Some 20 college and high school graduates from Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles parishes in and around the San Gabriel Valley, also known as Deanery V, got together Sunday evening at St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in San Marino for fellowship, tacos and cake, outreach, and prayer.
The Rev. Susanne Wright-Nava, the St. Edmund’s associate vicar and an experience youth minister, put the event together. She invited everyone to bring socks, t shirts, and underwear for 18-year-olds recently emancipated from the foster care system. Graduates from St. Edmund’s, St. Bartholomew’s in Pico Rivera, and St. James’ in South Pasadena mingled with scouts and scout leaders from Troop 360, whose Courts of Honor St. Edmund’s hosts.
Suzanne designed a brief liturgy enabling each graduate to say where they’d been and where they were going next. I was along to pronounce a blessing, a special pleasure thanks to the hope and joy the young people and their family members and mentors evinced. We finished up with sparklers at dusk as the scouts loaded up our gifts for our 18-year-old neighbors.
