Retiring rector reflects on reign at Ogden’s historic Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd
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- The Rev. Vanessa Cato of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd is pictured outside her parish in Ogden on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
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- Sack lunches sit in a box outside the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in downtown Ogden as part of the parish’s Shepherd’s Bowl ministry to provide free lunches every Wednesday to anyone who wants one.
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- The Rev. Vanessa Cato of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd is pictured outside her parish in Ogden on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
OGDEN — The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in downtown Ogden is bidding farewell to the Rev. Vanessa Cato as she prepares for retirement. All are invited to an open house honoring her years of service to the community from 5-7 p.m. Friday at 2374 Grant Ave., with light refreshments provided.
Cato is said to have accomplished much for the congregation as well as the community under her leadership for nearly 11 years.
Members of the congregation Bonnie Taylor and Suzanne Miller reportedly saw a need in the community and proposed implementing a lunch ministry providing a free lunch every Wednesday for anyone who wants it.
That ministry, dubbed “The Shepherd’s Bowl,” was so successful in fulfilling a need, Cato said, that its growth left them shorthanded on volunteers as they were feeding up to 200 people up until COVID-19 hit.
With the help of other churches, food banks and grants, Cato said they were able to get the help they needed to continue.
During the pandemic, the church switched to sack lunches and bottled waters. Unfortunately, Cato said, they have yet to transition inside due to a major kitchen renovation. Once the transformation is complete, however, meals will be served inside the climate-controlled church.
Community feedback on the Shepherd’s Bowl as well as the Shepherd’s Fold, a linen ministry for those transitioning from homelessness, has been very positive, according to Cato.
Perhaps as one leading a congregation should, Cato listened to members’ ideas, not only on ways to be of service to the community, but also ways to improve the historic church.
Cato decided to invest in solar panels for the church after congregation members had proposed it as an environmentally and financially sound choice.
Once again, through grants and donations, the church was able to raise enough money to install solar panels, making a big difference in their electric bills.
“Some of my people got very good at grant writing,” Cato said.
Getting things fixed around the parish is part of a junior warden’s responsibility, a position Jean Norman currently volunteers for. Norman met Cato in 2014 upon moving to Ogden and has been a member of the congregation ever since.
Norman said she was impressed with Cato not only as a priest but also because of how much she cares about the people in her parish.
For a small congregation, Cato said they do a lot. As one of the first women to be an ordained priest in the Church of England in 1993, Cato said she hopes to have been a positive influence to women in her congregation.
Ever since Cato’s confirmation when she was 16 years old, she says she knew she was meant to be a priest, although she thought never of ending up in America.
With a desire to be closer to her sons, both of whom married American girls, Cato searched for a job stateside. While her position at the Good Shepherd did not take her to Florida where both of her boys and five grandchildren live, Utah is closer than her former home of England.
Sometime after Cato’s last service at Good Shepherd on Sunday, she will be trading in her views of the mountains in Utah for the beach on Florida’s East Coast to spend more time with her family.
“Eventually, I’ll seek out to be of assistance in a church, but for the first six months I’ll be chilling out,” Cato said.
While Cato enjoys retirement in the Sunshine State, members of the parish will be evaluating where they are now as a congregation, where they would like to be in the years to come and who best to take them there.
According to Norman, the process of replacing a priest takes anywhere from 12-18 months. The Rev. Canon Mary June Nestler will be acting as an interim priest beginning Sept. 1, with guest priests attending throughout August.
Norman said people tend to get nervous when a priest leaves, presumably due to the process.