June 14, 2022 E-News

June 14, 2022

In this edition of ENews:

Bishop Megan Visits Trinity Sonoma on Trinity Sunday
Rev. Michael Monnot celebrates last Sunday at All Saints Sacramento
Forward with Families: Lifting Up Hearts at the Mission at St. Matthew’s
Bishop's Ranch is looking for Campers!
Disaster Resilience – A Success, Risen from the Ashes
Commission for Intercultural Ministries – Epidemic of Gun Violence and Loving Our Neighbors

Around the Diocese

Rev. Michael Monnot says farewell

On Sunday, June 12, the Rev. Michael Monnot wrapped up 16 years of ministry with All Saint's Church in Sacramento. In addition to joyful worship, the congregation hosted a sumptuous potluck lunch and gave Michael gifts both serious and light-hearted. Michael is relocating to the Diocese of Iowa, where his wife, the Rt. Rev Betsey Monnot, was recently consecrated as bishop.

Above: Rev. Monnot preaches his farewell sermon

Top right: during the service, Senior Warden Jim Colgan (left), Canon to the Ordinary Rev. Julie Wakelee, and Junior Warden Dave Jurkovich (right) shared in the liturgy for the concluding of a pastoral relationship. Cn. Julie also read a letter from Bishop Megan, lauding the parish and Rev. Monnot for their good work together.

Bottom right: One gift to Rev. Monnot was a reproduction of a favorite oil painting of the church.

Bishop Megan Visits Trinity Sonoma

Last Sunday, Bishop Megan visited — appropriately — Trinity Church in Sonoma. After preaching and celebrating the Eucharist, Bishop Megan blessed their newly expanded outdoor columbarium. Many thanks to the Rector, Rev. Jim Thomas, and Associate, the Rev. Zac Neubauer,

and the people of Trinity for their warm welcome and hospitality.

Forward with Families: Lifting Up Hearts at the Mission at St. Matthew’s

by Jim and Vicki McCartney | Members of the Center Committee and the Mission Committee at St. Matthew’s

The McCartney family began attending St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in the early 1980s, after a ten-year hiatus from being very active in an Episcopal Church in Seattle, Washington. By then, our two children were of school age and we were searching for a church to influence our young sons’ spiritual growth in a manner consistent with our faith.

We were also looking for a church with strong community outreach, and we found that at St. Matthew’s. There was a food closet and a clothes closet, open twice a week, run entirely by the church’s women since the 1970s. The church began offering worship in Spanish in the early 2000s, supported several programs for neighborhood children and parents, and started a health triage clinic in 2008. Raising our own children in the church showed them that when we love God, we are also called to love our neighbors.

Vicki’s involvement in teaching Sunday School made us aware of the number of children attending St. Matthew’s who arrived very hungry. We recall a young boy and girl who appeared on campus around 7:30 am each Sunday morning. Not able to tell time, they knew that it was Sunday and that they would receive food. We soon became aware that there were about ten children who showed up for church who did not have a place to call home. They moved monthly from one apartment to another, staying wherever they could find shelter, and they were always hungry.

As the years passed, the congregation dwindled as the neighborhood suffered from socioeconomic distress and parishioners moved away or died. When we began our journey at St. Matthew’s, we were certain that the church would close by the late 1990s. Yet throughout our four decades here, we have marveled at how people have come forth to keep this church open to serve the community. We cannot name all of the people who have appeared at the church’s doors over the years to help with worship, pastoral care, and outreach ministries—but through a miracle, they have joined our efforts to provide for the community’s needs.

In 2015, the Vestry of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church recognized that we could no longer sustain these outreach ministries and maintain our aging buildings on our own. In dialogue with diocesan leaders, we began a process in which the church once again became a Mission congregation so that the diocese could take ownership of the church campus and re-imagine the Center at St. Matthew’s as a diocesan community service center and outreach ministry.

Our small and diverse congregation continues to offer worship, pastoral care, and fellowship every Sunday. As the Mission at St. Matthew’s, we are always ready to welcome the stranger, and we continue to serve our homeless neighbors in partnership with the Center at St. Matthew’s and Arden Arcade HART (Homeless Assistance Resource Team). We ask that you support the diocesan Center at St. Matthew’s so that we, the congregation of the Mission at St. Matthew’s, can continue to do the work that God has given us to do: praying, preaching, singing, and lifting up hearts at as we care for the most marginalized members of our community.

