Sep 29, 2023 | #BishopStatements, #Press&BishopStatements
San Francisco, California, the United States, and the world have lost a true champion of compassion, justice, and courage with the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Sheila and I arrived in California after many of the historic acts of Supervisor, Mayor, and Senator Feinstein, and those stands and actions, along with many others over the last seventeen years, have influenced and inspired me.
While serving as Bishop of the Diocese of California, I watched with gratitude and admiration as she shone a light on CIA-sponsored torture and called for the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Her role in the impeachments of the former President, Donald Trump were also important contributions to the health of our democracy.
Senator Feinstein’s commitment to service has been monumental, matched only by such paragons as Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Let us pray for Senator Feinstein’s family and friends, among whom included my predecessor, Bishop Bill Swing. May we continue to be blessed by her trailblazing work and find further hope and inspiration in the public servants who succeed her.
+Marc Handley Andrus
Aug 10, 2023 | #BishopStatements, #Press&BishopStatements
Dear Beloved Community,
The recent devastating fires in Lahaina and other parts of Maui and the Island of Hawai’i have left us all in shock and sorrow. These wildfires have been both fierce and unpredictable, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Our hearts go out to our siblings facing this calamity, a familiar sorrow to those of us in California.
In light of these tragic events, The Right Reverend Robert L. Fitzpatrick, Bishop of the Diocese of Hawai’i reports on the fire in Lahaina:
“It included our church, Holy Innocents, with roots back to a land grant from King Kamehameha V (and responsibility for the ‘foreigner’s cemetery’). The Sanctuary, vicarage, preschool, and office are gone (as is the public elementary school next door).”
Reflecting on the previous outpouring of support and prayers, the diocese in California have received when fires have burned ferociously across the state, I believe that we have the blessing of being able to return in kind what we have received. This is in line with an inherent value of our diocese, to stand by those in need. We can do this collectively by supporting and pouring out our prayers and finance as able. Together, let us embrace the Diocese of Hawai’i just as we have been embraced by the wider Church community in our own times of need.
As we well know, recovery from such a calamity is a long journey that requires unwavering commitment and support. Let us come together now and in the days and weeks to come to embody a spirit of compassion and solidarity with our siblings in Maui and Hawai’i. Join me in praying for, with, and over the Diocese of Hawai’i with this Jesuit prayer, which you can find among others on the Episcopal Relief and Development page for prayers during disaster:
Holy One, you are our comfort and strength
in times of sudden disaster, crisis, or chaos.
Surround us now with your grace and peace
through storm or earthquake, fire or flood.
By your Spirit, lift up those who have fallen,
sustain those who work to rescue or rebuild,
and fill us with the hope of your new creation;
through you, our rock and redeemer
– Jesuit Prayer
Finally, I invite you to join me in prayerfully considering a contribution to the relief funds listed below. By supporting these funds, we can extend a helping hand to our siblings in Christ during this time of trial.
May our collective prayers and generosity bring comfort and hope to those affected by this tragedy.
In Christ’s abiding love,
The Right Rev. Dr. Marc Andrus
Bishop of the Diocese of California
Jul 11, 2023 | #BishopStatements, #Press&BishopStatements
Dear Friends in Christ,
It is with tremendous sadness, and with great gratitude for a beautiful, faithful life and ministry, that I announce the death of the Rev. Iain Stanford, Rector of St. Peter’s, Redwood City.
Iain+ came to the diocese early in his life as an ordained person, after an academic career, with doctoral study at Harvard Divinity, with his beloved and dear friend, the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge. Iain’s first ordained ministry in the Diocese of California was at Grace Cathedral, where he was a colleague of our great team of liturgists there.
