’s vision of being a House of Prayer for all people and of course that work will continue,” Streit said in his announcement.
The completion last year of significant renovations to the cathedral church, together with the merger of the cathedral congregation with that of the now-closed Church of St. John the Evangelist in Boston, make this a good time for new clergy leadership, he said.
“We have, all of us, worked together to accomplish this and so are in a good place for what is next. None of this has been easy, but all of it has happened with God’s help and the considerable grace and goodwill of everyone, for which I am so thankful,” Streit said.
He announced that the Rev. Canon Katharine Black, former rector of St. John’s who has served as the canon for liturgies at the cathedral church since the merger, will also end her tenure early in the new year.
“Opportunities for full recognition of these two committed servants lie ahead,” Bishop Gates said in a Sept. 26 message to the diocesan community. “For now, we offer our deepest respect and gratitude for their leadership which yet continues.”
An interim dean will be appointed to serve during the transition, with a new dean to be named after a period of discernment and consultation, Gates said.
