The Episcopal Diocese 

of Northern California

Beloved Community

Resource Newsletter

Published by

The Commission for

Intercultural Ministries

November 2025

Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community

Newsletter Highlights:

• Indigenous Ministries
• Art is a Window to Culture
• The Commission for Intercultural Ministries at the 2025 Diocesan Convention
• Betty Chinn, Christ Church, Eureka, & HAPI (for 2025 Diocesan Convention)
• Healing the Neighborhood: Faith in Action in Del Paso Heights Webinar Nov 22
• The Commission on the Environment at the 2025 Diocesan Convention
• Stand Firm and Hold Fast to Hope
• Pastorela Navideña by the Rev. Amy Denney Zuniga
• New Sacred Ground Session: Jews, Racism, and the Implications for Today's Rise in Antisemitism
• EDNC Proclamation in Support of 2025 Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance
• Trans Day of Remembrance
• Oasis
• Advocacy
• Save the Date for the Northern California Time of Remembrance (NCTOR) - Saturday, February 14, 2026 (Registration begins January 5, 2026)
• Latino Americans: Foreigners in Their Own Land - Excerpts from a PBS documentary and Washington Post article compiled by the Very Rev. Bob Scott
• El Día de Los Muertos

Editor's Note: There will not be a December 2025 issue of this newsletter which will resume in January 2026. Best wishes for a blessed Advent season and Christmas from the Commission for Intercultural Ministries.

The Rev. Canon Tina Campbell, Indigenous Missioner of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, at the Indigenous Ministries exhibit table at the November 2025 Diocesan Convention.

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to pause and learn more about our Indigenous neighbors and their culture.

The Native Arts Expo (October 24 & 25) in Mendocino was a wonderful opportunity for learning about Native tribes in our region. Through art, Bob Wohlsen and I were introduced to aspects of the culture and Native lifeways. The tribal artists and presenters were very welcoming and generous with their time and helped us understand and appreciate their contributions. This bulletin board, located in the parish hall at Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, was created to highlight how art can introduce us to culture.

The Redbud Resource Group is an Indigenous-owned non-profit located in Santa Rosa, California. Its mission is to lift up Native culture and support building bridges with non-Native communities. Their monthly newsletter is a great source of information about Native events in northern California, all opportunities to learn more about our indigenous neighbors. Knowledge is the first step toward relationship-building. 

Miriam Casey

Member of the Church of the Incarnation Beloved Community Ministry

Member of the EDNC Indigenous Ministry Team

Episcopalians among millions joining nonviolent 'No Kings' marches

Episcopal News Service I Shireen Korkzan I Posted October 21, 2025

Episcopal clergy and laity were among the nearly 7 million people who participated Oct. 18 in nation- and worldwide nonviolent “No Kings” marches in opposition to authoritarian leaders and here in the U.S., Trump administration policies aimed at cutting services to the poor, public education, health care, environmental protection and targeting immigrants.

Effective Witnessing is Centering Jesus Together

The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta Posted October 3, 2025

"We have a particular way of being, a particular way of seeing the world, and it's much more compelling than the gospel of dominion and domination that is out there as the prevalent Christian narrative now," said [Presiding Bishop] Rowe.

Amid Christian nationalism and distrust of institutions, The Episcopal Church may be one of the last institutions staking its privilege and bearing witness to Christ as the only reality, Rowe said.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, right, presided at the Eucharist during The Episcopal Church’s first churchwide Veterans Day service in the Chapel of Christ the Lord at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City on Nov. 11. The Rev. Ryan Parke, left, a priest in the Diocese of North Carolina who serves as a chaplain at the Raleigh-Durham VA, and Bishop Suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries Ann Ritonia, center, assisted. Photo: Angela James

Veterans Day is both personal and sacred, the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia told participants at The Episcopal Church’s first churchwide Veterans Day service on Nov. 11.

During her sermon, Ritonia, bishop suffragan for The Episcopal Church’s Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, noted that she has served in the U.S. Marine Corps and has a family filled with veterans – her grandfather was awarded the Purple Heart for fighting in France in World War I, her father and two uncles served during the Korean War, and a cousin was in Vietnam.

She told those at the Chapel of Christ the Lord at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City and those watching by livestream that like her family, most veterans simply “did their duty, they cared for their families and … quietly carried on.” And it is their stories that are the important part of Veterans Day, she said, because they are real people “who carried burdens most of us will never fully see.”

American Heroes

• The History of the Navajo Code Talkers in World War II and the Mission to Preserve Their Memory
• American Heroes: Japanese American Soldiers in WWII
• Exhibit Honors Tuskegee Airmen's Legacy at Soldiers Memorial
• Patriots from the Barrio
• Women in the Military During WWII

Miriam Casey and Jo Ann Williams, co-chairs of the Commission for Intercultural Ministries, presented a pendant and necklace to Bishop Phyllis Spiegel who was the keynote speaker at the Diocesan Convention. The necklace was given to the Bishop from the co-chairs as an expression of gratitude for her work to build the Beloved Community in the Diocese of Utah and for sharing her wisdom with us in the Diocese of Northern California.

The necklace was made by Quarter Pine, a member of the Pomo tribe in Santa Rosa. He dives for the abalone and cuts the shells into shapes. This pendant is in the shape of a wolf. His wife created the necklace made out of abalone shells and several kinds of purple beads.

CIM team members Karen Nolan (Diocesan Sacred Ground Coordinator) and Diane Williamson with Miriam and Jo Ann.

CIM team member Kimo Kimokeo with Diane and

Jo Ann.

Steven Preston, convener of the Rainbow Ministry, offers a glitter blessing to the Rev. Maryly Adair.

Bob Wohlsen and Lupita Arim-Law at the Migrant Support Network exhibit table. This ministry provides resources to churches to use in their work to welcome the stranger and support migrants in their communities.

The CIM exhibit table included a display of recommended books (front row):

• Jesus and the Disinherited by Dr. Howard Thurman, required reading for Sacred Ground.
• Issei and Nisei - The Internment Years by the Rev. Daisuke Kitagawa who was incarcerated and pastored other prisoners of Japanese descent at Tule Lake Concentration Camp, located in our diocese, during WW II. His son, the Rev. Canon John Kitagawa, chair of The Episcopal Church's Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice, joined the September 2025 diocesan pilgrimage to Tule Lake.
• The Gray Bird Sings - The Extraordinary Life of Betty Kwan Chinn by Dr. Karen Price. Christ Church, Eureka, and their rector, the Rev. Dr. Daniel London, work closely with Dr. Chin in her homeless and feeding ministries in Eureka.
• The Abolitionist's Journal by the Rev. James D. Richardson, Associate Priest at Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento. "James Richardson's personal and compelling account of his abolitionist ancestors' experiences confronting slavery helps us to move past our convenient forgetfulness and take up the cause of justice in our own time." --The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, former presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church

YouTube I Christ Church, Eureka I Posted October 1, 2025

Many of us at St John’s, Roseville, have participated in our partnership with the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation (NW) by contributing food, toiletry items and school supplies to the students at Grant High School. NW was established with the goal of creating an integrated approach to community healing and empowerment in Del Paso Heights.

As the impact of NW has grown in Del Paso Heights, this organization has become involved in new ways in the elementary school and middle school. There are many ways you are invited to participate in this outreach. To find out more, please join us in a webinar on Saturday, November 22nd, from 10:00-11:00 am. We will briefly look at how St. John’s Roseville’s, partnership with NW is evolving, see a video with testimonials from community members, hear from CEO Gina Warren and CFO Marilyn Woods about their vision for the future, and have some time to ask questions of the NW leadership.

For questions, please contact Diane Williamson, dianewilliamson864@gmail.com, or Miriam Casey, edncbbc@gmail.com.

Please register to receive the Zoom link:

The Rev. Dr. Pamela Dolan and Miriam Casey, COE co-chairs, with Bob Wohlsen at the COE exhibit table.

