In this edition of ENews:
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Forward with Families Campaign for Center at St. Matthews
- Closing of St. Mary's Ferndale garners local media coverage
- General Convention to consider proposal to end Episcopal Church’s baptism requirement for Communion
- Episcopal Relief & Development partners with Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe to aid Ukrainian refugees
- Update on Afghan refugee efforts in our diocese
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Forward with Families: Why I Invite You to Join Me in Supporting the Center at St. Matthew’s
by the Rev. Mary Hudak, Rector, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Carmichael
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When my first child was born, I was so thrilled to be a mother. My recovery from my daughter’s birth was complicated by the necessity of a Cesarean section. Healing took a little longer and was very painful. Nevertheless, I was still over the moon with motherhood. My friend, who lived three doors down, had a baby six weeks before I did. For her, the path was not as easy. Her adjustment to motherhood was more difficult, as was her daughter’s adjustment to life outside the cozy confines of the womb. I wondered, if life was so much more difficult for my friend who was abundantly resourced, what was it like for mothers (and fathers) who were having a difficult time and were constantly struggling to make ends meet? How do refugees from Afghanistan cope with a difficult birth and no money for food in a new and foreign place? How do new Ukrainian fathers cope with a colicky baby up all night, when the next day they have to work two jobs to make ends meet? How do the American working poor pay for their family’s health care, food, and rents that are going up constantly?
These are some of the reasons why I generously support the Center at St. Matthew’s. I do so because the Center is a lifeline to many mothers, fathers, and children who live in the Arden Arcade area around Edison Avenue and Bell Street, where the Center is located. Struggling parents, who need assistance with food for their families, can come to the Center at St. Matthew’s and have access to River City Food Bank’s services. Struggling parents, who need assistance in language and cultural skills to be job-ready, can come to the Center at St. Matthew’s and have access to Highlands Community Charter School’s English language and literacy classes. The Center at St. Matthew’s is a welcoming place where people can come for assistance. The Center is not just for families with children. Yet, it is the families we serve who motivate me to give a little extra.
When the Center campus is well cared for and safe, our partners can do their work serving those in need efficiently and effectively. It takes money to care for the Center. It is a large property with multiple buildings that need care and maintenance. As a community center that is in the heart of the need in Arden Arcade, I believe that St. Matthew’s is in an ideal place for the diocese to serve Afghan refugees and other immigrants, the working poor, and those who are living both in poverty and on the edge of poverty. This Center gives us an opportunity to feed and tend to so many. I invite you to join me in raising $50,000 to support the work of the Center at St. Matthew’s. I will match dollar for dollar any and all contributions up to $25,000. Together, we can do much more than I can do alone. Please join me!
How To Donate
To donate online, please visit the diocesan website’s online giving portal at:
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
For more information, please contact:
Jim Schaal, Executive Director
The Center at St. Matthew's
Phone: 916-927-0115
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Closing of St. Mary's Ferndale garners local media coverage |
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Pictured on April 30 is Bishop Megan Traquair of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California with the last remaining members of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Toni Mauney, Melinda Wagner, Sally Voorhees and Pat Stolte. (Courtesy of the Rev. Nancy Streufert) |
Watch a video of the service |
Many thanks to the clergy and parishioners throughout Semper Virens Deanery who attended the service.
Click here to watch the service.
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Due to Clergy Conference, this week the Office of the Bishop will have limited hours on Tuesday, May 10 through Thursday, May 12. Thank you for your understanding. |
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General Convention to consider proposal to end Episcopal Church’s baptism requirement for Communion
BY DAVID PAULSEN | Episcopal News Service | Posted May 4, 2022
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Two chalice bearers and San Joaquin Bishop David Rice administer communion after Rice’s 2017 investiture in
St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Fresno, California. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service
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General Convention’s committees on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music heard testimony May 3 on a diverse selection of resolutions, from proposals to add the late Bishop Barbara Harris to the church’s calendar of feasts to a measure “addressing antisemitic, anti-Jewish and/or supersessionist interpretations of our lectionaries.”
The resolution that generated the most discussion, and some of the strongest opinions, was a measure proposed by the Diocese of Northern California that would repeal the Episcopal canon that requires worshipers to be baptized before receiving Communion in Episcopal churches.
Martin Heatlie testified on behalf of Episcopalians in Northern California who researched the issue. “We could not find anything in the Bible or the Book of Common Prayer that required baptism as a prerequisite for receiving Communion,” Heatlie said. When priests say “the gifts of God for the people of God” before distributing the bread and wine, that means everyone, the diocese concluded.
“We all believe that all people are God’s people, so it’s not just the gifts of God for just baptized people,” Heatlie said.
Heatlie was one of eight people who testified on Resolution C028 at the online hearing held by the bishops’ and deputies’ committees on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music. (The two committees, though distinct, typically meet together to consider resolutions.)
