|
 Letters
to the
Congregation of
All Souls
Send
Forrest your best wishes
Read
Forrest's original letter
Read
Forrest's letter from February 3, 2008
Read
Forrest's Reflections on Cancer
Monday,
December 11, 2006
An
update from the All Souls Board of Trustees:
Dear
Friends and Fellow Members of All Souls,
We hope you have received Forrest’s December 5th letter, which includes
his proposal to step down from the overall leadership of the church, but to
continue preaching once a month and writing on the theological issues he has
addressed throughout his 28 years at All Souls. He would also like to continue
presiding on occasion over such rites of passage as weddings and memorial services.
At
its December meeting, the Board of Trustees voted to grant
Forrest his proposed change of duties and the new title, “Minister
of Public Theology.” While Forrest’s decision to
redefine his role at All Souls may stem from his recent medical
challenges, it is heartening to know his prognosis appears
better than we might have expected two months ago. Looking
to the future, we are grateful that Forrest will continue to
serve this congregation and to expand the public discourse
on religion and theology. With the negative effects of religious
extremism so evident in the world, there could not be a better
time to, as he says, “raise the theological banner of
Universalism.” And for this task, no one is better qualified
than Forrest.
In
contemplating the proposed transition, the Board recognizes
that our congregation is blessed to have had Galen Guengerich
as Forrest’s partner in leading All Souls. Galen’s
leadership has been evident during his entire 13-year tenure
at All Souls, and particularly in the last year and a half,
through Forrest’s sabbatical and illness. Galen’s
management has been essential in moving the congregation and
staff forward, while his inspirational sermons have touched
our congregation and the greater Unitarian Universalist community.
With this in mind, the Board enthusiastically and unanimously
recommends that the congregation name Galen Guengerich as Senior
Minister. Under our by-laws, our congregation must vote on
this appointment. This could happen as early as our Annual
Meeting on February 4th or at a Special Meeting called later
for this purpose.
In
order to hear your thoughts and respond to your questions on
the transition, we have scheduled two congregational dialogues—on
January 7th and 21st at 12:45 p.m. An Ad Hoc Committee on Ministerial
Transition Procedure has also been formed to investigate and
recommend the correct procedure for this transition with respect
to All Souls By-laws, UUA Guidelines and New York State Law.
Committee members are Mary-Ella Holst, Jeff Friedlander, Dan
Beshers, and Alan Jones, with Fred Joseph, Clerk of the Society,
and Board member Miles Chapin serving ex officio.
They will deliver their report to the Board shortly after the
January 21st congregational dialogue.
As
we look to the future of this congregation we love, we look
forward to hearing from you about that future.
In
the spirit of this fellowship,
The
All Souls Board of Trustees:
Judy Chang, Miles Chapin, Ted Coburn, George Collins, Jane Furse Friedman,
Paul Jensen, Beryl Jones-Woodin, Melanie Niemiec, and Kathleen Taylor
Tuesday,
December 5, 2006
An
update from Forrest:
Dear
Friends,
Buoyed by the wings of your loving concern, and on the eve of the one-month
anniversary of surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my esophagus, I’m
happy to report that my recovery is speeding apace. I can finally eat and drink,
which means that the burdensome feeding apparatus I plug into for 10 hours
a night will soon be a thing of the past. I do have a paralyzed vocal chord,
which may not come fully back into play for months; but I’m crossing
my fingers that I will be back in the pulpit in no time. I should warn you:
this experience is proving a preacher’s gold mine. I have more half-written
sermons in my head than I can shake a stick at.
On
a more unsettling note, the final pathology of my tumor revealed
a different form of cancer than that identified in the original
biopsy. I have a more aggressive cancer (early second-stage
squamous-cell carcinoma) than we had been led to believe. The
other news from the final pathology report is cheery: the tumor
was small; the margins around the surgery were clear, and the
lymph nodes negative. This should give me a fair shot at complete
recovery.
To
facilitate that process, I have just received the next-to-final
edit for my new book, So Help Me God: The First Great Battle
to Save America (Harcourt, September 2007). The book is
a narrative history of pulpit politics in the Early Republic.
I think it is my best book yet. (Be forewarned: I’ve
thought the same about each of the twenty-odd others at this
point in the publishing process!) I shall gratefully dedicate
it, “To the members of the great family of All Souls,
in loving gratitude for thirty years of shared ministry.”
