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on Facebook here and on YouTube here.

en vivo en Facebook aquí y en YouTube aquí.

A new secure website, www.bishopsgala.org, is now live for registration and donations toward the Nov. 7 Bishop’s Gala featuring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry as keynoter.

While there is no charge to view the 6 p.m. virtual event online, generous contributions are requested to benefit diocesan programs including Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles.

Bishop John Harvey Taylor invites all in the diocese to join the event by logging in via the diocesan YouTube channel and Facebook page; please note the corrected start time of 6 p.m.

"One of the most important voices in 21st century Christianity, Bishop Curry will be the guest of the whole Diocese of Los Angeles, inviting his listeners along the way of love just four days after the historic 2020 elections," Taylor said, referencing Curry's initiative for prayer and service. “More than ever, your support is needed and appreciated as – in this time together as a diocesan family, and in all the work we do – we continue to devote ourselves to glorifying God and caring for God’s people.”

Donors of $200 or more will receive an autographed copy of Curry’s new book, Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times.

Inquiries about the gala, including sponsorship opportunities, may be emailed to Canon Kathy O’Connor, volunteer coordinator, at [email protected].

[The Episcopal News - October 7, 2020] A general election of more than usual interest has prompted the Ecumenical and Interfaith Program Group of the Diocese of Los Angeles to issue a voting guide that reflects the priorities of the Episcopal Church in the diocese as established in diocesan convention resolutions of recent years.

Because the program group also includes members of other faith groups, their voices are also taken into account in the guide. Ravi Verma, chair of the program group, and diocesan interfaith minister Tahil Sharma led the development of the guide, which is available as a PDF in English here and Spanish here.

The Episcopal Public Policy Network of California has also issued a call for all who are eligible to make a plan to vote: by mail, early in person, or on Election Day. In addition, The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations has created a comprehensive suite of resources for advocacy, the U.S. election, and 2020 Census engagement.

Read more here.

By Pat McCaughan

[The Episcopal News - October 21, 2020] With the Diocese of Los Angeles’s Nov. 14 - 15 virtual 125th annual meeting just a few weeks away, St. Paul’s Commons in Echo Park is beginning to look and feel a lot like convention.

Typically, this would be the time convention coordinator Samantha Wylie would be packing registration and other materials into “huge gondola-like” shelves on wheels, she says. St. Paul’s Commons Building Superintendent Luis Garibay would wrap them in plastic and load them onto a truck in preparation for transport to the Riverside Convention Center.

Instead, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are arranging tables, tinkering with microphones, checking headsets, cameras, live feed capability and planning dry runs to test equipment for the upcoming Facebook and YouTube livestreamed event.

The Great Hall resembles the convention center dais, where Bishop Diocesan John Harvey Taylor, Bishop Suffragan Diane M. Jardine Bruce and Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy will be seated. Creation of an altar space for the Sunday, Nov. 15 diocesan-wide Eucharist is underway. Seating is being assembled for the chancellors, judge of elections and diocesan and other support staff.

“We want to preserve some of that feeling of convention and connect to what we’ve done in the past,” Wylie said.

The task of shrinking the “Servants of the Spirit”-themed gathering into five-hour Zoom sessions — with breaks — has fallen largely to Wylie and Canon Steve Nishibayashi, Secretary of Convention, with support from diocesan staff.

Read more here.

Delegates to Diocesan Convention who aren’t sure what to expect will have an opportunity for a practice session to be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday Nov. 7. The event will include a test run at using the electronic voting system. The Zoom link for participation will be emailed directly to delegates and congregations.

Several additional online forums will be provided for discussing aspects of the convention. Clergy, delegates and all interested members of the diocesan community are invited to participate.

The Episcopal News has published a series about the councils, boards and committees for which Diocesan Convention will elect members during the 2020 virtual convention on Nov. 14. Those interested in running for any of these offices will find nomination information and forms at the convention website here.

Articles in the series are on the Episcopal News website or at the links below:

The Birth of Jesus: Myth, History, and Spirituality, a four-session virtual discussion of the revolutionary meaning of the Gospel birth narratives, will be presented on Tuesday evenings, Nov. 24 - Dec. 15, 7 - 8:30 p.m., by the Center for Spirituality in Ontario, led by Jim Dunkly, Ph.D., and the Rev. Gianluigi Gugliermetto, Ph.D. 

Dunkly is a New Testament scholar who teaches at Bloy House (Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles). He holds degrees in theology from Oxford University (UK) and Texas University, and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He has previously taught at the University of the South and Nashota House, and also specializes in theological libraries, having served as librarian for three different Episcopal seminaries over forty years.

