[Magdalen] decline of this list

[Marilyn Cepeda]

I am indeed still here. At age 72, I am finding it a curious time. I have
become the oldest remaining in my immediate family with only one first
cousin remaining. Many of my friends including my two best friends have
passed on as have my parents in law.

I cannot say it is lonely as we have three of our five kids local. One
lives around the corner from us with the youngest grands. They come here
after school. One pops in for coffee weekly. One texts off and on during
the day.

I have slacked off much of my church activity remembering words of my
spiritual director that there is nothing wrong with sitting in a pew that I
did not always have to be busy.

I am pretty healthy as far as I know. Given the state of many around me I
am grateful. I do sometimes wonder what will eventually befall me and if I
will handle with any grace or be an ill tempered old lady or a total baby.
For the sake of the kids, I hope it is not the latter options!

Always nice to hear from you all as a very important part of my transition
from Methodist to Episcopalian.
😀

Marilyn (Owens, Palmero) Cepeda


On Wed, Sep 24, 2025 at 11:13 AM Simon Kershaw <simon at kershaw.org.uk> wrote:

> I guess most of us are still here. Life in retirement is busy though.
>
> Current agenda...
>
> Just finishing compilation of my annual calendar for the Church of
> England, used by a few thousand clergy and parishes. At least 25 years
> since I first did this.
>
> Trying to read through documents of the long-listed candidates to be the
> next Bishop of Ely. For each candidate there are some five documents to
> plough through and to give a preliminary assessment and justification of
> whether they should be shortlisted. The 14 members of the selection
> panel (the Crown Nominations Commission) meet next week to decide on the
> shortlist. Two days of interviews and decision-making will follow in
> November.
>
> Bishop's Council meeting tomorrow night -- papers still to be read in
> preparation.
>
> The Saturday after next (4 October) I will be admitted and licensed as a
> Lay Reader (or Licensed Lay Minister). The good news there is that the
> two years of training are completed!
>
> The Saturday after that is diocesan synod -- of which I am the lay
> chair. Nothing much on the agenda (ha ha), just budget and such like.
> And a debate on where the Church of England goes on same-sex
> relationships. And my co-chair, the clergy chair, who would normally
> share the role with me, is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, so I
> might be on my own.
>
> I also have a two-day meeting of the Church of England Liturgical
> Commission at the end of October.
>
> And then there's the important stuff like helping to look after our two
> young granddaughters. And helping deal with my two elderly
> parents-in-law who live a couple of hundred miles away: my mother-in-law
> is suffering from dementia, and my father-in-law is finding it harder
> and harder to cope.
>
> And that's just the highlights from my diary!
>
> simon
>
> On 23/09/2025 21.48, Kate Conant wrote:
> > Has the list died? I haven't received anything since March. Of course, I
> > hadn't written anything either.
>
>
> --
> Simon Kershaw
> simon at kershaw.org.uk
> Saint Ives, Cambridgeshire
>
>