The Episcopal Diocese 

of Northern California

Beloved Community

Resource Newsletter

Published by

The Commission for

Intercultural Ministries

February 2025

Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community

Newsletter Highlights:

• Pastoral Letter from Bishop Megan Traquair
• Refugee Resettlement Teams Welcome Two New Families to Their Communities
• Loving our Neighbor and Becoming Brave
• The 140th Anniversary of the Chinese Expulsion from Eureka
• Pilgrimage to Charleston, South Carolina
• Black History Month Poetry Presentation
• Unsung Heroes of Christ Episcopal Church, Forrest City, Arkansas
• I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice - 2025 Hybrid Workshop Registration Now Open
• St. Paul's, Sacramento, Will Host a Sacred Ground Circle Beginning March 12
• Sacred Ground Deeper Dive Curriculum Available
• Takeaways from the Sacred Ground Regional Gathering
• Racial Justice Audit Update
• Tule Lake, Part 1: Japanese American Incarceration
• Invitation to Fundraising Event for Diocesan-wide Pilgrimage to Tule Lake National Monument
• Fearless Faith: The Rev. John Heidel, Priest-in-Charge, Church of the Epiphany, Vacaville
• Commission for Intercultural Ministries' Rainbow Ministry

Beloved People of God,

I am hearing daily stories from migrants and their friends about the confusion and distress they face as their lives have turned upside down by the fear of the unknown, of separation and potential violence.

The care and support we offer arises directly from biblical mandates in the Old and New Testaments and specifically from our Savior, Jesus, to love our neighbor. Here is a short list of examples, in addition to the Matthew passage that opens this message: Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 19:19; Mark 12:33; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8.

As a Christian denomination, we have a long history of offering loving service to immigrant families. When conflict erupts abroad, new families seek refuge here and we are blessed by their work and presence. Indeed, we are a nation filled with immigrants from many generations and all corners of the world.

In the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, we will continue to support neighbors of all sorts, equipping them with food, childcare, education, and information to know their rights. These are our tangible acts of mercy, and our spiritual work is even deeper:

• We are a people of prayer: praying for all elected leaders and those in need every Sunday.

• We are a people growing in Christ: we know God is cultivating a spirit of loving-kindness in our congregations and in our hearts.

• We are a people who are welcoming: people who feel tossed by chaos and fear can find a safe haven with us.

• We are a people with a living relationship to Christ: we can listen deeply and compassionately to those who feel alone.

• We are a people called to walk with each other: we accompany all who walk a difficult road, even as we ourselves are being companioned by our Savior.

• We are a people called by Christ to pray and give persistent loving service. This is how we love our neighbor.

As we learn to navigate the changes affecting our houses of worship and funding for aid programs, we will be convening sessions with experts to help ensure we understand our rights and responsibilities. We will share details on these educational opportunities as they are solidified. Despite the emerging challenges to our work, we continue to be guided by our Church’s mission to love our neighbors.

Redding Refugee Sponsor Circle (R2SC) has just warmly welcomed a young, recently arrived Afghan refugee family to Redding. Alex Stephens, an R2SC co-leader, reports the team is settling the father, mother, and seven-month-old daughter into an apartment, providing them with furniture and household goods, orienting them to the community, and helping them connect to services. The R2SC team is also helping the family with transportation and has sourced a used car that the family can use once they are licensed and insured. To offer assistance, monetary or otherwise, to R2SC, contact Alex Stephens.

The Trinity Cathedral/Community (TC/Co) team recently received news of a refugee family seeking to travel to Sacramento. Shireen Miles, TC/Co leader, activated the team and last week they welcomed a young Syrian refugee family to the city. The father, mother, and two young girls were very warmly welcomed at Sunday worship by the Trinity Cathedral family and are being resettled in an apartment furnished by the International Rescue Committee/Sacramento. The TC/Co team will partner with IRC to provide household goods, financial assistance, and community orientation to the family. To offer assistance, monetary or otherwise, to R2SC contact Shireen Miles.

The Refugee Resettlement Team Ministry has participated in welcoming hundreds of refugees to Northern California the past four years. If you’d like to learn more or join in this vibrant ministry of welcoming the stranger, contact Bob Wohlsen, Team Chair.