Gugliermetto, rector of Christ Church, Ontario, is a native of Italy where he studied music, philosophy, and theology, and received a doctorate in the philosophy of religion and theology in 2008 from Claremont Graduate University. As a scholar, he has published in the sub-fields of interfaith dialogue, history and theology of Anglicanism, and theology and sexuality. He worked as translator of theological works into Italian and as a spiritual retreat leader after moving back to Europe in 2008, often in collaboration with the Episcopal priest and theologian Matthew Fox. In 2013 Gugliermetto founded the “Associazione Spiritualità del Creato” in Italy as a non-profit offering retreats and seminars.

Suggested donation is $100. To enroll, contact Ashanti Smalls at [email protected]. For more information, visit the center's website here.

The Center for Spiritual Development will present “Abiding Reverence: Unity and Reconciliation through a Way of Non-Violence,” a video conference, on Saturday, Oct. 24, 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. via Zoom. The presenter will be Julie Mussché.

"In a world where we are barraged with news of violence, do you find yourself holding your breath waiting for God to respond to the injustice? Perhaps God is extending an invitation for you to respond," says the conference description. "Do you feel called to a way of love, to a path of unity and reconciliation? Come join us online for a morning of exploring the non-violent traditions and self-reflection, opening vistas to a non-violent way of being."

Julie Mussché is a spiritual director, supervisor and presenter, and author of Navigating the Spirit: Charting A Year’s Passage Through God’s Kingdom, which was published in 2009. She has a background in geography, specializing in environmental cognition and behavior and social geography, particularly pertaining to religion and sacred space.

The fee is $40. For information and to register, click here or call 714.744.3172, or email to [email protected].

Known recently as Emmaus Ministries, the Center for Spiritual Development is a program of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

Speakers from four traditions — Muslim, Christian, Jewish and non-religious — will take part in "Inspiring Stories for Uncertain Times: Healing Our World," a virtual time of storytelling and guided conversation sponsored by The Guibord Center - Religion Inside Out and IslamiCity on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 4 - 6 p.m.

"We’ll hear moving stories from people of various faith traditions and backgrounds about how their spiritual values or ethics have given them the grit and vision to continue serving the greater good - especially in times as challenging as these," according to a Guibord Center release. "You’ll have a chance to share your own thoughts in a small group setting. We’ll talk about the strength and wisdom we find in our spiritual and ethical traditions and reflect on how to apply it in our own lives."

Storytellers will be: Dany Doueiri, Ph.D. (Muslim), co-founder of IslamiCity; Andrea Hodos (Jewish), associate director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change; Kandee R. Lewis (Christian), executive director, Positive Results Corporation (PRC); and Tim Phillips, co-founder and vice-president of Animal Defenders International (ADI).

For more information about the speakers, click here. To register for the event, click here.

The Guibord Center is an interfaith organization founded by the late Rev. Canon Gwynne Guibord, a priest of the Diocese of Los Angeles. It works to increase understanding among Los Angeles' diverse religious communities. IslamiCity is a global Muslim e-community.

"My Work to Do," an online affinity group designed to help white men and women build stamina for discussing racism, systemic injustice, racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in their everyday lives, is planning new sessions and invites members of the Diocese of Los Angeles to participate. "We invite those feeling lost or overwhelmed into the conversation," says Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton, project founder, "especially white people who might not have a local anti-racism program or accessible discussion happening in their lives." The initial program is a five-week session, with one 1.5-hour online meeting per week at which participants will discuss such topics as housing discrimination, implicit bias, whiteness as a function, and systems of white supremacy — and where to go from here. To learn more and to register for upcoming sessions, visit the website here. For more resources see “Countering Racism, Building Community” here.

Blood supplies are critically low in California, and congregations in the Diocese of Los Angeles have stepped up to help replenish them. Currently scheduled blood drives are listed below.

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.

All donors and staff will be screened before entering the facilities.

Grace Episcopal Church

555 E. Mountain View Avenue, Glendora 91741

Sign up here.

Sponsor code: GECG

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

12692 Fifth Street, Yucaipa 92399

Sign up here

Sponsor code: ST ALBANS

St. Alban's will host a blood drive on the following Tuesdays: November 24, December 29, January 26, February 23; continuing on fourth Tuesdays through August 2021.

Christ Episcopal Church

1127 N. San Antonio Avenue, Ontario 91762

Register here or call 1-800-RED-CROSS

Sponsor code: CCPOntario

By appointment only. Donors must be healthy and be able to show identification. Christ Church will host additional blood drives on Thursday, Dec. 10 and Monday, Jan. 4.