The Episcopal Church’s Canon I.17.7 (page 88) states: “No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.”
The Rev. James Richardson, a priest and alternate clergy deputy in the Diocese of Northern California, noted that the diocese’s laity voted overwhelmingly in support of repealing that canon, while clergy approved it by a narrower margin.
“I think that bespeaks that this canon is about control and gatekeeping rather than an invitation to baptism,” Richardson said. Read More
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Episcopal Relief & Development partners with Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe to aid Ukrainian refugees
Episcopal Relief & Development | Posted May 5, 2022
Episcopal Relief & Development is partnering with the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe to help local congregations throughout Europe provide assistance to Ukrainian refugees.
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, the European presence of The Episcopal Church, has a long history of ministry to refugees dating back to before World War I. Since the late 1980s, the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center – based at Saint Paul’s Within the Walls in Rome – has provided direct service to refugees from countless countries, helping them rebuild shattered lives.
Episcopal Relief & Development is working with the Convocation to strengthen and expand the capacity of all Episcopal congregations across Europe to respond to the refugee emergency caused by the violence in Ukraine. The convocation is creating a fund to support local congregations’ refugee response and will pair those grants with training from Nafuma Refugee Center staff. This assistance will vary depending on the needs of the specific refugee groups but will likely include food, shelter, emergency supplies and trauma counseling.
Additionally, the center plans to increase its staffing levels, allowing it to provide aid to more people.“The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is reporting refugees in their congregations throughout Europe,” said Nagulan Nesiah, senior program officer, Episcopal Relief & Development. “Through this partnership, we are taking steps to equip congregations to welcome these refugees and connect them to ongoing humanitarian initiatives.”
Episcopal Relief & Development is also working with other partners, including the ACT Alliance, on immediate and longer-term responses. Please continue to pray for all those impacted by the violence. Donations to Episcopal Relief & Development’s Ukraine Crisis Response fund will help meet critical needs created by this crisis.
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From the Episcopal Foundation |
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$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 to find out more, and to download an application!
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May 15, 2022
The Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 13:34
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
This “new commandment,” which Jesus repeated in John 15:12, is found throughout the New Testament. We find it in Paul, “Walk in love as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2, see also Romans 13:8). It is the heart of Peter’s teaching about the Christian life: “Love one another deeply from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22).
The writer to the Hebrews exhorts, “Let mutual love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). And in the first three gospels love for God and neighbor is fundamental to the teaching of Jesus, (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27). Jesus expands the understanding of neighbor to include outsiders, as shown in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).
He further expands the scope of love to include one’s enemies (Matthew 5:43-48, Luke 6:27-28, 32-36), a love which calls for a commitment to peacemaking and conflict resolution. The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) depicts the costly, unexpected, undeserved love of the father, and exposes the deepest meaning of the cross. Such love is indeed costly, but the command to love as Christ has loved us is clear and unmistakable. Peter Marshall, the chaplain to the U.S. Senate in the 1940’s once said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that trouble me; it’s the parts I understand only too well.”
– The Rev. Peter Rodgers
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Commission for Intercultural Ministries |
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The story of Pakiza and Nafees, from their escape from Kabul to moving into their own home in Sacramento.
Trinity Cathedral members and friends working to resettle this sister and brother Afghan Refugees.
By Shireen Miles, Trinity Cathedral member
As Kabul was falling to the Taliban, Pakiza went to the airport with her parents and two younger brothers, having been promised a chance for her whole family to escape by her American colleagues at the US Embassy, where she had worked for several years screening visitors. Maneuvering multiple checkpoints on the way, the family arrived at the airport hours later, only to find themselves in the midst of chaos, oppressive heat, a teeming mass of desperate people and no clear way to board the airplane. Her mother’s blood pressure spiked dangerously. She was frightened and begged to go home. Her husband agreed that was the best course of action, and one son said he would remain with them. The parents urged Pakiza and her brother, Nafees, to stay in the crowd, do their best to make their way to America and send for them later.
After miraculously making their way onto one of the last flights, Nafees and Pakiza spent most of last fall at a military base being vetted and assisted with their U.S. documentation. They were then assigned to a community in Indiana. However, because they already had a sister and brother-in-law in the Sacramento area, they decided to come here in February. With the support of their local family, the two were immediately able to find jobs in a printing firm here. Read More
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I Will With God's Help:
Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice
Saturday, June 4 | 9:30am – 4:00pm
Faith Episcopal Church | Cameron Park
This one-day anti-racism workshop was specially developed for our diocese by the Commission for Intercultural Ministries.
During the workshop you will have the opportunity to 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.
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Job Opportunities Around The Diocese |
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St. Clement’s | Rancho Cordova is seeking a 3/4 time Priest-in-Charge.
See the position description here.
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St. Paul's | Sacramento is seeking a Music Director.
Read the job announcement here.
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Diocesan Commissions | Committees | Ministries |
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