Welcome to the Rev. Canon Lissa Smith!
We are so pleased to welcome the Rev. Canon Lissa Smith to our community for the fall. She is spending part of her sabbatical from her ministry as Canon Pastor at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville here at the American Cathedral in Paris.
One of the focal points of this sabbatical renewal is for her to experience the lives and ministries of other cathedrals. She and I stared exploring how some time here could be of benefit to her and to us before she returns to her family and cathedral in Nashville in late November or early December. You will be seeing her here on Sundays and throughout the week.
She will assist with worship and will preach on several Sundays. She is looking forward to meeting groups and individuals to learn about our shared life. We might even discover some fresh ways to minister together as she helps us reflect. I hope you will fold her warmly into our community and help her discover our Cathedral and our beautiful city.
James+
Dean and Rector
The Reverend Canon Melissa (Lissa) Smith is the Canon Pastor at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee. She comes to the American Cathedral in Paris to spend her sabbatical exploring the intersection of the city and the cathedral, and the people who inhabit them both. Her interests include vocational discernment, spiritual direction, community organizing and religious formation. She is very much looking forward to being part of the Cathedral Community, getting to know both the neighborhood and the congregation, and worshiping with us at the Cathedral. She returns to her work in Nashville on Advent 1, 2023.
Lissa received her MDiv from Union Theological Seminary, New York, and was ordained out of the Diocese of North Carolina after receiving a Certificate of Anglican Studies from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA. She served as curate at Christ Church, New Haven, CT (2008-2010) before becoming Associate priest at St. Augustine’s Chapel, on the campus of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. (2010-2017). She joined Christ Church Cathedral as the Associate for Pastoral Care and Cathedral life in 2017.
Lissa and her husband, Dr. Edwin Williamson, are the parents of three boys, Ted, 17, Van, 15 and Gilbert, 12. Lissa loves fiction, food and films, meeting new people, and coffee…. feel free to invite her to your favorite cafe.