The

By Bob Williams

[The Episcopal News – January 5, 2022] Whether greeting Altadena schoolchildren or addressing a Santa Ana rally, preaching in Pasadena or keynoting a clergy conference in Santa Barbara, Archbishop Desmond Tutu inspired thousands of Southern Californians to join his efforts to end South African apartheid and build a world that affirms the diverse “rainbow people of God.”

Mourned worldwide since his death Dec. 26 at age 90, Tutu visited the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles frequently during the last four decades, creating longstanding ties with Anglican counterparts in the Church in the Province of Southern Africa.

“We Episcopalians from southern California to the central coast join the global outpouring of tribute and gratitude for this peerlessly influential Anglican leader and his example of courage, humility, and compassion,” the Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor said of Tutu. “My late mother Jean, a longtime member of All Saints Church in Pasadena, gave me an especially vivid sense of the parish’s international leadership role in supporting the archbishop and standing against the evil of apartheid.”

“We thank you for loving our father, grandfather, husband, uncle, brother, brother-in-law,” said the Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu – speaking on behalf of her mother, three siblings, and larger family – during the state funeral held in Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral on Jan. 1. “Many of the messages we received have said, ‘Thank you for sharing him with the world.’ Well, it actually is a two-way street. Because we shared him with the world, you shared part of the love you held for him with us, and so we are thankful.

“And we are thankful that all of you have gathered in your many places in person or via the wonders of technology to be a part of celebrating Daddy’s life throughout this week,” added Tutu, who in 2020-21 served as associate rector of All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills, bringing key insights from her own decades of ministry dedicated to reconciliation and justice.

Read more here.

Bishop John Harvey Taylor will ordain five deacons to the priesthood at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 8 in rites at St. John's Cathedral.

For safety, attendance at the service is limited to pre-registered participants and guests, all with proof of vaccination. The diocesan community is invited to watch the service on the cathedral's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Ordinands are the Rev. Julie Anne Lovelock Beals, the Rev. Jose Luis García-Juárez, the Rev. Katherine Y. Feng, the Rev. Guy Anthony Leemhuis and the Rev. Joshua Nathanael Francoeur Paget.

An offering will be taken, to be contributed to the ordinands' discretionary funds. To contribute online, click here.

The Diocese of Los Angeles and its Program Group on Black Ministries will present the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration online on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 4 p.m. Bishop John Harvey Taylor will be celebrant, and Bishop Deon Johnson of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri will preach at the virtual service, which will be streamed via the diocesan Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Segments of the service have been recorded at L.A.'s Christ the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in the Leimert Park/Crenshaw district. Event coordinators include Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton, the Rev. Guy Leemhuis, and Gabe Vasquez-Reyes.

Dr. King, who was born January 15, 1929, was assassinated in 1968.

The Rt. Rev. Deon Johnson (pictured above left) is 11th bishop of the Diocese of Missouri. A native of Barbados, he holds bachelor of arts degrees in English and history and an associate's degree in biology as well as a master of divinity degree from General Theological Seminary. He served at churches in Ohio and Michigan, gaining experience in social justice issues, ministry to gay and lesbian communities and many other church boards and programs. For the wider Episcopal Church he continues to serve on the task force for Liturgical and Prayer Book Revision and as a consultant with the Office of Black Ministries. He was elected bishop of Missouri in late 2019 on the first ballot, and was ordained on June 13, 2020. He and his husband are parents of two children.

By Egan Millard

[Episcopal News Service – January 5, 2021] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Washington Bishop Mariann Budde and other Episcopalians will celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany in a livestreamed service at the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 in an event that will also mark the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The event, “To Look Like Jesus: A Call to the Church and the Nation,” will begin at noon Eastern time and a video address to the nation will follow from Curry in the afternoon.

“This Epiphany, we will proclaim that we recognize Christ alive and moving wherever people are looking, acting, and loving like Jesus,” the Office of Public Affairs wrote. “Bishop Curry will invite Episcopalians to commit afresh to becoming vibrant, loving, healing, truth-telling embodiments of Jesus and his light — in our communities and in our nation.”

Read more here.

[The Episcopal Church - December 21, 2021] The members of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop have elected leaders, among other initial steps in their work to present at least three nominees to stand for election as the Episcopal Church’s 28th presiding bishop at General Convention in 2024.

The committee members recently conducted an online election for leadership positions, with results as follows:

The majority of the committee members typically are elected in person at the General Convention scheduled three years before the new presiding bishop is to be elected, but because the 80th General Convention was postponed a year to 2022, the election was held online.

