July 23, 2024 E-News

July 23, 2024

In this edition of ENews:

Bishop Megan Ordains Three at Trinity Cathedral
Bishop Megan Visits St. James Lincoln
Camp Living Waters off to a great start
General Convention debates Communion eligibility
Date set for Presiding Bishop-elect installation
Stewardship Conference Scheduled for August 24
St. John’s, Roseville, Hosts New Series of Sacred Ground Dialogue Circles
Carbon Neutral 2030 Action Plan Workshop Scheduled for September 7

Around the Diocese

Bishop Megan Ordains Three at Trinity Cathedral

Top left: Bishop Megan, along with clergy gathered, lay hands on Mark Dibelka to ordain him a priest. Middle left: Bishop Megan ordains Jay Elmquist a deacon. Bottom left, Bishop Megan ordains Emily Hyberg a deacon. Top right: Bishop Megan with the newly ordained. Bottom right: The ordinands with Bishop Megan and clergy present.

On Saturday, July 20, dozens of family, friends, and clergy gathered to witness the ordinations of Mark Dibelka, Jay Elmquist, and Emily Hyberg. Mark was ordained to the priesthood, Jay and Emily were ordained to the transitional diaconate. It was a glorious day of worship, music and celebration. Congratulations to our newest deacons and priest!

Bishop Megan Visits St. James Lincoln

Left: Bishop Megan baptizes Ayden and Kaylee Grandin. Standing on the left are their parents, Christopher and Kristine Grandin, and on the right is their godmother, Meagan Holler. Top right, Bishop Megan has a time of worship with special needs members of the congregation. Bottom right: Bishop Megan dedicates a Memorial Pergola in St. James Community Garden. The pergola was dedicated to the memory of long-time parishioner, Ken Hill.

On Sunday, July 21 Bishop Megan Traquair visited St. James Episcopal Church in Lincoln. The occasion was the 65th Anniversary of the church, a celebration of baptism for two children, and the dedication of a memorial pergola in our community garden.

Camp Living Waters off to a great start

This week, Camp Living Waters is underway. Around 20 Campers and 20 staff and clergy are enjoying the beauty of the camp, located deep in the Russian River Deanery. Canon Julie Wakelee, Missioner Mack Olson, and Bishop Megan will be there. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was there too (virtually, that is). We'll have more photos and news next week.

General Convention

General Convention debates Communion eligibility

By the Rev. James Richardson

At our recently concluded General Convention — the highest governing body in The Episcopal Church — our Diocese of Northern California was again at the vortex of discussions over eligibility for Communion.

And once again, I found myself in the middle of it. A little refresher:

We’ve had spirited debates at our recent diocesan conventions about The Episcopal Church canon that states: “No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.”

In 2022, our diocese put forward a resolution at the General Convention in Baltimore to repeal the canon. Had it been approved by General Convention, it would have left the church with no eligibility canon for Communion. The resolution never made it out of committee that year and died.

The next year, proponents of repeal in our diocese sponsored a new resolution with similar language. After a lengthy debate at our Diocesan Convention last November, that resolution was defeated.

However, during that debate, several of us who represent our diocese as “deputies” at General Convention, including me, promised that we would come up with a new version that might be more palatable at the next General Convention. We pleaded for time and we were grateful our convention gave us this.

After much conversation in the ensuing months, we submitted a resolution attempting to take a middle course. With deadlines looming for submission to the 2024 General Convention in Louisville, such a resolution needed to be sponsored by a deputy, and so I became the official author. But it was the work of many.

Save the date for Presiding Bishop-elect Rowe’s

installation service

As announced at the close of the 81st General Convention, the installation of Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe will be a simpler, scaled-down event this fall with a view toward reducing carbon footprint and increasing virtual engagement and participation.

The installation service will take place on Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Chapel of Christ the Lord in The Episcopal Church Center in New York City with a prelude beginning at 10 a.m. ET and the service starting at 11 a.m. ET. There will be an extensive livestream production to support churchwide access and participation.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend virtually—and dioceses should begin thinking about organizing watch parties. The Episcopal Church Office of Communication will be supporting those efforts with customizable invitations and other assets, with more information available in the coming months.

The Rt. Rev. Deon Johnson, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri and chair of the installation planning committee, said: “I am delighted to work with Presiding Bishop-elect Rowe and the committee in planning this historic installation. Having planned and experienced a scaled-down consecration myself during COVID, I am very familiar with the challenges and opportunities this presents.

“As a planning committee, we are committed to centering the rich diversity of our church and providing increased opportunities for virtual engagement to our community and beyond.”

Those with questions are encouraged to email info@episcopalchurch.org.

Office of the Bishop

Stewardship Conference Scheduled for August 24

Please join us for this year’s Stewardship Congregational Leadership Conference on Saturday, August 24 from 9:00 am–10:00 am. This year’s session will have a special focus on every member canvass resources for your annual stewardship campaigns. We’ll discuss the basics, share resources, and talk about why you should consider an every member canvass to achieve not only your stewardship goals, but how an every member canvass can support your pastoral care efforts as well as help in identifying future goals for your congregation.

