Announcing New Canon for Multicultural Ministries & Community Transformation

The Office of the Bishop is very pleased to announce the latest addition to the Office of the Bishop’s staff. Beginning on April 1, 2022, the Rev. Carla Robinson will be joining diocesan staff as our new Canon for Multicultural Ministries & Community Transformation.

The Rev. Carla Robinson, a graduate of Concordia Seminary (St Louis, MO), served as a Lutheran pastor for 13 years before coming to the Episcopal Church. She was received into the communion in 2001 and was an active member of Saint Mark’s Cathedral for several years. She has served as the Administrative Assistant for Multi-Cultural Ministry and the Secretary for Vocations in the Diocese of Olympia. Since her ordination in 2009 she has served as the Curate at the Church of the Resurrection in Bellevue and as the Vicar of All Saints in Seattle’s Rainier Valley neighborhood. She has served as Associate Priest at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, the Church of the Ascension in Magnolia, St. James in Kent, and Christ Church in the University District. She is currently serving as Interim Priest at St. Matthew – San Mateo in Auburn.

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to the Rev. Carla Robinson as she joins us in the Office of the Bishop!

Letter from the Rev. Carla Robinson to The Ethnic Ministries Circles of Color in the Diocese of Olympia:

“In the name of the Beloved Son for the sake of the Beloved Community.”

I frequently use this phrase at the start of a sermon. For me the first part of this phrase means that it is my intent, prayer, and hope that Jesus is heard in the words I speak. For me the last part of this phrase means that it is my intent, prayer, and hope that those who hear use these words to be and to build the beloved community in their own lives. As I step into the role of Canon for Multicultural Ministry and Community Transformation I bring this same intent, prayer, and hope.

In the ministry that we will do together it is the Beloved Son, Jesus who will speak to us and teach us. I will strive to help us hear Jesus in our praying and in our planning, in our conversations with God and in our conversations with each other.

In the ministry that we will do together it is the Beloved Community that we will continue to build. I will strive to hold that vision in front of us even as we do the very difficult work to which that vision calls us.

I am excited about the work that we will be doing together because it is both new and old. It’s old in that it is work that has been ongoing. It is work that will build on what has gone before. It is work that will honor what has been done already.

The work is new in that we have new opportunities and new leaders who have stepped up to serve. It’s new in that we have new resources for ministry which we didn’t have before. It’s new in that we will face new challenges which will call for us to be creative and flexible.

I am honored and deeply humbled to take on this work as your Canon. The work would be overwhelming and impossible if it were up to me alone. Thank God it is not. God has given us each other. And that is another one of the reasons I’m excited to work with the Circles of Color. Wisdom lives in these circles, the Spirit lives in the communities.

I would like to thank the members of the search committee and I would especially like to thank Katya for her work in leading the committee. I found the process to be characteristic of the circles themselves: inclusive, careful, honest, prayer-filled and collaborative.

I would also like to thank Bishop Rickel and his staff for their support throughout this process and the onboarding process. I look forward to working with Bishop Greg and to being an integral part of his staff.

I pray for God’s continued blessing on us all as we do this work “in the name of the Beloved Son for the sake of the Beloved Community.”

In love and service,
The Rev. Carla Robinson