Read more here.

The Diocese of West Missouri will seat the Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce as its provisional bishop in a service on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. CST (4 p.m. PST). The service of welcome and seating will be held at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. All are welcome to watch the service online here.

Bruce served as bishop suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles from 2010 to 2021. As provisional bishop in West Missouri, she has all the responsibilities of a bishop diocesan, but will hold the position for a limited time while the diocese goes through the lengthy process of discernment followed by the election of a new bishop diocesan.

Bishop Diocesan John Harvey Taylor will install the Rev. Nathan A. Biornstad (pictured at left) as rector of St. Wilfrid of York Church, Huntington Beach, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 22. The prayers and presence of the diocesan community are invited (clergy: white stoles). The service will be in person and livestreamed. (Registration to attend the in-person service is requested: Please email [email protected]). An outdoor reception will follow. Masks are required indoors. St. Wilfrid's is located at 18631 Chapel Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92646.

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is recruiting an individual to serve as dean and president of Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School of Los Angeles. Over its 50-year history, Bloy House has trained generations of lay leaders, priests, and deacons, moving flexibly with the needs of the diocese and the changing realities of academic seminaries. The vision is that Bloy House will now put greater emphasis on lay formation and will provide an integrating hub for the many excellent existing, but disparate, formation programs in the diocese, as well as visioning new initiatives and expanded constituencies. Bloy House is located at the Lutheran (ELCA) Synod headquarters in Glendale and is affiliated with Claremont School of Theology. A full job description is here.

[Bloy House] The events of the International Glasgow Summit have helped to open our eyes all the more to the huge crisis our planet is facing, and the pressing need we all have to respond to that crisis: Because the very future of humanity is in grave peril. The moral challenge that confronts the church is a challenge greater than any we have known in our past. Lutheran Ecological Ethicist Cynthia Moe-Lobeda identifies the current global move from an industrial age to an ecological age, even as developing countries are still industrializing. In Resisting Structural Evil she writes, “In the twenty-first century, the ecological century, religious and secular wisdom will join forces for the sake of equitable and sustainable life on Earth.”(7) But how are we as Christians to do that, and how do we keep hope in this age? How much do we as Christians understand about the scope of what lies before us?

“Ministry in an Age of Ecological Crisis” is a semester-long hybrid class to be taught by the Rev. Dr. Sylvia Sweeney, author of two books of eco-feminist theology. The class will meet for five alternating in-person sessions on the Bloy House campus in Glendale and five Zoom classes. Participants will read poetry, reflections, books, and book chapters by ecological theologians and environmentalists, including Moe-Lobeda, Elizabeth Johnson, Sallie McFague, Paul Santmire, Wendell Berry, and Pope Francis. Half of classroom time will be spent discussing the material presented in the readings and the other half spent creating programs and activities that can be used in a parish setting to galvanize communities for the pressing spiritual work of saving our planet from irrevocable disaster.

This class will be hybrid in-person/online, with one class per month in person and one class per month on Zoom, 1 – 4 p.m.

Audit fee is $250. Scholarships are available. Email [email protected] to register or for more information.

By Your Side Vigil Companions, a project of Episcopal Communities and Services, trains volunteers to be a compassionate presence in the lives of those nearing the end of life. A new set of training sessions is scheduled early in 2022.

"The mission of By Your Side since 2011 has been to be supportive of people in palliative care and to be at their bedside at the end of their lives as needed," says By Your Side director Susan Brown. "The pandemic has brought all of us to an acute awareness of life’s fragility, and of the immense value of being companioned. In adapting to the reality of COVID, we redefined being 'present' to include presence at the bedside and presence without proximity, realizing that what is most important is connection.

"We have also grappled with the need many of us feel to talk about what we are living through, perhaps to grieve. Together, we’ve explored being together – in hospitals, in our communities, over technology or the phone, in whatever ways we could. Amazingly, despite new challenges, we’ve built multi-generational kinship among people from Korea to Victorville."

Brown invites interested people to enroll in the Zoom (or hybrid) training sessions in early 2022. Each of the five sessions is two hours: Thursdays, Jan. 27 – February 24, 4 - 6 p.m., or Mondays, March 7 – April 4, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. There is no obligation to volunteer at the completion of the training.

To enroll or for more information, contact Brown at s[email protected] or 818.822.6044. Enrollment is limited to 30 people. A fee of $70 (which includes all materials) is due by the second class. Scholarships are available. CE (12 hours) for nurses is available for an additional $30 under California Board of Registered Nursing Provider Number CEP 16239.

Are you concerned about immigration and migrants south of the border? The border ministries committee of the diocese's Program Group on Global Partnership is seeking interested members of the diocesan family to join in its work. Meetings are held via Zoom. For information, contact the Rev. Pat O’Reilly, [email protected].

Donors may save up to 15 minutes by completing pre-donation reading and answering health history questions here, rather than filling out forms on the day of donation.

Reservations through the Red Cross are required. All donors and staff will be screened before entering the facilities.

St. Mark's Episcopal Parish

Parish Hall

330 E 16th Street, Upland 91784

Reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: STMARKS

Grace Episcopal Church

555 East Mountain View, Glendora

Reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: GECG

OR call or text 909.994.7794 or email [email protected]

St. John's Episcopal Church, Cardinal Gym

30382 Via Con Dios, Rancho Santa Margarita 92688

Reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: St. John (note no "s")

Additional dates at this location are Sundays, June 26 and Oct. 23.

Will your church host blood drives in 2022? Send the information to [email protected] for inclusion in the calendar. Please include the date, times, location and sponsor code.

[The Archbishop of Canterbury] Read the transcript of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s new year message, which was broadcast on BBC One on New Year’s Day. The message, which was filmed at Kew Gardens in London, can be viewed here.

"Here at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, there are signs of new life all around, even in deepest winter. Kew scientists know that all life on Earth – including our own – depends on plants and fungi.

"And yet one-fifth of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction because of multiple threats, including climate change. Meanwhile hundreds of millions of people are already suffering the impacts of our rapidly warming planet – extreme weather, droughts and famines, and conflicts intensified by competition over natural resources.

"I’ve been learning how the team here are researching solutions that protect not just the plants of the world – but also help some of its people."

Read the entire message here.

[The Episcopal Church - January 5, 2022] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites applications for Episcopal delegates—including youth—to represent The Episcopal Church virtually at the 66th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW66), March 14–25.

Applications in English or Spanish are due by Friday, Jan. 28. Delegates will be expected to participate in preparatory conference calls and to participate virtually for an average of eight hours per day during the two-week UNCSW meeting.

“The Episcopal Church has decades-long experience in engaging with the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women through many committed Episcopalians who return year after year to advance gender justice and women’s and girls’ empowerment,” said Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church representative to the UN. “We look forward to a rich intergenerational exchange between the wisdom of our leaders and elders, the innovation brought by newcomers, and the fresh opportunities for equity and inclusion made uniquely possible by our virtual presence during this pandemic.”

Read more here.

By Egan Millard

[Episcopal News Service – January 3, 2022] Episcopalians in Boulder County, Colorado, are beginning the long task of recovering from a devastating wildfire that destroyed about 1,000 homes and burned over 6,000 acres in Superior and Louisville, suburbs northwest of Denver, on Dec. 30 and 31.

Mike Orr, canon for communications and evangelism for the Diocese of Colorado, said that the Episcopal churches in the area had not been damaged but some parishioners had lost their homes. No deaths or major injuries were reported as of Jan. 2, though two people were missing, The New York Times reported.

“The rectors and priests in charge are coordinating some of those efforts on the ground to assess the immediate needs of those families right now, as well as the needs of people who don’t call themselves Episcopalians,” Orr told Episcopal News Service. “This week we’re going to be putting out a request for people who want to give to that cause and we’ll be coordinating that through the Office of the Bishop, setting up a way for people to apply for funds to meet their needs.”

Orr added that the Rev. Carl Andrews, the diocese’s disaster coordinator, is working with Episcopal Relief & Development, which has already provided an initial grant to the diocese.

Read more here.

By David Paulsen

[Episcopal News Service – January 4, 2022] St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is a congregation of fewer than 20 people in Hillsboro, Texas, a city of 8,000 about halfway between Waco and Fort Worth. The past year has been one of transition for St. Mary’s, with its past locked up in a historic church building to which these Episcopalians no longer have the keys.

The congregation’s hoped-for future is a new church to be built on vacant land, backed by more than $2 million from a gift of the estate of a former parishioner who died in 2017. For now, however, the land remains vacant, and the bequest sits untouched in a bank account – frozen until St. Mary’s resolves its legal dispute with a breakaway group of worshippers who retained possession of the old church on Abbot Street.

Read more here.