He left DioCal for a brief time, but during the Covid 19 lockdown, Iain+ was called to serve at St. Peter’s, Redwood City. Iain’s call to St. Peter’s was courageous in that it was a process carried out entirely by digital, remote means. Both Iain+ and the people of St. Peter’s leaned into the possibilities of the moment, uncharted as they were, and the result has been, I believe, a blessing for all. My sincerest condolences go to the good people of St. Peter’s who have lost more than a priest and rector.
Along with Cameron+ and our own Deacon Vickie Gray and Sarah Lawton, Iain+ was a pioneer for transgender rights in the Episcopal Church. The entire Church owes Iain+ thanks for his persistent work for equality and justice.
I understand that at his death, Iain’s sister was with him, and that for these months leading up to his death he was in a circle of loving clergy and lay friends, who prayed and sang him into the welcoming arms of God. My blessings to this close circle, who are themselves grieving now.
Very shortly after his diagnosis, Iain+ asked for a pastoral Zoom meeting with me, and we have stayed in communication throughout, even up to a telephone conversation as Sheila and I drove across the country, and texts on the night before his death. I am so grateful for those moments we shared.
Though we trust in God’s loving care and providence, yet the eyes of our faith are misted by tears of sorrow, sorrow only for our loss, for Iain+ truly lives with God now, unveiled. Please join me in praying for his family and closest friends.
+Marc
Jul 3, 2023 | #BishopStatements, #Press&BishopStatements
My family in Christ in the Episcopal Church in the Bay Area,
In light of last week’s disheartening Supreme Court rulings against affirmative action, student loan forgiveness, and LGBTQ+ protections, I commend our Presiding Bishop’s two statements to The Episcopal Church, which are pasted below. I would also like to add the following personal reflection:
At the 2008 San Francisco Interfaith Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast, I heard our then-mayor, Gavin Newsom, say that as a lifelong member of the Church, he believed that the then-freshly passed Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage was contrary to his understanding of Christianity. “I was taught,” he said, “that the Church works to expand rights, not constrict them.”
Immediately after Proposition 8’s passage, I and many within our diocese and the wider faith community partnered with LGBTQ+ advocates to overturn the proposition, along with the U.S. military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy and the disastrous Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage. I particularly remember the optimism of the advocates we invited for a gathering at Grace Cathedral; they were steadfast in their view that these policies would be overturned, and sooner than many thought.
Leveraging the far-reaching influence of our diocese, our own chancellor, Canon Christopher Hayes, asked me to join him in enrolling dioceses across The Episcopal Church to follow our lead and sign amicus briefs to the Supreme Court opposing Proposition 8. All of California’s six Episcopal dioceses joined us in that historic effort. We then rallied them to join Episcopal dioceses from nine other states and Washington, D.C., 23 in total, in signing a second brief challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
A short time later, in 2013, I found myself at San Francisco City Hall amidst a crowded, jubilant throng gathered to hear the official news that the Supreme Court had indeed rejected Proposition 8. It also deemed as unconstitutional the section of DOMA that barred federal recognition of married same-sex couples. By this time, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell had also been repealed. Of course, these overturns were no accident but the result of patient, persistent advocacy.
I recount all of the above to illustrate that DioCal — through its solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, with young people disadvantaged by race and income, and with all who experience injustice — breathes life into the Beloved Community principles that are so central to our identity. St. Paul taught us that love will not fail; everything that is not love will pass away; this I believe.
+Marc
Pastoral word from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to LGBTQ+ community
Courtesy of The Episcopal Church, Office of Public affairs
Read the transcript
Statement from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in college admissions
Courtesy of The Episcopal Church, Office of Public affairs
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in college admissions, I am saddened for all who will be negatively impacted, and I am mindful that we must continue to root out white supremacy and systemic racism.
Our mandate as followers of Jesus is clear: to create the Beloved Community by facing painful truths from our past, learning from them, and then turning and joining hands together to right wrongs and foster justice and healing. In so doing, we can be and build that community and world where there is truly liberty and justice for all. This is the work of love.
