The Episcopal Diocese 

of Northern California

Beloved Community

Resource Newsletter

Published by

The Commission for

Intercultural Ministries

June 2023 

Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community

Newsletter Highlights:

• Bishop Megan's Pastoral Message I Helping Migrants Abandoned in Sacramento
• A Rainbow Ministry. Do We Really Need This?
• Trinity Cathedral Celebrates Pride Month with St. Paul's and All Saints Churches
• Epiphany Church Celebrates Solano County Pride
• Gun Violence Prayer
• Requirement for Lay Licensing
• St. John's, Roseville, Will Host Sacred Ground Circles Beginning August 2023
• Upcoming Racial Healing Workshops
• Racial Justice Audit Update
• Discovering Creation Care in the 1979 BCP
• Simple Ways to Practice Christian Reverence for God's Creation
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Candlelight Vigil

Editor's Note: Due to a summer break, look for the next edition of the Beloved Community Resource Newsletter in September 2023.

June 6, 2023

Dear Friends:

As you may be aware, last Friday, June 2, a private jet carrying 16 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants arrived in Sacramento. They were subsequently bussed to the offices of the Roman Catholic Diocese, where they were left stranded. Staff there contacted Sacramento ACT – Area Congregations Together, who took responsibility for their immediate needs. As a supporting congregation of SacACT, Trinity Cathedral immediately joined in the effort to help. Since last Friday, the cathedral, and our diocese, have been deeply engaged in helping these migrants find shelter, clothing, food, and other necessities.

Yesterday, another plane carrying 20 additional migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, and Guatemala, arrived in Sacramento. We now know that both flights originated in El Paso, Texas, where these individuals were lured with a promise of work. Much like the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard last September, these individuals boarded a plane under false pretenses, only to become pawns in political theatre. Having applied for asylum in Texas, all of the individuals are in the country legally, and are entitled to legal protection and due process guaranteed by the Constitution.

There has been much political rhetoric and blaming since their arrival. The California Attorney General is actively investigating these incidents, and The Governor has engaged in a war of words with those likely responsible. As a faith community, we have, and will, continue to respond in the way of love. We are called to be good neighbors, to care for these individuals who were dropped at our doorstep with no recourse.

This morning, Trinity Cathedral hosted a press conference focused on the faith response to the plight of these individuals. Hosted by Dean Matthew Woodward, the conference included remarks by Canon Julie Wakelee, Trinity Parishioner Shireen Miles, and Sacramento Mayor Darrel Steinberg. I was unable to be there, but was ably represented by Canon Julie.

The future of the asylum-seekers is uncertain. What is certain is that we will continue to join our brothers and sisters of other faith traditions to meet the challenges ahead. We are blessed to find ourselves in the company of those who have stepped up to meet the needs of these new neighbors, who didn’t ask to be sent here.

The needs of our new neighbors will be great, and there are many who have joined in caring for them. As a diocese, we are committed to serve for the long-haul. I have directed funds from my discretionary funds to Dean Matthew, who will ensure they go directly to these migrants in need. I invite you to do the same by giving here: https://onrealm.org/TrinityCathedral/-/form/give/DeansDiscFund.

Finally, please keep these asylum-seekers in your prayers. And please pray for the many volunteers and faith groups that have joined together to address these needs.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Megan M. Traquair

Bishop

Pride Month 2023: The Antidote to Fear

Washington National Cathedral ENews I The Rev. Canon Leonard Hamlin, Canon Missioner and Minister of Equity & Inclusion I Posted June 8, 2023

It would be easy, if you’re a member of the LGBTQIA community, to look around America right now and get pretty discouraged. Let’s be honest: there’s a lot of bad news out there. 

In too many corners of our country, hatred and ignorance are teaming up to erase our LGBTQIA friends and family members from our libraries, our classrooms, our doctor’s offices, our statehouses and yes, in too many of our churches.

People who are frightened by change, or who are scared by what they don’t know, are lashing out and targeting the LGBTQIA community. It’s why the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s leading LGBTQIA civil rights group, declared its first-ever National State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans.

Looking around, it’s enough to make you wonder what happened to human decency, that hope and optimism that was moving through this nation so many of us felt a decade ago. At times, it feels like politicians and culture warriors are trying to push the LGBTQIA community back into the closet, particularly our Trans siblings. LGBTQIA Americans are beloved children of God, not political pawns.

