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The Episcopal Diocese
of Northern California
Beloved Community
Resource Newsletter
Published by
The Commission for
Intercultural Ministries
| | | Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community | | |
Newsletter Highlights:
- Northern California Episcopalians’ pilgrimage commemorates those held in WWII camps
- America's Culture of Contempt is Claiming Too Many Lives
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I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice: Registration for Final 2025 Workshop Now Open - Zoom Only
- Advocacy
- Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
- Migrant Support Network
- Diocese Recognizes, Aids Trinity Refugee Resettlement
- Doris Matsui tries 3rd time to access Sacramento facility used by ICE
- Moody Foundation gives $150M to Huston-Tillotson
- Healing the Neighborhood: Faith in Action in Del Paso Heights
- Now's the Time
- We Shall Remain - After the Mayflower
- Diocesan Churches Implementing Energy Efficiency Projects
- INVITATION: EDNC Creation Care Network on Mighty Networks
- Christ Church Green Tip of the Month: Thinking About Clothes
- Oasis
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Episcopal News Service I Melodie Woerman I Posted September 15, 2025
| | Steve Sasaki (second from left), a docent with the California Museum, places particpants in the Northern California pilgrimage to the Tule Lake Japanese concentration camp in the remnant of a women’s latrine at the places (right) where toilets would have been located, without partitions. Photo: Elias Higbie | |
Loving Christ Above All
Washington National Cathedral I The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith I Posted September 7, 2025
| | “Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few to share His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer anything for Him.” —Thomas à Kempis | | |
America's Culture of Contempt is Claiming Too Many Lives
Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop Marianne I Posted September 11, 2025
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Yet another American public figure has been killed, one more victim of the culture of contempt that, at its extreme, portrays those with whom we disagree as enemies to be destroyed.
We needn’t continue to live this way. Yet addressing the culture of contempt will require us all to commit to its only antidote: acknowledging the inherent dignity of every human being, and a renewed dedication to civility, respect and decency in our personal lives and public discourse.
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Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde and Marilynne Robinson in Conversation with Paul Elie
Episcopal News Service I Posted September 16, 2025
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What is courage? What is community? How do we tend to the human spirit in a time of fear and uncertainty?
Join the livestream audience for a special event featuring Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde and Marilynne Robinson, two luminaries cherished for their wisdom and imagination. It is a conversation, moderated by Paul Elie, that promises to be gracious, grave, radiant, and revelatory.
| | Christ Breaks the Rifle - Kelly Latimore Icons | |
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I Will, With God’s Help:
Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice
Registration for Final 2025 Workshop Now Open - Zoom Only
This workshop is rooted in our baptismal identity and the promises we make in baptism. It focuses on how we can more fully live into our promise to be loving toward our neighbors, to address racism in our communities, and build the Beloved Community. During the workshop we follow the path of the Becoming Beloved Community labyrinth.
This workshop meets the requirement for licensing for Lay Eucharistic Ministers and Lay Eucharistic Visitors in the Diocese. Other lay licensed ministries need to take Sacred Ground to meet Diocesan licensing requirements. As governing leaders of their churches, vestry and mission committee members are strongly encouraged to attend this workshop.
All are welcome to attend this training which will help you grow as reconcilers, healers, and justice bearers, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving God and your neighbor.
Each of these hybrid workshops will be offered in-person and via Zoom. For questions about the schedule, please contact Miriam Casey, edncbbc@gmail.com, or Jo Ann Williams, bjwilli@surewest.net.
Saturday, October 11 I All Saints Church, Redding I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250366868501158
Registration deadline: September 26, 2025
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ADVOCACY
For questions or information, contact Bob Wohlsen,
Advocacy Team Chair, bob.wohlsen@gmail.com,
Episcopal Public Policy Network:
Public Policy and Witness Weekly Prayers
Dear Advocates,
Attached are the notes for today's briefing. Alan Yarborough, OGR Assistant Director, opened the meeting with a personal reflection that I share with you in these notes. I found his words encouraging and soothing in this extremely challenging time for advocates.
In addition, several action alerts are listed that address current situations here at home and abroad that our church is engaged with. Please take these actions and as always spread these notes far and wide.
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Migrant Support Network
Episcopal Diocese of Northern California ENews I Posted September 16, 2025
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We are proud to share our Migrant Support Network Ministry's new home page. Please take some time to click around and view all of the resources we've assembled. We invite you to share this with your community and those that may need it.
Click here to view the page.
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Diocese Recognizes, Aids Trinity Refugee Resettlement
Trinity Cathedral ENews I Posted July 24, 2025
| | Shireen Miles and Dean Matthew Woodward | | Trinity’s Good Neighbor Team is a newly-formed group of congregants who will be collaborating to provide a warm welcome to newcomers in partnership with staff of World Relief, one of Sacramento’s refugee resettlement agencies. It is an expansion of the work our parish has been doing informally. Each person on the team brings different interests and different strengths. | | |
Doris Matsui tries 3rd time to access Sacramento facility used by ICE
Episcopal Diocese of Northern California I Posted September 5, 2025
| YouTube I KCRA 3 I Posted September 5, 2025. Click to watch Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui and Dean Matthew Woodward at the press conference this morning. | |
Many clergy and non-profit leaders gathered this morning to support Congressomwan Doris Matsui as she entered an ICE facility used to detain people.
