I invite you to join me in welcoming The Rev. Dr.
Cathleen Bascom as Provost of St. Paul’s Cathedral. As a
priest, Cathleen has served as Associate Rector at St.
Gregory's Episcopal Church in Deerfield, Illinois;
University Chaplain at Kansas State University; and most
recently as Rector of St. Stephen's parish in Newton.
Her educational degrees are from the University of
Kansas (B.A.), Exeter University in England (M.A.), both
in English Literature; her M.Div. is from
Seabury-Western Seminary in Evanston, Illinois; and she
holds a Doctorate of Ministry in Preaching from Iliff
School of Theology, Denver, Colorado. Her doctoral
studies have focused on 20th-century pop portrayals of
religious experience ranging from C. S. Lewis to
guitarist George Harrison. Interpreting the Gospel and
Episcopal worship for younger generations is an interest
that has connected her ministry across suburban,
college, and small town settings. Her spiritual
foundations are Franciscan.
Cathleen, as many of you know, is married to author and
English instructor Tim Bascom. Tim and Cathy have two
sons -- Connor, age fourteen, and Luke, age ten. Cathy’s
gifts to the Church in Iowa are many and include
representing the wider diocese as Deputy to General
Convention; serving on the Board of Directors for the
Episcopal Corporation, as member and chair of the
Convention Committee on Nominations, as member of the
Council of Deacons, and as member of the diocesan
Commission on Congregational Life.
As Provost, Cathleen will have in her care the
liturgical life of St. Paul’s, the ministry and
education programming and pastoral care, along with the
day-to-day operation of the Cathedral. Included in the
day-to-day operations, the provost will be responsible
for property use, team development with the staff and
volunteer corps; and looking after budgeted items,
working with those charged to care for the finances. It
is my role as rector and dean to preside at chapter
meetings, oversee finances and property management, and
have direct supervision of the provost. We will each,
provost and dean, work with the Chapter in our
respective areas of responsibility.
I am assigning to the Provost those duties that are
required to make the operation of the cathedral run
smoothly. I believe her gifts will lead us to a place of
health and readiness for a more permanent arrangement;
and Cathleen can be a candidate in that process. The
community of faith in this place are an inherent
ingredient in any success of this arrangement and are
going to be relied upon to fulfill the roles of ministry
that belong to all baptized persons, and particularly
those that come by virtue of being a cathedral church,
and relating as such to the whole diocese and the city
of Des Moines.
My appointment of Cathleen as Provost marks a new
beginning for this community of faith. We come to this
time with hope in our hearts for the future of the
church in this place. It is time to recommit ourselves
with an openness to one another and to what God may be
doing among us -- and we can be looking for God to
transform us, perhaps in surprising ways.
Alan Scarfe
Bishop of Iowa
Main