The Episcopal Church has long supported programs of affirmative action to address inequality wherever it exists. This work continues, and our faithful witness is more important now than ever before.”
Leer en español
Jun 1, 2023 | #BishopStatements, #News&Events, #Press&BishopStatements, #PressRelease
At the 2008 Lambeth Conference, I was honored to lead the sponsorship of a new film, Prophetic Voices of Witness, Africa, which highlighted LGBTQIA+ Anglicans in Uganda and other African Anglican provinces. Our purpose in creating this beautiful, powerful film was not only to give these courageous souls the chance to speak of their lives and Christian faith but also to give lie to the assertions that: There are no African LGBTQIA+ people; that there is no “being” LGBTQIA+, that homosexuality is a choice; and that LGBTQIA+ lives are the result of corrupt Western importations.
Powerful as the film was, I was under no illusions that the deeply entrenched evils visited on the LGBTQIA+ community, not only in Africa but all over the world, would be so easily undone. However, the news that the current Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba, has openly praised Uganda’s latest anti-LGBTQIA+ laws is appalling and an affront to Christian faith.
Only a year ago the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, made a historic statement that recognized the theological legitimacy of those within the Communion who affirm full inclusion and rights for the LGBTQIA+ community. And yet, now, the leader of the Anglican Church of Uganda is praising this dangerous new anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.
It is a scandal that in most of the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly called the British Commonwealth), the core of the Anglican world, homosexual activity is criminalized. It is a further matter of shame that such criminalization is not condemned by the Anglican Communion and provinces of the Communion that contain such countries. It need not be argued that silence is complicity. Yet, for the Anglican Church of Uganda, through its Archbishop, to praise the nation’s new, draconian anti-LGBTQIA+ laws is beyond even this lamentable complicity. Moreover, it is unfortunate that Uganda’s new legislation aimed at LGBTQIA+ persons conflate numbers of abuses, such as sexual abuse of minors, with homosexuality. This area of Uganda’s legislation should not be linked to sexual orientation.
I wish to be clear: my position as Bishop of California in the Episcopal Church, and as a Christian, is one of affirmation of LGBTQIA+ persons. The Diocese of California and The Episcopal Church unequivocally support our LGBTQIA+ siblings (history). I join my voice with those admirable people in the film we showed at Lambeth 2008 to say that they are my kin in Christ. The LGBTQIA+ people of Africa should be respected and loved, not criminalized and persecuted
Apr 21, 2023 | #BishopStatements, #News&Events, #Press&BishopStatements
Dear Friends in Christ,
I’m writing to ask for your prayers of comfort and support for Our Saviour, Oakland, whose church home was badly damaged in a fire this morning.
Rector Merry Chan Ong reports that the Oakland Fire Department called her around 3:25 a.m. to tell her the front of the church was on fire. Firefighters extinguished the fire, which burned the chapel door and surrounding pillars. Thankfully, there are no reports of injuries. However, Rev. Merry tells me the amount of damage is heartbreaking; along with the fire damage, there is water damage to the narthex and smoke damage throughout the building, including the church office and conference rooms.
Our Saviour has a long and proud history serving Oakland’s Chinese community. Their outreach has expanded even further in recent years, thanks to their partnership with True Sunshine, San Francisco to offer multi-lingual worship on Zoom. As Our Saviour’s bishop, I am committed to ensuring that their legacy continues. May the peace of Christ be with Rev. Merry, the lay leadership, and the entire congregation during this difficult time and help them move forward with a spirit of hope.
Almighty and everlasting God, we ask that you bless the people of Our Saviour, Oakland and the community they serve with your comfort, strength, and guidance in the wake of today’s devastating fire. We offer our thanks to Oakland Fire Department for their work to extinguish the fire. We ask for your grace as we gather resources for our work to reestablish Our Saviour to its longstanding place as a beacon of faith, love, and community. In your gracious name, we pray. Amen.
In faith,
+Marc