How To Donate to the forward With Families Campaign

We invite you to join us in the Center at St. Matthew’s Forward with Families giving campaign in May and June 2022. Thanks to a generous matching gift from the Rev. Mary Claugus, your donations to the Center will be doubled up to the matching gift amount of $25,000.

To donate online, please visit the diocesan website’s online giving portal at:

norcalepiscopal.org/give/ Click on the red “Give” button and select “The Center at St. Matthew’s” from the drop-down menu. You may enter “in honor of” or “in memory of” your loved ones in the “optional memo” field.

To donate by check, please make your check payable to “Episcopal Diocese of Northern California” and write “Center at St. Matthew’s” in the memo line. You may enclose a note in honor or in memory of your loved ones. Please mail your check directly to the Center at:

The Center at St. Matthew’s

2300 Edison Avenue

Sacramento, CA 95821-1714

Office of the Bishop

Best Skills, Best Churches Announces

2022/2023 Program

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

This exciting program is designed to meet the professional needs of leaders of nonprofit and public organizations. Upon successful completion of the program, participants will receive a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation.

Click here for the schedule and additional information.

Click here to register.

Show us your Pride!

We want to see how you're celebrating Pride month! If you have photos or video please send them to Maria Ramirez at maria@norcalepiscopal.org

From Trinity Cathedral

Pride Eucharist at Easter Park

Come and join us for a Pride Eucharist at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, June 22 in Easter Park. We hope to strike a festival feel with a food truck and a great sense of community. This is our opportunity to celebrate the affirming culture of Trinity Cathedral towards the LGBTQ+ community. The service begins at 7:00 pm.

Mission for Disaster Resilience

A Success, Risen from the Ashes

By Mark G. Dibelka | Missioner for Disaster Resilience

One of the most heartening things we can do as we live into our Christian lives, is to give relief to those who are in need. On the other side of that wonderful feeling, is the disheartening knowledge that many times we receive no feedback as to the impact and importance of our gift. Today, be prepared to hear some joy, as expressed by one of the resettled families, we have assisted in giving.

Each month, I sit on the unmet needs roundtables of the Caldor, Camp, and Dixie Fires Long-Term Recovery Groups. Part of the purpose of these meetings is to help provide homes to those who lost everything in the fires and who have exhausted all other means of financing a safe, secure, comfortable, and permanent residence. Many of these families have been traumatized not only by the disaster that changed everything they knew in life and left behind damage both physical and emotional, but by the very process of recovery itself.

This work is both heartbreaking and gratifying, often in equal measure. We hear the horrible stories and, frequently, we are part of the blessings of new beginnings. Last month, I wrote about the dedication of three newly built houses that had been funded through the generosity of faith organizations. I have news that is just as exciting to bring you this month.

The full story cannot be told here because we value the privacy of those we help, but we heard the story of one of the true heroes of the Camp Fire and we were able to help in a very specific way. This story involved a teacher who, with flames advancing, loaded students into a personal vehicle and evacuated them to safety; then worked to reunite the students with their families. As a result of the fire, this teacher quite literally lost everything except a job. The teacher’s house and all the furnishings were gone, everything important to life was gone, and the stress of the event even brought on a divorce. I imagine it would have been easy for this teacher to simply walk away from Paradise and start over, but the teacher was invested in the community and asked our assistance in making a down payment on a brand-new home, in Paradise not too far from the school.

Just a few days ago, the teacher shared how life has changed since the request for a down payment was funded:

“I am so overjoyed with so many emotions about receiving this help. I am eternally grateful. It is almost unbelievable to me. The house is so cute, too. My house is a light mint green and I’ll even have enough space to garden. It is so wonderful to see the growth in Paradise. I will make sure to give back to others as well. As you know, along with my colleagues, we are helping our students every single day, not only with academics but so many basic needs since the Camp Fire changed so much for them. I will continue to give back to all students and also encourage people to come and live in Paradise.”

