September 2024
From Canon Bob Williams
You’re Invited!
Fall dates to save & share
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As the new program year begins, here are key dates to save and share – opportunities to learn together and to enrich our diocesan common life. Please consider attending and publicizing within your congregations and communities. Likewise, please email news of local church events to editor@ladiocese.org for inclusion in the Episcopal News Update.
Online forums
SUNDAYS, SEPTEMBER 15 and 22, 2 – 4 p.m.
“Losing Truth: The Critical Cost to Our Lives and the Future”
Presented by the diocesan Program Group on Interfaith and Ecumenical Life, these Sunday-afternoon live Zoom forums will feature insights helpful for the national pre-election season and beyond. With opening remarks by Bishop John Harvey Taylor, the Sept. 15 panel will feature two journalists and a cyber liaison officer, while Sept. 22 panelists will be a psychologist, a theologian, and a retired federal district court judge.
Learn more here; register here
Diocesan Convention, Deanery Assemblies
FRIDAY – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – 9
Diocesan Convention
“Inside Out Church: Episcopal Identity in Our Neighborhoods” is the theme for the 128th annual meeting of Diocesan Convention. Learn more here about highlights planned for the Riverside Convention Center agenda, set to feature a keynote address by the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, one of the “Philadelphia 11” first women to be ordained to the priesthood 50 years ago this past July.
Pre-convention deanery assemblies – all to be held online – are scheduled as follows; save the dates and plan to attend.
- Deaneries 3, 4 & 5 – Saturday, October 19, 10 a.m.
- Deaneries 6, 7 & 8 – Saturday, October 19, 2 p.m.
- Deaneries 1, 2, 9 & 10 – Sunday, October 20, 3 p.m
- A common Zoom link (or meeting ID 892 7335 7794) – will provide access to all sessions.
Milestone Anniversaries
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 5 p.m.
30th Anniversary of St. Paul’s Commons
A service of Evensong will mark 30 years of ministry at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park. Join in thanksgiving for three decades of service and hospitality of our diocesan headquarters and retreat center. The service also will commemorate 160 years of ministry of St. Athanasius Church, located at the heart of St. Paul’s Commons and the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in Southern California. Bishop John Harvey Taylor will preach, St. Athanasius’ priest-in-charge John Watson will officiate, and a volunteer choir is forming from across the diocese; sign-up information will be posted soon. Learn more here; register here. The service also will be livestreamed via the diocesan YouTube and Facebook accounts.
Local church centennials
This fall, three congregations are marking 100th anniversaries of their landmark sanctuaries. Year-long events highlighting All Saints, Pasadena’s 1923 church designed by renowned architect Reginald Johnson will culminate on the morning of homecoming Sunday, Sept. 15, with a visitation from Bishop John Harvey Taylor. On Sept. 21, St. Luke’s of the Mountains, La Crescenta, will host a gala celebrating the 100th year of its historic 1924 stone church built to specifications of Southland artist S. Seymour Thomas. More information is here. And on Dec. 1 (Advent I), St. John’s Cathedral will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of its soaring Romanesque Revival sanctuary designed by architect brothers Walter and Francis Pierpont Davis. An evening celebration will precede an 8 p.m. service of Lessons and Carols; further details will be published soon.
For updates and more information, please watch the Episcopal News Update and diocesan website. In addition, be sure that your congregation is receiving the diocese’s weekly Episcopal News Update by providing updated rosters of parishioners’ email addresses securely online to editor@ladiocese.org. Thank you for your participation in our shared work of communication across the diocese.
Blessings,
Bob
Bob Williams serves on the bishop’s staff as Canon for Common Life.
Angelus Links
Clergy: Office of Formation and Transitions Ministry
The next issue of Angelus will be electronically transmitted and published in September 2024.
Please email news and connections items to Angelus editor, the Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan, at: revpatmccaughan@aol.com by August 22.
