"My father and mother have walked, my brother and I have walked, and now our kids are walking.....it is a way to stay connected with God's work and serving your neighbors in need, getting to know your fellow Episcopalians and broadening ones horizon ......and you get exercise as well,” exclaims Phi Matthews, former Board Member and parishioner at Church of the Resurrection, Pleasant Hill.

Saturday, October 13, 2007 more than 250 walkers will assemble at Grace Cathedral to walk 7.5 or 12 miles through San Francisco. Following the 7:00 am registration and breakfast, Bishop Marc will lead visitors to Episcopal Charities' Partner Agencies, that make a crucial difference in the lives of poor, oppressed  and endangered individuals in need in San Francisco.  Walkers will view homeless shelters, food pantries, affordable housing, hospital clinics, and chaplaincy services, a resource center for immigrant families and a recovery center. www.episcopalcharities.org

Synergy

One of the realities and joys of ministry (and especially congregational ministry) is that everything is related: church growth and redevelopment is related to Christian formation is related to leadership training is related to to clergy wellness ... and on and on!

This simple reality underlies a new team approach among the diocesan staff that has brought together ministers working in congregational mission, ministry development, clergy and lay formation, youth and young adult ministries, campus ministries, and clergy deployment. The purpose: to improve our service to the entire diocese by working creatively, collaboratively and integratively  among ourselves and with other leaders in our Diocese. In doing so, we also hope for synergy – where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

Such a team approach is consonant with Bishop Marc’s vision for the Diocese of California: the Beloved Community praying, preparing, and ministering together in service to God’s world.

To find out more about the synergy of ministries in Congregational Development and Ministry Formation in the Diocese of California, download the Congregational Ministries 2007/2008 brochure (PDF).

Supporting material for the 158th Annual Convention of the Diocese of California, October 19-20, 2007

• Bishop's Address
• Archbishop Ndungane's Sermon 

Financial Reports

• The Episcopal Bishop of California, A Corporation Sole: 2006 Independent Auditor's Report & Financial Statement

Convention Booklets (PDF format) 

Note: Background page colors will display on screen but will not print.

• Convention Booklet (2 MB)
  
• Day Of Convention Materials (420 KB)
• Survey of Global Relationships (supporting material for the companion diocese resolution; 2.8 MB)
• Convention Booklet in Spanish (2 MB)
  

Please be mindful of paper usage and do not print extraneous materials. If you need a paper copy, several are available from Diocesan House; please contact Monica at 415.869.7814.

Additional Reports

• Report of Commission on Marriage and Blessing (PDF, 3.77MB)
• Episcopal Diocese of California: 2006 Independent Auditors Report and Financial Statements (PDF 66kb)
• The Episcopal Bishop of California, a Corporation Sole: 2006 Independent Auditors' Report Financial Statements, and Supplemental Information (PDF 64kb)
  

St. Paul’s, Burlingame, announces the establishment of The St. Paul’s Choir School for boys and girls. Offering first-rate vocal training for boys and girls in a nurturing Christian environment, the school is grounded in the strong foundation of the ongoing chorister program at St. Paul’s. Rooted in the excellence of the Anglican musical tradition, the St. Paul’s Choir School is dedicated to giving children the training and opportunities that allow them to participate fully in the ministry of music at St. Paul’s. Since November 2005, the St. Paul’s Chorister program for boys and girls has been affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM).

It might be a silly question, but what does the Diocese of California's response to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) look like? Can you visualize all of the different relationships that are growing out of our commitment to end poverty, disease, and degradation of the climate? When you try to imagine it, does the problem seem way too big and overwhelming? Are all of those in need simply too far away for us to help?

Well, one way to see (visually) how Episcopalians in the San Francisco Bay Area are responding to the global environmental crisis and the needs of the world's poor might be to draw a map, and show where connections are being made: Oakland and Uganda; Walnut Creek and Honduras; San Francisco and El Salvador; and that is exactly what Kevin Jones, entrepreneurial mapper of social networks and member of Holy Innocents, San Francisco, recommends. In fact, Jones has come up with a way to show you that the problems are not insurmountable and that there are people you know who are doing great things to achieve the MDGs. The MDG Mapping Project is his solution.
 