Compassion and a helping hand has changed lives. We will continue to work to change lives impacted by the Camp Fire, and we have only begun to change lives impacted by the Caldor and Dixie Fires as well. Who knows which of us will be impacted by the events of this year, but we stand ready to assist.

Please join us in caring for those who suffer because of disasters and donate to the Bishop’s Disaster Fund – where 100% of your donation is put towards disaster resiliency.

General Convention News

Updated legislative committee schedule

The schedule for General Convention online legislative meetings has been extended through June. New meetings are being added regularly, so anyone wishing to observe or testify should check the calendar. Registration must be submitted at least two business days prior to a hearing.

Meetings scheduled for this week include:

Governance & Structure: June 8, 2 p.m. ET – open hearing. View resolutions.
Social Justice & United States Policy: June 8, 7:30 p.m. ET – open hearing. View resolutions.
Ministry: June 8, 8 p.m. ET – open hearing. View resolutions.
Racial Justice & Reconciliation: June 9, 7:30 p.m. ET - committee deliberation only, no testimony.
Environmental Stewardship & Care of Creation: June 11, 4 p.m. ET – open hearing. View resolutions.

En Espanol

General Convention Deputies for our Diocese

CLERGY DEPUTIES

The Rev. Br. Simeon (Lewis) Powell | Clergy Deputy 1 | St. John's, Chico

The Rev. Matt Warren | Clergy Deputy 2 | Christ the King, Quincy

The Rev. Robin Denney | Clergy Deputy 3 | St. Mary's, Napa

The Rev. Canon Cookie Clark | Clergy Deputy 4 | Epiphany, Vacaville

LAY DEPUTIES

Ms. DonnaJo Woollen | Lay Deputy 1 | Emmanuel, Grass Valley

Ms. CeeCee Coleman | Lay Deputy 2 | St. Matthew's, Sacramento

Mr. Peter Juvé | Lay Deputy 3 | St. Mary's, Napa

Mr. Jay Elmquist | Lay Deputy 4 | Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento

ALTERNATES

The Rev. Jim Richardson | Clergy Alternate 1 | Trinity Cathedral

Canon Charles Mack | Lay Alternate 1 | St. Luke's, Woodland

Mr. John Miller | Lay Alternate 2 | All Saints, Sacramento

Ms. Anne Seed | Lay Alternate 3 | St. Paul's, Benicia

Mr. Jerry Paré | Lay Alternate 4 | Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento

From the Episcopal Foundation

$100,000

Foundation Grant Fund –

Now Accepting Applications for 2022!

The Episcopal Foundation of Northern California has joyfully committed to continue our $100,000 Foundation Grant program available to churches and missions throughout our Diocese in 2022.

The deadline to submit an application is July 1, 2022. Grants will be awarded in the month of August.

Click here or visit the EFNC page on our website to find out more, and to download an application!

Spiritual Formation

June 19, 2022, Second Sunday after Pentecost, Luke 8:26-39

The Healing of the Gerosene Demoniac:

In this dramatic healing story we focus on two features of the narrative: his healing and his ministry.

The healing is dramatic, almost bizarre. The man approached Jesus, and unlike others who had not been able to help or contain him, Jesus acted decisively. He commands the demons to come out of the man, and he sends them into the herd of swine, who rush into the sea and are drowned. Jesus’ impact was direct and effective, and the next thing anyone knew, the healed man was sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. The story shows that nobody is beyond the healing power of Jesus. The demoniac’s transformation is evidence that the Kingdom of God is breaking into even the darkest places. It shows vividly that if anyone is in Christ, there is new creation. Everything old has passed away, and everything has become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But the people of the district found that what Jesus had done was so new and different, and this had upset the normal way of things (and upset some pig herders) that they asked him to leave their district. So that when the healed man wanted to follow Jesus, he was not allowed to do so. His way of following Jesus would be staying in the village where he was known, and bearing witness, both visibly and verbally, to the breaking in of the Kingdom of God, to God’s new creation. They did not want Jesus in their midst. But they could not escape or ignore God’s good news embodied in this healed demoniac. We are challenged by this story to ask ourselves how we are uniquely placed to proclaim and live out the breaking in of God’s kingdom in our own setting.

