History repeated?: One church’s tale of two pandemics, 100 years apart

From Sight-

At the height of the influenza pandemic in 1918, Rev John Misao Yamazaki stopped holding services at St Mary’s Japanese Mission, the Episcopal church in Los Angeles he helped found more than a decade prior. Before mandatory quarantines were enacted, Yamazaki began visiting homes to pray for sick children and families.

More than a century later, in the midst of another global pandemic, Rev Laurel Coote, Yamazaki’s successor at what is now St Mary’s Episcopal Church, stands in the quiet sanctuary livestreaming images of its empty pews and stained glass windows to her congregation via Facebook.

“I felt compelled to come into the sanctuary so that I could sit in its beauty and its silence and stillness. And I know that you’re missing it too, and so I thought, let me share it with you today,” Coote says in the video. “Christ is alive in this holy place.”

More here-

https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/features/15468-history-repeated-one-church-s-tale-of-two-pandemics-100-years-apart

Matthew Broderick’s sister admits preferential coronavirus treatment, feels awful about it, report says

From New Jersey-

The sister of actor Matthew Broderick, who until last spring was a church pastor in Morristown, says being related to a celebrity got her special attention during her near-fatal bout with coronavirus at a California hospital.

“I think I’m absolute living proof that this system is completely corrupt,” the told New York Magazine.

Rev. Janet Broderick, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills,

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles announced May 11 that Broderick, 64, had coronavirus and was being treated for a “severe form of pneumonia" at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, and had tested positive for coronavirus.

In the magazine interview, she was asked if she received “preferential treatment being a religious leader and Matthew Broderick’s sister."

“Yes, but I feel evil for saying that," Broderick replied.

“My GP (general practitioner) didn’t know I was Matthew Broderick’s sister and didn’t care very much. As soon as I got ahold of the guy at the hospital who knew who Matthew was, I was given the name of the head of the emergency room," Broderick told the magazine.

More here-

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/04/matthew-brodericks-sister-admits-preferential-treatment-for-coronavirus-feels-awful-about-it-report-says.html

Beverly Hills Pastor, Sister Of Actor Matthew Broderick, Tests Positive For Coronavirus

From Los Angeles-

A pastor at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills has tested positive for novel coronavirus and has been hospitalized after attending a conference in Kentucky, the church confirmed Wednesday.

All Saints Episcopal Church has notified congregants after Rev. Janet Broderick tested positive for the virus. The reverend and parishioners also confirmed that the pastor is the sister of actor Matthew Broderick.

The church released a statement saying in part,

“As you may know, our Rector, Janet Broderick, took ill shortly after returning from the annual conference of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP) in Louisville, Kentucky, which was attended by more than 500 Episcopalians from around the country. As you also may know, it was reported last Sunday that the rector of Christ Church Georgetown in Washington, D.C., an attendee of the conference, was diagnosed with the Covid-19 coronavirus.

More here-

 https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/03/11/coronavirus-beverly-hills-pastor/

Redlands’ Trinity Episcopal Church to hold annual Native American worship service

From Los Angeles-

Trinity Episcopal Church in Redlands will hold its 11th annual Native American worship service, celebrating Native American Heritage Month, at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 17.

The liturgy for the service is based on the Red Lake Mass set by Monte Mason, a nationally known composer and arranger of sacred music, according to a press release from the church.

Mason created this musical setting in 1996 based on tunes compiled by Frances Densmore, an early ethnomusicologist who noted and recorded music from various Northern American tribes. The service uses spoken text from the Creek, Dakota, Chippewa and Choctaw nations.

At the beginning of the service, Native American guests will gather in the church’s garden for prayers and smudging, led by Theresa Paine, Cherokee, and drummer Rudolph Medina, Apache, aka Singing Bird.

More here-

https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2019/11/14/redlands-trinity-episcopal-church-to-hold-annual-native-american-worship-service/

Episcopal Diocese Concerned by Palm Springs Clergy Abuse Allegations

From San Diego-

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego issued a statement of regret and concern Tuesday regarding allegations against a Palm Springs priest who is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges that he sexually abused her in New York nearly 50 years ago, when she was 19.

The lawsuit alleges that the Rev. Paul Kowalewski — who currently serves as a substitute priest at the Church of St. Paul in the Desert — molested the plaintiff in Buffalo in 1971. He was an ordained Roman Catholic priest at the time, according to the complaint filed Monday against the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, where Kowalewski was affiliated from 2005 to 2013.

The plaintiff, Patricia Harner, alleges that Kowalewski abused her, along with several children and at least one other adult, and that the Los Angeles diocese knew of his alleged history when he joined the diocese.