Angelus is a joint project of the Office of Clergy Formation and Transition Ministry and the Office of Communication of the Diocese of Los Angeles.
213.482.2040, ext. 251
The Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan, editor
revpatmccaughan@aol.com
949.892.0525
Reminders
TENS: The Episcopal Network for Stewardship
The Diocese of Los Angeles maintains a membership in TENS, so all congregations may access its stewardship resources. The log-in for 2024 is Ephesians5:2 (note: case sensitive, no spaces). The website is here.
“The theme for the year is Walk in Love, a celebration of the joy and gratitude we have for God and our community that lead us to share our stories, our journeys, and our gifts. Our resources are making a special effort to lift up diverse voices as we share the stories that inspire us to share our wealth, works, and wisdom with our ministry.” — TENS
URGENT CALL: Update Clergy Supply List with Office of Formation and Transition Ministry
We are in great need of more assistance with Sunday supply and interim positions. If you are available to assist with supply, long term supply, transition ministry, etc., please email Tom Quijada-Discavage at tdiscavage@ladiocese.org to make sure you are on our list. Please consider helping us out!
Grants available for deacons in financial need
The Fund for the Diaconate provides vital financial assistance for deacons and those in diaconal formation who have insufficient funds for their needs. Most deacons in The Episcopal Church serve as non-stipendiary ministry leaders, and lack church pensions to draw upon in times of crisis. Grants are available for ongoing support, declared emergencies, medical expenses, and diaconal formation. Applications are accepted at any time. More information is here.
Connections
MICHELLE BAKER-WRIGHT begins serving as new pastoral care associate at St. Cross, Hermosa Beach on Oct. 1. She has been ordained for 14 years and has a Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies/Sacramental Theology. She will also focus on liturgics and formation. She previously served at St. James’ Church, South Pasadena.
YOHANES COBIELLAS began serving in July as associate rector of St. Luke’s Church in Long Beach. Born and raised in Cuba, he is a hydraulic engineer, and had worked as college professor prior to his 2015 ordination to the priesthood. He has also served as the Archdeacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Cuba, as rector at St Luke’s in Ciego Avila, and recently as a church planter for Jesus Nazarene Church in Santa Clara, Cuba.
PAUL DANIELS has been named dean of Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles. He is rector of the Westside’s St. Mary in Palms parish and a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at Fordham University. In his new post, Daniels will be based at St. Paul’s Commons, the diocese’s Echo Park headquarters, to which Bloy House has relocated. He succeeds Canon Linda Allport, who on June 30 retired as dean. Concurrently, the Very Rev. Gary Hall has retired as president, having held that office since 2020.
ADAM DAWKINS will be installed as rector of St. Alban’s Church in Westwood (Los Angeles) at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 26. The diocesan community is invited to attend.
KATHARINE JEFFERTS SCHORI, retired presiding bishop and assisting bishop in the Los Angeles diocese, will be serving the Diocese of Wyoming as an assisting bishop as it navigates a leadership transition after its former bishop was stripped of his holy orders in a disciplinary matter.
MIKE KINMAN concluded his ministry at All Saints, Pasadena in July.
TIM RICH has been called as priest-in-charge at All Saints, Pasadena, beginning mid-August.
STEPHEN SMITH has accepted a call as senior associate rector at St. Matthew’s Church in Pacific Palisades. He will conclude his ministry August 11 at St. Cross Church in Hermosa Beach, where he has served the past five years.
Requiescant in pace
The Reverend Nancy Sinclair
March 23, 1945 – August 26, 2024
[The Episcopal News] The Rev. Nancy Sinclair, 79, retired vicar of St. Theodore of Canterbury Church, Seal Beach, died Aug. 26. She passed away peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her family members and loved ones.
Survivors include her husband, Donald, to whom she was married in 1967; her daughters Amy, Molly and Emily; sons Douglas and Noah; and eight grandchildren. Another son, Randy, predeceased her.
Sinclair served at St. Theodore’s Church for eight years before retiring, when she returned to her former church home, St. Wilfrid’s in Huntington Beach, where the then-rector, the late Rev. Canon Charles Sacquety, had been her mentor as she explored her calling to ordained ministry.
The Reverend Bert Axel Anderson Jr.
February 18, 2029 – August 13, 2024
[The Episcopal News] The Rev. Bert Anderson Jr., 95, a priest of the Diocese of Los Angeles and resident of Ashland, Oregon, died Aug. 13. He served most recently as an assisting priest at Trinity Church in Ashland, beginning in 2002.
Anderson was married to Nancy Daniels Anderson, who survives him. The couple had three children. Information about survivors and services was not immediately available.
Before his 1997 retirement, Anderson was a marriage and family counselor and non-parochial priest. He had served at Trinity Church, Redlands from 1986 to 1988 after several years at Church of the Holy Spirit, Bullhead City, Arizona. Previously he was vicar, then rector, of St. Andrew’s by-the-Sea, San Diego (then part of the Diocese of Los Angeles), which achieved parish status and built a new church during his tenure. He also served on the board of Episcopal Community Services and as a chaplain at juvenile corrective institution. In the Diocese of Los Angeles he was a member of the Commission on Stewardship Education.
The Reverend Gustavo Hernandez
November 11, 1934 – July 19, 2024
The Rev. Gustavo Hernandez – who served as rector of St. Clement’s, Huntington Park, from 1989 to 1999 and most recently assisted at St. Margaret’s, South Gate, and previously at St. Mark’s, Downey – died July 19 at age 89.
He is survived by his daughters, Madeleine and Paulette Hernandez, and is predeceased by a son, Martin. Private interment of ashes in the Lazarus Chapel at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park, is planned.
Hernandez came to the Diocese of Los Angeles from Waukegan, Ill., where he was assistant rector and Hispanic missioner at the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady. Previously he was on the faculty of Chicago’s St. Augustine’s College where he was professor of ethics and philosophy.
Congregational Openings
August 2024
Clergy are encouraged to request that their name be placed on an “interest list” if they would like to be considered for:
a) positions, regardless of the progress of the congregation in determining their process, or their readiness to receive names;
b) placement by the bishop in mission congregations or where an appointment is otherwise applicable.
Contact the Rev. Canon Tom Quijada-Discavage at tdiscavage@ladiocese.org or via phone at: 213.482.2040.
Open positions:
ACTIVE (Rectors)
Receiving names/Soon to post
Whittier, St. Matthias Parish / Half-time Rector
St. Matthias seeks a rector who is loving, prayerful and a leader with strong, collaborative administrative skills. We will wholeheartedly welcome a minister with abilities and passion to educate us through preaching and Christian Education that enhances our spiritual formation and continued community growth. We seek leadership in discerning effective ways to attract and welcome individuals and families through our St. Matthias commitment to warmly welcome everyone who comes through our doors. We also seek a priest with a pastoral heart to support us in caring for those in crisis, sickness, and other needs. We have a very active core of lay persons eager to collaborate with and support our rector in all the ministries that carry us to the living out of our motto, “Doing the loving thing.”
Parish profile may be found here.
Parish OTM and other documents can be found here.
For more information, please contact the Rev. Canon Thomas Quijada-Discavage directly at the email below or by phone at 323-350-7675. All interested appplicants should respond with: a letter of introduction/interest, a current CV/resume, and an updated OTM to: tdiscavage@ladiocese.org
ACTIVE (Associate/Curate/Other Positions)
OXNARD, All Saints’ ~ Todos los Santos / Associate Priest for Children’s and Youth Ministry (part time)
This person should be ordained or about to be ordained as a priest, conversant in Spanish and English and ready to learn and support our children’s, youth, and family ministries. Flexible scheduling is available. Please be in direct contact with the Rev. Melissa Campbell-Langdell, rector, with any questions and paperwork, if interested, at: revmelissalangdell@gmail.com. For more info, click here.
