Welcome to our new site! We’ve moved the site to a new home and taken the opportunity to redesign the site as well. We hope you like it. Our intention is to continue offering the same great news and commentary that has been our hallmark.
Many of our Lead contributors will be continuing as part of the team; Ann Fontaine, John Chilton, Andrew Gerns, and Weston Matthews. Joining them will be myself, Eddie Isom, Rosalind Hughes and David Streever. Eddie has a long background in broadcast and print journalism, Rosalind is a priest in the Diocese of Ohio, and David is an independent web consultant who is active in public policy advocacy.
In addition I’m pleased to say that several new folks will be joining the Café in other roles. Jennifer Brandlon, from Portland, OR, will be joining our editorial board and bringing her many years of journalistic and public relations experience. Liz Bartenstein, from Virginia, will be joining our editorial team as well and will be our Art editor; Kathryn McKey-Dunar, former Youth Missioner in Milwaukee and currently an independent communications consultant in Boston, will be joining as our web designer and Social Media guru. Along with Ann Fontaine, the Rev. Martin Elfert, Diocese of Spokane, and the Rev. Anne Smith, Diocese of San Joaquin, will be working on developing feature content as well. I’m also happy to say that our contributors for Speaking to the Soul will still be around, producing the same great reflections and devotional pieces as always.
One important change is that we will need to solicit donations (look for the big red Donate button) to keep the Café running; our overhead isn’t huge but it isn’t insignificant either. We’ve already set up the Café as a non-profit corporation and have applied for 501(c) listing. But that designation may take several months to be completed. In the interim, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Beckley, WV, has agreed to act as financial agent for the Café to allow us to offer you the opportunity to make a charitable donation in order to let the work of the Café not only continue, but thrive.
And perhaps most important, I want to thank Bill Joseph, the Café’s webmaster, who has gotten through this transition – we couldn’t have done it without him!