The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations released an “Immigration Action Toolkit” on Feb. 4 with information, resources and suggestions for engaging on immigration issues in response to the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration.

That resource page can be found here.

“The Trump administration has made sweeping policy changes on immigration that are already having an impact on millions of people,” the office said in an introduction to the toolkit. “Many of these new policies have been — and will be — challenged by the courts, and we anticipate continued shifts. In our ongoing support of migrants, and those living in our communities who face uncertain futures, obtaining and sharing accurate information is critical.”

Action Alert: Advocate for Refugees

Sermon by the Very Rev. Pamela on February 2, 2025 for the Feast of the Presentation

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, in a sermon Feb. 2 during his ceremonial seating at Washington National Cathedral, spoke out against contemporary political divisions as “not of God” and lifted up immigrants, transgender people, the poor and other marginalized communities as central to the kingdom Jesus envisioned.

“We live in a world in which the enemy is bound and determined to sow division among us, to make us forget who we are and to what kingdom we belong,” Rowe said in his 15-minute sermon. “God did not come among us as a strongman. God came among us as a child.”

Invoking the day’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, the presentation of Jesus at the temple, Rowe highlighted how the temple’s elders recognized that this “poor child born in a backwater to peasant parents” would upend the top-down order upheld by the authorities of Jesus’ time and our own.

Action Alert: Support Foreign Assistance

The sermon’s duration was less than 15 minutes. Its theme – a call for unity grounded in faith at a time of political division – was hardly out of the norm for a post-inauguration service at Washington National Cathedral, which has hosted similar services 10 times before.

It was the sermon’s final four minutes that struck a chord. Washington Bishop Mariann Budde issued a final plea directly to President Donald Trump as he sat in the front row, a moment that would generate national headlines and intense reactions, both positive and negative.

Her calm plea to the president: “Have mercy.”

YouTube I The 140th Anniversary of the Chinese Expulsion from Eureka I Posted February 11, 2025

"This last weekend marked the 140th anniversary of the Chinese expulsion from Eureka; and I want to thank all of you who participated with me in the shared moment of silence on Sunday morning and the community gathering at the Chinatown Mural on Sunday afternoon. I also want to thank all of you who have been part of our Sacred Ground gatherings, diversity forums, and vestry meetings in which we have been telling the truth about our church’s history, including our parish’s apparent lack of involvement with the Chinese community when our church building was located adjacent to Chinatown (on 4th and E) as well as our founder’s involvement in their expulsion. Although the complexities and nuances of history and humanity resist and ultimately reject attempts to create a narrative in which one group of people is wholly evil and another is wholly innocent, it is important for us to acknowledge this history for the sake of healing since, as Desmond Tutu said, “there can be no healing without truth”; and it is important for us to clearly denounce the racial prejudice of those responsible for the Chinese expulsion as well as the subsequent celebrations of that expulsion." - Fr. Daniel London

The Episcopal Church is among dozens of multifaith plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s recent rescission of guidelines that limited immigration enforcement in sensitive areas such as churches, schools, and hospitals. The suit was filed this morning in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection.

Faith groups joining this lawsuit claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in and around places of worship without a judicial warrant burden religious exercise in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The complaint, filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, argues that these enforcement actions interfere with the plaintiffs’ ability to fulfill the religious mandate to welcome and serve immigrants.

Referring to this lawsuit, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe said that in God's kingdom, immigrants and refugees are not at the edges, fearful and alone, but are the very center of God’s story. 

As the new Trump administration leads public and private entities to remove calendared holidays and observances commemorating the contributions of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities, Episcopal leaders are reflecting on how the wider church can ensure that those Americans are never erased from the public’s consciousness.

“This decision to pause Black History Month celebrations and DEI work puts us in a profound moment to reflect out loud what as a church – as a people – do we choose to remember and choose to forget?” the Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie, The Episcopal Church’s chief of mission program, told Episcopal News Service. He also leads the church's Department of Ethnic Ministries, which includes the Offices of African Descent Ministries, Asiamerica Ministries, Indigenous Ministries and Latino/Hispanic Ministries.

