Dear delegates, colleagues, and friends,
Our Diocesan Convention on November 9, 2024, in Riverside was our first one-day convention in many years and, as is always the temptation, we had an agenda bigger than our allotted time. As I saw the minutes tick by and noted how far behind we were, it seemed prudent to trim as many things off the agenda as we could. Decisions were made balancing the requirements of convention, the pieces other people had worked hard on, and what would be easy to set aside. Ultimately the things we postponed were my address and the videos we had prepared. I was sorry not to be able to offer my address. Speaking to all of you gives me as much energy as I share and it’s fun! What follows is nearly the exact text of my address, with changes only in terms of references to time specific-events.
Canon to the Ordinary Address
Nov. 9, 2024, Riverside Convention Center
How are you doing? Really? While our diocese is politically diverse – and I know there are many who are pleased with the outcome of the election – what I am more aware of from my pastor’s heart are those who do not celebrate for fear of what this election will mean to them personally.
I have spoken to people who fear deportation and are making plans about what happens to their children if that happens. I have spoken to people who fear what will happen to their marriages, their families, the lives they have built together, because they are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
I have spoken to women who fear for what this will mean for their reproductive health.
One woman who has had nine miscarriages, four D&C’s, and an infection in her pelvis is terrified for what this will mean if she ever has another miscarriage.
One colleague posted on his social media account instructions for women to find safe places from their husbands who are emboldened by the “your body, my choice” rhetoric. When someone questioned this, he said he had three women in his congregation report abuse to him post-election.
This election has the potential to impact directly the basic human rights of millions of people in ways I am not sure we have seen before. I use the word “potential” because we don’t know what will happen, and we still have our voices, and I believe in what we can do.
I say all of this because of the relevance of our convention theme, “Inside Out Church.”
When we picked that theme I thought, “Oh, this is nice.” It’s mission focused. It reminds us that our work in the world begins at this altar but does not end there. Our work moves us out into the world. Because when believing in a God who is love, experiencing the love of God, the grace of God is so profound that we are compelled – and even expelled from our places of sanctuary – to bring that sense of love and safety and sanctuary out to the neighborhoods and communities and cities with which we intersect. So that felt nice; it felt like positive forward momentum.
But on Wednesday morning following the election this theme became much more urgent. It now feels like an act of resistance. Because being a church “inside out” might mean providing sanctuary for individuals threatened with deportation. It might mean actively seeking out LGBTQ+ families so that they know they are loved and valued, that there is a place for them. It might look like standing up for the basic human rights of our trans siblings who have been the object of so much hate. There are many possible scenarios – many ways the next four years could go – and we need to be ready.
Here are some of the ways we can be ready. First is to be ready to care for our planet. Our world is the inside-out church: It is sacred space, and the Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change has been hard at work in the areas of education, advocacy, disaster resiliency and even passing a few convention resolutions to be a voice for climate action in our diocese.
A couple of years ago, we as Diocesan Convention passed a resolution that included each congregation naming a liaison, or two, to the Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change for the purpose of receiving information and reporting on the hopeful implementation of efforts to address climate change. But more so, to help mobilize urgent collective action – throughout the diocese.
Yet we have only a few congregations that have provided us with their liaisons. We are asking all our congregations to please appoint a liaison to the commission so that we can be in better touch about what’s happening around our diocese and organize for the good of the planet and our own lives.
In addition, there are educational opportunities, including a recent diocesan webinar with climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe who is the author of the book “Saving Us: A climate scientist case for hope and healing in a divided world.” Katharine Hayhoe’s presentation is available on our diocesan YouTube channel, here.
Another way we can be ready is by attending to the needs of our struggling parishes. Churches are essential institutions in the work of community organizing, and having strong churches means we have a stronger voice for human rights in our country. For years we have seen our smaller churches in decline getting older and poorer to the point that several cannot pay their Misson Share Fund contribution or pay for a priest.
We need a plan. We need a way to address the issues our congregations face and to strengthen ourselves for the work we need to do in the world.
There are many ways we are addressing this, and I would like to highlight two. First is with a program designed for churches that cannot pay Mission Share Fund and who have been recommended for a season of discernment with a program called “Requiem or Renaissance.”
Originally piloted in the Diocese of Missouri, it has helped two cohorts of congregations there strengthen for ministry or discern a holy way to end their ministry by planting the seeds of a new ministry. In all cases but one, churches have been revitalized, and the one church that decided to close funded a start-up church which today is going strong. I have a lot of hope for this program. And, like any program, it works best when we are committed to it. We will have more information coming out about Requiem or Renaissance early in 2025.
The second way we are addressing this is thrilling to me. It is one of the most hopeful, exciting, and mind-blowing things that has happened in our diocese in a long time. And that is our grant from Lilly Endowment in their Nurturing Children Initiative. We applied for this grant and were awarded $1.24 million for this work (They actually sent a check in the mail!) And we also have raised an additional $250,000 for this project.
Missy Morain, who was the person with the vision and initiative to apply for this grant is now on our staff working with the grant priorities as well as some other diocesan initiatives. You will see a lot more from us about this in the coming months, including funding. There will be ways for congregations to apply for funding for children’s programming. It will be innovative and geared for the breadth and depth of our diversity. This grant is an answer to prayer, and now that we have this program we will need to find ways to fund it after the grant cycle. So please join me in prayer for that.
Lastly, just a quick note about transition, because that is what we are in right now in our diocese. The search committee for our next bishop has just been named, and they will get to work soon! Please pray for them. Please pray for whoever God is calling to be our next bishop. Please pray for our diocese.
There’s a lot going on in our world, from the election of a president to the election of our next diocesan bishop, and there are an incredible amount of congregations in transition.
Here’s the thing I hang on to, and maybe it will be a help to you. You may have heard me say this before, because I am a big believer in this. So I say it a lot, and I will say it again: We can do anything we set our minds to, anything God is calling us to do, as long as we are in good relationship with each other and with God.
Now is a time for kindness to one another, for generosity of spirit, for an extra amount of grace, and a lot of prayer. No matter where you find yourself in this politically divided world, the person next to you in the pew is someone who needs the love and grace of God as much as you do. The struggles people are facing are real and often hidden from our eyes.
I am grateful for all of you. Thank you for all you do to care for your neighborhoods and communities. Thank you for your ministries, for the care you take of each other. It is a privilege to serve as Canon to the Ordinary in this extraordinary diocese. Thank you for the love and grace you have extended to me and to all our staff. Blessings and peace to all.
(The Rev. Canon) Melissa McCarthy
Canon to the Ordinary, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles