Dear Friends,

Patrick Getlein, Secretary of the Diocese of Virginia since 2002, is resigning as Secretary, effective April 1, 2008, to join the staff of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.  I am very saddened with Patrick’s departure but grateful for his long service to the Diocese and excited about his sense of vocation in continuing to serve the wider church in his new position. 

I am thankful to be able to announce today that his successor, chosen by Bishop Coadjutor Shannon Johnston and me, is Henry D.W. Burt, a long time leader in the Diocese of Virginia and former member of the staff.  Henry will join the staff on March 17, 2008, providing a time of transition when Henry and Patrick can work together.  I am appointing Henry as Secretary of the Diocese with the advice and consent of the Standing Committee of the Diocese as well as after close consultation with Bishop Johnston and with his enthusiastic approval.

Patrick joined the diocesan staff in 1993, after service on the faculty at Christchurch School in Middlesex County.  He came to work as Managing Editor of the Virginia Episcopalian and then became Assistant Secretary of the Diocese in 1996 and Editor of the Virginia Episcopalian and Communications Director in 1998.  He left to pursue other interests in 2000.  After the death of Canon Harriet A. “Happy” Pullman, Secretary of the Diocese in 2002, I asked Patrick to return to the Diocese as Secretary and he graciously accepted the invitation.  Patrick has worked closely with the Interfaith Center for Public Policy for a number of years and currently sits on the Center’s Board.  In his new role at the Center, he will serve the broader faith community as the Center’s Director of Strategic Communication with emphasis on expanding access to quality, affordable health care for all Virginians, continuing his interest in advocacy for social justice.  Patrick was first asked to consider joining the staff of the Interfaith Center by its Executive Director, the Rev. Douglas Smith, in December 2006, but Patrick and Doug agreed to defer acting on that invitation until now. 

Henry is a 1987 graduate of the University of the South at Sewanee and holds his law degree from the College of William and Mary.  He is a son of this diocese, having grown up at The Falls Church Episcopal and has long been associated with St. George’s Camp at Shrine Mont, where he served as a counselor and then later director of St. George’s Camp and where he met his wife, Mitzi van der Veer.  He was the first Bishop’s Clerk in 1987-1988, came back to the staff as diocesan deployment officer in 1992-1999, when he went to law school.  From 2002-2005 he was an associate in the litigation group at Troutman Sanders, a major law firm in Richmond.  In 2005, he became Corporate Counsel and Government Affairs Manager at CarMax Inc.  He has just completed a three year term on the Standing Committee of the Diocese.

Bishops Johnston, Jones and I have every confidence in Henry as Secretary of the Diocese and he is well regarded by the diocesan staff.  Patrick will continue to hold the office of diocesan Registrar, providing continuity for the oversight of the archives and records of the Diocese. 

The Diocese of Virginia is strengthened by a long history of effective lay leaders, both volunteer and staff, and this transition is a sign of the continuity of that leadership.  Patrick leaves the staff with the gratitude of Bishop Johnston and me and with prayers for his continuing ministry at the Interfaith Center.  Henry joins the staff with our gratitude for his willingness to return to his church vocation and with excitement by all of us in the diocesan staff for his gifts of leadership.  Patrick will continue to live in Richmond with his wife, Ally, and son, Sam.  Henry also lives in Richmond with his wife and their two sons, Bacheler and Radcliffe.  Both families are members at St. Andrew’s Church, Oregon Hill, in Richmond.  Please hold Patrick, Henry and the diocesan staff in your prayers as we make this transition.

Faithfully yours,
           
Peter James Lee