More here-

https://mynewsla.com/uncategorized/2019/07/23/episcopal-diocese-concerned-by-palm-springs-clergy-abuse-allegations/

L.A. churches declaring themselves sanctuaries for migrant families amid expected ICE raids

From Los Angeles-

Several churches in the Los Angeles area have declared themselves sanctuaries for migrant families.

They condemn potential raids and are welcoming any refugees with open arms. At least a dozen churches in the area are offering sanctuary to immigrants.

"We need to have a way of providing for people who are fleeing violence, who are fleeing when they cannot tend to their families, when people are so desperate they are willing to risk their lives," said Rev. Sunny Kang of the United University Church.

Many church members at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena didn't show up for Sunday services for fear of the raids and possible arrests by ICE agents, according to a member from the congregation's immigration task force.

More here-

https://abc7.com/society/la-churches-offering-sanctuary-amid-expected-ice-raids/5395986/ 

and here-

https://laist.com/2019/07/14/lincoln_heights_churchgoers_say_threat_of_ice_raids_are_scaring_people_away.php

Matthew Broderick’s pastor sister is leaving her N.J. church for one in Beverly Hills

From New Jersey-

A church founded nearly 200 years ago in Morristown is saying goodbye to its popular pastor after a decade on the job.

Rev. Janet Broderick is moving more than 2,700 miles to Beverly Hills, California, where in June she will become the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church.

Broderick, whose brother is actor Matthew Broderick, recently broke the news to congregants at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown.

Morristown Mayor Tim Doughterty said Broderick will be missed.

“She stayed committed to the community. I think she saw the long-term vision of Morristown and was an active part of it, from the arts to helping families out that needed assistance. She was all around just a great asset to the town,” Dougherty said.

Broderick did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She grew up in New York City and, prior to Morristown, was the rector for eight years at Grace Church Van Vorst in Jersey City.

More here-

https://www.nj.com/morris/2019/05/matthew-brodericks-pastor-sister-is-leaving-her-nj-church-for-one-in-beverly-hills.html

A Santa Barbara Episcopal Priest’s Stand Against Racial Injustice

From California-

My father was an Episcopalian missionary in Davis, California, before the church appointed him associate rector at Santa Barbara’s Trinity Episcopal Church in 1961. It was quite a change to move from a small, rural college town to one of the prettiest cities in the world. Palm trees grew in front of the church. Olive trees grew on Olive Street, figs on Fig Avenue. In Davis, Dad started out holding services in the local movie theater before the Episcopal Church purchased a house we were able to convert into a parish church. Parishioners from the campus theater department turned its windows into colorful stained-glass replicas with only glue and tissue paper. 

What a contrast to the imposing Trinity Church, one of the oldest Episcopal churches in the state. In the English Gothic style, it is built of local sandstone and designed by Philip Hubert Frohman, the same architect for the Washington National Cathedral. It all seemed near perfect to me and my brother and sister, especially when my parents were able to buy a house in the Samarkand, a neighborhood of charming houses and underground utilities.


More here-

https://www.independent.com/news/2019/feb/21/santa-barbara-episcopal-priests-stand-against-raci/

Court of Review for Bishops upholds retired Los Angeles bishop’s three-year suspension

From ENS-

An Episcopal Church court has concluded that retired Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno was properly suspended from ordained ministry for three years because of misconduct.

The Court of Review for Bishops said it made the three-year suspension retroactive to Aug. 2, 2017, the day a hearing panel originally recommended the sentence, rather than with the court’s Jan. 31 order.

The case against Bruno involved his unsuccessful 2015 attempt to sell the property of what was then known as St. James the Great’s in Newport Beach, California, to a condominium developer for $15 million in cash. That effort prompted some St. James members to bring misconduct allegations against Bruno, alleging he violated church law.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/02/01/court-of-review-for-bishops-upholds-retired-los-angeles-bishops-three-year-suspension/?fbclid=IwAR3PDYnnSbpNsFPuGOC7-yErr-Lf6gAndWQ6ZdE8SdtgtP2CyjFhDYcs5Wc

Ugandan LGBTQ refugees find a home in Long Beach’s ‘gayborhood’

From Los Angeles-

This story is the first in a two-part series looking at how St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach helps immigrants.

Up until a few years ago, life was good in Uganda for Lucy. She had just graduated from a local university in 2013 and was looking forward to what came next. Unfortunately, what came next, a year later, was Lucy being forced to flee to Kenya to seek asylum after someone exposed a secret she had been keeping for some time: she was bisexual.

“They told all the people around me, the community and family,” said the 27-year-old who asked that her real name not be used.

She was threatened but received no support from her family.

“They were coming up to me, the whole community was coming up to me, so I had to run,” Lucy said. “[They said] ‘You’re an outcast, that’s not allowed here, how can you do stuff like that?’ No one physically got me. They were threatening me, they were coming to my house where I grew up.”