By Egan Millard

[Episcopal News Service - October 16, 2020] With every release of parochial report data – the statistics on attendance, membership and finances that every parish in The Episcopal Church must submit yearly – a picture of the denomination’s future comes gradually into focus. It’s not a holistic depiction of the church’s health or success, and it comes with many caveats — it’s difficult to infer much from one set of data, and some statistics conflict with each other. But the release of the 2019 data makes the picture clearer than ever: Even before COVID-19, The Episcopal Church’s days were numbered.

“The overall picture is dire – not one of decline as much as demise within the next generation unless trends change significantly,” said the Rev. Dwight Zscheile, an expert in denominational decline and renewal. An Episcopal priest, Zscheile is vice president of innovation and associate professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“At this rate, there will be no one in worship by around 2050 in the entire denomination,” Zscheile told Episcopal News Service.

Read more here.

A lively church-wide discussion of this article can be read - and engaged - on the Episcopal News Service Facebook page. A more local conversation is just starting on the Episcopal News Facebook page.

[Lambeth Conference Company] The archbishop of Canterbury has announced revised dates for the 15th Lambeth Conference. Hosted in Canterbury, Kent, the face-to-face conference will be planned for July 27 – Aug. 8, 2022 (with the official conference ending on Aug. 7 and departures on Aug. 8).

The conference has been rescheduled from the original 2020 dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference organizers will continue to monitor the implications of COVID-19 and follow official health guidance in the months ahead.

With the theme of “God’s Church for God’s World: Walking, Listening and Witnessing Together,” the conference will focus on what it means for the Anglican Communion – shaped by the five marks of mission – to be responsive to the needs and challenges of a rapidly changing world in the 21st century.

This will be the first Lambeth Conference to meet both face to face and virtually. As well as the meeting in Canterbury in 2022, the Lambeth Conference will now be planned as a conference journey that runs in phases before, during and beyond the face-to-face gathering.

Read more here.

[Episcopal News Service] As the United States struggles through a time of turbulence and tension, Washington National Cathedral will host a national interfaith prayer service on Sunday, Nov. 1 – two days before Election Day – featuring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and other spiritual leaders. The service, titled “Holding Onto Hope: A national service for healing and wholeness,” will be livestreamed on The Episcopal Church’s Facebook page in English and Spanish from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time (1 - 2:30 PT).

“In the midst of pandemic, racial reckoning and a historic election, the livestreamed service will gather Americans for prayer, song, lament, hope and a call to love God and neighbor,” said the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and stewardship of creation.

Curry will offer “wisdom and encouragement,” along with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest, and Valarie Kaur, a Sikh filmmaker and speaker. Curry will also preach that same day at the cathedral’s All Saints’ Day Eucharist at 11 a.m.

Read more here.

The Center for Religion and Environment at the University of the South will host a virtual conference titled “Deep Green Faith: Earth-Hearted Hope Amid Crisis” Friday evening, Oct. 23 (4 p.m. PT) and all day (three sessions) on Saturday, Oct. 24. The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Episcopal priest, co-editor of Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis (2019) and a noted activist and retreat leader, will be the keynote speaker. The Rev. Walter Brownridge, an Episcopal priest in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, who holds a law degree, will speak about political theology. Other presenters will include Collin Cornell, Ph.D., visiting instructor at Sewanee's School of Theology; Amy Patterson, Ph.D., professor of international affairs at the University of the South; and John Gatta, Ph.D. and Robin Gottfried, Ph.D., professors emeriti of the University.

Conference events, including presentations, contemplation, and worship, will explore the question: "What grounds for hope, faith, and perseverance might we find to sustain us during this troubling period, when an accelerating climate crisis, together with a global pandemic and renewed challenges to racial justice in the U.S. have left many engulfed in what’s been called 'a tsunami of sadness'?"

Tuition for the course is $59. More information and registration may be found here.

Episcopal Communities & Services

Information/Registration: contact Susan Brown, [email protected] or 818.822.6044

This program trains volunteers to be a compassionate presence for those nearing the end of life. The training will take place in 10 2-hour sessions over five weeks via ZOOM. It will have a special focus on the needs of staff at PIH Good Samaritan Hospital, but will be open to everyone. 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. Deadline to enroll is Oct. 30. (Due to an editing error, this item in last week's Update included some incorrect information about the number and duration of sessions. The News regrets the error.)

St. Luke's Church

525 E. 7th Street, Long Beach

Information here

Reservations: [email protected]

The center, now in its 34th season, brings medieval history alive as it offers the art of brass rubbing to youth as an enhancement to on-line learning and to adults as a delightfully unusual outing. The event will this year be held outside; all Covid 19 safety measures of social distancing and masks will be observed. Each presentation is 90 minutes of learning about medieval times, knights' armor, and ladies' fashion, and making art to take home. The price is $8 per person, which includes all materials. Reservations are required for all groups Tuesdays - Fridays; presentation times are 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m.. Saturday hours are 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. with no reservation for individuals. The center is closed on Sunday and Monday.

