January 29, The 4th Sunday after Epiphany
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 9:15AM Coffee Hour Sign Up
It is time to sign up for Coffee Hour for the months of January and February. The Sign Up Sheet is on the coffee table outside Church.
7:45 Feb 12, 19, 26
10:15 Feb 12, 19, 26
You can sign up by Emailing into the Parish Office: coa@lafn.org
Opportunity for Altar Flowers
Sundays February 5, 12, and 19, are open for anyone who might wish to give Altar Flowers if you’d like give flowers on any of those days, email the Parish Office
Secret Handshake Class Saturday, January 21: 10:00 a.m. Parish Hall Living Room
This Saturday we will explore the Liturgy. We’ll learn the Secret to The Book of Common Prayer so that you’ll never get lost in the Sunday Service again!
Anyone is welcome to attend any or all meeting. Either way we should have fun.
Emmaus Road No Meeting Monday, January 30
Emmaus Road continues reading Shusako Endo’s novel, Silence. The novel, set in 17th Century Japan is about the persecution of Christians and the question of faithfulness: both
the believer’s and God’s. This book has recently been made into a film by Martin Scorsese
Emmaus Road will resume Monday February 6, 7:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. We will discuss Chapters 4, 5, & 6
.
The Financial Page
Church of the Angels Annual Giving for 2017
We’re still waiting for a few more Annual Giving Pledges for 2017 to come in. If you have not yet made an Annual Giving Pledge for 2017, please consider doing so. Pledge cards are available in the back of the Church. You can also pledge online by going to http://www.coa-pasadena.org/pledge. When you fill out the pledge card and click Submit, it will go directly to Leigh Torgerson, the Parish Treasurer.
Annual Parish Meeting for 2017
Sunday, January 29, 2017
One Liturgy at 9:30 a.m.
Annual Meeting Follows in the Parish Hall
Potluck Lunch Follows the Annual Meeting.
How Episcopal Parishes are organized and function
Moving toward the Annual Parish Meeting, this is a good time to review how Episcopal Parishes operate.
The Organization of Episcopal Parishes
The organization of an Episcopal parish works like this. The organization rests on two supports. One is the Office of the Rector, and the other is the Office of the Vestry. What matters is the office itself, not who holds it.
The Office of the Rector
Is responsible for and in charge of, the entire parish program and the use of the parish facilities. Episcopal Canon Law refers to this as “having charge over the spiritual life of the parish.” Canon Law imposes a number of things on the office of Rector, more than one person can really do. For example the spiritual formation of children is imposed on the Rector, but so is the conduct of the Liturgy. Since it’s not possible to be in two places at once, tasks imposed on the office of Rector must to be delegated and shared among the congregation.
The Office of the Vestry
Is responsible for and in charge of the parish finances and what Episcopal Canon Law calls, “The parish’s corporate relationships to the world.” The authority of both of these offices is independent of the other, and to a large degree independent of the parish with the exception of Vestry members being elected. These two offices rest upon the governance structure of the entire Episcopal Church.
A Collaborative Enterprise
Of course everything works better when these independent offices and the congregation itself it work together. At Church of the Angels, we operate in a collaborative manner with a high degree of trust in one another. This collaborative culture makes possible the involvement of everyone and for new ideas to come forward and be tried.
What the Vestry does
I like to say that “The Vestry cares for the infrastructure upon which the life of faith is lived.” The Vestry takes care of the finances. The Vestry and Rector collaborate on keeping the parish community involved and healthy with programs and events whose ultimate purpose is, as we say in our vision statement, Nourish Christ’s people from the riches of his grace and strengthen them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come. This rests on a lot of mundane stuff ya gotta do, housework and the like. It’s not very sexy most of the time. The Vestry meets the Third Saturday of each month at 8:30 a.m. in the Parish Hall Living Room. Any parishioner is welcome to attend. Also the names of the Vestry members are published in the bulletin insert. Please feel free to speak to any of them about your concerns or ideas.
How the Vestry is chosen
In the Episcopal Church, the overwhelming majority of parishes elect Vestry members by acclamation that is, the Annual Meeting is asked to vote for a slate of candidates. Large congregations may have a nominating committee to solicit candidates. At COA the Vestry has traditionally functioned as the nominating committee and this goes back decades prior to my being Rector. We seek to find people who can bring specific gifts and talents that we feel we need at particular times of the parish’s life. For example, in the years we were doing the restoration of the Church, we sought people for the Vestry who had specific experience and expertise in engineering and construction. We seek to maintain a balance of age, gender, recent, and long time members.
Officers of the Vestry
The Vestry has officers as part of its structure. These officers are: The Parish Wardens, the Secretary, and the Treasurer. The Secretary and Treasurer can be ex-officio or members of the Vestry. Ken Ryan is the Secretary and Leigh Torgerson is Treasurer and are ex-officio.
The Parish Wardens.
The task of the Wardens is to look after the Rector. They look after the Rector’s well being. They also serve to keep the Rector on that specifically Anglican trait called The Via Media, the middle way. So should the Rector get it into his head to 1. Jump off the Colorado Street Bridge, or 2, propose that the congregation pack up and move to Guyana to await the Second Coming on the next asteroid, the Wardens help him regain his equilibrium.
