St. PJ's eNews: May 15, 2025 | | |
- Weekly Reflection: St. PJ's Turns Out Against Avelo Airlines
- Saturday: St. PJ's to host New Haven Immigration Forum
- Street Closures This Sunday
- Adult Education Calendar Update
- Register now: Summer Study at Yale Divinity School
- News from the Wider Church: Presiding Bishop Rowe ends EMM's refugee resettlement rather than submitting to Trump's racist South Africa policy (and other stories)
- This Week at St. PJ's: It's a Berkeley takeover!
- Video: Last Sunday's Service and Sermon
- Upcoming Visits with Rev. Nathan
- There's Always More...
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Weekly Reflection:
St. PJ's Turns Out Against Avelo Airlines
By the Rev. Nathan Empsall, priest-in-charge
Thank you to everyone who joined Monday's crowd of 150 for the faith-based protest at Tweed Airport as Avelo Airlines began its cruel deportation flights in Arizona. Additional protests were held in Texas and Arizona. The airline, which uses Tweed as its East Coast hub, is putting profits before people with its complicity in Trump's lack of due process -- and we are having none of it.
Although others have made this same point, it was particularly powerful to hear it from Rabbi Herb Brockman: Corporate planes sending migrants to inhumane government facilities in 2025 is the same as corporate trains sending Jews to inhumane government concentration camps in 1943. That didn't work out for the German railroads, and it won't work out for Avelo, either.
The local media was there in force, creating the kind of coverage that helps pressure Avelo. There were stories in WFSB 3, News 12, WTNH, CT Public Radio (picked up by the New England News collaborative), the Associated Press, the CT Mirror, the New Haven Register, the NH Independent, the Hour, and a particularly thorough recap from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.
There were at least five St. PJ's members and five Episcopal priests in attendance (some left before the pictures were taken). If that doesn't sound like much, remember: We have about 50 people each Sunday morning, so 10% of our attendance turning out for an out-of-the-way evening protest is pretty solid! And with a total crowd of 100-150, Episcopalians in general also turned out in disproportionate force.
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Saturday: St. PJ's to Host
New Haven Immigration Forum
St. PJ's is delighted to rent our sanctuary to an important local immigration-rights coalition for an urgent event this Saturday at 1pm, the "New Haven Immigration Forum: Extend Husky & Protect Immigrants."
(This came together quickly or we would have announced it in church last Sunday, too!)
RSVP now. Event organizers write,
"Our immigrant community is what makes our city a great place to live in, to work in, and to go to school in. But we know that the attacks on our immigrant communities are escalating. We’re seeing ICE kidnap people from our communities and disappear them to foreign detention camps. We’re seeing our immigrant communities afraid to send their kids to school, to seek healthcare, and go grocery shopping.
"It doesn't have to be this way... [On Saturday,] we’ll hear from community members, elected officials, and allies on why protecting and extending HUSKY for Immigrants and passing the TRUST Act are key actions CT can take to protect immigrant communities, and how YOU can take immediate action in support of our immigrant community members."
RSVP required: https://bit.ly/NewHavenForum
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Street Closures This Sunday
Yale's graduation is on Monday, with commencement activities throughout the weekend. You know what that means: Street closures on Elm and York downtown with congestion on remaining open streets, plus more pedestrians. Do your best to avoid downtown as you drive to church and consider leaving 10-15 minutes early!
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Adult Education Calendar Update
Our adult-education forum on Dietrich Bonhoeffer was interrupted last Sunday and has been postponed until May 25.
(There is no forum this weekend. Because Rev. Nathan is leading the series, it does not meet after Morning Prayer services when he is not present.)
"God's Microphones" is a discussion of church figures who opposed authoritarian governments, and will return for two more sessions on May 25, when we discuss the legendary pastor and prophet Bonhoeffer, and June 1, when we conclude with such other World War II figures as Sophie Scholl, St. Maximillian, and the Saints of Dachau.
