La Jolla Light : La Jolla’s St. James church begins installation of ‘the organ it was always designed to have’
Volunteers help unload the pipes of St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church’s new organ.(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
The first step in a project more than 90 years in the making was taken with the delivery of the first of two shipments of pipes to build the new organ. In all, the organ will have 4,551 pipes.
BY ASHLEY MACKIN-SOLOMON
JUNE 9, 2022 7:42 AM PT
When St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church was built in La Jolla in 1929, it was designed to house a great pipe organ. But the swift onset of the Depression got in the way of the church fulfilling the mission set forth by its founders.
Until now.
The first step in a project more than 90 years in the making was taken June 5, when the first of two shipments of pipes to build a new organ was delivered. In all, the organ will have 4,551 pipes. The smallest is the size of a pinkie and the largest is 32 feet long.
“If those that built St. James had the resources, this is what they would have built,” said Alex Benestelli, the church’s director of music.
The first organ, built in 1930 with limited funds because of the Depression, lasted until 1970. The next one was built in 1975 but “had flaws” and often needed expensive repairs, Benestelli said.
In 2017, a committee was formed to decide whether to repair the organ again or replace it. A consultant was hired, and organ makers were invited to submit proposals.
“Not one of them had any interest in repairing the organ,” Benestelli said. “They saw that it wasn’t a very nice instrument and wasn’t worth saving.”
The committee went to church leadership and parishioners with the recommendation that the organ be replaced, and two companies were chosen for the project.
Organ builder Manuel Rosales, known for the organ he designed for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed the organ, and Parsons Pipe Organ out of western New York will complete the build.
BY ASHLEY MACKIN-SOLOMON
JUNE 9, 2022 7:42 AM PT
When St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church was built in La Jolla in 1929, it was designed to house a great pipe organ. But the swift onset of the Depression got in the way of the church fulfilling the mission set forth by its founders.
Until now.
The first step in a project more than 90 years in the making was taken June 5, when the first of two shipments of pipes to build a new organ was delivered. In all, the organ will have 4,551 pipes. The smallest is the size of a pinkie and the largest is 32 feet long.
“If those that built St. James had the resources, this is what they would have built,” said Alex Benestelli, the church’s director of music.
The first organ, built in 1930 with limited funds because of the Depression, lasted until 1970. The next one was built in 1975 but “had flaws” and often needed expensive repairs, Benestelli said.
In 2017, a committee was formed to decide whether to repair the organ again or replace it. A consultant was hired, and organ makers were invited to submit proposals.
“Not one of them had any interest in repairing the organ,” Benestelli said. “They saw that it wasn’t a very nice instrument and wasn’t worth saving.”
The committee went to church leadership and parishioners with the recommendation that the organ be replaced, and two companies were chosen for the project.
Organ builder Manuel Rosales, known for the organ he designed for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed the organ, and Parsons Pipe Organ out of western New York will complete the build.
The pews of St. James will be filled with pipes and construction equipment for the next few months while an elaborate new organ is being assembled. Services will be held outdoors. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
A $3.5 million campaign was approved in September 2019 and “we immediately got to work,” Benestelli said. Thus far, parishioners have raised about $3.3 million of that amount.
“Given we have such a strong musical tradition, the church community wanted a top-class organ,” said the Rev. Mark Hargreaves, St. James’ head pastor. “The organ leads our worship, and that is the most important thing we do as a church community. There are other things that are important, but we see ourselves as a community engaged in the worship of God. The organ is a big part of the way we worship. ... The worship needs to be beautiful and well-done. It is our way to give thanks for what God has done.”
The church has three choirs and hosts an annual concert series that brings performers from around the world.
“Here at St. James, we express our faith through the arts,” Benestelli said. “We are also here in The Village and like to open our doors to as many people as we can. We have such a vibrant arts culture that we want to be attractive to the wider La Jolla community. We can give concerts and hold events and be welcoming to the region. The organ will be a big part of that.”
“Given we have such a strong musical tradition, the church community wanted a top-class organ,” said the Rev. Mark Hargreaves, St. James’ head pastor. “The organ leads our worship, and that is the most important thing we do as a church community. There are other things that are important, but we see ourselves as a community engaged in the worship of God. The organ is a big part of the way we worship. ... The worship needs to be beautiful and well-done. It is our way to give thanks for what God has done.”
