With our five and a half counties, we may well think we have a lot of ground to cover in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. If so, we might want to check with the Rt. Rev. Gerry Engnan, whose diocese stretches from east of Hawaii to Nevada and from San Diego to western Canada — five states, two provinces, and an archipelago of islands in the Pacific. As a bishop in the Philippine Independent Church, he serves 15 congregations in his far-flung territory, including three in the Los Angeles area, several thousand communicants in all.
Its founders abhorred the abuses of Roman Catholic missionaries and priests from Spain and so broke away from Rome in 1902. The PIC maintained a nationalist, pro-union, anti-colonial posture during the era of U.S. imperial domination that would persist in the Philippines until 1946, interrupted only by Japan’s conquest during World War II. Its Anglican character and practices make the PIC a cousin of the Philippine Episcopal Church, though the relationship is sometimes testy because of global Anglicanism’s colonialist legacy.
Bishop Gerry came to see me this week so we could compare notes about our ministries in these momentous times while making plans for the annual convocation of PIC bishops coming up in Los Angeles Sept. 10-13. Over 80 will attend, including the bishops, members of the PIC executive council, top staff, and spouses. Among other things, we’re looking for home stays for attendees to supplement the rooms we’ve already reserved at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park, where most of the meetings will take place.
The PIC and The Episcopal Church formed a concordat in 1961. Before his election as bishop, Gerry spent many years serving the PIC congregation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, which now doubles as his See, the Cathedral of the Incarnation. He still takes services Saturday evening in Van Nuys. Most Sundays, as bishop in charge, he presides at St. John’s Episcopal Church + Holy Child Philippine Independent Church in Wilmington, near Los Angeles Harbor, where members of the denominations worship side by side.
Gerry says the PIC worries about its aging priests and is doing more to encourage and train lay vocations. He and I have that in common, along with current political challenges. This weekend at St. Mark’s, where the Rt. Rev. Naudal Alves Gomes is bishop in charge and the Ugandan Community Church is also in residence, congregants and neighbors are invited to a “Christian Call to Action” forum, focused on making sure undocumented workers and their families, under threat of deportation by the U.S. government, know their constitutional rights.
The forum an outgrowth of the monthly meetings Bishop Naudal convenes to promote fellowship and collaboration in the vibrant ecumenical community he oversees — Holy Spirit stuff indeed, since there is no power on earth that can come against Christ’s love in faith and community.