Bishop Scott Mayer celebrates Holy Eucharist at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, Texas, on Dec. 5. The congregation has worshipped in a former bank drive-thru since June. Photo: Episcopal Church in North Texas

Join The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture as they host a Zoom discussion at 12 p.m. (PT) on Tuesday, Jan. 11 about how the prison at Guantanamo was opened 20 years ago, its human rights abuses and military commissions, why it remains open, and how to advocate for its closure.

Webinar participants include: Shaun Casey, professor at Georgetown University and former special representative for religion and global affairs at the U.S. Department of State; The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Matt Hawthorne, National Religious Campaign Against Torture; and J. Wells Dixon, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Rebecca Linder Blachly, director of government relations, The Episcopal Church, will moderate the discussion.

Registration is here.

[CPG - January 5, 2022] Due to the high level of interest in an inaugural webinar with its leadership this past November, Church Pension Group again invite all clergy, lay employees, volunteers, and lay leaders who serve The Episcopal Church to join Bishop Thomas J. Brown, chair of CPG's board of trustees; Mary Kate Wold, CEO and president of CPG, and other CPG leaders for a discussion about CPG’s vision, finances, and work.

The conversation will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 9 – 10:30 a.m. PST (12 – 1:30 p.m. EST).

Panelists will address outstanding questions from its previous webinar and address questions from participants, who may also submit questions in advance to [email protected].

Those who have wondered how CPG manages its finances, stays abreast of the evolving needs of the people and institutions it serves, and makes key decisions about benefits, products, and services are invited to join the conversation.

Moderator is Patty Favreau, chief communications officer of CPG. Panelists from CPG also include Frank Armstrong, COO; the Rev. Clayton Crawley, chief church relations officer; Roger Sayler, chief investment officer; and Ellen Taggart, chief financial officer and treasurer.

Registration, information, agenda and panelist bios are here.

[The Episcopal Church – December 22, 2021] All those attending The Episcopal Church’s 80th General Convention in Baltimore in July will be required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or submit a medical exemption in advance for approval, according to a newly adopted resolution by the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements.

The vaccination requirement will be based on CDC or state and local guidelines and legal requirements as of June 20, 2022, and will include boosters recommended by that date. All attendees also will be required to wear masks in all public areas at the convention, regardless of vaccination status.

The General Convention Office will provide additional details about how to submit proof of vaccination status in advance and on site, as well as provide guidelines for international attendees.

Read more here.

[The Episcopal Church - December 20, 2021] The Episcopal Church Office of Indigenous Ministries invites all Episcopalians to watch a livestream of Winter Talk 2022, an annual multi-day conference that honors and highlights Indigenous and Native American traditions and contributions within the church. The event will be hosted for the first time by the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.

Winter Talk will be livestreamed Jan. 15-17 from Green Bay, Wisconsin. A limited number of invited registrants will participate on Zoom and in person, including Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings. Local Oneida people also will join.

Themed “A Chain Linking Two Traditions,” Winter Talk 2022 will include special greetings and speakers, a session with the presiding bishop and president of the House of Deputies, a “Doctrine of Discovery” video, a discussion of Indigenous theological education with the Rev. Mary Crist, “A Native Way of Giving” presentation by Forrest Cuch and the Rev. Michael Carney, and the creation of an altar containing items significant to Native cultures and ministries.

Read more here.

By Adelle M. Banks

[Religion News Service – December 30, 2021] They preached sermons, wrote books and served as spiritual role models.

From Christian evangelists to atheism advocates to towering figures in the fight for racial justice, in 2021 we lost influencers who helped us understand, adopt or question religion.

Some notable figures who died this year were not generally known for their faith but nevertheless were privately religious, from Colin Powell (pictured), who was described at his funeral as someone who “loved the high hymns” of the Episcopal Church, to Rush Limbaugh, who appealed to Christian conservatives on his popular radio show.

Read more here.

More reporting from Episcopal News Service is here.

[San Gabriel Valley Tribune – December 12, 2021] It looks like it belongs in the English countryside, but historic Holy Trinity Church in Covina is right where it should be, thriving in modern-day Southern California.

In 1910, the present church building was built based on designs the Rev. Alfred Fletcher sketched of country churches on a visit to England. The priest sent his sketches to Arthur Benton, architect of the Mission Inn in Riverside and San Gabriel Valley Mission Playhouse. The result is a Carpenter Gothic church, said the Rev. Steve De Muth, pastor and rector. Its remarkable exterior is matched by dark wood inside, with vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows. The building has about 120 members who are committed to traditional worship and progressive values. "Our doors are open to all those in need of God's love and restoration," De Muth, 57, said. "We continue to learn how to take the many blessings we have received and share them with the larger community."