More here-

https://lbpost.com/immigration/escaping-intolerance-ugandan-lgbtq-refugees-find-a-home-in-long-beachs-gayborhood/

Fall from grace: How a beloved priest allegedly ‘looted’ $126,000 from a Huntington Beach church

From Orange County-

Saddened but resolute, Derek Wimmer solemnly stood before the shell-shocked congregation of St. Wilfrid of York church and meticulously detailed the sins of Michael Archer, a disgraced priest accused of malfeasance in the theft of about $126,000 over the past decade. 

“It is abundantly clear that by forging documents, using Photoshopped invoices, lying to those who questioned him, these actions were premeditated and designed to systematically loot the church,” Wimmer, the church’s treasurer, told about 100 parishioners who gathered for a rare town hall meeting on Nov. 25.

More here-

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/11/30/fall-from-grace-how-a-beloved-priest-allegedly-looted-126000-from-a-huntington-beach-church/

Episcopal Diocese defrocks St. Wilfred rector who confessed to theft of church funds

From California-

A priest who in October confessed to stealing funds from St. Wilfred of York church for his own use has been defrocked by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

The defrocking means the Rev. Canon Michael D. Archer is no longer a priest, Rev. Canon Gary R. Hall, priest-in-charge of the Huntington Beach church, said in a Nov. 16 letter to parishioners.
Archer could not be immediately reached for comment.

Archer was permanently removed from the priesthood for reportedly violating an agreement with the diocese that he made when he was initially suspended for the alleged financial impropriety.
Specifically, the diocese discovered Archer had contacted parishioners after he had been told not to and misrepresented “crucial information” about his reasons for leaving his previous ministry with the Church of the Nazarene, Hall said in the letter.

More here-

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/11/19/episcopal-diocese-defrocks-st-wilfred-rector-who-confessed-to-theft-of-church-funds/

Rector at St. Wilfrid in Huntington Beach under investigation for financial misconduct

From Los Angeles-

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is investigating allegations of financial misconduct against the Rev. Canon Michael D. Archer, rector of St. Wilfrid of York Church in Huntington Beach.

“These allegations were reviewed by both the bishop and a diocesan committee and have been deemed serious enough to warrant an investigation,” Joan Pashley-Baynes and Allison Hainlen, wardens for St. Wilfrid’s vestry, said in a Sept. 2 letter to parishioners. The allegations apparently involve Archer’s handling of expense and discretionary accounts at St. Wilfrid’s, according to a statement from the Right Rev. John Harvey Taylor, bishop of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

“Canon Archer has promised to cooperate fully,” Taylor said Monday. “Under the Episcopal church’s canons, respondents are presumed to be innocent until the facts show otherwise.” Archer could not be reached for comment. The diocese did not release further details about the allegations or what prompted the investigation.

More here-

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/09/11/rector-at-st-wilfrids-in-huntington-beach-under-investigation-for-financial-misconduct/

Clergy members protesting immigration policies arrested in Los Angeles ahead of Jeff Sessions visit

From Los Angeles (via NY)-

Nearly two dozen clergy members were arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday as they protested the Trump administration’s immigration policies and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ planned visit to the area.

The religious leaders from different faith backgrounds linked arms to block Spring St. near a federal courthouse as police ordered them to disperse.

With cops threatening immediate arrest, they sat down side-by-side in the street in an act of civil disobedience organized by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), a spokeswoman for the group told the Daily News.

Rabbi Aryeh Cohen was one of the clergy members hauled away in plastic cuffs. Speaking to The News after his release, Cohen said he was one of 23 total clergy members cited with an infraction for failing to follow a lawful order.

More here-

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-clergy-members-arrested-jeff-sessions-protest-20180626-story.html

Dear Orange County Register editors: Some Episcopal stories require a bit of research

From Get Religion-

If you have been a religion-beat reporter for a decade or two (or longer), then you probably have a large "box" (analog, digital or both) stashed somewhere with a label that says "Episcopal Church Sex Wars," or words to that effect.

It's hard to know precisely where to start the clock, when creating a timeline for Episcopal conflicts about doctrines defining marriage and sex. OutHistory.org has a helpful view from the left that starts in 1962. At GetReligion, we normally start with the 1979 General Convention in Denver, which affirmed traditional doctrines, but also saw the release of a protest document from 21 liberal bishops, including the names of several future leaders of the church.

This brings me to a recent story in the Orange County Register: "St. James the Great congregants make joyous return to Newport Beach church." One Godbeat veteran wrote me to say that this story had "more holes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese." Here is the lede:

More here-

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2018/4/17/dear-orange-county-register-editors-some-local-episcopal-stories-require-some-research

Newport Beach Episcopal church reopens after a three-year battle

From Los Angeles-

They had been waiting for the moment for years.

After the sermon, and before Communion, their priest, the Rev. Canon Cindy Voorhees, stood before them in resplendent white vestments and proclaimed simply but exuberantly, "Welcome to St. James."