Visitors to the Commission on the Environment exhibit table were greeted by COE team members Perry Gray-Reneberg and Bob Wohlsen who shared information on our churches' Carbon Neutral 2030 project progress and tips to improve energy efficiency at home. Lively conversations on a variety of Creation Care focuses punctuated the day and several individuals indicated interest in joining in the ministry's work of healing our planet.

YouTube I Sunday Sermon by The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith | Posted November 9, 2025

Dean Hollerith's sermon ties the life and work of Dr. Jane Goodall and the Epistle message from November 9.

Paul encouraged the Thessalonians not to succumb to fear and to stay grounded in truth and God's love--this at a time when they were oppressed by the ruling leaders of the time.

YouTube I Washington National Cathedral Podcast Posted October 22, 2025

Podcast with Dr. Jane Goodall and Dean Hollerith, ten days before Dr. Goodall's passing on October 1, 2025.

Dr. Goodall talked about hope and the need for us all to strive to overcome challenges associated with reaching the star at the end of the dark tunnel.

Dear Sacred Ground Facilitators,

An additional Sacred Ground session has been created titled, Jews, Racism, and the Implications for Today's Rise in Antisemitism.

The creators for this new session [Rev. Anne Derse of St. John's Norwood Episcopal Parish; Tal Widdes of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (both in Bethesda MD); and Dr. Jayne Osgood] consulted with and received approval from Andrea Lauerman, national Sacred Ground Coordinator, and with a number of Jewish and Black sources about the materials.

The facilitator notes and information about the materials are located in the link below. Please feel free to add this material to your Sacred Ground curriculum or hold a separate session if you are not currently facilitating a circle.

If you are open to others in the diocese joining your circle, please let Karen Nolan, Diocesan Sacred Ground Coordinator, norcalcim@gmail.com, know so she may refer them to you.

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

Candlelight Vigil

November 22, 6:30pm, at Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento

The Transgender Day of Remembrance memorializes those lives lost due to actual or perceived gender identity and expression. The first memorial was a candlelight vigil in Boston in November 1999 to honor Rita Hester, murdered in 1998. Since then, annual memorials on this day have been observed around the world. This vigil will be dedicated to the memories of Carina Holleran, Carol Byers and Ruby Molina among many others who have fallen to ignorance and intolerance. This vigil is hosted in partnership with PFLAG Sacramento, TransFamilies, and the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus.

Remote attendees from across the Diocese can view the event live at Trinity Cathedral Sacramento's Youtube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BchwN3wESwY

ADVOCACY

For questions or information, contact Bob Wohlsen,

Advocacy Team Chair, bob.wohlsen@gmail.com,

Episcopal Public Policy Network

Public Policy and Witness Weekly Prayers

Dear Advocates,

Here is the latest news about the reopening of the government, COP30, Sudan, and Gaza. Please read and distribute.

Peace and Joy,

Bob

The South African government has repeatedly tried to correct the White House, providing statistics that disprove these claims — for example the fact that Black people are by far the worst affected by violent crime and that whites still own the majority of commercial farmland — to no avail.

Latino history in the United States started very early (1500s) in the colonization of the Americas. Spanish explorers and settlers established some of the earliest European communities in what is now the U.S.—in places like St. Augustine, Florida, and the Southwest, long before English colonization. These settlers built thriving societies centered on farming, ranching, trade, and faith, creating a lasting cultural legacy. However, as the young United States expanded westward during the 19th century, these Spanish-speaking inhabitants found their lives transformed by conquest and shifting borders.

Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, Ofrenda 2025

See the video of the Cathedral's digital ofrenda. The online entries were printed, framed, and added to the Cathedral's physical ofrenda for the All Saints Sunday service, and names were read at the All Souls Requiem later that afternoon.

YouTube I PBS I Posted October 15, 2025

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION examines how America’s founding turned the world upside-down. Thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence, and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired centuries of democratic movements around the globe.

Read More

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

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

The Commission for Intercultural Ministries

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