SAN CLEMENTE, St. Clement by-the-Sea. Assistant Priest, part-time.
Ministry to include preaching once per month, help with pastoral care, and faith formation. Ideal for a shared ministry with another congregation or a retired clergyperson. Please be in contact with the Rev. Patrick Crerar with any questions and paperwork if interested at: FrPatrick@scbythesea.org or 949-492-3401.
OPEN
Receiving names/developing profile
Inglewood, Holy Faith Parish
Redlands, Trinity Parish
Redondo Beach, Christ Church Parish–St. Andrew’s, Torrance / Rector
Westchester, Holy Nativity Parish
OPEN
No longer receiving names/Interviewing candidate
Lompoc, St. Mary’s Parish / Rector
MISSION & OTHER POSITION APPOINTMENTS
Mission congregation positions, some of them part time, for which the Formation and Transition Ministry office is presently receiving names for the bishop’s consideration.
Big Bear, St. Columba / Spirit of Peace Mission
Gardena, Holy Communion Mission
Isla Vista, St. Michael’s University Church Mission
La Verne, St. John’s Mission
Lake Arrowhead, St. Richard of Chichester Mission
Moreno Valley, Grace Mission
Needles, St. John’s Mission
Rancho Santa Margarita, St. John Chrysostom Mission
Rialto, St. Peter’s Mission
Wilmington, St. John’s / Holy Child (PIC) Mission
Yucca Valley, St. Joseph of Arimathea Mission
NON-ACTIVE
Parish congregations that will at some point be searching for clergy leadership, but are now working with supply clergy, a long-term interim or priest in charge:
Arcadia, Parish Church of the Transfiguration
Beverly Hills, All Saints’ Parish
Downey, St. Mark’s Parish
Fullerton, Emmanuel Parish
Fullerton, St. Andrew’s Parish
Garden Grove, St. Anselm’s
Lancaster, St. Paul’s Parish
Los Angeles, Church of Christ the Good Shepherd
Los Angeles, St. John’s Cathedral
Los Angeles, St. Philip’s Parish
Los Angeles (Melrose), Trinity Parish
Los Olivos, St. Mark’s Parish
Monterey Park, St. Gabriel’s Parish
Ojai, St. Andrew’s Parish
Pasadena, St. Barnabas’ Parish
Pomona, St. Paul’s Parish
Santa Maria, St. Peter’s Parish
Van Nuys, St. Mark’s Parish
OTHER OPENINGS
WITHIN THE DIOCESE
LOS ANGELES: Episcoal Diocese seeks Communications Coordinator, skilled in social media, digital publications, and news reporting and editing. A description of the full-time diocesan staff position is here. Qualified applicants are asked to email a resumé and cover letter to Canon Anilin Collado, diocesan missioner for human resources, before June 30.
The communications coordinator will succeed Canon Janet Kawamoto, who has announced her retirement after 22 years on the diocesan staff, serving as editor of The Episcopal News and producing other diocesan media. Kawamoto will be recognized at Diocesan Convention for her decades of outstanding service which began in 1981 when she served as communications assistant through 1985.
Based at St. Paul’s Commons in Echo Park, the new coordinator will work with continuing staff members Canon for Common Life Bob Williams, who oversees the diocesan communications department, and the Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan, longtime senior writer for the Episcopal News and editor of the Angelus clergy community newsletter. Advising the work of the department is the diocesan Program Group on Communications and Public Affairs.
LOS ANGELES: Episcopalian Hospital Chaplain, PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, 1225 Wilshire Boulevard. Full time, salaried. Reporting to one of our department supervisors or managers, this position provides spiritual support to patients, their loved ones, and staff in our hospitals. This chaplain serves people of all belief systems (religious and non-religious), and provides or arranges special rites and rituals as requested by patients and/or surrogates. Full job description and information here.
OUTSIDE THE DIOCESE
A list of postings from the wider Episcopal Church is here.