As
I enter the next chapter of my life and ministry, I foresee
restructuring my All Souls duties, shifting my focus away from
overall leadership of the church—Galen has been guiding
the ship steadily onward during my sabbatical and medical leave—toward
more focused theological reflection through my preaching and
writing. With a special emphasis on public theology and religion
in the 21st century, I envision preaching about once a month
at All Souls and continuing to officiate when called upon at
weddings and memorial services, permitting me to be present
with you at times of joy and crisis.
My
sincere hope, God willing, is this: that I may be in a position
to help co-lead All Souls through my 30th anniversary year
on toward—dare I mention this?—our 200th anniversary
as a congregation in 2019. That blessed event may be thirteen
years away, but we can surely discover creative ways to celebrate
between now and then. The best way to celebrate our past, of
course, is to energize our present and vigorously stake out
a more abundant future. Few congregations in the entire nation
are positioned as well as we are to raise the theological banner
of Universalism in a time where no religious task could imaginably
prove more redemptive.
I
love you and look forward, from the bottom of my heart, to
seeing you again soon.
Sunday,
November 19, 2006
An
update from Forrest:
Dear
Friends,
All is terrific here. I'm up to about a mile's walk each day, and I sleep
through much of my night “feeding.” Being hooked up to a food
pump for ten hours is no picnic, but neither is it particularly onerous, and
my days have begun to take on the appearance of normalcy. I still can't swallow
or speak, but one can get used to almost anything. I send my love to all of
you, together with the assurance that I am doing just fine. Oddly, in some
ways, I feel better than ever. Not that the pleasures and utility of eating,
drinking, and speaking are overrated—they aren't—but rather that
we underrate life almost criminally every day we take it for granted! My hope
is that all systems (including my magnificent new estomagus) will be “go” in
a couple of months.
Love,
Thursday,
November 16, 2006
An
update from Forrest:
Dear
members of the wonderful All Souls Family,
After
a week’s visit, I am happily and successfully returned
from the hospital. The good news is, in fact, excellent. The
surgeon has successfully removed the cancer from my esophagus
by excising the offending organ and attaching my stomach to
my neck. I now possess a promising, if not yet fully functional, “estomagus.”
The
less convenient news: one of my vocal chords appears to be
paralyzed. This means that my speech is temporarily hampered.
My abilities vary, but I can’t really speak intelligibly
on a telephone at this point. I also can’t drink fluids
safely because it is active vocal chords that close to keep
food and drink from “going down the wrong way” into
the lung. For at least two months, it seems I will have to
get most of my sustenance during 12-hour nighttime feedings
by a pump through a tube directly into my lower intestine.
Meanwhile, I am beginning therapy to reawaken my vocal chord.
(The test that determined my condition is fancifully called
a FEEST!) Though it now appears a best-case scenario, I still
anticipate a two-month convalescence, punctuated by long walks.
About
my cancer, as Galen has reported to you, adenoid cystic carcinoma
is extremely rare (heretofore only 60 known outcroppings in
the esophagus), grows slowly, and tends to recur in other parts
of the body, sometimes years later. My short-term survival
odds are only slightly less splendid than they were before
I contracted this cancer in the first place; long-term survival
rates (though the data is scant) seem promising indeed.
Carolyn
has been brilliant throughout, permitting me to focus my full
attention on the task at hand. Your loving thoughts, letters
and e-mails have been a magnificent boon to me. Committed to
heart, they will continue to grace my life whatever the future
may bring.
Many
of you asked me to keep my spirits high. With your help, they
are very high indeed. Given how dire my prospects looked just
a month ago, I feel truly blessed.
Love
and abiding gratitude to each of you,
Thursday,
November 9, 2006
An
update from Galen:
I’m
pleased to report that the surgery Forrest underwent on Wednesday
morning to remove his esophagus went extremely well. The procedure
was shorter than anticipated and without complication, and
the surgeon believes he was able to remove all of the cancerous
tissue.
On Wednesday afternoon, I accompanied Carolyn on her first visit to Forrest
in the recovery room. He looked remarkably good under the circumstances: awake
and alert, with healthy color in his cheeks. He spoke clearly and easily, especially
when asking about the final results of the election and wisecracking about
the godlike demeanor of the surgeon. (“In situations like this, his pride
is a not a sin,” Forrest quipped.)
Forrest asked me to pass along his thanks for your many expressions of love
and support. “They have given me real strength and comfort,” he
said.