To register, go to: https://form.jotform.com/240366571427155

Diocesan Convention Registration is Open

Links to the following documents may be found here:

Call of Convention
Convention Schedule at-a-Glance
House Rules
Governance Nomination Instructions
Resolution Instructions
Keynote Speaker Info
2024 Congregational Range Sheet
Important Convention Dates and Deadlines
Filing Alternate to Delegate Form
Filing Alternate Vacancies Form

Missioner for Disaster Resilience

Mapping Our Gifts and Opening Our Doors

Did you know that your church is listed on a map for people in your neighborhood to find? Even better, did you know that as long as the information is kept up to date, the people in your neighborhood can not only find your church, but they can also see what time service is held, and what ministries are important to you? Even better, did you know that churches often have people (who are not involved with the church in any way) volunteer to help with a ministry that they find posted online, and these people often stay with the church that reflects their values for their community?

The Episcopal Asset Map is that tool and requires very little effort on your part. If your church has a tech savvy member, the church can update its own listing. If the church has no technical people, the Mission for Disaster Resilience is here to help. Give us a call and we will help you update the map listing so your community knows who you are and what you do.

What sorts of things are found on the Episcopal Asset Map?

Office hours and worship times
Adult education (both faith based and literacy or GED programs)
Food pantry information
Shower ministry days/times
Sewing ministry meetings
Clothing drives
Children’s groups
ECW meetings
Brotherhood of Saint Andrew? Daughters of the King?
12-Step groups
The list is endless – what does your church family do?

If you are curious about the Episcopal Asset Map, you can look at it here. People we don’t know use the map to find events and volunteer opportunities to enrich their souls. I can think of no better way to share your church with the world, without paying for advertising or knocking on people’s doors – updating your entry is quick and easy!

Peace, Mark

Give to Disaster Resilience

Missioner for Church Life

We’re excited to announce that we will have a diocesan-wide New Camino training on September 27 & 28, 2024 at St. John’s, Chico. The Rev. Anthony Guillen, the Episcopal Church’s Missioner for Latino/Hispanic ministries will be here to help us explore opportunities for Latino/Hispanic ministry in our diocese. This training is suitable for individuals as well as church teams.

Please go to: https://form.jotform.com/232965467198170 to indicate your interest in attending and to receive updates regarding lodging and expenses.

Commission for Intercultural Ministry

St. John’s, Roseville, to Begin a New Series of Sacred Ground Dialogue Circles

St. John’s, Roseville, will begin a new series of Sacred Ground Dialogue Circles via Zoom in August 2024. Regular circles and Deeper Dive circles will be offered again. The 11-part series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. To learn more, please view this video by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry about the Sacred Ground program.

Last year, St. John’s offered “Deeper Dive” dialogue circles to participants who have already completed Sacred Ground. Two facilitators went through the Deeper Dive materials from the Sacred Ground website for each session and chose those that they believed would spark the best conversations. The sessions followed the same topics for the 11 sessions, but discussions went much deeper. We had two Deeper Dive circles and two regular circles via Zoom. Everyone began and ended together in the same room, and then we were divided into breakout rooms for the circle discussions. Deeper Dive participants were very positive about the experience.

This series will be held via Zoom so that all may participate, regardless of distance and circumstances. We have found it works best to space the sessions at least two weeks apart to allow time for participants to complete the work in between sessions.

The sessions are scheduled for:

August 14, 28
September 11, 25
October 9, 23
November 13
December 11
January 8, 22, 2025
February 1, 2025

Please contact Diane Williamson, dianewilliamson864@gmail.com,

or 916-300-6384 for more information or to sign up.

Commission on the Environment

Save the Date - Carbon Neutral 2030 Action Plan Workshop

Saturday, September 7

10:00 am to 12:30 pm

On Zoom

The Fearless Faith Post Revival Committee and the Commission on the Environment will present a nuts and bolts Zoom webinar providing:

How-to guidance to prepare your church’s Action Plan to be Carbon Neutral by 2030
Stories from diocesan churches about creating their plan and implementing energy efficiency recommendations
Info on technical resources and funding for designing and financing energy efficiency projects

The Agenda and Zoom info for the webinar will be posted in August.

Hope to see you there!

For more information and questions, contact - bob.wohlsen@gmail.com

Job Openings in The Diocese

The Office of the Bishop is seeking a Missioner for Communications

View Job Description here.

The Trinity Cathedral Choir of Sacramento is looking for a new Soprano Choral Scholar for the 2024-25 season. The choral scholar acts as a paid section leader and soloist under the supervision of the Canon Precentor & Director of Music.

More information can be found here: https://sierracanon.wordpress.com/2024/07/09/trinity-cathedral-choir-seeing-a-new-soprano-choral-scholar/

Clergy Openings in The Diocese