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Episcopal Diocese
of Northern California
Beloved Community
Resource Newsletter
Published by
The Commission for
Intercultural Ministries
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Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community | |
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Newsletter Highlights:
- Prayer to Open July 27, 2022 Diocesan LGBTQ+ and Allies Meeting
- LGBTQ+ Ministry
- Sacred Ground Facilitators Forum
- St. John's Episcopal Church in Roseville Partners with the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation
- "I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice" Upcoming Workshops
- Racial Healing and Justice Workshop Completed at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Auburn
- Land Acknowledgment and Beyond: Church of the Incarnation and Trinity Cathedral
- SAVE THE DATES: Speakers on Indigenous Leadership, Land Stewardship, and the Color of Labor
- Formation of the Commission on the Environment
- Thanks from The Gathering Inn to St. John's Episcopal Church, Roseville
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Prayer to Open July 27, 2022
Diocesan LGBTQ+ and Allies Meeting
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Oh God of many names and many colors, who gave us the rainbow as a symbol of peace between heaven and earth,
We gather again to continue seeking your mind for our church’s service of your lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and othered children.
Please open our ears to hear their cries of pain, and their even louder songs of joy! Open our eyes to see the worth of their creativity, and open our hearts to their love abounding!
Please help us to hear one another’s words and lived experiences. Please give us the humility to accept the othered as ourselves.
Please guide us into a new future for our diocese, our parishes, and our estranged siblings who yearn for you, sometimes without knowing it.
Please open us and our church to the renewing enrichment that the othered can bring to us, as we seek to bring your enrichment to them.
We pray in the Name of the Othered One, the Christ, Amen.
By Steven D. Preston, Senior Warden, Christ Church Eureka, July 26, 2022
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry signs statement with Anglican bishops and primates affirming and celebrating LGBTQ+ people
Office of Public Affairs I August 3, 2022
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Note: Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is among the bishops from around the Anglican Communion attending the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, who have thus far signed the following statement affirming and celebrating LGBTQ+ people. Additional signatures are being added.
“So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” – Ephesians 2:19
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” – John 13:34
God is Love! This love revealed by Jesus, described in the Scriptures and proclaimed by the Church, is Good News for all – without exception. That is why we believe that LGBT+ people are a precious part of God’s creation – for each of us is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14), and all are equally loved.
We recognise that many LGBT+ people have historically been wounded by the Church and particularly hurt by the events of the last few weeks. We wish to affirm the holiness of their love wherever it is found in committed relationships.
We therefore commit to working with our siblings across the Communion to listen to their stories and understand their contexts, which vary greatly. However, we will never shy away from tackling discrimination and prejudice against those of differing sexualities and gender identities.
Together, we will speak healing and hope to our broken world and look forward to the day when all may feel truly welcomed, valued and affirmed.
Signed by bishops from across the Anglican Communion including:
Most Revd Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Most Revd Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States
Most Revd Naudal Alves Gomes, Archbishop of Brazil
Most Revd Linda Nicholls, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada
Most Revd Andy Johns, Archbishop of Wales
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Message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on Lambeth Call on human dignity
Episcopal News Service I August 3, 2022
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The Commission for Intercultural Ministries is organizing a LGBTQ+ Ministry team. The group met several times and is discussing the vision and mission of the ministry.
The next meeting of the LGBTQ+ Ministry team will be August 20 at 11 am.
The zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85117822754.
If you would like to have input into shaping this new ministry, we hope you will join us.
For more information, contact Miriam Casey, Co-Chair of the Commission for Intercultural Ministries, at norcalcim@gmail.com.
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PFLAG National Glossary of Terms | |
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The power of language to shape our perceptions of other people is immense. Precise use of terms in regards to gender identity, gender expression, romantic identities, and sexual orientation can have a significant impact on demystifying many of the misperceptions associated with these concepts. However, vocabulary evolves, and there is not universal agreement about the definitions of many terms. A good best practice is to ask people what the words they use to describe themselves mean for them and how they would like you to use language when talking with or about them.
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Sacred Ground Facilitators Forum
Saturday, August 27, 10 am
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Greetings, Sacred Ground Facilitators!
The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California’s Commission for Intercultural Ministries is hosting a Sacred Ground Facilitators Forum on Saturday, Aug. 27, and you are invited!