As of this morning, Forrest was sitting up in bed, newspaper in hand. He was
relishing the news from Washington and working on the crossword puzzle. If
all continues to go well, he expects to be in the hospital for a least a week,
with ten days being the average stay for a surgery of this type.
Thursday,
November 2, 2006
An
update from Galen:
Dear
Friends,
With
gratitude for your many heartfelt expressions of love and concern
for Forrest over the past two weeks, I am writing with an update
on his diagnosis and treatment plan. After extensive tests
and several biopsies, it appears that Forrest has an extremely
rare form of cancer known as an adenoid cystic carcinoma. Only
sixty cases in the esophagus have been reported worldwide.
The cancer has been caught early (stage I), and the tumor can
readily be removed by surgery. Although the cancer tends to
recur, it is slow-growing, and the ten-year survival rates
for this type of cancer are blessedly high.
Forrest
will undergo major surgery to remove his esophagus sometime
within the next two weeks. After an extended period of recuperation
at home, he should be able to resume his normal schedule.
In
the meantime, please continue to keep Forrest and his family
in your thoughts and prayers. Also, continue to convey your
best wishes through cards and letters sent to the church, or
through the email link to him on the All Souls website. Although
he will not be able to acknowledge your best wishes individually,
he has asked me to convey his thanks for your beautiful messages
of love and concern.
The
outpouring of support for Forrest has been a deeply gratifying
expression of how we coalesce as a congregation when tough
times come. I am especially grateful to those of you who have
contacted me directly with open-ended offers to help in any
way.
Most
of all, we need to keep our foundations strong. Enlivened by
worship and animated by a clear sense of mission, we need to
reach out to others among and around us who also need our love
and support. For nearly three decades, Forrest has labored
tirelessly to help All Souls become a compassionate and vital
congregation. In various ways over the years, he has ministered
to each of us, and to many others besides. His illness gives
us a singular opportunity to minister to him in return. Fortunately,
this period promises to be relatively brief. As Forrest recuperates,
we’ll each do our part to keep the spirit of All Souls
buoyant and strong.
Love,
P.S. Many
people have requested copies of the sermons Forrest and I delivered
earlier in the fall on the foundations of our faith. Please
find them enclosed.*
*You
can read these sermons on the web here:
A
Sudden Explosion of Faith, delivered by Galen
Guengerich on Sunday, October 1.
What
I Believe, delivered by Forrest Church on Sunday,
October 8.
Tuesday,
October 17, 2006
A
letter from Forrest to the Congregation of All Souls:
Dear
Friends,
With
apologies for sending this word out so impersonally, I’m
writing to share with you the news that I have esophageal cancer.
A bank of tests conducted over the past two weeks has confirmed
the existence of a malignant tumor high in my esophagus, and
we shall determine a protocol for treatment (radiation, chemotherapy,
and, if possible, surgical removal) before the end of the month.
Unhappily, this is a particularly fierce form of cancer; happily,
it apparently has not spread. More important than any of these
cold medical facts, I am in good spirits and more grateful
than ever for the gifts of life and love. All four children
have descended on the household, and Carolyn is girding herself
for the struggle ahead. She’ll be the general, I’m
relieved to report; I’ll simply be the battlefield.
After
almost three decades as your minister, I have been graced with
so many teachers, whose courage in face of life’s troubles
has been a constant inspiration. I can also report that the
theology I have hammered out in your good company—religion
as our human response to the dual reality of being alive and
knowing we must die, and the purpose of life being to live
in such a way that our lives will prove worth dying for—offers
me the same comfort during my own time of trial that I pray
it has given you in yours.
It
comforts me also that All Souls is in such excellent hands,
ministerial and lay, and so strong in every fundamental measurement
as an institution, that my personal troubles should, while
touching the heart, have only the most marginal impact on the
daily life and progress of our beloved congregation. I will
be taking a medical leave of absence from my pastoral duties,
but do hope to maintain my preaching schedule if I can. Galen
will be in the pulpit this coming Sunday, and he will also
find a way to keep you informed about my progress over the
coming weeks. Assuring you that I am in the finest medical
hands imaginable, I encourage you to send any messages to me
through the church. The best thing you can do to bolster my
already high spirits is to carry on all of your good works,
continue to expand our ministries during this critical period
in the life of our nation and world, worship to a fare-thee-well,
and keep the budget balanced!
As
for my three mantras—do what you can, want what you have,
and be who you are—I practice each every day, feeling
myself blessed beyond measure. Please know that you live in
my heart, an abiding presence that fills my life with strength
and joy.
Love,
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