Trinity Church, Wall St., Calls Casson as Vicar
Episcopal News Service. June 9, 1988 [88127]
NEW YORK (DPS, June 9) -- The Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson, subdean of New York's Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, has accepted the call of the rector, wardens, and vestry of Trinity Parish to become vicar of Trinity Church and St. Paul's Chapel. He will be the second ranking cleric of the parish and an executive officer of the Corporation of Trinity Church.
As vicar, Casson will oversee the pastoral and congregational life of the parish. In addition to the more than 1,200 celebrations of the Eucharist held each year at Trinity, he also will have charge of the parish's music program, year-round camp and conference center in West Cornwall, Conn., parish pre-school and nursery, elderly housing chaplaincy, homeless shelter and feeding programs, and a Christian Education program of seminars and classes that enrolls more than 2,000 participants annually.
Casson served as deputy for parochial ministries at Trinity from 1972 to 1976 where his work involved oversight of, and liaison with, the parish chapels and programs.
Casson is the third priest to be appointed vicar of Trinity Parish since the position was created in 1977 by an act of the vestry in response to the needs of a congregation located within a complex, highly-diversified major metropolitan area. As one of five corporate officers, Trinity's vicar helps guide policy development for all areas of Trinity's parochial and corporate activities. The vicar also directs and motivates a staff of forty people dedicated to achieving local program objectives.
Casson's interest in and dedication to cities developed while he was a priest in Wilmington, Del., where he was heavily involved in community affairs, including serving a term as president of the Wilmington School Board.
Casson was named Canon Missioner of Washington Cathedral in 1976. His work in Washington included oversight of the urban ministry programs for the Diocese of Washington, and he served as coordinator of the Urban Bishops' Coalition and as president of the Church and City Conference.
Under Casson's leadership, the Urban Bishops' Coalition and the Church and City Conference published The Challenge for Evangelism and Mission, which recommended a national movement to recall the Episcopal Church to its responsibility for social mission and its historic place as an institution involved in the life of the cities. The Episcopal Urban Caucus was founded in response to this challenge, and chose Casson as it's first chairman in 1980.
Casson brought his expertise in urban matters to New York City when he was appointed sub-dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in 1985.
"His mark on the cathedral has obviously reached beyond his duties as a cleric," said the Very Rev. James Parks Morton, dean of St. John the Divine. "Lloyd's presence among us has meant so many different things to so many different people at so many different moments. He has anchored the clergy, counseled the congregation, and given us quiet wisdom and passion from the pulpit. No presence at the altar has been more mindful, graceful, and reverent. He is pure priest."
A native of Dover, Del., Casson is a graduate of the University of Delaware and holds a master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon in 1964 and priest in 1965. From 1964 to 1969, Casson was associate rector of St. Andrew's Church, Wilmington, and from 1969 until 1972 he was rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, also in Wilmington.
Currently Casson is convenor of the Standing Liturgical Commission, convenor of the Committee on Supplemental Texts, and a member of the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council of New York.