The forum will be held via Zoom, starting at 10 a.m. We expect the “formal” program to last about 90 minutes, and anyone who wishes to continue the conversation afterward will be able to do so.
This will be a chance for you to debrief and discuss joys and concerns that arose from your experience as facilitators. If you co-hosted your Circle(s), please make sure that your co-facilitator(s) receive this invitation. I have contact information for some facilitators, but perhaps not all.
This forum also will be an opportunity to share plans for future Circles and to encourage others who are just beginning to engage in this work. We are inviting potential facilitators to join us, so if you know anyone who is considering starting a Circle, please invite them – or send me their email address so I can.
To register for the forum and receive a Zoom link, visit:
https://forms.gle/kLYKfR6NWRvQQRNi8.
If you have any questions, please contact me, Karen Nolan, Diocesan Sacred Ground Coordinator, norcalcim@gmail.com.
Looking forward to Zooming with you!
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An Invitation to Sacred Ground Fall Kickoff Webinar with
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Thursday, September 15, 2022, 10:30 am - 12 pm PT
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will be the special guest for the Sacred Ground fall kickoff webinar on September 15 at 10:30 am - 12 pm PT.
Bishop Curry will share his vision for racial reckoning and justice ministry over the next two years and how we can engage, as well as bless everyone on the Sacred Ground journey.
Following our time with Bishop Curry, we will: 1) learn from leaders skilled at welcoming new (and perhaps skeptical) people into race conversations; and 2) explore strategies for transitioning into action and community engagement (including organizing groups for the new Sessions 10 and 11)!
Please feel free to invite current participants, past participants who are looking for next steps, leaders and anyone involved with Sacred Ground.
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St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roseville Partners with the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation | |
Left to right: St. John's, Roseville, members Diane Williamson, Janet Wiese, Jim Barry, Senior Warden Linda Mares, Pat Oliver, and Rector Fr. Cliff Haggenjos with Dr. Gina Warren and members of the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation. | |
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By Diane Williamson, Sacred Ground Facilitator, St. John's, Roseville
After completing the first series of Sacred Ground Dialogue circles at St. John’s in the winter of 2020, a group of “graduates” were looking for ways to work on “Repairing the Breach” in the community. Sacred Ground had awoken a passion in these people to do their parts to make a difference in a world that sometimes seems so badly broken by racial injustices. One of the St. John’s members has a friendship with Dr. Gina Warren, the CEO of the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation in Del Paso Heights, after being the third grade teacher for her three children. Gina and her husband, Allen, grew up in Del Paso Heights and attended Grant High School at a time when it was a nice community. Gina was devastated by seeing what had happened to that area over the years because of drugs, gangs, poverty and intergenerational trauma. She had a dream some 15 years ago to work with the people of Del Paso Heights to help them find healing for themselves so that they could reach out to their community to bring healing to others. That’s when the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation was born. Gina and her team of counselors, pastors and community leaders have been devoting heart and soul to working with the community to help them see that there was nothing wrong with them, but that things had happened to them to wound them so greatly. Through healing circles, where a small group of people would meet to talk about the things that had wounded them, participants became aware of the cycles of addiction, abuse and trauma they had experienced.
As the organization grew and neighborhood people began to experience healing, Gina and her team had a dream to create a safe place in Grant High School where at-risk students can come and hang out, receive counseling, participate in healing circles, get help with homework, and pick up needed items from the pantry. Last spring, the Twin Rivers School District gave them access to a portable with several rooms, and the work began. Students with a .5 grade point average and below were invited to participate, and work began with some students. Over the summer, the district painted and replaced flooring in the rooms. Under the leadership of the Rector, Fr. Cliff Haggenjos, St. John’s members connected with Gina to find out how the church could help. The idea was to partner with the Del Paso Heights community as they worked to provide healing to their community. At Gina’s lead, St. John’s purchased industrial metal shelving units, bookcases, rugs and other items to set up the rooms.
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The Equal Justice Initiative | |
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About the Equal Justice Initiative. The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
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Visit the Legacy Museum. From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration is situated on a site in Montgomery where Black people were forced to labor in bondage. Blocks from one of the most prominent slave auction spaces in America, the Legacy Museum is steps away from the rail station where tens of thousands of Black people were trafficked during the 19th century.
