In this edition of ENews:
- Center at St. Matthews Launches Matching Campaign
- St. Mary's Ferndale Closes Doors After 125 Years
- Bishop Megan visits St. Barnabas, Mt. Shasta; Confirms 10
- Diocese Quilt Update
- Episcopal Foundation Announces $100,000 Grant Fund
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The Center at St. Matthew’s Launches
Forward with Families Campaign
Double Your Donation between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day!
by Jim Schaal, Executive Director, the Center at St. Matthew’s
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Feed the Hungry. Welcome the Refugee and the Immigrant. Care for the Homeless. Lift Up Hearts. That’s what we do every week at the Center at St. Matthew’s, our diocesan outreach outpost in Arden Arcade. Put another way, the Center supports families of all shapes, sizes, and circumstances. That’s why we’re delighted to invite you to join us in our “Forward with Families” giving campaign in May and June 2022. Thanks to a generous donor, your donations will be doubled up to the matching gift amount of $25,000.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll hear from several leaders of the Center at St. Matthew’s about the many ways that we support and sustain families. The Center is an innovative community service center and outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. We serve neighbors in need in the Arden Arcade area of Sacramento County, one of the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods in the state’s capital region that is also home to the largest community of Afghan refugees in the nation. On our campus, the Center feeds families through our partnership with River City Food Bank (serving 700 households every week) and educates parents through our partnership with Highlands Community Charter School (providing language and literacy classes to 175 refugees and immigrants every weekday).
Beyond our campus, the Center supports families experiencing homelessness through our partnership with Arden Arcade Homeless Assistance Resource Team (a community organization we launched at the Center in 2019). At the spiritual heart of the Center is the Mission at St. Matthew’s, a bilingual congregation offering Episcopal worship, fellowship, and pastoral care in both Spanish and English.
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St. Mary's Ferndale Closes Doors After 125 Years |
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It was a bittersweet day - a time to celebrate the faithfulness of the congregation of St. Mary's, Ferndale… and a time to mourn the closing of this once thriving church, founded 125 years ago. St. Mary's Episcopal Mission was formally dissolved at the diocesan convention in November of 2020. But COVID delayed the closing celebration with Bishop Megan until Saturday, April 30, 2022. In the interim, the four faithful women remaining – Toni Mauney, Melinda Wagner, Sally Voorhees, and Pat Stolte – continued to support one another and worship together most Sundays for Morning Prayer. It was a joyous deanery-wide celebration with participants from each of the Semper Virens churches commemorating the Feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
– Rev. Nancy Streufert
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Top Row: Exterior and interior of St. Mary's
Second Row: St. Mary's Altar
Third Row: Bishop Megan celebrates Eucharist, assisted by Rick Timmons, Senior Warden of St. Alban's, Arcata, and The Ven. Pam Gossard.
Bottom: Bishop Megan with the last remaining members of St. Mary's – Toni Mauney, Melinda Wagner, Sally Voorhees, and Pat Stolte
(photos by Paul Gossard)
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Bishop Megan visits St. Barnabas, Mt. Shasta |
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On Sunday, May 1, Bishop Megan made her first official visit to the congregation at St. Barnabas, Mt. Shasta. While there, she confirmed ten new members, and received one new member. Many thanks to the Rev. Larry Holben and the folks at St. Barnabas for their hospitality and welcome! |
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St. Luke's Galt is hosting A Spring Rummage Sale
Saturday, May 7 | 9 am – 3pm | 3rd and B streets | Galt
Click here for more information
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Diocese Quilt is Taking Shape! |
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Last week, St. Clement's Rancho Cordova hosted a quilting bee to assemble the individual squares from each congregation.
Under the expert leadership of Beth Carlson, Quilt Project Coordinator, many quilters gathered to stitch the blocks together. Bishop Megan (also an experienced quilter) helped put some of the finishing touches on the beautiful quilt.
Next step is to finish the borders, and apply the quilt front to backing. The finished quilt will be dedicated at the Diocese Convention October 21-22 in Redding. The finished quilt will be prominently displayed in the Office of the Bishop.
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Top: Debbi Honeycutt, Beth Carlson and Sandra Verlinde.
Middle: Bishop Megan shows her quilting skills.
Bottom: (left to right), Beth Carlson, Bishop Megan, Sandra Verlinde, Sharon Burke-Polana, Elsie Weber, Debbi Honeycutt and Terry Treadwell.
Not pictured: Steven Soulman, Judith Richardson, Sally Rooney and her sister, Vicky Kramer, who was visiting from Stillwater, Minnesota!