Every two years, a new Congress comes to Washington and every four to eight years, a new administration arrives with new priorities, plans, and ambitions. While the elected officials in Washington, the party in power, and the political opportunities regularly change, the work of the Office of Government Relations in many ways stays the same. Indeed, it is because of the frequent changes in Washington – control of the House, Senate, and the presidency have changed with remarkable frequency over the past 20 years – that we always work in a bipartisan way, seeking to build strong relationships with both parties. We educate members of Congress about the issues of importance to the church to cultivate champions for our policy areas. We strive to have values-based conversations about issues, lifting up voices and perspectives

We urge our leaders to remember in their decision-making the tenets that are the pillars of our faith: love, dignity, and compassion. We ask you to join us in advocating on these same points to your elected officials.

In this spirit, below we outline some domestic U.S. policies that we support while opposing policies that seek to discriminate, marginalize, and harm members of our communities.

• National Park Service Commemorations and Celebrations: Black History Month
• PBS KVIE - Celebrate Black History Month 2025: What to Watch & Stream
• Additional Black History Month Resources

Miriam Casey at the Stele Garden at the International African American Museum

Last November, Bob Wohlsen and I travelled to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit our son and grandson. We never anticipated that the trip would evolve into a pilgrimage to important sites in the history of Africans and African Americans in our country.

As we explored Charleston and its history, we learned that the city is filled with many churches, gaining the nickname “Holy City.” We also learned that more than 6 million Africans were brought to the Charleston port, where they were sold to be slaves in the South and beyond. The juxtaposition of the city’s grand reputation and the horrors of what actually happened there were deeply troubling to us.

During our time in Charleston, we visited the International African American Museum.  The museum is located on the site where the slave ships docked and the Africans disembarked to be auctioned to the highest bidders. 

The Washington National Cathedral Now and Forever Racial Justice Initiative and the Commission for Intercultural Ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California have collaborated to produce programs for Black History Month. A book study currently in progress is delving into the powerful story of resilience and courage detailed in Tiya Miles' All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, A Black Family Keepsake.

Today we are debuting the following presentation. Please enjoy the video and distribute it among your ministry colleagues and contacts. The Rev. Jo Nygard Owens sat down with contemporary poet Otis Sprow as he shared two of his poems, including his featured poem, “Gordon.” In these poems, the evocative imagery brings historical events to life in visceral ways, and challenges the listener to find hope in seemingly bleak situations.

YouTube I Black History Month Poetry Presentation I Posted February 14, 2024

Rt. Rev. Edward T. Demby (1869-1957), the first African American suffragan Bishop in the United States.

The author’s grandfather, John Henry Phillips Sr. (1941-1994), was a longtime Senior Warden at the Forrest City church.

This workshop is rooted in our baptismal identity and the promises we make in baptism. It focuses on how we can more fully live into our promise to be loving toward our neighbors, to address racism in our communities, and build the Beloved Community. During the workshop we follow the path of the Becoming Beloved Community labyrinth.

This workshop meets the requirement for licensing for Lay Eucharistic Ministers and Lay Eucharistic Visitors in the Diocese. Other lay licensed ministries need to take Sacred Ground to meet Diocesan licensing requirements. As governing leaders of their churches, vestry and mission committee members are strongly encouraged to attend one of these workshops.

All are welcome to attend this training which will help you grow as reconcilers, healers, and justice bearers, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving God and your neighbor.

Each of these hybrid workshops will be offered in-person and via Zoom. For questions about the schedule, please contact Miriam Casey, edncbbc@gmail.com, or Jo Ann Williams, bjwilli@surewest.net.

