The Episcopal Diocese 

of Northern California

Beloved Community

Resource Newsletter

Published by

The Commission for

Intercultural Ministries

September 2023 

Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community

Newsletter Highlights:

• El Dia de los Muertos Toolkit
• I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice Upcoming Workshops (final workshops for this year)
• Racial Justice Audit Update
• The Season of Creation
• Energy Efficiency Assessments Board Report
• "It's All About Love" Festival Resources
• God Made Us All, The Rev. Dr. Charlie Bell
• Diocesan Diversity Statement Debuts in Vacaville
• Going Beyond Pride--Celebrating All Marriages!

National Hispanic Heritage Month

YouTube I St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church Tulsa I 2019

Native Spanish speakers find faith and community within the Episcopal Church at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

An Ofrenda at La Iglesia Episcopal de Santiago in Oakland, California

All congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California are warmly invited to join in observing El Día de Los Muertos on All Saints Sunday, November 5, 2023. This diocesan observance was proposed in June 2020 by the Task Force for Latino/Hispanic Ministries, a working group of the diocesan Commission for Intercultural Ministries, and approved by the Office of the Bishop in July 2020. Several congregations have participated each year since 2020, and we invite more congregations to do so in 2023.

Why observe El Día de Los Muertos again this year? The Church is called to offer pastoral care and to stand as a place of refuge and a wellspring of resilience. As people across the United States rise up for social justice, the Church is called to speak prophetic truth to power. As polarized politics fail us in this time of urgent need, the Church is called to give renewed witness to the way of love and the vision of Beloved Community.

Economic inequity, political disenfranchisement, anti-immigrant bias, and discriminatory policing remain pervasive facts of Latino/Hispanic experience. Yet Latino/Hispanic culture offers a unique opportunity not only to mourn the dead but also to affirm and celebrate life in community: El Día de Los Muertos, a festival originating in central and southern Mexico and now widely observed in Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. By observing El Día de Los Muertos as local congregations and as a diocese, we have an opportunity to offer a sacred and civic space and to express our solidarity with our Latino/Hispanic congregants, neighbors, and friends. Participation in El Día de los Muertos by clergy, parishes, missions, and other local ministries is entirely voluntary. We hope that many clergy and congregations will participate to embody a corporate embrace of our shared grief and enact a unifying expression of our solidarity

I Will, With God's Help:

Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice

Upcoming Workshops

This 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.

This workshop meets the requirement for licensing for Lay Eucharistic Ministers and Visitors only. Other lay licensed ministries need to take Sacred Ground to meet Diocesan licensing requirements.

These are the final workshops for the rest of this year.

Saturday, September 23 I 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

Zoom online workshop

Cost: $10 I Deadline to register: September 16

Register: https://form.jotform.com/232118584394158

Contact Miriam Casey, edncbbc@gmail.com, for questions.

Saturday, October 7 I 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

St. Mary's Episcopal Church I 1917 3rd Street, Napa

Cost: $25 (includes lunch) I Deadline to register: September 30

Register: https://form.jotform.com/232274791754161

Contact Miriam Casey, edncbbc@gmail.com, for questions.

Saturday, October 28 | 9:30am - 4:30pm

St. John's Episcopal Church | 2351 Pleasant Grove Boulevard, Roseville

Cost: $25 (includes lunch) | Deadline to register: October 21

Register: https://form.jotform.com/232397759732167

Contact Jo Ann Williams: bjwilli@surewest.net, for questions.

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

The Mission Institute (MI) consultants are in the process of finalizing the first-year audit results at diocesan level. Thank you to all who completed the survey (62 respondents) and to those who agreed to be interviewed (11 interviews completed).

The MI consultants will review the results with the Racial Justice Audit team at the end of this month. The audit results will be shared at the upcoming 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

The Season of Creation, September 1 through October 4, is celebrated by Christians around the world as a time for renewing, repairing and restoring our relationship to God, one another, and all of creation. The Episcopal Church joins this international effort for prayer and action for climate justice and an end to environmental racism and ecological destruction.

Learn more about The Episcopal Church’s resources for the Season of Creation:

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/season-of-creation-and-st-francis-day-resources/

Important Note from Bishop Megan: the additional non-biblical texts that are offered may not be used as a substitute for any of our scriptural readings. They can be added in and read in addition to our usual lectionary or shared at the homily time.

Please contact Miriam Casey, ednccoe@gmail.com, for comments or questions.

As Energy Efficiency Assessments Project Coordinator, I provided this report to the Board of Trustees on September 9th outlining the Commission on the Environment's actions to facilitate improving all churches' energy use and to become carbon neutral by 2030 in accordance with General Convention Resolution A087.