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Visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened to the public on April 26, 2018, is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.
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I I Will, With God's Help:
Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice
Upcoming Workshops
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This one-day in-person workshop was specially developed for the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California by the Commission for Intercultural Ministries. 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.
Please note that due to the nature of the program, attendance is limited to 30 participants.
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Racial Healing and Justice Workshop Completed at
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Auburn
On Saturday, July 23, twenty-eight individuals from four churches in the diocese attended the racial healing workshop, "I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice." The workshop at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Auburn focused on our spiritual grounding in our Baptismal promises, learning the truth about racism in our country and communities, and how we might engage with our local communities as healers.
Special thanks to The Rev. Brian Rebholtz and the St. Luke's, Auburn, staff who created a welcoming environment for the workshop! And great thanks to the Commission for Intercultural Ministries faculty who strived to bring the message about how we are called by our Baptism to be healers of the hurts created by racism in our communities.
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Fr. Brian Rebholtz introduced the workshop. Facilitators left to right: Deacon Tina Campbell, Jo Ann Williams, Michael Adams and Diane Williamson. | |
Members of the Incarnation team, pictured left to right: Laura McLellan, Rev. Stephen Shaver, Rose Hammock, Taylor Pennewell and Daphne Vernon. Not in photo: Bo Simons, Christy Edmondson, Noemi Ramirez, Paul Mallatt, Sara Joslyn, Linda Sevier. | |
Members of the Cathedral team, pictured left to right: Kenny Pierce; Don Taylor; Taylor Pennewell pointing to Mar, our Zoom participant; Rose Hammock; Kengo Akiyama; Jim Crouch; Patricia Heinicke; and Deacon Tina Campbell. | |
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Land Acknowledgment and Beyond
Church of the Incarnation and Trinity Cathedral
Members of the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa and Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento have been working with Rose Hammock and Taylor Pennewell from Redbud Resource Group to learn about Native culture and to develop meaningful land acknowledgments.
With funding from a Beloved Community grant, Rose and Taylor lead the groups through a process to understand and appreciate the culture of the local Native community. They learned about the history of the tribal communities in northern California, their shared values, and what is important to have a meaningful relationship with the local Native community. The concept of allyship was explored and the importance of taking actions to strengthen Native sovereignty.
Both groups drafted land acknowledgments and will continue to refine them, as well as to continue efforts to build relationships with the local Native community. It is a process that will continue into the future.
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Zoom Masterclass: Going Beyond Land Acknowledgements
Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 10 am PT
An interactive 2.5-hour workshop for individuals seeking to grow their allyship with Native peoples. Participants learn about the strengths and limitations of land acknowledgements and explore concrete, action-oriented strategies for building connections with Native communities and organizations. Read more here.
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SAVE THE DATES:
Speakers on Indigenous Leadership,
Land Stewardship, and the Color of Labor
The Episcopal Church of St. Martin in Davis invites you to join them for the following
Seeds of Justice: Year Two upcoming lectures. Check the church website where the Zoom registration links for these lectures will soon be available.
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- Sunday, September, 18, 2022 4 pm in person and on Zoom (hybrid)
In Relation to Water:
Indigenous Leadership in Restoring and
Re-envisioning Watershed Stewardship
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Beth Rose Middleton Manning, Professor in the Department of Native American Studies, UC Davis
In our contemporary 21st century moment of ecological and cultural reckoning, governments (federal, tribal, state, local) and citizens’ groups are recognizing that aging water infrastructure must be addressed as a matter of truth and reconciliation, and to strengthen the climate resilience of beleaguered ecosystems and communities. This presentation centers Indigenous leadership in dam removal and river restoration, with examples from systems in Alaska, Washington, and California.
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- Sunday, October 16, 2022, 4 pm on Zoom
Cultural Fire, Storytelling, and
Reclaiming Indigenous Land Stewardship Practices
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Melinda Adams (N’dee San Carlos Apache), PhD candidate in the Department of Native American Studies, UC Davis, and previous Tribal College Professor of Environmental Science at Haskell Indian Nations University
As temperatures rise and wildfire engulfs communities, scientists and academics search for long term solutions to the risk and extent of wildfire.