Saturday, April 5 I Church of the Incarnation, Santa Rosa I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250366762433155

Registration deadline: March 21, 2025

Saturday, May 10 I Faith Church, Cameron Park I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250367324464154

Registration deadline: April 25, 2025

Saturday, July 19 I Grace Church, Fairfield I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250367067365158

Registration deadline: July 4, 2025

Saturday, August 9 I Christ Church, Eureka I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250366881226157

Registration deadline: July 25, 2025

Saturday, August 23 I Holy Trinity Church, Nevada City I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250366960601152

Registration deadline: August 8, 2025

Saturday, September 6 I St. John’s Church, Roseville I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/250366838104154

Registration deadline: August 22, 2025

Saturday, October 11 I All Saints Church, Redding I 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Register here:  https://form.jotform.com/250366868501158

Registration deadline: September 26, 2025

St. Paul's, Sacramento, will host a hybrid Sacred Ground Dialogue Circle on Wednesdays at 1:30 pm beginning March 12 with breaks for Holy Week and Easter. The first session will be done as two sessions, so there will be a total of 12 sessions. The number of participants will be limited to 10 people.

The series is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. To learn more, please view this video by former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry about the Sacred Ground program.

Please contact the Rev. Rik Rasmussen, st1849paul@sbcglobal.net, for more information or to register.

A "Deeper Dive" curriculum is available for use in Sacred Ground dialogue circles for facilitators and participants who have completed the regular Sacred Ground course and would like to continue their study and dialogue at a deeper level. The curriculum has been successfully used at St. John's, Roseville. For questions, please contact the St. John's, curriculum developers, Diane Williamson, dianewilliamson864@gmail.com, or Michael Adams, madams95747@yahoo.com.

On Jan. 25, more than 60 people from the Sacred Ground community came together in San Carlos, California, for a day of learning, fellowship, and worship.

We were welcomed to the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany by the Rev. Marisa Tabizon-Thompson and spent some time in small groups learning about each other’s Sacred Ground journeys.

A beautiful Sacred Ground worship service, planned by the Rev. Valerie Mayo, grounded the day’s work in our faith. Several local clergy, including the Rev. Canon J. Sierra Reyes and the Rev. Pamela Stevens, shared their gifts as part of the worship team.

The Sacred Ground Regional Gathering in San Carlos last month was a wonderful opportunity to meet people working on racial justice in other dioceses and to greet old friends from our own Diocese of Northern California!

The day was full of worship, celebration and learning. Here are some quick takeaways:

• Sacred Ground facilitators need to register all new circles. Otherwise, you won’t be able to access materials since the passwords have been changed. Sign up at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground/getting-started/. (And please let our own Commission for Intercultural Ministries know about your circles, too, either by emailing NorCalCIM@gmail.com or completing this form: https://bit.ly/NorCalSGCircles.
• Did you know there is a nationwide Sacred Ground Facilitators group on Facebook? You can join it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/333834364463752
• Are you afraid of encountering resistance to Sacred Ground? Before approaching anyone about the program, one speaker recommended, have the answers to these questions firm in your own mind: Why does racial justice matter to me? What difference would it make if we had racial justice? Being clear about your reasons for promoting this work can go a long way to overcoming initial reluctance to join in. 

Diane Williamson and Jo Ann Williams, both from St. John's, Roseville, with the Rev. Valerie Mayo, Sacred Ground Strategic Consultant, and Andrea Lauerman, Sacred Ground Coordinator for

The Episcopal Church.

Regional gathering at Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in San Carlos, CA.

Carole Hom (far left) and Kimo Kimokeo (far right), both from St. Martin's, Davis, with Jo Ann and Rev. Val. Kimo and Jo Ann presented a workshop together at the gathering.

Keeping Track of Sacred Ground

Are you forming a Sacred Ground Circle? Let the Commission for Intercultural Ministries know by registering it here: https://forms.gle/hriHCPKmLwjUHEyEA

Are you interested in joining a Sacred Ground Circle? Sign up here: https://forms.gle/G26EPxDzEFSpnsZW7

The Mission Institute has completed their audit of the deaneries and churches in the diocese, and the audit is on its way to being published. When it is received, it will be

shared with the Board of Trustees and the Regional Deans to be shared with the churches in their deaneries.

For questions, please contact the RJA Co-chairs, Lynn Zender, zenderlynn@gmail.com, or Jo Ann Williams, bjwilli@surewest.net.

Two rows of barracks at Tule Lake. The smaller buildings between the rows are latrines, laundries, and mess halls. Photo: US National Park Service.

