July 20, 2023 | VOLUME 35, ISSUE 27

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost:

July 23, 2023

Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

Preacher: The Reverend Jennifer Wagner Pavia

Monday, July 31, 7 PM: Vestry

Thursday, August 10, 5:30 PM: Dinner and Assembly for the Backpack Project

Sunday, August 13, 1:30 PM: Grassroots Neighbors

Bible and Breakfast

Tuesdays | 9:30 AM

Luther Hall & Zoom

Midweek Eucharist

Wednesdays | 7:00 PM

Sanctuary

Adult Forum

Wednesdays | 7:45 PM

Luther Hall & Zoom

BACKPACK PROJECT Assembly & Dinner

Date & Time: Thursday, August 10, at 5:30 PM.

For the last several years, St. Bede’s has partnered with First AME Church on a back-to-school backpack project for children in foster care, and this summer we are doing it again.

We plan to fill 45 backpacks (15 for elementary school-age children, 15 for middle school and 15 for high school), and we’re collecting monetary donations to buy the supplies that will go inside.

If you’re writing a check, please make them payable to St. Bede’s with “Backpack Project” in the memo portion (at the lower left corner of the check.) You can bring the checks (or cash) to church, mail the checks to church, or send your checks to Alice Short (3156 Coolidge Ave. Los Angeles 90066). In addition, you can donate via the St. Bede’s Vanco e-giving and payment process site.

We’d be grateful if you could make your donations by July 23.

Questions? Please reach out to members of the Mission Committee.

THE WAY OF SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS

ST. BEDE'S ONLINE GIVING PORTAL

Are you planning to attend worship online and want an easy way to make a pledge payment? Do you want to ditch the checkbook and set up reoccurring payments? Are you looking for a convenient way to make a one-time special gift to St. Bede's?

Did you know you can make donations online to St. Bede's, securely and easily?

Visit the St. Bede's website and at the top of every page, look for the "Donate" button. When you click on the "Donate" button, you will be transported to St. Bede's Vanco eGiving and Payment Process Site.

Vanco is an industry leader in online payments. More than 40,000 churches, faith-based groups, nonprofits, schools, and educational organizations trust Vanco to securely complete transactions every day. Vanco complies with PCI Level 1 standards, the highest security standard in the payment processing industry.

You are invited to set up one-time or recurring gifts using credit, debit, or bank transfer on Vanco's secure payment processing platform. Giving online through the Vanco site saves time and the hassle of remembering to bring your offering. In addition, you decrease the expense incurred by St. Bede’s from handling and processing checks and cash.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL NEWS

A newsletter serving the Diocese of LA

Opening celebration of St. Michael’s, Riverside, affordable housing project slated for July 24

[The Episcopal News] Bishop John Harvey Taylor will dedicate St. Michael’s Apartments, a new affordable housing community at St. Michael’s Ministry Center, Riverside, on Monday, July 24 at 10:30 a.m., concluding at about noon.

The project is the first to be developed by the Diocese of Los Angeles in collaboration with Newport Beach-based Community Development Partners and Mercy House, a non-profit housing and supportive services provider based in Orange County.

The project was designed by Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, FAIA, of Escher GuneWardena Architecture, both members of Taylor’s Housing Justice Task Force, with Zeke Jones as project manager. Precision General Contractors, based in Novato, CA, managed the construction.

Taylor has pledged that affordable housing will be built on 25% of the diocese’s church properties. A second project, at Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Placentia, is nearing completion; others are in various stages of planning.

Conceived as a prototype for reinvigorating underused church properties, the St. Michael’s project is a new community housed in a 440-foot, 50-unit building with offices for essential supportive services and a model sustainable urban garden.

Ticket orders open for 2023 Episcopal Night at Dodger Stadium

by EN Staff

The Diocese of Los Angeles will once again descend on Echo Park for Episcopal Night at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Sept. 1 for a game (with playoff potential) against the Atlanta Braves, according to the Rev. Canon Greg Larkin (AKA “Canon Baseball”), who has led this event since its inception in the 1990s, during Bishop Fred Borsch’s tenure.

A coordinator in each congregation will monitor signups, collect ticket money ($30 per ticket; same rate as last year) and place orders with Larkin. Tickets will be delivered electronically to the coordinator, who will then distribute them by email to parishioners, according to instructions recently sent to clergy. Tickets must be readable on a cell phone for entry to the stadium. All ticket orders must be sent to Larkin by July 18; coordinators will set deadlines for their congregations..

View the latest edition of Episcopal News of L.A. Diocese

EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE

Michigan congregation donates $130,000 from sale of rectory to racial reparations effort

By Shireen Korkzan

[Episcopal News Service] All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing, Michigan, has committed to donating at least $130,000 – half of the proceeds from the sale of its rectory – to help close the racial wealth gap in central Michigan.

The Rev. Kit Carlson, All Saints’ rector, told Episcopal News Service that the church in 2021 had started looking into doing reparations work in response to racial injustices. At the same time, retired entomologist Willye Bryan founded the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan, a nonprofit dedicated to removing racial disparities by establishing an endowment fund via donations from individuals, churches and other faith-based organizations.

Until the federal Fair Housing Act passed in 1968, realtors intentionally blocked Black buyers from purchasing homes in nearby Lansing, Michigan’s capital, resulting in a property wealth disparity that remains today. Another factor was the discriminatory practice known as redlining, rooted in federal policies dating to the 1930s, in which banks nationwide were discouraged from lending to residents in neighborhoods deemed “hazardous” to investment, often because people of color lived there.

All Saints recently closed on the sale of its rectory for $260,000 and, with unanimous consent by the church’s vestry, pledged to give half, or $130,000, to the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan’s reparations endowment, which will locally support Black homeownership and startups by Black entrepreneurs, as well as provide scholarships for Black students. The donation from the rectory sale was part of a broader reparations plan that the vestry approved in May by vote. The church will donate the money to the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan during a worship service scheduled for Aug. 20.

All Saints also participated in a public event hosted by the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan on Juneteenth — June 19 — at the Michigan State Capitol in downtown Lansing, to apologize for The Episcopal Church’s historical role in perpetuating racism. Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry spoke about racial reconciliation at the event, alluding to Isaiah 58:12 in calling it a step toward “repairing a malignant breach in our country.”

Task force to provide resources and training to help Episcopalians respond to mental health challenges

By Melodie Woerman

[Episcopal News Service] An Episcopal Church task force is working to provide resources to help church members and clergy better understand and assist people who are coping with various forms of mental or emotional distress, at a time when 90% of Americans believe the country is in a mental health crisis made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics in a report from the National Institute of Mental Health help paint the picture of a nation filled with people who are struggling:

In 2021, there were an estimated 57.8 million adults in the United States with some form of mental illness, described as a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder. This represents 22.8% of all U.S. adults.
The percentage of young adults, ages 18-25, with any mental illness who received mental health services (44.6%) was lower than for ages 26-49 (48.1%) and those 50 and older (47.4%).
When mental illness becomes serious – with functional impairment that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities – it affected 14.1 million adults, representing 5.5% of all U.S. adults.
The prevalence of a serious mental illness was highest among American Indian/Alaskan Native adults (9.3%), followed by adults reporting two or more races (8.2%).

BAC﻿KPACK PROJECT Assembly & Dinner