"Each one of you has to be God's microphone. Each one of you has to be a messenger, a prophet. The church will always exist as long as there is someone who has been baptized." - St. Oscar Romero
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Register now for
Yale Divinity Summer Study
Yale Divinity School's annual Summer Study is almost here. These live Zoom courses on theology, Scripture, prayer, and preaching from YDS faculty are $400 each, and will be offered on Zoom from June 2-6 with morning and afternoon options. The program is open to all regardless of background, profession, age, or prior education. Participants receive a YDS Certificate of Completion. For more information or to register, visit summerstudy.yale.edu.
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Come for Morning Prayer this Sunday, May 18, at 10:30 a.m. as we celebrate the fifth Sunday of Easter.
It's a Berkeley takeover for graduation weekend!
Deacon Andrew Stump, our former seminarian intern, will preside.
Milton Gilder, who we are sponsoring for ordination, will preach.
Be sure to congratulate both Milton and Andrew on their graduations from Berkeley Divinity at Yale, as well as cantor Anna Vandeberg on graduating from the Hartt School arts conservatory!
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Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
In person and online
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Wednesday Prayer 12:30 p.m.
In person
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Thursday Compline 8 p.m.
On Zoom
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Cycles of Prayer
In the cycle of prayer for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, we pray this week for St. Thomas’, New Haven; Trinity on the Green, New Haven; St. James, New London; clergy peer groups & the clergy family; and for Assistance Program.
In the global Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray for the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East.
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VIDEO: Last Sunday's Service and Sermons
If you either missed or want to revisit last Sunday at St. PJ's, you can find the recorded livestream on Facebook or YouTube. Rev. Nathan celebrated and preached on Revelation (and how Left Behind gets it very, very wrong).
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Upcoming Visits with Rev. Nathan
As previously announced, beginning this month, I would love to meet with every St. PJ's member -- as families or individuals -- and get to know you and your dreams for our community life together.
Ideally this meeting would be at your home, where I can also offer a home blessing. If you prefer a coffee shop, your office, or a park bench on a nice day, those are fine options too -- just not the church.
I want to hear about who you are, what makes you tick, what you believe and love, your history at St. PJ's, and your hopes for this congregation's future. Through these meetings, I hope to get a better feel for who we are as a community -- and where the Spirit might be leading us.
Because I am half-time, it will undoubtedly take several months to get through these visits. If you would like to meet sooner, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to use an Excel random-number generator to determine the order in which I'll reach out. But whether it's next week or in September, know that I can't wait!
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There's always more...
If you would like to submit an item for consideration in the eNews or bulletin announcements, please let Rev. Nathan know at revnathan@stpaulstjames.org by next Wednesday afternoon.
Please contact Monifa Atkinson in the church office at office@stpaulstjames.org or (203) 562-2143 if you are interested in receiving more information about any of the following:
- Renting space at St. PJ's for your next party, meeting, concert, wedding, or other event
- Volunteering with St. PJ's
- Adding a name, birthday, or anniversary to the St. PJ's prayer list
- Arranging pastoral care needs
- Purchasing grocery-store gift cards to benefit St. PJ's
(Talk to parishioner Kate Galambos on Sundays)
- Reserving a place in the St. PJ's columbarium or purchasing a plaque on the Memorial Wall
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St. PJ's Staff and Contacts
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - Noon
office@stpaulstjames.org
(203) 562-2143
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Priest-in-Charge: The Rev. Nathan Empsall, revnathan@stpaulstjames.org
- Administrative Director: Monifa Atkinson
- Sexton: Sammy Rodriguez
- Children's Ministry: Molly Clayton
- Director of Music: Will Cleary
- Associate Director of Music: Dylan Rowland
- Tech and Music Intern: Dontae James
- Priest Associate: The Rev. Steve Crowson
- Vestry: Bill Evans (co-warden), Juhani Jaske (co-warden), David Hill (treasurer), Maggie King (clerk), Roni Holcomb, Steve Crowson, Maurice Harris, Pam Sayre, Vanetta Lloyd, Lynne Severance
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