Yet that’s exactly why Pride Month is so necessary. When the forces of shame and exclusion threaten to overtake us, Pride offers America a different vision.

Pride shows us what it looks like when we celebrate the diverse tapestry of God’s creation. Pride shows us what it means to embrace our neighbors, to provide shelter for our children and to do the challenging work of building equality. Pride offers us an antidote to hatred, bigotry and, yes, fear.

This year, maybe more than ever, we need to remember that. We need to celebrate it. We need to protect it.

Scripture reminds us that “weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Right now, there’s a lot of tears in this midnight hour. But we can trust in God’s assurance that love wins in the end. Love always wins. 

This is not an inappropriate question for Episcopalians in 2023. After all, as early as 1976, the General Convention in Minneapolis approved a resolution that read, “Resolved, That it is the sense of this General Convention that homosexual persons are children of God who have full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern of the Church.” (Resolution 1976-A069) The Church has continued to support the LGBTQ+ community in the areas of ordination, marriage, and the specific support of transgender and non-binary communities. So we’re done, right?

Like the civil rights legislation of the 1960s which were steps in the right direction, not every heart and mind were changed. Sadly, I know this from personal experience. My husband and I have been warmly and unconditionally welcomed and continually supported by our pastor and parishioners at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roseville. I was told when standing for Vestry by one individual that it may be OK for gay folks to attend, but we should not be in any leadership position. I wound up serving on the Vestry, but I will never forget that remark.

The remark still resonates because my church journey has been long and hard.  I’m 76 years old, and I’ve seen a lot, not all of which have been good. I faithfully attended a Roman Catholic church during college, never missing Sunday Mass. All of my friends were the same, but it was impossible for me to be a good friend because I could never be me. After college, I attended church for a time, but I attended as a liar. I felt nothing but guilt in the pews and certainly at the communion rail. I was feeling what I was told to feel. So I walked out and stayed out for a decade.

After moving to San Francisco from the small Missouri town where I grew up, I found a Catholic parish where I was welcomed and accepted. However, I understood I was not complying with church teaching. I experienced a different issue there. One June on the Sunday of the Pride parade, I walked into the church for the 11:00 am Mass and was met by the pastor who said, “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you would be at the parade.” I did not know how to respond to a person who I thought would know my priority for a Sunday morning, parade or no parade.  I am wonderfully happy to be part of the worshiping community at St. John’s, but very few of my gay friends worship anywhere. The message from much of the Christian world is anything but welcoming, and the noise from politicians who assume a Christian platform preach a message of hate to the whole LGBTQ+ community. 

The answer to the question, “Do we need a Rainbow Ministry?” is yes. We need to educate ourselves about the LGBTQ+ community, we need to make certain that people know that they are welcome and that it doesn’t matter who they love. It only matters that they love.

Top photo: Dean Matthew Woodward leads an improvisational Eucharist before the start of the Sacramento Pride Parade on Sunday, June 11. Bottom photo: Afterward, a festive group from the Cathedral, St. Paul’s and All Saints churches marched from Southside Park to the state Capitol, confirming the Episcopal Church’s presence as safe, welcoming and affirming congregations in the city.

Church of the Epiphany, Vacaville,

Celebrates Solano County Pride

Karen Nolan

Vestry Member, Church of the Epiphany, Vacaville

Bishops United Against Gun Violence gathers in DC to learn ways to curtain gun violence by dismantling systemic racism

Episcopal News Service I Shireen Korkzan I Posted May 19, 2023

Episcopal bishops representing Bishops United Against Gun Violence and gun safety advocates joined Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock on Capitol Hill May 18 during a press conference where the senator demanded that lawmakers put federal gun-safety bills on the ballot. Photo: Courtesy of Bishops United Against Gun Violence

Bishops at the front lines of The Episcopal Church’s advocacy for gun control in the United States convened this week in Washington, D.C., to learn from and build relationships with local advocates working to curtail gun violence and racism during a two-day gathering.

The May 17-18 gathering was hosted by Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal Church bishops working to diminish gun violence. Several bishops and gun control advocates assembled at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill to listen to experts on community-based and data-driven methods to eradicate gun violence. The experts consisted of heads of various gun control advocacy nonprofit organizations, faith leaders and a public health scholar.

