Dear Friends at Holy Spirit.

I am looking forward to celebrating with you all this Sunday around our Altar and offering thanks for the blessings that come to us through answering the call to be Fathers and to nurture life and serve as role models to our children and to others.  We will have a special Fathers’ Day blessing for those who gather to worship as well as a little gift bag for all the POPS with us Sunday.

I wanted to let you all know that I will be out of town this week, heading to Chicago, for what is called the “Chapter” of my Franciscan Community, The Community of Francis and Clare. We begin Tuesday and finish the following Monday.  I’ll return to town on 25 June.  We gather once a year from several countries and a couple continents as an Anglican Franciscan Community.  It is a wonderful event, a celebration of our Community in prayer, study, and siblinghood together.  Many of us can visit with each other only via Zoom throughout the year and so look forward to a little time together in person. You can check out the Community at the website: CFCFranciscans.org Our Bishop Visitor is Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. She will be with us throughout the week.

Hello Holy Spirit!

Help the new rector get to know you - add a photo of you and your family members to Realm

Let's make it easier for our new rector to learn our names. All you need to do is email a picture of yourself to Shelia at swilliams@hsechurch.org. Just grab a recent photo from your camera roll or snap a quick selfie! If you have family members that are also part of Holy Spirit, send in their photos and names as well. The office staff will do the leg work of adding your submitted photo to your Realm profile. Technologically challenged?  Grab your friend and ask them to snap a photo of you and email it on your behalf (with your name in the subject line). 

Welcoming Fr. Mitch & the Family to Houston

As many of you know, Father Mitch and his family will be moving into the rectory on June 17. If you would like the opportunity to drop by and introduce yourself, help with a little unpacking, or even bring lunch or a snack, Wednesday June 19 is the day to do that. Tentative times to visit are 10 am -3 pm, but subject to change. I will be there around 9:30 with breakfast kolaches and meet the family. Please let me know if you are interested. Perhaps several of you could go in together and bring lunch around noon. Just click on link below to email Pat Groves, so that she can coordinate.

Dear Friends,

Summer has arrived with a kind of vengeance already, as the winds blow and temperatures and humidity rise. The storm season is a reality now with the hurricane season upon us. Taking care and planning for what might come to be is in all our minds. Being responsible to the needs we have and may soon have is very real to us, our families and to our communities. I hope that each of us can take some time to make sure we are as ready as we can be to meet some of the challenges that may yet come our way. In the face of the uncertainty of the future and the lack of control that we have over the seasons and the weather, it is even more important to be sure to stay connected to each other, to family and to friends. Let’s make an extra effort, as we move into the summer, to be connected in our communication and in our prayer. I hope that as Sundays come and go, we can be present to one another in prayer and thought and, whenever possible, in person for worship.

Dear Friends,

Prayers continue for all of you who may still be suffering and literally "picking up the pieces" consequent to the severe storm and tornado activity that came through.  The good news for the Church is that there was little interior damage to the infrastructure, and, with the massive winds, many branches came down, but no trees were lost.  A big thanks to Gardner who spent hours and days making sure that the facilities were ready for Pentecost Sunday and for our School to begin on Monday.  All was in place!

Sending out an SOS!!! If you have any extra time, particularly in the mornings or early afternoons, we need your help.  Pat has again supplied a list of the times we could use some volunteers, particularly in the office in the coming month.  Several of the staff will be out for some Summer vacation or meetings and so we really do need some coverage, particularly for the phone and the door.  We have clear instructions.  You can read a book, shop online, or even quietly pray or meditate while you are here (really, it's usually pretty quiet).  We can work hard to get things completed at the front desk in order to have a few days off, but we really do need someone to be in the office for the phone and the door.  PLEASE, CONSIDER GIVING SOME OF YOUR TIME TO VOLUNTEER.  Contact Pat (below) if you hear the call or there is a knock at your proverbial door!  We all thank you for any time you might be able to offer. 

Dear Holy Spirit Family,

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am The Rev. Mitchell Tollett and along with my wife Camille and my son Jimmy I am looking forward to getting to know you. A few things about me. I grew up in Houston in the Meyerland area. I graduated from the University of Houston and the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. I served in the United States Navy as an electrician, and later as a programmer for companies in the Houston area. I enjoy cooking, grilling, and hanging out with my family among other things. I was a curate at Christ Episcopal Church and School in Temple and served as rector of St. Francis in Tyler for over ten years.

I would like to thank the Search Committee and their Chair, Steve Sigloch, as well as the Vestry and Sr. Warden, John Del Mixon. They were all prayerfully attentive and focused on the needs of Holy Spirit Church and School and who the next rector should be. I have been set up with a Transition Team so that we can begin this journey together positively and effectively. I have also met with the Holy Spirit School Head of School, Kelly Broaddus, and I am looking forward to working with her. Again, I cannot wait to get to know the people and staff of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church and School.

People always ask me how to address me. So my last name, Tollett, is pronounced like "wallet" with a “T” instead of a “W”. My answer as far as addressing me goes is that it depends on your own piety. Some will call me Reverend Tollett, some Father (Fr.) Mitch, and some Mitch. The old school approach would be Mr. Tollett, believe it or not. Father Mitch or Mitch are popular choices so far. I am looking forward to my first Sunday being July 14. This will allow me time to unpack and take care of honey do’s. See you then.

May God’s Peace always be with you,
Fr. Mitch+

It is with great joy (and a bit of sadness, too) that we are making the announcement that Suzy Spencer, as of 1 July, will be moving into a full-time position as the Chaplain of Holy Spirit Episcopal School. For the last many years Suzy has been serving both the School (a most incredible ministry of Holy Spirit Church) as well as the Parish Community, splitting her time half and half-ish. When I first arrived here Suzy told me that she was contemplating an offer of a complete commitment to the ministry at the school. I was happy to support her in that discernment. Her decision was made some time ago and we had chosen to wait to announce it till the end of the school year, for lots of reasons.

As the school year’s end approaches, so will the Bayou City Blessings packings for the summer. We are so grateful to our Holy Spirit family for all the help you have been this school year.

● Your monthly gifts and generosity have allowed us to provide weekend food bags to over 2,600 elementary children living in food insecurity.

● Your heartfelt love and prayers were written down on index cards as part of your Lenten practice and distributed in the children’s weekend food bags.

● Your financial support at Food Bowl in February helped sustain our ministry this year.

● The gifts you gave at Advent for the Giving Tree - both in-kind and financial - was a blessing to us.

● You shopped and donated at our Fall Market in September.

● Our Food Focus monthly items came with you to church each month.

● And by the time school completes at the end of May, you will have assisted with 78 packings since August!

Thank you, Church! This ministry of feeding children does not exist without every single one of you. We are grateful!

My big news is that there will be a “HOLY HELPERS” corner in the Spirit Shot beginning this week. There will be immediate and upcoming volunteer needs and opportunities for parishoners. Even giving a little of your time goes so far. Focus this week is for cookie bakers on May 6, 9-12 in the parish kitchen. That week is Teacher Appreciation and some of the schools supported by Blessings in a Backpack do not have PTOs to help with goodies to make the hardworking teachers feel special.

Suzy Spencer is coordinating a Mother’s Day Brunch on Saturday May 11 at 11 am. This is going to be a fun event. Everyone will receive an invitation and there will be more information in upcoming weeks in the Spirit Shot. There will be a list of dishes to bring to share. The really fun element of this event is that you are asked to bring your own place setting for the table. Everything from your wedding china to everyday dishes will make a beautiful table and create interesting conversations. Watch for more information!