Commission on the Environment

Board Summary Report

●    21 Churches assessed in Rounds 1 & 2

●    Churches assessed throughout our large diocese in Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Yolo, Solano, Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Butte, Tehama, Shasta, Lassen, & Modoc Counties

●    Churches range in size from tiny (12 parishioners and no clergy) to large (several hundred parishioners and a clergy staff)

●    Common observation - each church, no matter the size, has parishioners, staff, and clergy who are extremely interested in improving their church’s energy efficiency and have already taken steps to do so. They are very grateful for the detailed information from this assessment that will help them take next steps to improve their energy efficiency even more.

YouTube I Everytown for Gun Safety I Lisa Molock / August 29, 2023

Studies show that green spaces reduce the likelihood of violence. Let's Thrive Baltimore's Healing Garden provides a place for survivors of gun violence to gather and connect.

Let’s Thrive Baltimore (LTB) started as a small group supporting the programs needed for a small number of young people in 2016. Now, we’re supporting the needs of 197 youth and their families who have suffered from traumatic losses due to gun violence.

When I founded LTB, I was focused on keeping young people out of the line of fire on the streets of Sandtown. Sandtown, the neighborhood of the Freddie Gray uprising, a beautiful neighborhood once the home of Cab Calloway and prosperous Black families, had deteriorated due to long-term disinvestment.

When I founded LTB, I was focused on keeping young people out of the line of fire on the streets of Sandtown. Sandtown, the neighborhood of the Freddie Gray uprising, a beautiful neighborhood once the home of Cab Calloway and prosperous Black families, had deteriorated due to long-term disinvestment.

I set out with the goal of making sure students knew they had a purpose and meaning in their lives—so we started with small cleaning and greening projects to contribute to the health of the neighborhood. I made sure they had enough to eat and were able to have the school supplies and clothing they needed. I simultaneously developed programs to help them learn to handle their fears and concerns, while making sure to give them room to be children and have fun in a safe place.

Since our origin, we have grown exponentially. We now run projects including:

• Mentoring, job programs, and support groups for our young people;
• Financial literacy, career consulting, and therapeutic programs for families;
• Housing, rental, and cash assistance for survivors of violence, and
• Maintaining our Healing Garden for survivors of gun violence.

"It's All About Love" Festival Resources

The "It's All About Love: A Festival for the Jesus Movement" held in Baltimore, Maryland, in early July, and sponsored by The Episcopal Church, was featured in our August 2023 Special Edition of our newsletter. There were a myriad of wonderful workshops offered which we have categorized to make it easier for you to find and read the workshop descriptions and accompanying handouts, bulletins, and websites that have been published online on The Episcopal Church's festival page in case you would like to do some research about any of these workshops. We categorized them under the same "tent" analogies used at the festival. You can review these resources at these links: Creation Care, Evangelism, and Racial Reconciliation. Please contact Jo Ann Williams, bjwilli@surewest.net, who attended the festival if you have questions about these resources.

In Peace and Justice,

The Commission for Intercultural Ministries

The Rev. Will Bouvel and Jennifer Enriquez presented their workshop, Tell Me the Truth About Racism: Antiracism for Kids, at the "It's All About Love" festival in July. They have been busy over the summer spreading the good news of their work and drawing in new communities. They have expanded their work to include a whole creation care series. If you would like to take the next step with them and tell stories to the children and adults in your community, consider one of their upcoming antiracism training cohorts:

Tell Me the Truth About Racism: Core Story Training Over Zoom

(seven-week training)

• Cohort 12: Wednesdays, 11 am to1 pm Central (9 am to 11 am Pacific), starting September 20th over Zoom.
• Cohort 13: Thursdays, 7 pm to 9 pm Central (5 pm to 7 pm Pacific), starting September 21st over Zoom

Creation Care Cohort #1 Gathering Interest

Over the summer, Rev. Will and Jen created a whole new set of stories to theologically frame our misuse of creation. Like Tell Me the Truth About Racism, these five stories apply that frame to historical events to better reveal how we can still access God's Dream. Here's a teaser of how it looks. They need your help to wonder about these stories with them with the lens of your own community in mind. They're gathering their first cohort around this work in January 2024. They invite you to join them to be part of it. Please let them know if you're interested as they plan: antiracism4kids@gmail.com.

Dr. Kwok Pui-Lan provided the opening plenary for the second day of the "It's All About Love" festival held in Baltimore in July. Photo credit: Episcopal News Service

Dr. Kwok Pui-Lan, Dean’s Professor of Systemic Theology at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, gave a powerful and inspiring presentation at the Monday opening worship at the festival. The title of her presentation was, “Awake, Arise, Act: Racial Reconciliation Now.” She spoke boldly about the need for repentance, renewal, and reconciliation. She touched on American historical events that have harmed Indigenous, African, Latino and Asian populations. She also mentioned well-known people who took the Beloved Community seriously, loved justice and championed the rights of people who have been harmed. She also spoke about the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action which affected her personally as a Harvard graduate.

Dr. Kwok’s new book will be out in Fall 2023. It is the first book written by a non-Western female scholar on the Anglican tradition.

The Rev. Dr. Charlie Bell, priest and and psychotherapist from the United Kingdom, preached at Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, in July. He also led a forum with the Very Rev. Matthew Woodward, Dean of the Cathedral.

One week after the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California’s Board of Trustees adopted a Commitment to Diversity, the statement publicly debuted at a City Council meeting in Vacaville.

Church of the Epiphany’s new priest-in-charge, The Rev. John Heidel, included the diversity statement in remarks he made Aug. 8 supporting the city’s issuing a Pride Month proclamation and flying the Rainbow Flag.

“We believe that all people are created in God’s image, and that we are created to be in community with one another,” Rev. Heidel told the council, quoting directly from the statement. “Therefore, we know we are most fully the Church God desires us to be when we actively work to include all.”

Rev. Heidel and several members of Epiphany spoke or wrote to the council in response to an effort by self-identified conservative Christians to persuade the city to stop issuing Pride proclamations and flying the Rainbow Flag.

Vacaville became the focus of media attention in May when it’s new mayor initially declined the Solano Pride Center’s request for a proclamation, despite the city having issued one annually since at least 2019. An outcry from residents, plus Bay Area-wide media attention, prompted the mayor to reverse his decision. The Progressive Pride Flag was once again posted in June on a city flagpole in downtown Vacaville, where it had been flown for two previous Pride Months.

Starting in mid-June, a contingent of conservative Christians began appearing before the City Council to express their dismay at seeing the flag and asking either that the Christian Flag also be displayed or that nothing other than the U.S., State and City flags be flown.

At each meeting, those speakers grew bolder and the rhetoric grew harsher. By the July meeting, it had devolved into outright slurs against the LGBTQIA+ community.

That’s when residents who support the Pride observance mobilized, encouraging other advocates, especially Christians, to speak up.

Despite being a Vacaville resident and Epiphany’s priest for only seven weeks, Rev. Heidel agreed to join them.

He said he did so for three reasons. “One is that it’s important to be in front advocating for social issues that The Episcopal Church has a stance on,” he said. “If not us, then who?”

How does your parish go beyond participating in Pride events, and show that your welcome to the LGBTQ+ community is real (and not just lip service)? At the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Lodi, CA, we decided to invite all married couples in the community to join us for a mass Renewal of Marriage Vows. The fliers and social media invitations explicitly stated “gay, straight, lesbian, trans, queer and 2-S married couples are welcome to attend and join in reaffirming their vows together.”

How did it go? On the afternoon of Saturday, July 8, 2023, six couples joined in an amazing ceremony. They were all from our parish – but oh, the seeds that were sown in the community along the way.

There was the unmarried young woman at Pride who burst into tears at the thought that a church could be so welcoming. There was the clerk at the store where we bought decorations for the event who said, “That’s incredible – I’m going to tell all my friends!”

There were city leaders who (unasked and unexpectedly) publicized the event through their own social media feeds. And that’s just a small sample.

Would we do it again? We’re already planning it for next year!

When I came up with the idea, I took it for granted that the same thing had been done by at least a few Episcopal churches, and that we could rely on their models. But a lot of internet searching and one-on-one networking didn’t turn up a single report of a similar ceremony.

Since The Episcopal Church has clear guidelines on what a couple needs to do to be married in the Church or to have their civil union blessed by the Church, but nothing about what’s required for holding a common renewal of vows ceremony open to all married couples in the community, we started by clearing the idea with our bishop, the Rt. Rev. David Rice. (St. John’s Lodi is part of the Diocese of San Joaquin, although we’ve been participating in the Diocese of Northern California’s Rainbow Ministry since its inception.)

With his enthusiastic approval, we dived into planning the event.

Author, historian, and public theologian, Diana Butler Bass, hosted an online conversation with Robert P. Jones about his new book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future.

Read the excellent review by The New York Times and an excerpt in Time Magazine. Here is a short video about the purpose behind the book.

Findings from the 2023 PRRI/Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey.

YouTube I Mischa Scorer I 2015

The great religious thinker and theologian, the grandson of a slave, talks with Landrum Bolling. Sacred Ground graduates will recognize several key references in this conversation from the program curriculum reading of Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman.

In response to two recent General Convention resolutions, The Episcopal Church Office of Indigenous Ministries is offering a new resource for those wishing to design and implement Indigenous land acknowledgements at church-related gatherings.

“The Episcopal Church and Indigenous Land Acknowledgements” is a 6-page downloadable booklet available online in English and Spanish. It includes information on what a land acknowledgement is and is not; guidance on who does a land acknowledgement; and key elements to include.

“I’ve heard from many dioceses and congregational leaders asking how to put an Indigenous land acknowledgement together,” said the Rev. Bradley Hauff, missioner for Indigenous ministries at The Episcopal Church. “My hope is that this resource will help with that process and will ultimately lead the people of the church to a deeper understanding of Indigenous people and discussions about ways to become involved as allies with regard to issues of importance to Indigenous people, both in general and on a local level.”

General Convention resolutions C072 and D019—passed in July—call for the implementation of “land acknowledgement liturgies and prayers to begin any public meetings or worship held in North America” and the promotion of Indigenous land acknowledgements “at all gatherings within the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and its affiliate organizations.”

Many congregations, dioceses, and other church groups and organizations have begun the practice of making land acknowledgements regarding the Indigenous people who used to live on the land they currently occupy, and in some cases still do.

Did you know… “Native American representation is critical in literature because it's an opportunity to share our narratives and take pride in our culture. It's also a way for the broader community to learn a lot more through Indigenous books…” - Indian Country Today's Daily Newscast for December 28, 2020

With your support, we can help ensure Native American students feel seen, heard, and supported in their many learning environments.

Here’s how you can help:

• Purchase any of the books on our Amazon wish list.

• Purchase any of the books on our book list from Native-run book stores, like QuietQuail Books, Birchbark Books, or Massy Books! #supportNativebookstores

• Spread the word about Redbud's FREE education resources!

To learn more about our BOOK DRIVE and our mission for supporting local Native Students, click here.

Please send book donations to:

Redbud Resource Group 

℅ SOMO Cowork 

1500 Valley House Drive, Suite 210

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

Thank you for supporting Native students,

Taylor Pennewell

Executive Director, Redbud Resource Group

Trelasa Baratta

Education Resource Specialist, Redbud Resource Group

(Corey Perrine/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

It is difficult to understand the reason that we cannot get a ban on the AR-15 in our country. Actually, I should say, more accurately, that it is difficult until one takes a look at its profitability. In the past ten years gun manufacturers have made over a billion dollars on this weapon. Last year the U.S. House Committee of Oversight and Reform reported on the earnings of some gun makers. Two of those included in their report were Daniels Defense, the producer of the gun that was used in the Uvalde School shooting who reported going from 40 million dollars income in 2019 to 120 million in 2021 and another company, Rugers went from 39 million dollars in 2019 to 103 million 2021. This is one of the most profitable weapons in the gun market and saving human life is not worth sacrificing the income it generates.



This gun was made for military use only but continues to be allowed to remain the legal weapon of choice for those whose hatred and commitment to living in the illusion that whatever is wrong in their lives can be rectified by killing those who are different from them because it is profitable. I understand that folks who are in business want to make profits, but the American capacity to be willing to allow the killing of some of its own citizens so that other citizens can have more money is a source of great sadness to many of us.

[Religion News Service] Episcopalians joined more than 100 chaplains in signing a letter urging local Texas school boards to vote against putting chaplains in public schools, calling efforts to enlist religious counselors in public classrooms “harmful” to students and families.

The letter comes just days before a bill allowing public schools to hire school chaplains becomes law in Texas, the first state in the country to pass such a measure. The legislation, which had been pushed by activists associated with Christian nationalism, gives the state’s nearly 1,200 school boards until March 1 of next year to vote on whether to employ chaplains.

The letter was organized by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Interfaith Alliance as well as local advocacy group Texas Impact.

The chaplains who signed the letter, released Aug. 22, bemoaned the lack of standards for potential school chaplains aside from background checks, contrasting it with the extensive training required for health care and military chaplains.

Tell Congress to Invest in Securing Our Elections. While the scope of needed voting rights and election systems legislation is vast, this week we ask you to speak out specifically for funding to bolster the security of our election systems. As part of broader appropriations debates, Congress is considering continued funding for Election Security Grants, which provide states with funding for improving federal election administration, including technology and other enhancements necessary to modernize aging infrastructure and thwart increased threats to our election systems, including foreign interference as seen in recent election cycles.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said, “it is a Christian obligation to vote, and more than that, it is the church’s responsibility to help get souls to the polls.” This includes ensuring our election systems are properly maintained and secure.

Urge Congress to Pass Voting Rights Legislation. Many barriers exist to allow eligible voters to participate in the electoral process. In recent years, local and state laws have been passed for everything from strict photo I.D. laws and voter roll purges, to extreme gerrymandering and polling place closures. These laws limit the franchise and discourage certain people from exercising their constitutional right to vote.

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.

For more information, contact Bob Wohlsen, Advocacy Team Co-Chair, bob.wohlsen@gmail.com.

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

The Commission for Intercultural Ministries

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