Dear Calvary Parishioners,
It is with both joy and a heavy heart that I announce that Associate Rector Olivia Hamilton has accepted the position of Missioner for Lifelong Formation with the Diocese of Southern Ohio effective May 27, 2025.
Since 2019, Rev. Olivia has been a vital part of our mission and ministry at Calvary Episcopal Church.
Over these years, we have witnessed Rev. Olivia’s outstanding gifts in creative ministry, excellent preaching, and compassionate pastoral care. Initially serving part-time, she joined us full-time in 2020 to focus on sacramental ministry, youth formation, and outreach. Since then, she has developed the Fearless Tweens program for children ages 9–12, guided and grown our Youth Group ministry, and led teens in meaningful mission and service-learning experiences. She also partnered with the Diocese of Southern Ohio to launch Divine!, a diocese-wide ministry supporting LGBTQ+ teens. Rev. Olivia helped to guide the Outreach Ministries of Calvary parish, helping us hone our focus on housing and homelessness. Under her guidance, our outreach efforts flourished—including deepening our relationship with Bethany House Services, sustaining our support for Tender Mercies, and preparing to send 10 Calvary teens and parents to El Hogar in Honduras this July.
As part of Rev. Olivia’s work with the Becoming Beloved Community team, we began the four-fold path of truth-telling, proclaiming the dream of beloved community, formation, and justice. In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, Rev. Olivia connected us with Debby Irving, which helped us begin to confront our own biases and the racism within and around us. We continued this journey through the “Race and Racism in Cincinnati” docuseries, and most recently, with this past Lent’s “Engaging Peace” series on non-violent resistance.
Rev. Olivia’s vision for The Brood—a ministry for foster, adoptive, and kinship families in Greater Cincinnati—created a unique and much-needed space where families of diverse configurations could find inclusion, support, and care. Calvary has seen an increase in membership in part due to the involvement of families from The Brood community.
Rev. Olivia’s last day with us will be Sunday, May 11. We will celebrate her ministry that day and offer our prayers and blessings as she steps into her new role.
I will be dedicating time to be pastorally present the Youth Group and young people during Calvary Community Hour on Sunday as we begin this transition period. Both Rev. Olivia and I are available via phone and e-mail if you would like to set up an appointment to talk.
Faithfully,
The Reverend Allison English
Rector
To My Beloved Calvary Community,
As I prepare to depart Calvary in May, I am filled with grief but also immense gratitude for our nearly six years of shared ministry together. My time at Calvary has been profoundly transformative, and you have been an immense blessing to me.
When I met you, I had not yet been ordained as a deacon. This February, I celebrated my fifth anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. In those years it has been an incredible honor and privilege to minister in your midst. We’ve laughed and cried together, and most of all, we’ve worked together to build up a community of humble yet fearless faith. You surrounded my children with love and prayer at their baptisms, you’ve welcomed me and my family into your homes and into the intimate moments of your lives. Your growing vitality gives me a sense of deep hope for the future of our church. From potlucks to parades, baptisms to barbecues, from moments both sacred and ordinary, you have been a tangible presence of God’s grace in my life.
I want to thank you for pouring your support into my wild dreams:
- Our foster care and adoption ministry (The Brood) has flourished. We’ve created a community of joyful belonging for diverse families, some of whom have joined Calvary as a result. I couldn’t have built this ministry without your support.
- Our Fearless tween program has run for four successful years and as a result we are faced with a wonderful dilemma; we have outgrown our current teen youth room. Our young people feel known and loved at Calvary and that matters.
- Our outreach funds and ministries have been stewarded faithfully. You have shown in true Calvary form the difference we can make in our community as we strive to be Jesus’ hands, heart, and feet.
While programs can feel transient at times, it’s the people of Calvary – your deep faith in Jesus and your commitment to God and to one another – that have made such a lasting impression on my life and my vocation.
As I look ahead to this next chapter serving on diocesan staff, I feel equipped for the role knowing that my time at Calvary will inform every aspect of my ministry to the wider church and throughout the Diocese of Southern Ohio. I covet your prayers during this season of transition. Be assured that you will remain in mine. May God continue to bless Calvary church in the days ahead!
In Christ,
Rev. Olivia+