– The Rev. Peter Rodgers

Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Epidemic of Gun Violence and

Loving Our Neighbors

by Miriam Casey | Co-Chair, Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Our country is experiencing an epidemic of gun violence. It is on the front pages of our newspapers and on TV and online breaking news. Again and again, we learn about mass shootings taking innocent lives. All ages, including children Any location, including churches. In small towns and large cities. Many times, from the use of automatic weapons.

In the midst of this epidemic of gun violence, we are called to love our neighbors. How do we answer that call?

Prayer

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites us to pray together.

Message from the Pulpit

Many of our spiritual leaders are speaking to us from the pulpit about what it means to love our neighbors in this time of extreme gun violence.

In his May 29 sermon, Dean Randy Hollerith of Washington National Cathedral reminds us we are all connected to each other, all one family together, and connected to God. And we need to care for each other.

He reminds us that “we have to do something about the never-ending trail of death caused by gun violence.”

He reframes the issue for us. It is not a political issue but a moral issue.

Dean Hollerith closes with words from John Wesley, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”

Link to the sermon

Advocacy

The Episcopal Church has a long history of advocating for legislation to reduce the risk of gun violence in the United States. Unfortunately, pro-gun groups have successfully blocked the passage of new gun restrictions. The current surge in gun violence has prompted Congress to begin new discussions about restrictions on gun use that would improve the safety of our communities.

The Office of Government Relations published an action alert to support gun reform to strengthen and expand background checks. Please take a moment to use this online tool to send a message to your Senators and Representatives to vote in support of gun reform.

Other Actions

The Episcopal Peace Fellowship is a national organization that focuses on peace and justice-building in our communities, based on our call to love and to fulfill our Baptismal promises. They provide this resource about 10 ways our churches can reduce gun violence.

There are a number of organizations that are working to promote greater gun safety. Please consider supporting one of these organizations.

Prayer for God's Help

Gracious God,

With heavy hearts and troubled minds, we pray for the victims of mass shootings. We remember all who have lost their lives to gun violence and commend them to your merciful and loving presence. We hold before you all families and communities who are facing the turmoil and trauma of loss, whose lives have been forever changed, and we place them into your loving arms…. We seek your divine help for our nation at this time and pray that our leaders will have the courage and compassion to address the epidemic of gun violence so that all homes, schools, houses of worship, and communities may be places of safety and peace. We ask this in your most Holy Name. Amen.

I Will With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice Workshop

St. Luke's, Auburn

July 23, 2022

9:30 am - 4 pm

Are you looking for ways to gain a better understanding of Native Communities?

Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento and Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa are working with the Redbud Resource Group to help them develop cultural knowledge and competency about the Native community. This is a basic step for developing meaningful relationships with these communities and going beyond land acknowledgements.

Redbud Resource Group is offering a masterclass this week to help individuals in their efforts to gain understanding of Native culture. I highly recommend this training. If you and your church are interested in gaining this knowledge, please consider registering for this course. Or if you know of another church or individual that is interested in gaining this knowledge, please pass-on the information.

Learning more about the Native culture increases our capacity to love our Native brothers and sisters.

— Miriam Casey | Co-chair, Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Going Beyond Land Acknowledgements

Thursday, June 16, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm PDT

On Zoom | $45

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 acknowledgments and explore concrete, action-oriented strategies for building connections with Native communities and organizations.

How you will grow:

Gain skills and strategies to successfully address inequities and disparities that exist in your community.
Improve your understanding of the challenges faced by contemporary Native peoples in relation to your own life and work.
Connect with like-minded people across fields and organizations who can support you in your diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

LGBTQ+ Welcome and Ministry Conversation

Saturday, June 25 | 9:00am - 10:30am

The diocesan Commission for Intercultural Ministries invites you to join us for a planning and dreaming conversation about how we can support churches in our diocese in being welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, and to dream what ministry opportunities there may be.

Join us on zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83777220021

For more information contact Miriam Casey, Co-Chair Commission for Intercultural Ministries at norcalcim@gmail.com.