In California, Native Americans are actively managing the effects of climate change and wildfire by reclaiming our land stewardship practices held since time immemorial. Cultural burns are an example of these practices and can aid in strengthening preventative measures of climate and wildfire effects. Through a Native perspective, this talk will centralize the significance of partnering with practitioners and cultural bearers to reclaim cultural fire land stewardship and cultural lessons. Equally important, this work discusses the need to reshape local California history by centering Wintun Peoples and the history of Native peoples in relationship to the landscapes and waterscapes of what is now “California” –as articulated through place-based storytelling and Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
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- Sunday, November 13, 2022, 4 pm on Zoom
How Manifest Destiny Changed the Color of Labor
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John M. Liu, Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Asian American Studies and Sociology, UC Irvine
Manifest Destiny as a doctrine of white expansion ironically required the introduction of more people of color into the United States. The shortage of white labor on the Pacific Coast and Hawaii to build the region’s economy required the serial recruitment of labor from Asia between the 1850s to the 1930s. This was followed by the primary reliance on Mexican labor until the post-WWII period. Immigrant labor was crucial in the development of mining, transportation, industry, and agriculture. Exploitation of this labor laid not only the foundations of U.S. immigration law but also complicated the binary white/black racial classification, both locally and nationally.
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Saint Francis Indian School, previously Saint Francis Indian Mission, is now a tribal government-chartered school funded by the Bureau of Indian Education. The 700 person student body is mostly Native. (Photo/Courtesy) | |
Duane Hollow Horn Bear beside his great-grandfather, Chief Hollow Horn Bear, a prominent Lakota leader who fought for his people's treaty rights at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He later appeared on the first 14-cent stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office in 1922. Photo: Hollow Horn Bear. (Photo/Courtesy; Photo/Library of Congress) | |
How Indian Boarding Schools have Impacted Generations
Part One: Survivors
The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing I Jenna Kunze I Posted July 15, 2022
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In the final week of May, the Saint Francis Indian School on the Rosebud Indian Reservation is buzzing with graduation spirit. Children already dressed for summer float a yellow balloon back and forth outside their classroom. Five- and six-year-olds march the hallways in traditional ribbon skirts and paper crowns, and one girl wears pink butterfly wings.
In the gym down the hall, Duane Hollow Horn Bear is assembling a small teepee for what’s called an honoring ceremony, a kindergarten graduation. The children in paper crowns will later file towards that teepee, towards Hollow Horn Bear on stage opening the ceremony with a Lakota prayer. They will bounce their knees to the drum beat and wave big circles towards their relatives seated in metal folding chairs. Murals of Native athletes fill the walls. “In the last few days, a generation has finished their education here,” Hollow Horn Bear, 73, a spiritual leader, educator, and survivor of a federal Indian boarding school, told the crowd on May 27. What he didn’t say: Just three generations before, he had attended the same school, when it was a boarding school called Saint Francis Mission, under control of the United States government...
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Formation of the
Commission on the Environment
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By Matt Weiser, St. Paul's, Sacramento
The Northern California Diocese is beginning a new focus on our precious planet with the formation of a Commission on the Environment.
Church leaders voted to form the commission at the 2019 Diocesan Convention. After a delayed start, the commission now meets monthly and is beginning to shape practices to help individual churches do more for the environment, both in their own communities and globally.
The resolution forming the commission recognizes that, in many ways, our lifestyles have had a damaging impact on our environment and the habitats we share with other creatures. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has called on Episcopalians to “love God’s Creation” as God loves the world.
The new Commission on the Environment aims to help take us down this path. We will not issue edicts to churches. Rather, we will become a resource hub. Many churches in the diocese are already engaged in a variety of great environmental efforts, from producing their own solar power to including vegan options at coffee service. Many of these efforts link congregations with neighbors while reducing a church’s environmental footprint.
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites applicants for United Nations 2022 climate conference delegation
Office of Public Affairs I Posted August 4, 2022
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Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites all Episcopalians over 18 to consider applying to be a delegate—in person or virtually—to the 2022 United Nations climate change conference, known as the 27th session of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).