Dean Matthew shared his personal story about becoming a citizen and reminds us of our baptismal covenant, "to seek and serve all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself."
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Maryland bishop stands alongside Kilmar Abrego Garcia before ICE detains him a second time
Episcopal News Service I Melodie Woerman I Posted August 26, 2025
| Maryland Bishop Carrie Schofield-Broadbent (front row, right) stands next to Kilmar Abrego García (center) as Rabbi Ariana Katz (at podium) offers a blessing during a rally in support of Abrego García at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Maryland, on Aug. 25. (Photo: Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service) | Abrego García, a Salvadoran national, has lived in Maryland for 14 years and has been at the center of an immigration battle with the Trump administration since March when he was detained by ICE and mistakenly deported to El Salvador. According to reporting by National Public Radio, he was returned to the United States in April and was immediately detained by the U.S. government on charges of human smuggling. He was held in a Tennessee jail until he was released on Aug. 22 to await trial in Maryland, NPR said. | |
Moody Foundation gives $150M to Huston-Tillotson
By the Rev. James Richardson
| | University President Melva K. Wallace hugs Ross Moody after he announced the $150 million gift. | The Moody Foundation announced a gift of $150 million to Huston-Tillotson University, marking the 150th anniversary of the Tillotson half of the college (my great-great grandparents, George and Caroline Richardson, founded the Huston half during Reconstruction in Texas). This is the largest single gift to an HBCU ever. I fell out of my chair when I heard about it. This is an extraordinary gift that will transform the small college and gives me hope. My ancestors must be smiling. The founding of the college for the previously enslaved is covered in my book, The Abolitionist's Journal: Memories of an American Antislavery Family. | |
Healing the Neighborhood:
Faith in Action in Del Paso Heights
By Diane Williamson
| | Community members participate in weekly healing circles. | | |
Is your church looking for ways to “Repair the Breach” to heal the inequities resulting from generations of systemic racism and poverty? Partnering with the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation (NW) may be just what you are seeking. Co-founded in 2015 by Dr. Gina Warren and Marilyn Woods, NW was established with the goal of creating an integrated approach to community healing and empowerment in Del Paso Heights. The organization works to disrupt cycles of violence, addiction, and poor health outcomes by offering programs like Healing Circles, providing resources for education and employment, and fostering relationships with agencies that serve the community.
The Commission for Intercultural Ministries is excited to present a webinar on Saturday, October 18, from 10:00-11:00 am on what a partnership with NW might look like for your church. We will briefly look at how St. John’s Roseville’s partnership with NW is evolving, see a video with testimonials from community members, learn about their four major programs, and have some time to ask questions of the NW leadership. Please register below.
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Now's the Time
By The Rev. Michael Carney
August 30, 2025
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It’s clear to me that the time has come. Notwithstanding the horrors of the October 7 attacks, despite the depth of historical traumas, and knowing that these words will impact my own family, it’s time to speak up about Gaza.
The devastation of that land and its people make eerie parallels with the treatment of Native/Indigenous Americans. Over hundreds of years (depending on the location) the forces of Manifest Destiny utilized military campaigns and local militia actions, ignored treaties, promoted starvation, disease and alcohol poisoning, abducted children, removed species and took any other action they thought would degrade Native cultures. Everyday racist assaults flared into massacres and trails of tears and systematic government-sponsored oppression.
And, by some measures, those tactics worked. It’s been more than a century since Native Americans caused any inconvenience to their White neighbors. Every American reading these words in the 48 states resides on Indian land. What price do we pay for the ways it was obtained? What consequences do we suffer from the brutal injustices that were done? None that I’m aware of.
America’s ethnic cleansing was successful enough (on a scale much larger than Gaza) to support our prosperity and power for many decades. Given our example, it’s hard to see what would stop Israel from doing whatever it chooses, just as we did. One difference is that today, thanks to social media, the whole world is watching, whereas our story is known only in retrospect.
Too few White people are aware that millions of Native/Indigenous Americans are alive today. Many of their cultures are reviving, languages are being recovered, spiritual practices renewed. The resilience of Native Americans is inspiring, and members of the Ute Tribe shared this pearl of wisdom with me: “Every day of our lives is a gift from the Creator.” May the eyes and hearts of White Americans be opened in gratitude as we lament the bitter legacies we’ve inherited.
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We Shall Remain – After the Mayflower
Excerpts from a PBS documentary compiled by the
Very Rev. Bob Scott
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This is the second in my series of articles on racial history and stories. It is about the relationships between the colonists and the indigenous people in the area that is now Southern New England in the years after the arrival of the Mayflower.