Read more here. (An account may be required to read the story.)

Livestreamed from St. John's Cathedral

The prayers and presence of the diocesan community is invited as the bishop ordains the Rev. Julie Anne Lovelock Beals, the Rev. Jose Luis García-Juárez, the Rev. Katherine Y. Feng, the Rev. Guy Anthony Leemhuis and the Rev. Joshua Nathanael Francoeur Paget as priests. See article above for more information.

Saint James in-the-City Church

3903 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90010

Live-streamed and on-demand here (YouTube)

Winner of the 2017 Canadian International Organ Competition and the Firmin Swinnen Silver Medal at the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, Alcee Chriss III is widely regarded as one of the leading young organists of our time. Featuring music by Bach, Schumann, Dupré, Rachmaninoff and Chriss' own arrangements and compositions.

The Center for Spirituality - Ontario

Registration: Email to [email protected]

Led by James Dunkly and the Rev. Gianluigi Gugliermetto on Wednesdays from Jan. 12 to April 6. The class will be an exploration of the “Book of Signs” of John's gospel (John 1-12) with a focus on symbols and their role in psychological and spiritual life. Water and wine, ladders and snakes, banquets and temples may appear in dream, just as they do in the Gospel of John. This class is poised between a rigorous use of the historical-critical method and a Jungian approach. The hypothesis to be verified is that the text of John's Gospel leads its readers into an in-depth analysis of their life stories and can be effectively used as a tool in the process of “individuation” (i.e., becoming oneself). Suggested donation is $150. The class will be limited to 12 students.

Livestreamed on the diocesan Facebook page and YouTube channel

The Diocese of Los Angeles and its Program Group on Black Ministries will present the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration online on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 4 p.m. Bishop John Harvey Taylor will be celebrant, and Bishop Deon Johnson of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri will preach at the virtual service. Read more in the story above.

All Saints’ Church

504 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills 90210

Information: 310.275.01, ext.112 or www.allsaintsbh.org

Featuring Melissa Givens, soprano and Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano. American soprano Melissa Givens moves and excites audiences and critics alike with a rich, powerful tone, crystalline clarity, and intelligent musical interpretations. Especially noted for her expressiveness and elegance on

the stage, she’s been hailed as a singer whose music making is “consistently rewarding” and “a pleasure to hear.” Tickets: $20 adults ($10 students & seniors). Admission free with Music Guild donor season pass.

Listings may be sent to [email protected]. There is no charge.

GLENDORA: Organist. Grace Episcopal Church is seeking a professionally trained church organist to be a part of our strong and vital music ministry. The organist will be expected to play for one Sunday service and one choir rehearsal per week, feast days, and for festive concerts. We offer a traditional Rite II service at 10 a.m. on Sundays. The preferred style of music is classical sacred music, ranging from Palestrina to Rutter. The pipe organ is by Manuel Rosales, built in 1977, with a new console in 1980, and substantial reconditioning work in 2016. The organ has two manuals and 26 ranks. The organist will work directly under our choirmaster/director of music in a collaborative manner. Salary: Starting at $12,000 per year, negotiable with demonstrated ability and experience. Weddings and funerals will provide additional compensation. Position available: Fall 2021. Send resume to the Rev. Susan Scranton via email at [email protected] or by postal mail at 555 E. Mountain View Avenue, Glendora 91741.

LOS ANGELES: Seminary Dean and President, Bloy House. The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is recruiting an individual to serve as dean and president of Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School of Los Angeles. Over its 50-year history, Bloy House has trained generations of lay leaders, priests, and deacons, moving flexibly with the needs of the diocese and the changing realities of academic seminaries. Our vision is that Bloy House will now put greater emphasis on lay formation and will provide an integrating hub for the many excellent existing, but disparate, formation programs in the diocese, as well as visioning new initiatives and expanded constituencies. A full job description is here.

PASADENA: Administrative Assistant for Music & Children, Youth and Family Program, All Saints Church. Full-time with benefits. Administrative assistant performs routine administrative functions for the children, youth, and family program such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files. Also performs routine administrative functions for the directors of music (adult, children and youth), and associate organist-choirmaster. Full job description is here.

PASADENA: Administrative Assistant for Pastoral Care, Health & Healing and Giving Office, All Saints Church. Full time with benefits. Performs routine administrative functions for Pastoral Care, such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files; write reports of prayer requests and pastoral care needs; handle phone and email, provide information, coordinate meetings and more. A complete job description is here.

Additional job listings are here. Listings are free: send information to [email protected].