St. James in-the-City Church, Los Angeles

Live-streamed and on demand here

Center for Spirituality in Ontario

Information here

Enrollment: Ashanti Smalls, [email protected]

A series of interactive online meetings using Matthew Fox’s book Original Blessing as the springboard for exploration and reflection. The series, which began Oct. 12, is for persons of any age or walk of life, who share an interest in processing their inner journeys. Participants may join at any point, though regular participation is presumed. Sessions will be led by the Rev. Gianluigi Gugliermetto, director of the Center for Spirituality. Suggested donation is $7 per session.

Virtual conference: Register here

Information: Kimberly Corner, [email protected]

The program, which will explore the question "Lord, what will you have us do?" from the DOK prayer, will include Morning Prayer, special guest speakers, election of new diocesan officers, and adoption of revised bylaws.

Registration/Zoom info: Martha Watson, [email protected]

Girls Friendly Society-Los Angeles invites girls ages 5 and up to this virtual rally. GFS members who have been unable to meet together at their usual summer activities — pool parties, summer camp — will get together for some fun, sharing and reflections on how they can "reboot" the way they interact as followers of Jesus.

Holy Trinity Church

100 N. Third Avenue, Covina 91723

Reservations: 626.967.3939 or [email protected]

Presented by violinist Mary Keating and pianist Vernon Snyder. Admission is $8, with proceeds benefiting the Saint Cecilia Guild. The event will be held outdoors in the parish courtyard.

St. John's Cathedral, Los Angeles

Livestreamed here (Facebook) and here (YouTube)

Bishop John Harvey Taylor will offer an electiontide message at this virtual service hosted by the cathedral, with music, prayers and readings calling us to be agents of hope and healing as we strive for peace and justice. Join us as we lift our voices in common prayer and commit ourselves to living out God's values of love, justice and compassion in our beautiful and broken world. No reservations are needed.

All Saints Church, Pasadena

Zoom link here

Information: [email protected]

Yarborough is the church relations officer with The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations, where he helps manage their grassroots advocacy engagement and develops resources aimed at educating and equipping the church in policy advocacy. Join us as we discuss the upcoming election and what it means to advocate through the Episcopal Church. This event is open to everyone; allies are encouraged to attend.

Stillpoint: The Center for Christian Spirituality

Virtual retreat: Information here. Register here.

A one-day virtual retreat led by Belva Brown Jordan, Disciples of Christ minister and seminary teacher. "Participants will listen, sing, prayer and engage in theological reflection on a selection of traditional and contemporary spirituals," according to the course description. "At the end of the day retreat participants will walk about having rehearsed a piece of our common American history, experiencing through this genre what continues to expressions of “lament and protest and praise.”

Holy Trinity Church

100 N. Third Avenue, Covina 91723

Log-in information: 626.967.3939 or email [email protected]

Featuring pre-recorded Gregorian chant and live instrumental music.

St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, Hollywood

Information: 323.876.2102 or here

St. Thomas hosts its annual All Souls' Day Requiem Mass, sung by section leaders of the St. Thomas Choir. This year's Mass will be offered only as an online broadcast, featuring the traditional Gregorian chant Missa pro defunctis (with organ accompaniment written by Jeffrey Parola) and two movements from the Fauré Requiem interspersed. Broadcast live on Facebook here and YouTube here.

Holy Trinity Church

100 N. Third Avenue, Covina 91723

Log-in information: 626.967.3939 or email [email protected]

Featuring live instrumental and pre-recorded choral music.

September 2022

Join Bishop Guy Erwin of the ELCA and Canon Jim Newman of the Episcopal Church for a 13-day journey across central Europe to Oberammergau, Germany. The day-long Oberammergau Passion Play is produced every decade and is a four-century “thank you” to God for saving the people of this picturesque Bavarian Alpine village. Experience this spiritual event and look at the culture and religion of Poland (Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz and Czestochowa), Hungary (Budapest), Czech Republic (Bratislava), Austria (Vienna & the Salzkammergut) and Germany (Oberammergau & Munich). Cost is $4,899 from Los Angeles including $450 taxes/airline surcharges.) Information: Jim Newman, 3590 Grand View Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066; 310.391.5522 or 888.802.6722; [email protected]. A full itinerary is here. (Please note the date change. The Passion Play was postponed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.)

Current job listings in the Diocese of Los Angeles are here. Listings are free: send information to [email protected]. Applications for jobs must be sent to the contact included in the listing.