The PBS documentary, We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower, tells the story of the Wampanoag people and their encounter with English colonists at Plymouth in the early 1600s. When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they were weakened by disease and unprepared for survival. The Wampanoag, already devastated by epidemics brought by earlier European contact, saw both danger and opportunity in the newcomers. Their leader, Massasoit, forged an alliance with the English, hoping it would strengthen his people against rival tribes. Out of this fragile partnership came the first Thanksgiving feast—a moment often remembered as pure harmony.
However, the episode reminds us that the deeper story is far more complex. The partnership initially proved beneficial: the Wampanoag taught the settlers farming techniques, and the famous 1621 harvest feast symbolized cooperation. Yet beneath the surface, differences in culture, land use, and worldviews created tension. As more English colonists poured into New England, their demands for land and resources grew, steadily eroding Wampanoag sovereignty. Wampanoag land was taken, and their culture was steadily eroded.
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Diocesan Churches Implementing
Energy Efficiency Projects
| | At Convention 2022 the diocese set a goal for its churches to be Carbon Neutral by 2030. In the past 3 years, led by the Commission on the Environment, individual churches have formed green teams, had their facilities assessed for energy efficiency, and created action plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Several churches have moved forward with projects to increase their energy efficiency and achieve this goal. Here is a summary of these projects: | | |
Season of Creation begins Sept. 1 amid worrisome data on climate change
Episcopal News Service I Melodie Woerman I Posted August 29, 2025
| The Season of Creation, which is marked by Christians around the world, runs from Sept. 1 to Oct. 4. Photo: Melodie Woerman/ENS | Episcopal congregations and individuals wanting to observe the Season of Creation can make use of some new resources this year, even as data shows the increasingly devastating effects of climate change. | | |
Concerned about climate issues? Join Christian Climate Training
11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET Sept. 27 [8:30 -11:30 a.m. PT]
Episcopal Church Weekly I Posted August 29, 2025
| The Episcopal Church is partnering with Blessed Tomorrow and eight other Christian denominations to offer online training for people of faith ready to respond to the climate crisis with hope, courage, and action. Those who complete the training will be invited to join the Blessed Tomorrow Climate Ambassador program, a nationwide network offering resources, events, and connections. The Episcopal Church has participated annually in this ecumenical training since 2022; Episcopal modules are available to those who sign up for the training. | | |
INVITATION: EDNC Creation Care Network on
Mighty Networks
SPONSOR: Diocese Commission on the Environment
HOST: Perry Gray-Reneberg (perryggr@gmail.com), Christ Episcopal Church, Eureka, CA
INVITED: Episcopal Diocese of Northern California parishioners and clergy called to care for creation and work for environmental healing.
ACCESS LINK: https://norcal-episcopal-carbon-losers.mn.co/
Our Commission on the Environment (COE) has subscribed to Mighty Networks at the Community level with the intention of providing a secure, free online space where we can nurture our diocesan call to environmental stewardship. We invite all in the diocese who are striving to reduce our carbon loads on the atmosphere, minimize our waste, conserve energy and ministry funds, and live into our commandment to love our neighbor downwind, downstream, and around the world, to join us online.
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Christ Church Green Team Tip of the Month
Thinking About Clothes
Promoting Creation Care & Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
By Elizabeth Haynes
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Fast Fashion is the term that describes high-style, mass produced, inexpensive clothing that replicates designer trends. It has benefits and costs—especially environmental costs.
McKinsey reports that in 2023 the global Fast Fashion industry was estimated at $1.7 Trillion—yup that’s a staggering number. And the industry employed “more than 300 million people throughout the value chain.” In other words, the people who sew the clothes, the people who ship the clothes, the people who design the clothes, the people who market the clothes, etc. This means that Fast Fashion supports our economies and generates a lot of jobs. That’s a real positive—so what are the drawbacks?
The EPA reports that in 1960 the US generated 1.76 million tons of textiles and landfilled approximately 1.71 million tons. By 2018 textile generation had ballooned to 17 million tons or 81 pounds of clothing per person per year. McKinsey notes that consumers treat Fast Fashion garments as nearly disposable. Many are discarded after only seven wears. They also report that three out of five garments end up in a landfill or are incinerated.
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As followers of Jesus, we are called to follow the way of love that Jesus teaches us, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We understand that the laws enacted at the federal and state levels impact the systems that operate within our communities. They either contribute to building just systems and the Beloved Community, or they diminish justice and equity within societal systems. As people of faith, we have an opportunity to advocate for laws that are just and help to build the Beloved Community.
The Action Alerts provided below are supported by the General Convention and/or the Executive Committee. Please review these Action Alerts and consider submitting a letter to elected officials encouraging them to support legislation that builds justice and the Beloved Community.
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The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California
The Commission for Intercultural Ministries
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