In the San Francisco Bay Area, where public school space is doled out by lottery and private school space is at a premium, it seems that every school puts on their best possible face. From the outside, many independent schools — a term used by some to avoid the elitist stigma of “private” schools — may look alike. Every school promises to provide the best education possible to turn your child into a successful adult. Operating in this climate are three Episcopal grade schools (K-8) in the Diocese of California — Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School in San Mateo, and St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland.

To find out how being affiliated with Episcopal churches makes these schools unique, we interviewed the Canon Headmaster at Cathedral School for Boys, Michael Ferreboeuf; the Head of School at St. Matthew's, Mark McKee (who began his tenure on July 1, 2007); and the Head of School at St. Paul's, Karan Merry. In addition to a pledge of academic excellence, we found a genuine dedication to community that seems to spring from the nature of Anglicanism itself.
 

After 22 years of service to the Diocese of California, Canon Holly McAlpen has decided to take a much-deserved sabbatical beginning August 1, 2007, for five months. At the end of her sabbatical, McAlpen will leave the diocesan office to pursue other ministry opportunities.

McAlpen will continue to be active in the diocese in her work with General Convention, service on the board of the Bishop's Ranch, and support of CDSP's capital campaign and fund-raising for the St. Margaret's Chair. 

If you haven’t been to visit Diocesan House in the past six months, you may not be aware that Bishop Marc, with the help of curator Mel Ahlborn, local artist and president of the Episcopal Church and Visual Arts, Inc., has turned its walls into an art gallery, dubbed Gallery 1055. Gone are the portraits of former bishops, and in their stead some beautiful artwork by local Episcopalian artists now graces the walls.

The newest exhibit at Gallery 1055, photographs by Lyra Harris entitled “Si Dios Quiere,” was installed this week. The photographs tell the story of the year Harris spent in Honduras working with the Anglican Association for the Development of Honduras, organizing health infrastructure programs in rural villages, leading educational seminars, and listening to people’s life stories. Harris is a young adult member of the Diocese of California and a service corps volunteer. The exhibit will remain on display through the nationwide Episcopal young adult gathering Camino, taking place at Grace Cathedral from September 21 through 23.

A special reception with the artist will be held this Thursday, July 26. It begins with Evensong in the Quire of Grace Cathedral at 5:15 p.m., followed by a reception and remarks from Bishop Marc in Gallery 1055 at approximately 6 p.m.

On Sunday, July 15, 2007, almost 140 Episcopalians from throughout the Diocese of California joined Bishop Marc and more than 25,000 other participants for AIDS Walk San Francisco. AIDS Walk has been one of the premiere fund-raising events benefiting HIV/AIDS charities for 21 years, and it is an annual event in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Fort Lauderdale.

Episcopalians gathered at 9 a.m. for a pre-walk Eucharist at the edge of Kezar Drive in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Positioned at a major thoroughfare for those participating in the AIDS Walk, this quiet group in green shirts prayed together, heard the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, shared in the Eucharist, and caught the attention of many other walkers.

After ten faithful years as chair of the Commission for the Environment (COE), the Rev. Sally Bingham, with a boost from co-chair Barbara Bisel of St Stephen’s, Orinda, is reinvigorating the COE. The COE works to address the intersection of environmental concerns and Biblical stewardship. As the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori put it during her testimony before the Senate on June 7, 2007, “The crisis of climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to the goodness, interconnectedness, and sanctity of the world God created and loves. … [The] acknowledgment of global warming, and the Church’s commitment to ameliorating it, is a part of the ongoing discovery of God’s revelation to humanity and a call to a fuller understanding of the scriptural imperative of loving our neighbor.”

 

Deadline: August  6, 2007 

Nominations are now being received for the elections at the 158th Diocesan Convention, October 19 and 20, 2007.