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Day of Discernment
June 18, 2022
The May 7 Day of Discernment has been rescheduled to June 18.
This is the first step in the Ordination process for those who may interested in the Diaconate, Priesthood, or in a religious order.
The Day of Discernment is held via Zoom. Sponsoring clergy must attend with their aspirant.
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How Much Preparedness is Enough?
Larry Masterman, CEM, NDHDP
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I confess I’m writing this with a bias. It is the bias of someone who has spent more than 40 years as a paramedic and emergency manager, experienced Mt. St. Helens’ ashfall from 80 miles downrange, has evacuated his family five times for wildfires, commanded the emergency medical response in San Francisco for the 12 hours immediately following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and has experienced countless other emergencies including storms, floods, and an industrial explosion.
I’m honored to have been invited to share my advice on emergency preparedness with the readers of this newsletter. I offer my best thinking based on many years of learning, teaching, and personal experience. When my perspective differs from the usual guidance, I will explain why. I’ll lead off with that today.
For decades, government agencies and other disaster response organizations have urged the public to be prepared to be self-sufficient for three days after a major emergency or disaster. I argue that isn’t enough for those who live within a few hundred miles of the West Coast. In recent years, some agencies have adopted a “three days or more” recommendation. Before I explain why three days isn’t enough for most of us in the West, allow me to assure you that the extra measures don’t have to put meaningful preparedness out of reach. They just demand a different approach.
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From the Episcopal Foundation |
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$100,000 Foundation Grant Fund – Now Accepting Applications for 2022!
The Episcopal Foundation of Northern California has joyfully committed to continue our $100,000 Foundation Grant program available to churches and missions throughout our Diocese in 2022.
The deadline to submit an application is
July 1, 2022. Grants will be awarded in the month of August.
Click here to find out more, and to download an application!
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Gender Transgression
in Early Christianity
A Lecture by The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer
Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA
The first openly transgender Bishop in a mainline Christian denomination
May 9, 2022 | 7:00 pm
The Episcopal Church of St. Martin’s
640 Hawthorne Ln | Davis
Click here for more information
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May 8 - The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday
John 10:22 - 30
The Good Shepherd discourse functions as part of Jesus’s answer to the question of suffering as asked by the disciples in the previous chapter: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (9:2). In other words, who do we blame for this suffering? When the Jews ask Jesus, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” (John 10:24) their words hearken back to the disciples’ initial question of suffering, especially since their first two words echo the biblical mourner’s mantra: “How long?” (Psalm 13:1-2; 94:3; Habakkuk 1:2; Revelation 6:10). In fact, a more literal translation of their question is “How long will you steal away our breath?”, which is an especially poignant question today as COVID-19 continues to steal away people’s breath and claim millions of lives.
Like the disciples in John 9, the Jews in John 10 represent all those who boldly bring their questions of suffering before God, from Job to Julian of Norwich to C. S. Lewis to Elie Wiesel. John’s Gospel not only invites us to bring our own questions of suffering to God, but the Gospel also invites us to be transformed by the divine response in the words of the Good Shepherd, who instead of offering an explanation, offers himself. As Anglican theologian Austin Farrer put it, “God does not give us explanations; God gives up a Son.”
In contrast to Judah Maccabee whom the feast of Dedication commemorates (John 10:22), Jesus does not bring God’s Reign on earth through violent overthrow but through self-giving love, like that of a Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and calls by name those who recognize his voice, gently guiding them out of the shadow of death into life-giving pastures.
– The Rev. Dr. Daniel DeForest London
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Commission for Intercultural Ministries |
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I Will With God's Help:
Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice
Saturday, June 4 | 9:30am – 4:00pm
Faith Episcopal Church | Cameron Park
This one-day anti-racism workshop will be offered at Faith Episcopal Church in Cameron Park on June 4, from 9:30 am to 4 pm.
The workshop was specially developed for the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California by the Commission for Intercultural Ministries.
During the workshop you will have the opportunity to renew your Baptismal Covenant as we learn about forms of historic and contemporary racism and how to engage in ministry with sensitivity and respect for all.
Individuals in the Capital Deanery who need to take anti-racism training are encouraged to register for this workshop. The workshop will be offered in other areas of the diocese at future dates.
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Job Opportunities Around The Diocese |
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St. Clement’s | Rancho Cordova is seeking a 3/4 time Priest-in-Charge.
See the position description here.
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St. Paul's | Sacramento is seeking a Music Director.
Read the job announcement here.
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Diocesan Commissions | Committees | Ministries |
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The ENews is published weekly on Tuesdays.
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The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California
Making Disciples, Raising Up Saints & Transforming Communities for Christ
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