Ten bishops met with legislators on Capitol Hill to discuss gun violence on May 16 and May 17.

“I have seen cities where folks who are Black and brown are [much] more likely to be killed by a gunshot than people who happen to be white. So, there’s an intersection of racism and gun violence,” Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry told Episcopal News Service. “For me, how we combat [racism and gun violence] as people of faith and as a bishop, that is how we can put gospel values into the world. This is how we make a difference in our world. It’s how our communities of faith show how much we care.”

Gun deaths hit their highest level ever in 2021, with 1 person dead every 11 minutes

NPR I Scott Neuman I Posted June 6, 2023

The silhouette AR-15-style rifle is displayed on signage for the Firearms Unknown Guns & Ammo gun store in Yuma, Ariz., last week. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Gun deaths in the United States reached an all-time high in 2021 for the second year in a row, with firearms violence the single leading cause of death for children and young adults, according to a new study released by Johns Hopkins University.

The annual study, which relies on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported a total of 48,830 Americans lost their lives to gun violence in 2021. The latest data works out to one gun death every 11 minutes, according U.S. Gun Violence in 2021: An Accounting of a Public Health Crisis.

Sacred Ground is a film- and readings-based small group dialogue series on race and racism in America, grounded in faith; and is part of Becoming Beloved Community, the Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. To date, over 70 individuals have attended the four previous sets of circles offered at St. John’s.

This is an 11-session program, with small group discussion and reflection. Sessions will be held bi-weekly on Wednesday evenings from 7-9 pm beginning August 2, 2023, and will be offered via Zoom. There is no cost for attending the program, although participants are asked to purchase two books to help guide them in our discussions.

We encourage Sacred Ground graduates to register if they are interested in a “deeper dive” into the Sacred Ground curriculum materials. If there is enough interest and graduates, we will form a separate “deeper dive” dialogue circle.

For more information, or to indicate your interest in attending, please contact Diane Williamson at [email protected] or (916) 300-6384.

Presenter: Rie Algeo Gilsdorf, Facilitator & Founder of Embody Equity.

How can you help everyone in your circle feel seen and supported? What can you do if things get tense or emotional? Or what if you find yourself getting emotionally tripped up by an unexpected comment? In this session we’ll learn simple embodied facilitation techniques to help you tune in to your own sensations, as well as to nonverbal cues of participants. We’ll also practice descriptive responses to statements and body language that help the speaker feel seen and often open up deeper understandings of their own insights.

Register for this 90-minute webinar on June 14th at 12 pm PT.

Keeping Track of Sacred Ground

Are you forming a Sacred Ground Circle? Let the Commission for Intercultural Ministries know by registering it here: https://forms.gle/hriHCPKmLwjUHEyEA

Are you interested in joining a Sacred Ground Circle? Sign up here: https://forms.gle/G26EPxDzEFSpnsZW7

Upcoming Racial Healing Workshops

Watch for registration links in the Diocesan E-News and in the Beloved Community Resource Newsletter for these upcoming workshops:

Saturday, September 9, 2023 - Virtual online workshop

Saturday, October 7, 2023 - St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Napa

Saturday, October 28, 2023 - St. John's Episcopal Church, Roseville

Thank you to everyone who responded to the Racial Justice Audit survey distributed at Diocesan level for responses. The Mission Institute (MI) received 62 responses (out of 105 surveys) which is a 59% return rate. Ten people volunteered to be interviewed by MI which is the next step in the audit process. MI will contact interviewees in the near future to schedule interviews. MI will analyze the interviews and survey responses and will provide a report which will be shared at the Diocesan Convention in November.

MI will invite parishes to participate in the survey process next year in 2024, provided funding is approved by the Board of Trustees. This two-year process is in accordance with R3-2021, the Racial Justice Audit Resolution which passed with a majority vote at the 2021 Diocesan Convention.

Lynn Zender and Jo Ann Williams

Racial Justice Audit Co-chairs

Recently, parishioners at St. Luke’s, Auburn engaged in a theological conversation about the ways in which our prayerbook calls us to care for God’s creation. While many members of St. Luke’s cherish the 1979 Book of Common Prayer for its beautiful and inspiring Eucharistic prayers and pastoral offices, most were unaware of the diverse ways in which the BCP highlights our call to celebrate and protect the natural world. In this brief article, I would like to share a few of these themes in the hope that more Episcopalians will recognize the abundant and beautiful resources for creation care within our own prayerbook tradition. There are, of course, many excellent supplemental materials on creation care authorized by the Episcopal Church, but for many of the people in our pews it can be helpful to highlight how the BCP they already know and love calls them to a deeper reverence for the earth.