The Convention will elect:

Standing Committee – Class of 2011
One Clergy Position
One Lay Position

Ecclesiastical Court – Class of 2010
Two Clergy Positions
One Lay Position

Secretary of the Convention
One Position

Treasurer of the Diocese
One Position

Board of Directors – Class of 2010
Three Positions

Provincial Synod 2008
One Clergy Delegate
Two Lay Delegates

General Convention 2009
Four Clergy Deputies
Four Lay Deputies

Please fill out the nomination form (available as a PDF or Word format) and submit it via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

On Sunday, June 24, Nigerian activist Davis Mac-Iyalla will join the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus and other members of the Diocese of California at San Francisco’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Pride Parade (Pride). Mac-Iyalla is the director of Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN), a branch of the activist network Changing Attitude, which works for LGBT affirmation in the Anglican Communion. While Pride is in its 37th year of educating, celebrating, commemorating, and liberating LGBT people, Mac-Iyalla’s quest for recognition of LGBT people in the Anglican Church of Nigeria has only just begun, and it seems he has a long road ahead of him.

Mac-Iyalla, who was baptized in the Church of Nigeria, served as a lay reader and knight under Bishop Ugede of Otukpo. Having come out to himself at 14, his disinterest in dating women posed little problem, because laws against homosexuality in Nigeria were rarely enforced. But in 2003 Gene Robinson was confirmed as a bishop in New Hampshire and the Canadian church opted to bless same-sex unions, events that Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola vehemently objected to. To make matters worse, Bishop Ugede died, leaving Mac-Iyalla without a mentor and protector. In July of 2003, Mac-Iyalla was forced to leave his position as principal of an Anglican school -- he believes because he is gay -- prompting him to become an activist and establish CAN.
 

On Saturday, June 2nd, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus received one presbyter from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; and ordained one transitional deacon and three priests in a service at Grace Cathedral.

Pictured from left are the Rev. Connie Lam (priest), the Rev. Jay Watan (priest), Bishop Marc, the Rev. Jason Alexander (priest, ordained  for the bishop of Alaska), the Rev. Linda Huggard (transitional deacon), and the Rev. David Abernethy-Deppe (priest, received from the ELCA).

On Sunday afternoon, the Rt. Rev. James Arthur Kelsey, Bishop of Northern Michigan, died in an automobile accident while returning home to Marquette, Mich., after a parish visitiation.

Bishop Marc Andrus blogged the following today: 

"This morning I celebrated a requiem Eucharist with the Community of St. Francis and the brothers of the Society of St. Francis at the community’s home on Cezar Chavez Street in San Francisco. Bishop Kelsey was the protector of the Community of St. Francis and within that intimate gathering they and I sorrowed for the loss of leadership in the wider church and society that is almost incalculable.

"Bishop Kelsey’s commitment to justice and reconciliation, and to the reinvigoration of the parish and mission structure of the Episcopal Church were both unparalleled. Over a simple breakfast after the Eucharist, I heard Franciscan sisters and brothers witness to Jim’s deep humanity and kindness. One brother said that Jim was the kindest person that he had ever met. I’ve lost both a close colleague and a very dear friend.

"On a personal note, Jim and I sang together in the bishop’s choir for five years, sitting next to each other and praying twice with the words and the music of the hymns we sang."

"The Episcopal Church has today lost one of its bright lights," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said. "We will be less without the easy grace of Bishop James Kelsey -- Jim to most of us -- and we shall miss his humor, insight, and passion for the ministry of all. He gave us much. We pray for the repose of his soul, and for his family. We pray also for the Diocese of Northern Michigan. All of us have lost a friend. May he rest in peace and rise in glory."

Bishop Kelsey was a protector of the Order of St. Francis and a close friend of California Bishop Marc Andrus.

A collection of news and information about Kelsey is available at episcopalcafe.org.

On May 29, 2007, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of California, spoke as 355 pairs of black combat boots lined both sides of the sidewalk in front of San Francisco's Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. The visual display Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War, has become a poignant reminder of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to the United States of America.

When the first Eyes Wide Open exhibit was displayed in Chicago by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in January 2004, there were 504 pairs of boots representing all American service men and women who had died in the war to that date. A full representation of all American casualties now would take almost 3,500 pairs of boots. Simply representing all Californian lives lost provided ample evidence that the human cost is staggering.