Tule Lake National Monument commemorates Tule Lake War Relocation Center / Segregation Center, where almost 27,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated from 27 May 1942 until 20 March 1946. The site, far from large cities and the coast, is one of two such concentration camps in California. Due to the prominence of Jeanne Watsuki Houston’s memoir, Farewell to Manzanar in the middle school canon, students learn something about Manzanar, located in southern California. However, the Tule Lake camp, which has unique significance as a maximum-security Segregation Center, remains unfamiliar to many outside the Japanese American community.

The camp at Tule Lake – hot in the summer, cold in the winter, windy, dry, flat, largely treeless, and desolate – lies in the northeast corner of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. Like the other War Relocation Authority (WRA) concentration camps that imprisoned Japanese Americans, a high barbed wire fence surrounded the compound, with strategically placed guard towers staffed by armed sentries. Barracks, mess halls, latrines, washrooms, and other community buildings lay within the fence.

You are invited to a fundraising event for a

Diocesan-wide pilgrimage to

TULE LAKE NATIONAL MONUMENT

A WWII Japanese concentration camp located at the northernmost border of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

Saturday, March 22, 2025, 5 – 6:30 pm

St. John’s Episcopal Church

2351 Pleasant Grove Boulevard

Roseville, CA 95747

Freewill offerings are invited. Appetizers and child care will be provided.

The 30-minute documentary, One Fighting Irishman, will be featured at this event. The film focuses on the little-known story of civil rights attorney Wayne M. Collins who fought to restore the citizenship of more than 5,000 Japanese Americans unjustly detained at the embattled Tule Lake Segregation Center, considered the worst of the ten WWII detention centers. It explores the issues that led to segregation and the unprecedented mass renunciations which took Collins more than 23 years to restore citizenship for nearly all of them. Directed by Sharon Yamato and narrated by George Takei. 

If you haven’t met Mr. Collins, you haven’t experienced the bitterness of 110,000 evacuees in one fighting Irishman. – Edison Uno

This event is sponsored by the Diocesan Tule Lake Committee.

For more information, contact Fr. Cliff Haggenjos, 916-786-6911, Ext. 1, haggenjos@comcast.net.

As a new Priest-in-Charge at Church of the Epiphany in 2023, Rev. John spoke before the City Council in support of the local LGBTQIA+ community, referencing the diocesan statement on Commitment to Diversity. Here is his story.

One week after the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California’s Board of Trustees adopted a Commitment to Diversity, the statement publicly debuted at a City Council meeting in Vacaville.

Church of the Epiphany’s new priest-in-charge, the Rev. John Heidel, included the diversity statement in remarks he made Aug. 8 supporting the city’s issuing a Pride Month proclamation and flying the Rainbow Flag.

“We believe that all people are created in God’s image, and that we are created to be in community with one another,” Rev. Heidel told the council, quoting directly from the statement. “Therefore, we know we are most fully the Church God desires us to be when we actively work to include all.”

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California’s Rainbow Ministry, sponsored by the Commission for Intercultural Ministries, adopted its Mission, Vision, and Core Values Statements on August 29, 2022, and has been meeting regularly since then. After a brief hiatus, the monthly Ministry Gatherings resumed in September 2024.

Click here to read more about the Rainbow Ministry.

Click here to read the Rainbow Ministry Mission Statement.

CA IPL alerts:

📢 Tell Congress: Protect FEMA & Disaster Relief

Disasters are increasing, and FEMA must remain strong. Urge Congress to protect disaster relief funding.

✍️ Sign the Petition: Urge CA to Create a "Make Polluters Pay" Superfund

It's time for California to make companies who are responsible for climate disasters pay into a climate superfund that will get money to communities most in need of recovery and resilience.

📞 Call & Email Congress: Stop the Closure of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice

The Trump administration is trying to shut down this crucial office. Contact your representatives and senators today!

• Protect Medicaid
• End the Use of Private Prisons
• Address the Opioid Epidemic
• Speak Out to Support Haitians

For more information, contact Bob Wohlsen, Advocacy Team Chair, bob.wohlsen@gmail.com.

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

The Commission for Intercultural Ministries

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