God, the Creator

One of the most prominent themes in the 1979 BCP is the recognition of God as the creator of all that exists. This understanding is reflected in traditional liturgical material, such as the Venite in Morning Prayer, which declares, "In his hand are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have molded the dry land.” (BCP, p.82) and it also affirmed in more contemporary prayers, such as the opening of Eucharistic Prayer C, in which we pray, “At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” (BCP, p. 370)

Because God is the creator, the Scriptures affirm that the whole natural world is in relationship to Him and looks to Him as its source and sustainer. This view is reflected throughout the BCP, which includes a number of canticles, psalms and other prayers which speak of the earth and her creatures as praising and worshipping God. The Canticle of the Three Young Men, for instance, (also known as the Benedicite) reads, in part, "Let the earth glorify the Lord, praise him and highly exalt him for ever. Glorify the Lord, O mountains and hills, and all that grows upon the earth, praise him and highly exalt him for ever.” (BCP, p. 89) Similarly, the full version of the Easter Exultet invites the cantor to chant, “Therefore O Holy Father, accept the evening sacrifice of this lighted candle, which your Holy Church makes before you, and offers to you by the hands of your servants, the work of the bees your creatures.” (This line about the bees is restored in the Nashotah House version of the Exultet). In each of these prayers, the congregation is reminded not only that God is the creator, but also that all of creation participates in the life of God and is a reflection of His divine glory.

1.Pray Daily for the Well-Being of Creation and its Healing.

• USE THE BCP: Our prayerbook has Prayers for the Natural Order on pages 827-828, as well as Rogation Day prayers on 258-259.
• USE SCLM RESOURCES: The Standing Committee on Liturgy and Mission has approved a number of environmental prayers, litanies, and other resources. To find them, search "Liturgical Materials for Honoring God in Creation."

2.Reduce Food Waste

• USE WHAT WE BUY: 24% of all food in the U.S. goes to waste (54 million tons) along with the energy and water used to grow, harvest, transport, and package this wasted food.
• COMPOST SCRAPS: Food waste in our garbage bins ends up in landfills where it rots to form methane, a very potent greenhouse gas. 6-8% of total greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food.

3.Do Not Use Single-Use Plastics

• AVOID: Plastic cutlery, straws, cups, Styrofoam take away containers, etc. Production of plastics creates greenhouse gases, and most of these products cannot be recycled and end up in landfills.
• BRING: Reusable bags to the grocery store.
• BRING: Reusable takeout containers to the restaurants we visit.

As many of us have learned in Sacred Ground, the California genocide in what is now called northern California is a snarled web. One deadly strand is state-sanctioned slaughter and destruction of homes and goods, another is land theft, another is enslavement, another is the removal of children to church- and state-run boarding schools, foster care, and adoption outside their communities. Over the decades, these strands have ravelled off into other systemic killers, like lack of infrastructure, absence or loss of tribal recognition, lack of access to traditional lands and waterways, foods and materials, and poor policing/lack of legal support.

I’ve been trying to find my way into this web, to sort out what it means to be an uninvited resident of these particular lands. The Land Acknowledgment read before every service at my home church, Trinity Cathedral, calls us to “hold ourselves accountable to forming new and ongoing relationships of honor and respect” with Indigenous peoples and lands. So I’ve been going to public events, like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) candlelight vigil at the Capitol in May.

When I arrived, the stage was already full of speakers, legislators, and other guests, and the MC, Oglala-Lakota and Chicano writer and journalist Simon Moya-Smith, was warming up the crowd. I walked across the lawn, pausing as people in matching T-shirts jostled together for a photograph. Laughter filled the air as friends found each other and families enjoyed lemonade and Indian tacos from the nearby food truck. Many people wore clothing bearing the red handprint of the MMIP movement, representing the missing whose voices are silenced. Rows of empty chairs faced the podium–for elders, I thought at first. I found a space in the back, where I could take everything in.

The creation of easily accessible, truthful and respectful Native Studies model curricula exists only in a handful of states, such as Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington and Montana. California will soon join the club as both the work of the California Truth and Healing Council and the Native American Studies Model Curriculum are underway.

We can all prepare for the arrival of these much-needed resources by becoming more familiar with the Seven Essential Understandings of California Native culture and history, prepared by the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center based on those developed under Montana’s Office of Public Instruction.

Essential Understanding #1:

There is great diversity among the 150+ tribes of California in their languages, cultures, histories & governments. Each tribe has a distinct and unique cultural heritage that contributes to modern California.

It's important to recognize and honor this diversity, rather than treating all California Native cultures as a monolith. Situate your lessons in the local Indigenous places you live and teach.

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Vice Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) amended S.1723, a bill that was introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren on May 18 to investigate the United States’ role in the execution of Indian boarding school policies. 

S.1723, the Truth & Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States, would establish a “Truth and Healing Commission” to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the assimilative policies of Indian boarding schools in the United States, while identifying the locations of children's burial sites, locating church and government

records, and documenting the ongoing impacts to Native communities.

The bill is cosponsored by 28 U.S. Senators. 

Since an oversight hearing in June 2022 on volume one of the Department of Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative Report, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has received more than 100 written comments from Tribes, Native communities and organizations, and individuals that were analyzed to help inform updates to the bill. The Committee also received feedback from the Chief Commissioner of Canada’s Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was created in 2008 and has acted as an important framework for drafting legislation in the U.S.

Greetings Relatives,

NABS is honored to welcome back Dr. Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet/Metis) for a second virtual healing event on how to incorporate traditional plant medicines back into our daily lives.

DETAILS: 

• Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2023
• Time: 11am PT
• RSVP to receive a link. ASL interpreting will be provided.

Dr. LaPier is a writer, environmental historian, and traditionally trained ethnobotanist. She learned ethnobotany and traditional ecological knowledge by apprenticing with her maternal grandmother, Annie Mad Plume Wall, and her aunt, Theresa Still Smoking, for more than 20 years.

If you missed Part 1, that’s okay. You can watch it by clicking here.

When: June 17, 2023 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Where: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, 2605 Adobe Canyon Rd, Kenwood, CA 95452 USA

Contact: Alma (707) 833-5712 Email

What would life be like thousands of years ago in Wilikos (today known as Sugarloaf Ridge SP)? How are the stories of the Wappo people in Wilikos continuing to evolve today? Join Desi Harp, Sugarloaf staff and member of the Mishewal-Wappo, and Breck Parkman, retired Bay Area California State Parks Archaeologist and former Sugarloaf resident, in this evening of storytelling and reflection through time as part of California State Parks Week’s ‘Celebrate Community & Culture’ Day.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. told CBS News that marking Juneteenth as a federal holiday was a long time coming.

Read “Stepping up with Termaine Hicks,” an article published earlier this year in the School of Theology’s Features Magazine. Find the article here: <hicksstory.sewanee.edu>.

About his upcoming appearance at the University of the South Hicks shared, “My story is truly exceptional and EfM is a big part of it. Speaking at this special EfM gathering means a great deal to me. It also provides an opportunity to continue sharing my story and my work broadly. Thanks to EfM, I’ve been able to transform personal hardship into hope for at-risk youth and that’s something to talk about.”

“Termaine Hicks’s story is a testimony to the power of faith to overcome bitterness and despair, and his commitment to helping others—after the injustice that he has suffered—is truly inspirational. I encourage everyone not to miss the chance to hear Mr. Hicks speak,” said the Very Rev. Dr. James F. Turrell, Vice Provost and Dean of the School of Theology.

Bad Input:

MEDICAL DEVICES



As COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses sweep the U.S., healthcare professionals rely on pulse oximeters to measure blood oxygen levels. But the devices are less accurate for patients with darker skin. What happens when a gold standard in diagnostics doesn’t work as well for some groups as it does for others?

Bad Input:

MORTGAGE LENDING

Historically, lenders have considered non-white neighborhoods to be at high risk for default, and unfair redlining practices have prevented generations of people of color from accumulating the wealth typically facilitated by home ownership. Many years later, computer algorithms may continue to perpetuate these biased practices.

Bad Input:

FACIAL RECOGNITION



This form of artificial intelligence, which detects physical features to identify individuals, is no longer the stuff of science fiction. In today’s world, this groundbreaking and controversial technology not only unlocks smartphones but also helps corporations and governments in the surveillance of citizens.