From pews that had sat empty for three years, a packed house at St. James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach rose Sunday to embrace Voorhees like a rock star with cheers and whistles.

It was the first service since 2015 at the church, which had been locked and mired in an emotional ecclesiastical and legal battle as the past bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles twice tried to sell the land to developers, incurring church sanctions before his retirement. A flock stayed together, following Voorhees to services at a park, in a museum and, for the last year, a community room at Newport Beach City Hall.


The past was inescapable Sunday, but so was the present.

Sue Rawlings brought her Havanese, Rawlie, as she always does — dogs are welcome at St. James' Mass — and without prompting the little dog, with red bows in her silky ears, trotted down the aisle directly to Rawlings' usual pew — to the right and two rows from the front.


More here-

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-church-reopens-20180409-story.html

Newport’s St. James church to reopen April 8

From Los Angeles-

The long-locked St. James church in Newport Beach will reopen next weekend.

According to a statement Thursday from the bishop's office of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the church will hold services at 10 a.m. April 8, with Bishop John Taylor presiding.

St. James was embroiled in emotional legal and ecclesiastical tumult for nearly three years as then-Bishop J. Jon Bruno tried to sell the property to developers in 2015 and 2017.

In a letter to the St. James congregation and its priest, the Rev. Canon Cindy Voorhees, Taylor and the Rev. Abel Lopez, president of the diocesan governing body, said the congregation now has the organizational rank of "mission station" on a trial basis. It will regain use of the church facility at 3209 Via Lido, though a portion of it also will function as a broader Redeemer Center for Diocesan Ministries.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-st-james-20180329-story.html

Neighboring congregations support exiled church’s return to Newport Beach campus

From Orange County-

Members of neighboring Episcopal congregations said during an emotional public forum Saturday morningMarch 10, in Laguna Hills that they would like to see St. James the Great Episcopal Church return to the building on Via Lido in Newport Beach.

Members of the 72-year-old Newport Beach congregation have managed to stay and worship together in the last three years, since June 2015, when they were evicted by then-Bishop J. Jon Bruno, who determined the church wasn’t financially viable, and decided to sell that piece of prime real estate to a developer who wanted to build luxury condominiums on it.

But, that sale fell through and Bruno was disciplined by the national church last year following a misconduct hearing where he faced allegations that his conduct with regard to St. James was “unbecoming of a member of the clergy.”

Bruno retired in November and was succeeded by the Most Rev. John Taylor, who presided over Saturday’s public hearing — the goal of which was to get input from other Episcopal churches in the area about reinstating St. James as a congregation within the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, and to find out if there really is a need for one more Episcopal church in that part of Orange County.

At the hearing were also members of the diocese’s Standing Committee, who are set to make a recommendation after their March 21 meeting regarding whether St. James congregants should return to their home church in Newport Beach.
More here-

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/10/neighboring-congregations-support-exiled-churchs-return-to-newport-beach-campus/

Arson suspects sought in Pasadena church fire

From LA Times-

Authorities are searching for those responsible for vandalizing a 129-year-old Pasadena church early Saturday and setting it on fire.

The fire was reported at about 2:20 a.m. at the Church of the Angels at 1100 N. Avenue 64, said Lisa Derderian, a spokeswoman with the Pasadena Fire Department. The Los Angeles Fire Department initially responded and put out the fire because of confusion over the address, she said.

The vandals broke a stone statue in front of the church and sprayed graffiti on its exterior walls, Derderian said. The church sustained smoke damage, including to some pews, and a solid oak statue that was part of the church when it was built was badly damaged, she said.

The fire was started inside the building, she said.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-church-fire-20180113-story.html

LA diocese, congregation still at odds over disputed St. James property

From ENS-

The dispute over the St. James the Great property in Newport Beach, California, that is at the heart of disciplinary proceedings against Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno has taken several recent turns.

Late on Oct. 10, Los Angeles Bishop Coadjutor John Taylor and the Rev. Rachel Anne Nyback told the diocese that an anticipated sale of the property had fallen through.

“This event, we believe, gives our diocesan community a renewed opportunity for careful discernment about our mission and ministry in south Orange County,” the two wrote.

They pledged to “do all we can pastorally, logistically, and financially to assist the St. James congregation should it wish to regain mission status in the diocese.” However, that effort will not include an immediate return of the congregation’s pastor, the Rev. Cindy Evans Voorhees, to lead worship in the church she designed.

“After a suitable period of discernment and planning, we will reopen the church as a bishop’s chapel, with supply, or guest, clergy invited to conduct Sunday services,” Taylor and Nyback wrote. “It will be open to all in the community who wish to attend and glorify and serve our God in Christ.”

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2017/10/12/la-diocese-congregation-still-at-odds-over-disputed-st-james-property/