Candidates for Vestry
Amy Katherine Cannon.
In 2015 Amy was elected to fill the two year unexpired term of Bill Irwin who with his wife Pam moved to San Pedro that year. Our Parish By-Laws allow a Vestry Member who is filling an unexpired term to stand for a full 3 year term. Amy is willing to continue. Her husband Ken Ryan assists the Vestry as Recording Secretary.
Amy Katherine Cannon is currently on the English faculty at USC teaching writing and composition. She graduated from Biola University, where she received her BA in Philosophy and received her MFA in Poetry from UCI. She and her husband Kenny are happy to call Highland Park home, and she is honored to have served on the Vestry these two years. She also manages our Social Media presence online.
Kate Kahler-Rickman
Kate is a life-long Episcopalian and has been a member of Church of the Angels since 1997. After graduating from Occidental College, Kate was an intern with the Episcopal Urban Intern Program. Before coming to Church of the Angels, Kate worshipped and worked in youth ministry and Christian Education.
Kate has been involved in parish life at Church of the Angels in many ways, including the Outreach Committee, assisting in the Level 1 Atrium, working with teenagers (now young adults) as they Journeyed to Adulthood, as well as serving a previous term on the vestry.
Kate lives in Altadena with her husband, Brandon, and two daughters, Corita and Willa, and is an elementary school teacher in Boyle Heights. She is delighted to have the opportunity to once again serve on the vestry.
Annual Parish Meeting Potluck Lunch:
Following the Annual Parish Meeting we will remain for a potluck lunch. Please make a dish that can feed 5-7 people
Potluck Sign Ups so far:
Please feel free to bring things to fill this out on Sunday
Appetizer: Mary Matyseck Need 6
Salad/Vegetable Dish Julie Livingstone &
David Willcuttts, Nancy Ohlson, Rita Gibbs, Need 3
Pasta Dish Julie Livingstone & David Willcuttts,
Amy Riker, Bina Luther Need 4
Main Course: John Henning/Eric Jones Need 12
Dessert: Amy Riker, Carol Law, Allen Woolery Need 4
Annual Meeting Reports for 2016
Fr. Bob is collecting reports of our activities in the past year for the Annual Meeting. Members of the Parish working in the various activities have been asked for email reports into him so he put it all together.
The Plan is to email the Annual Meeting Reports prior to the Annual Parish Meeting. Please get them into Fr. Bob ASAP.
Fr. Bob’s Annual Long Retreat
On Monday, January 30, Fr. Bob will leave for his Annual Long Retreat. This is a spiritual practice he adopted from the Jesuits and has done all the years he’s been ordained. The retreat covers four areas: God’s overall purpose in creation and salvation history, Sin and sinfulness personal and corporate, the life of Christ as paradigm for human choice, the Passion, and the Resurrection. The 8 day retreat is a shortened version of the 30 day retreat that Jesuit’s make when they first enter the order, and again when they complete their training. The 8 day retreat is a an annual exercise of reflection on, and renewal of, one’s core commitments. There was only one other priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles who makes this kind of retreat each year: Fr. Ed Bacon, who last year retired as Rector of our neighboring parish, All Saints. Fr. Bob will return February 7
Guest Celebrant and Preacher Sunday February 5
We welcome as our Guest Celebrant and Preacher, the Rev. John Santoro. Pastor Santoro and Fr. Bob have been friends for decades. Three years ago he retired from his parish in Valpariso Indiana, and several months ago returned to Southern California.
The Episcopal and Lutheran Churches have a reciprocal recognition of each other’s ordained clergy, and so can either can celebrate and preach in either denomination. In some parts of the country, especially in low populated areas, a Lutheran pastor may be serve as Rector for an Episcopal congregation or a combined Episcopal/Lutheran congregation and vice versa. So we are very glad to have Pastor Santoro take the service while Fr. Bob is on his Annual Long Retreat. Please welcome John and his wife Linda . Below is some information about him.
Pastor John Joseph Santoro
Although Pastor Santoro describes himself as being a Lutheran from his time in the womb, he also feels comfortable with being a not-so-closeted Anglican. After graduating from Capital University with a major in political science, a venerable Lutheran school in Columbus, Ohio, he spent five years in the U. S. Air Force as a personnel officer during the Viet Nam War. Not quite ready to capitulate to God’s call in his life, he then ran away to graduate school, earning an M.B.A. from California State University, Sacramento. By the end of graduate school, Pastor hesitatingly concluded that the only way to discern if God was calling him to parish ministry was to go to seminary. In 1977, after earning a M.Div. degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, he was ordained and called to his first parish in “Beautiful Downtown Burbank,” California. It was shortly after arriving in Burbank that he met Father Gaestel. After nearly 40 years, their friendship continues to this day. Pastor has also served parishes in Buena Park and Lancaster, California, and Valparaiso, Indiana. In 1990, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, thus earning his indisputable credentials as a closet Anglican..