The St. Alban’s altar guild teaching the Rev. Peggy Lo to make palm crosses.

During Asian American-Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I invite you to seek out a diversity of stories and writings about AAPI history in general and of women and theologians in particular– not to arrive at answers or draw conclusions, but to listen and walk alongside.

Here is what being an Asian American woman and priest means for me:

• Living on the edge, as in the edges where borders meet. Edges so sharp they can cut my feet. Edges worn smooth over time as reconciliation and resurrection happen within and without.
• Living on the margins, watching from the sidelines, except when the margins of multiple aspects of my identity converge at the center, as I end up with invitations to tables I’m not sure I belong at, wondering if we need a bigger table, a new kind of table, or no tables at all.
• Wondering when to point out that I’m Taiwanese American, the kind with ancestors who weren’t in Taiwan as long as the Indigenous people but longer than those who arrived with the Kuomintang (KMT) in 1948, the kind who experienced the Japanese occupation and then martial law. But without being blind to my own privileges.

This Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re highlighting people whose contributions have often been overlooked. Tonight, we spotlight Dalip Singh Saund, a political trailblazer who was the first Indian American, and first person of any Asian descent, elected to Congress.

This week, Alan Yarborough, The Church Relations Officer with the Office of Governmental Relations of The Episcopal Church joins Charlette and David to share his experience of wonder, service, and advocacy. Make sure to check out all of this week’s Faith To Go resource offerings for personal reflection, family discussion, and small group conversation at myfaithtogo.org.

CIPL is excited to announce our 2023 state legislate priorities! They highlight issues that we have been working on for years, including protection for frontline communities, the growth of renewable energy, and equity in clean transportation. See our six priority bills below.

And, we’re excited to invite you to our Advocacy Day in Sacramento on June 21st!

This day is designed for those new to the process and returning advocates alike. We’ll guide you through every step of the process, beginning with a morning briefing and overview of the day. You’ll then be paired up with seasoned climate justice advocates who will support you and other constituents through legislative meetings.

As people of faith and conscience, we believe in the moral responsibility to uplift the dignity and worth of all people, and to care for our sacred Earth. Join us at the State Capital to do just that! Contact Allis at [email protected] for more information.

Here are six priority bills:

SB 233 – Bidirectional Charging Capabilities by 2030 on cars

During extreme weather events and power outages, batteries in California’s EVs can also support critical electricity needs in homes, businesses and public facilities. Deployed in this manner, California’s transportation electrification can support enhanced grid resilience and reliability.

From the Office of Government Relations and Episcopal Migration Ministries

On May 11, 2023, the public health order implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic known as Title 42 ended. For three years, this order ran counter to domestic and international law by preventing the entry of migrants and facilitating millions of quick expulsions at our border, including those seeking protection from persecution.

What this means for vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers

Concerned about an increase in numbers of migrants arriving at the border and the capacity to process migrants under the normal immigration law known as Title 8, the Biden Administration has put into place a number of new policies, some of which will restrict access to asylum for vulnerable migrants in need of protection.

• One policy is the new asylum rule, Circumvention of Legal Pathways, which went into effect on May 11^th. This rule places restrictions on seeking asylum – requiring that those seeking asylum have access to and use a smartphone application called CBP One, and denies the opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S to those who have failed to seek asylum in a third country on their way to the United States. Read The Episcopal Church’s comment opposing this rule.

Urge Congress to Support the Equality Act. In many states throughout the country, queer people can and do face discrimination in housing, access to credit, public accommodations, and education. The Equality Act affirms that this type of discrimination violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and would, for the first time, explicitly protect the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and more.

Urge Your Senators to Support International Trafficking Victims. Senators Jim Risch (R-ID), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have recently introduced the International Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (S. 920) a bipartisan legislation that seeks to reauthorize and strengthen existing U.S. anti-trafficking programs, policies, and funds vital to United States’ efforts to tackle human trafficking globally.

Tune in to our new podcast Episco-Pols! Go deeper into issues we cover like immigration, healthcare, foreign relations, the environment, and much, much more, all through the lens of The Episcopal church.

For more information, contact Bob Wohlsen, Advocacy Team member, [email protected].

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

The Commission for Intercultural Ministries

If the content of our newsletters is no longer relevant to you, please unsubscribe below.