Applications are due by Sept. 1. Adults ages 18-40, members of Black and Indigenous communities, people of color, LGBTQ+ Episcopalians, Episcopalians from communities on the frontline of climate change, and Episcopalians with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply. The Episcopal Church delegation will attend daily events during COP27, which will be in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from Nov. 6-18. This year’s hybrid platform will allow for a wider representation of Episcopalians on the delegation.
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Are you an Episcopal clergy or lay leader in an Asian American community?
Join us for a time to refresh, renew, and exchange best ministry ideas.
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What: “God Sees Us” – 2022 Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries Consultation
When: Sept. 21-25
Where: Embassy Suites Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota
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This triennial consultation is a time for fellowship and leadership training for leaders in the Episcopal Asian American community. The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, will be the preacher at Opening Eucharist on Sept. 22, followed by plenaries, workshops, and immersion to Hmong and Karen communities. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged. | |
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The Miraculous True Story Behind Thirteen Lives
by Kaylin Kaupish I Guidepost's Stories of Hope I Posted Aug 1, 2022
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On Saturday, June 23, 2018, in northern Thailand, members of the Wild Boar soccer team and their coach went to explore the Tham Luang Nang Non Cave. It would be nearly three weeks before they emerged again. Now, the true story of the team’s miraculous rescue, and the inspirational story of the people behind it, is coming to the big screen in Ron Howard’s newest film, Thirteen Lives.
Early monsoon flooding trapped the boys, ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach, Ekkapol Ake Chanthawong, over 1.5 miles inside the caves. As people around the world watched coverage of the search, many doubted the team would be found alive. The Tham Luang cave network went deep into the mountain through a labyrinth of narrow passageways and small caves, many of them completely underwater due to the monsoons.
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Equipping LatinX Lay Leaders
ECF News I Posted August 10, 2022
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To support the development of and support for lay leaders, ECF piloted a new program over the past year called Pivot to equip congregational teams with knowledge and tools for addressing leadership and financial challenges and building/sustaining a network for peer learning.
As we move into the second year, we are planning to improve our delivery methods to address important issues of diversity and inclusion that focus on the contextualization and implementation of the Pivot learnings into multicultural/multilingual congregations across the church. We begin this important work by offering a Spanish Pivot program to equip lay/clergy teams in Latinx/Hispanic faith communities with resources and tailored curricula and teachings from our previous in-person Spanish Congregational Leadership Initiative (CLI).
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A New Paradigm for Reaching U.S. Latinos
ECF Vital Practices I Albert R. Rodriquez I July 2022
Being named a Fellow through the ECF Fellows Program in 2013 proved to be a major catalyst in my developing an expanded and more inclusive evangelization concept which I call Transcultural Latino Ministry. My Fellows project was premised on the notion that our traditional Episcopal Latino ministry has been too narrow in its evangelistic scope since it does not generally include the American-born, U.S. acculturated and English-prone Latinos. My Fellows designation and related project research also resulted in a series of assignments and the rise of a ministry specialization that has enabled me to become an ardent advocate for expanding our traditional Latino ministry to include all the Latino generations, foreign-born and U.S. born. Fortuitously, the Fellows designation also opened the door for my becoming an adjunct instructor at the Seminary of the Southwest in 2014. A subsequent appointment followed, being named as the seminary’s interim Director of Latino/Latinx Studies, which provided an excellent opportunity over the course of three years to broaden the seminary’s concept of Latino ministry to include the so-called Later Generation Latinos (“LGLs.“)
Most notable in the development of my multigenerational Latino ministry was my partnership with the Rev. Canon Anthony Guillén, head of the Episcopal Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries. Through the work done by Guillén in producing the 2009 publication, The Episcopal Church’s Strategic Vision for Reaching Latino’s/Hispanics, he also had concluded that TEC must expand its Latino ministry to be inclusive of all the country’s Latino generations. This partnership has proved to be fruitful over the last eight years, having now developed a variety of nationally offered, Latino ministry competency training courses and seminars aimed at seminaries, diocesan bishops and staff, clergy and lay leaders. Interestingly, this interaction with all types of practitioners in Latino ministry has further exposed the reality that our traditional Latino ministry is not culturally and linguistically adept at reaching the U.S. acculturated and English-speaking Latinos in the U.S. What is also interesting is that the other Episcopal ethnic ministries – Black, Asian and Indigenous – are also acutely aware of the challenges of their respective generational divides and the corresponding impact of their acculturation patterns and dynamics.
