Introducing our new Director of Children’s and Family Ministries:
The Rev. Morgan Mercer Ladd
I could not be more delighted to answer the call to serve as the next Director of Children and Family Ministries at St. James’. The culture of intergenerational faith formation created by the amazing Vicki Hall is exceptional, and it is my honor to carry on this good work with your incredible team of dedicated volunteers, staff, and clergy. We have already experienced the warmth and welcome of St. James’, and we are looking forward to getting to know all of you!
One thing you’ll learn quickly about our family is that—like many of you!—we are big readers and spend our days with young children reading kids’ books. And as an adult, I’ve been struck by how many of the stories we share with children focus on the nature of the heart. The best children’s literature manages to capture simple truths about what it’s like to be human, and even a story as whimsical as Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, reminds us that the capacity of our heart matters… and only love can change it.
That’s why I was not surprised to hear children’s author and two-time Newberry Award winner Kate DiCamillo speak with such clarity about the sacredness of helping human beings grow. Addressing other writers and educators, she described their shared work, saying:
We have been given the sacred task of making hearts large through story. We are working to make hearts that are capable of containing much joy and much sorrow, hearts capacious enough to contain the complexities and mysteries and contradictions of ourselves and of each other. We are working to make hearts that know how to love this world.
Growing our hearts—our capacity for love—is at the core of what it means to grow and thrive as a human being. DiCamillo sees this as the task for storytellers who care for children, and I see it as essential to the work of helping the youngest among us grow in faith. After all, throughout his life and ministry, Jesus worked to grow hearts that know how to love—hearts that know how to love God and neighbor, hearts capable of containing the complexities and mysteries and contradictions of ourselves, each other, and this world.
This is the good work of faith formation, and it is the good work we will continue together! And as we take up this sacred task of making hearts large, we will discover that God’s love grows our hearts, too.
Blessings,
Mother Morgan
From the Rev. Zack Thompson
Dear friends,
It is my great delight to welcome the Rev. Canon Morgan Mercer Ladd as our next Director of Children’s and Family Ministries.
Much of Morgan’s ministry has been rooted in our own region. At the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City she served as Sub-Dean and Canon for Family Ministries, where she designed intergenerational liturgies and built formation for children and adults alike. There she also co-founded the Center for Spiritual Imagination, a community devoted to sharing the gifts of contemplative spirituality with the modern world. Her earliest work in the city included chaplaincy and a pastoral-care internship at Trinity Church, Wall Street. She comes to us most recently from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, where she has served as Associate Rector.
Morgan studied at Asbury Theological Seminary and The General Theological Seminary, with undergraduate work in art history at Texas Tech. In 2024 she was named an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral of the Incarnation.
Morgan has already named the essential work: to grow hearts capable of loving God and this world. She brings contemplative depth, a builder’s instinct for community, and a genuine delight in children and families. We see exactly the qualities to carry forward the extraordinary ministry Vicki Hall has given us, and in time to make it her own.
None of this happens without the faithful labor of our search committee. Please join me in thanking Catherine Workman, who chaired the search with such care, along with John Cecil, Tim Haney, Caroline Ingalls, Jessica de Kertanguy, Charlotte Kingham, Ellie Price Larkin, Elizabeth Littlejohn, Ross Mellor, and Ann Roberts.
Morgan and her family have already felt the warmth of this parish, and they are eager to know you. Please hold them in your prayers as they prepare to join us in August, and pray for the children and families whose lives will be shaped by this ministry of sharing the love of Jesus Christ with one another, our city, and the world.
Yours in Christ,
Zack+