We hear every day about the sectarian violence resulting in the deaths of innocent Iraqis and the tragic deaths of American troops serving in Baghdad who are trying to give Iraqis the security “space” needed to reconcile the terrible divisions in their society. Despite all the depressing news I want to report that hope and love are still alive in Iraq, and the Church of the Epiphany, San Carlos, is a part of that.

Last year, while serving as an emergency room physician in Baghdad at the US Air Force EMEDS surgical hospital, many of the U.S. military doctors and medics working in and around Baghdad volunteered at a free clinic sponsored by U.S. Army Civil Affairs located just “outside the wire” of our base where we treated poor patients from Baghdad and surrounding villages.

Jay Bakker, of Revolution Ministries, came to the Bay Area in April to speak at St. Aidan's, San Francisco, and meet with Episcopal churches here. He was interviewed by Sara Miles of St. Gregory's, San Francisco.

Jay Bakker isn't the first Christian to be wounded and hurt by the church, nor is he the first to feel the scorn and fury that the church's leadership can unleash upon the impure. The 30-year old preacher-who founded his Revolution Ministries out of the punk scene and runs his unconventional church out of a hipster bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, recently lost major evangelical supporters and his biggest donor for declaring his ministry "gay-affirming." But Bakker, a slight man whose arms are covered in tattoos, is not particularly surprised. "The church is living in a bubble," he says, quietly. "Whenever you go back to the message of Christ, people get threatened."

On May 5, a warm and sunny Saturday, more than 300 people came to Grace Cathedral to attend “Building the Beloved Community," for an opportunity to share in the visioning work of the diocese called for at 2006's Diocesan Convention. The day opened with the Liturgy of the Word, including the music of Jesse Manibusan, and culminating in a homily by the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus. Following the morning service, participants met in groups of 10 to 15 people for a facilitated discussion about their personal responses to the bishop's address and their vision for the future of the diocese.

Groups addressed vital questions about the visioning process, such as: "I wonder what the Diocese of California would look like as a beloved community?" "I wonder what we would need to build this beloved community?" "I wonder how you might participate as a member of the beloved community?" The small group sessions ended with each individual writing their prayers for the Diocese of California on colorful paper and tying them as a scroll, which was then collected for use in the afternoon liturgy.

Canon Holly McAlpen, long-time member of the Diocese of California staff, will receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley.

McAlpen, who has a master’s degree in social work from San Jose State University, became the first layperson in a prominent leadership position when she was appointed Coordinator of Social Ministries by the Rt. Rev. William E. Swing in 1985.

McAlpen played a crucial role in the diocese’s response to the AIDS pandemic, co-founding the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition and serving as president of the AIDS National Interfaith Network. She became Canon Missioner of the Diocese of California in 1999, responsible for oversight of 22 mission congregations and other specialized ministries. She has mentored many clergy and lay leaders, working closely with individuals and congregations to enhance church leadership and growth. She has also been an integral part of national church organizations such as Start Up/Start Over, Upward Bound, and CREDO as well as regularly serving as a deputy or alternate delegate to General Convention since 1991; she currently serves as chair of the Funding Section of Program, Budget, and Finance.

In November of 2006, McAlpen was appointed Ethnic and Multicultural Missioner for the Diocese of California by the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, continuing her dedicated service on behalf of the members of this community.

The Commencement Eucharist at which McAlpen will receive her honorary degree takes place on Friday, May 18, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in St. Margaret’s Courtyard on the CDSP campus in Berkeley and is open to the public. Others also receiving honorary degrees are The Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold (who will deliver the commencement address), The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, and Fred Vergara.

On April 30, 2007, members of the Diocese of California came together in prayerful recognition that we are all one in Christ. The evening service at Grace Cathedral was in the Taizé form, and included chants, prayers, readings, and concluded with more than 200 people writing prayers on small wooden hearts and laying them at the foot of a large wooden cross. Others brought their prayers to the cross by touching or kissing it.

The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus told those gathered that the service would serve as a reminder that no group or individual in the diocese should have to shoulder their burdens alone. Members of the diocesan ethnic ministries, Oasis (a ministry to LGBT persons), congregations that maintain companion relationships in the developing world, and other groups were invited to share prayers and special concerns for the creation of a litany that was prayed at the service. The Rev. Anthony Turney, and the Rev. Kathleen Van Sickle, diocesan Archdeacons, collected the prayers and concerns, and crafted the litany that included a sung Kyrie response.