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Thanks from The Gathering Inn to
St. John's Episcopal Church, Roseville
St. John's, Roseville, has been serving the guests of The Gathering Inn (TGI), a homeless shelter in Roseville, for many years. Several times each month, the church provides meals to this vulnerable population and their sanctuary for sleeping overnight. St. John's and another church were the only two churches in the area who took them in even more frequently during the pandemic. The Gathering Inn says that St. John's is much more than a meal and safe place to sleep: "The ministry of Saint John's Episcopal Church has impacted the lives of The Gathering Inn guests for over 15 years. Even amidst COVID, Saint John's doors remained opened to serve our guests. Their warmth and hospitality envelop our guests with kindness and peace." TGI's vision is to end homelessness in the community by providing a “hand up, not a hand out” to those that they serve through shared accountability. TGI exists to help the homeless achieve housing through the comprehensive services and support that they provide them during their stay with TGI.
During the worship service on Sunday, August 2, Keith Diederich, the Executive Director of The Gathering Inn, presented a plaque to the Rector, Fr. Cliff Haggenjos, expressing TGI's thanks to everyone at St. John's for their service to TGI. In addition, TGI created a video featuring several of their guests who expressed their thanks to St. John's. Fr. Cliff characterizes St. John's service to the homeless as being open to the outpouring of God's grace.
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The Gathering Inn is gathering signatures for a petition to show community support for leasing land for their Campus of Hope project in an unincorporated industrial park area near Rocklin. This project will more effectively meet the unique needs of families and individuals in their community needing emergency and supportive housing. Read more about the Campus of Hope, take a virtual tour of the campus, and please sign the petition if you are so inclined.
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Constructive Engagement on Vital Policy Issues
Sunday, September 4, 2022, 1-2 pm PT
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Did you know that The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations (OGR) has developed a five-week Civil Discourse Curriculum, focusing on improving our capacity to engage in conversations on difficult topics especially related to public policy? Join us for Peacebuilding Online and hear from Alan Yarborough, Office of Government Relations church relations officer and lead content creator for the curriculum, to learn how this program can help you and yours engage on vital policy issues in a constructive way.
Per Yarborough, "The Civil Discourse Curriculum was created as a resource to help folks understand and practice civil discourse, particularly as it relates to discussion about politics, policy and legislation, and why it is so important to living out our Gospel call and solving the problems facing our communities, country and the world.”
Just in time for a challenging election season, join us and discover how OGR’s program can nurture and support your Gospel justice advocacy.
This is a free online event hosted by Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
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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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Tell Congress to cosponsor the FOREST Act of 2021 (S.2950/H.R.5508). This bipartisan legislation would create new requirements to ensure supply chain traceability and allow for a crackdown on products that are connected to illegal deforestation. The U.S. is a substantial market for many products associated with illegal deforestation including palm oil, beef, cocoa, soy, and rubber. Ensuring our imports are not connected to illegal deforestation could be crucial to preserving forests around the world. Illegal deforestation is a major threat to biodiversity and human well-being and any steps that the U.S. can take to minimize this global issue should be taken.
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Urge Congress to support H.R.1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would make much-needed reforms to the H-2A visa program while providing a path to legalization for undocumented agricultural workers.
This bipartisan legislation, passed by the House last year, would address a key sector and provide important protections for essential workers. It is important that we acknowledge and respect the indispensable contributions of immigrant workers to our agricultural sector. We must also respond to the challenge of unauthorized immigration with compassionate solutions that uphold our immigration laws but also ensure immigrant workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve as children of God.
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Thank Congress for its decision to put partisanship aside and vote to address the harm of gun violence in America.
In the wake of many recent gun killings, many Episcopalians have voiced despair at the prospect of spurring action to address gun violence in our state and in our nation. Because of Congress's leadership, millions of Americans have newfound hope.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is not a panacea, but the passage of this bill shows that, with a bit of determination, Democrats and Republicans can come to the table to address the most challenging issues our country faces.
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The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California
Commission for Intercultural Ministries
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