St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles, a mile and a half east of USC, is a multicultural miracle, a harbinger of church future, disguised as a struggling parish.
A lively 70 — young, older, and medium – were present when I presided and preached on Sunday at a bilingual service of Holy Eucharist. Then we took the party across the street to the parish hall to celebrate the parish’s 117th birthday. In neither setting did it appear that St. Philip’s wasn’t thriving. Yet parish leaders don’t have the funds right now for a full-time priest. Resolving this kind of paradox is the work of a whole diocesan community. It’s no one’s fault. It’s an invitation to hope and innovation.
St. Philip’s is the second historically Black Episcopal church west of the Mississippi, founded when nearby St. John’s Church, now our open-hearted cathedral, closed its doors to those of African descent. Longtime members drive to church from all over the region to join Latinos/as from the neighborhood. Amply representing both cohorts, the lay leadership comprises four senior wardens, two junior wardens, and five additional vestry members. Among their recent projects was raising funds for a memorial to the parish’s honored dead, which I had the privilege of blessing.
These days those who worship in Spanish each week enjoy the cheerful ministry of the Rev. Samuel Nieva, a minister in the Southwest California Synod ELCA. The English-speaking congregation comes twice a month, when the Rev. Patricia A. Eustis presides. Born in Philadelphia, Pat was raised and formed for ministry in Massachusetts. Her family was Roman Catholic. On her first visit to an Episcopal church, at age 12, she knew she was called to be a priest. “They spoke English instead of Latin during the service,” she said, “and people hung out with one another after.”
This was many years before women’s ordination. Her first vocation was as the first female senior construction manager for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She built buildings all over the state. By the time she was ready to be ordained as a deacon, on the way to the priesthood, Bishop Barbara Harris herself was there to preside. Pat was a rector in Maryland and New Jersey. After her husband Gus died in 2012, she began to head west, assignment by assignment, including a stint at a church in Grants, New Mexico. She’s done ministry in seven states all together. “I’ve retired four times,” she said.
So Pat brought amazing gifts both pastoral and practical for us in Los Angeles and at St. Philip’s. ¡Qué milagro! And she is part of quite a team. Our gospel reading Sunday was about Rome’s destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. With such strong pillars, no earthly power should ever tear down St. Philip’s.
Our St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park, colleague the Rev. Canon Thomas Quijada-Discavage recently completed a tour as priest in charge and remains a member of the brain trust, along with the rector emeritus, the Rev. Glenn Libby. Both were present Sunday, as was my fellow UC San Diego alum, Ariana Miramontes, the church administrator.
Once again serving as my chaplain was longtime lay leader Marc Nesbit. Kemar Richards, our crucifer, assembled Bishop Bloy’s crozier in near-record time. At the reception, co-senior warden Joan Hemsley presided brilliantly, including during an emotional sendoff for Rocio Peña Fernandez, whose discernment of a call to ordained ministry, now well underway, began at St. Philip’s — just another miracle on a day the miracles came fast and furious.