The Litany for Diocesan Unity is below, and we welcome you to use it in your own worship and prayer life. 

During a service in remembrance of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus spoke about how his time at the university informed his understanding of God. Andrus and his wife Sheila attended graduate school at the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus.

The noon service on April 23 at Grace Cathedral was attended by about 70 people, including 20 or so Virginia Tech alums. Andrus spoke about working as a member of the support crew at Virginia Tech’s dairy farm, planting and harvesting crops, loading grain onto wagons, and repairing machinery. Laboring alongside a group of men, Andrus came to see that God is like these men -- highly skilled, deeply intelligent, very funny, and caring profoundly for all of creation. God is a working God, he said, “always seeking to bring meaning out of chaos, integrity out of that which has been broken, and new life out of death ... But like those men, this God works ceaselessly and yet almost always unseen.”

When Eunice Mangwane, one of the central figures on the Keiskamma Altarpiece, tells her story, the altarpiece becomes more than a work of art; it becomes a living testimony to the work of God in the world. The Keiskamma Altarpiece was made by more than 120 South African residents, mostly women, of the small fishing village of Hamburg where nearly one third of the population has died of HIV/AIDS. It is a sensory feast and a profoundly moving expression of the ravages of AIDS that also proclaims a message of deep joy, wonder, and hope. And Eunice Mangwane, a self-described housewife and mother of two, is in large part responsible for its existence.

When Eunice’s husband retired in 1996, she convinced him to let her move from Hamburg to Cape Town to earn money. There she paid little attention to the banner on the Anglican church advertising HIV/AIDS information workshops, but one day her irrepressible curiosity got the better of her, and she signed up. That decision transformed Eunice. Like many others, she had believed that HIV/AIDS was a white person’s disease that happened far away and would never affect her. But after she learned to recognize the symptoms, she realized that five children living just two doors away had all died of AIDS. Eunice felt compelled to gather as much information as she could and to talk to people about HIV/AIDS at every opportunity.

The devastating news coming out of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, affects us all, and the whole body of our Church is suffering as this academic community suffers. I must speak personally, as both Sheila and I are graduates of Virginia Tech. I came into the Episcopal Church through the Episcopal College ministry there. As I think about the interconnected community of students, faculty, and staff in that rural, beautiful part of Virginia, such a senseless act is all the more poignant and indeed confusing.

I ask the people of this Diocese, people of such deep prayer, who keep in their hearts the concerns of communities and peoples throughout the world, to hold with those ongoing prayers particular concerns for this suffering community in Blacksburg. The parish serving the town and university is Christ Church, Blacksburg.

Everliving God, the foundation of peace and the comfort of all who mourn and encounter suffering and pain beyond understanding, grant your people grace, that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

I welcome the following statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as a clear sign that he affirms that churches within the Anglican Communion should be safe places for the lives of lesbians and gay persons. This is especially important in an atmosphere where hearts have been hardened and some in the church have supported criminalizing gays and lesbians and those who love and support them. If the listening process is to succeed, then we must promote environments where people can be open and honest, and where the light of the Gospel shines. 

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that the churches of the Anglican Communion must be safe places for gay and lesbian people. His comments come in a welcome to an interim report on the Anglican Communion’s Listening Process, a commitment to listen to the experience of homosexual people. Archbishop Williams warns that the challenge to create the safe space for their voices to be heard and for their dignity to be respected is based on a fundamental commitment of the Communion.

“The commitments of the Communion are not only to certain theological positions on the question of sexual ethics but also to a manifest and credible respect for the proper liberties of homosexual people, a commitment again set out in successive Lambeth Conference Resolutions over many decades. I share the concerns expressed about situations where the Church is seen to be underwriting social or legal attitudes which threaten these proper liberties. It is impossible to read this report without being aware that in many places - including Western countries with supposedly ‘liberal’ attitudes – hate crimes against homosexual people have increased in recent years and have taken horrifying and disturbing forms.