The church has three choirs and hosts an annual concert series that brings performers from around the world.
“Here at St. James, we express our faith through the arts,” Benestelli said. “We are also here in The Village and like to open our doors to as many people as we can. We have such a vibrant arts culture that we want to be attractive to the wider La Jolla community. We can give concerts and hold events and be welcoming to the region. The organ will be a big part of that.”
Scaffolding in St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church holds the place of the church’s new organ.(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Special delivery
Parsons Pipe Organ assembled the new instrument at its warehouse on the East Coast. It was tested and tuned, then disassembled and loaded onto trucks to be driven across the country to St. James.
Parishioners helped unload the pipes and stage them in the hall where the organ will be built.
“It will take the summer to get it built, then there will be several months in which Manuel Rosales will be here tuning it for the space, because it is the fine-tuning that makes the difference between a good instrument and an outstanding instrument,” Hargreaves said. The hope is that the organ will be ready by Christmas.
While construction is underway, services will be held in the outdoor courtyard, as they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s thrilling to see the excitement around it,” Benestelli said. “We all just deeply believe in this project and what it means for the life of our church.”
Once it is completed, “people will be impressed by the sound, but it is going to have a visual impact as well,” Hargreaves said. “Great care has been put into how it will look in the church. … We worked hard to match the colors of the wood. Our symbol is a shell, so the shell is going to appear on the organ casing. Part of the project is enhancing the whole look of the church. St. James is getting the organ it was always designed to have.”
St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church is at 743 Prospect St. A website has been established for updates on the organ installation at stjamesorgan.com. ◆
Parsons Pipe Organ assembled the new instrument at its warehouse on the East Coast. It was tested and tuned, then disassembled and loaded onto trucks to be driven across the country to St. James.
Parishioners helped unload the pipes and stage them in the hall where the organ will be built.
“It will take the summer to get it built, then there will be several months in which Manuel Rosales will be here tuning it for the space, because it is the fine-tuning that makes the difference between a good instrument and an outstanding instrument,” Hargreaves said. The hope is that the organ will be ready by Christmas.
While construction is underway, services will be held in the outdoor courtyard, as they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s thrilling to see the excitement around it,” Benestelli said. “We all just deeply believe in this project and what it means for the life of our church.”
Once it is completed, “people will be impressed by the sound, but it is going to have a visual impact as well,” Hargreaves said. “Great care has been put into how it will look in the church. … We worked hard to match the colors of the wood. Our symbol is a shell, so the shell is going to appear on the organ casing. Part of the project is enhancing the whole look of the church. St. James is getting the organ it was always designed to have.”
St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church is at 743 Prospect St. A website has been established for updates on the organ installation at stjamesorgan.com. ◆
CBS8 News features The Rev'd Rebecca Dinovo in report on Volunteers offering services to migrant children arriving to San Diego
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego says they are looking for faith-based volunteers and counselors immediately.
Access video HERE. This video begins with a commercial aired on CBS8 and is not endorsed by St. James by-the-Sea.
Author: Teresa Sardina
Published: 3:12 PM PDT March 29, 2021
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has been asked to coordinate services for the unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the San Diego Convention Center for the days ahead. Since Wednesday, The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has checked-in hundreds of volunteers to be available to assist the children.
Reverend Rebecca Dinovo told News8, "Volunteers will provide religious and spiritual care services, bringing comfort, worship, and prayers to these children, hoping this will help with their transition in a new place."
They’re looking for faith-based volunteers and counselors immediately.
Dinovo said there are specific requirements of being a volunteer:
You must speak Spanish
Be fully vaccinated against COVID-19
There will be an extensive background check.
Dinovo said this is just the beginning, members will be at the convention center assessing to see the personal needs of the children. EDSD hopes to have a structured plan in place as of this week to operate effectively to start providing services.
EDSD said their organization is no longer seeking volunteers; however, anyone interested in volunteering should contact SBCS (previously known as South Bay Community Services via their website at sbcssandiego.org/volunteer or by email at volunteer@csbcs.org.
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego provided a statement to News 8 on Saturday which read:
“The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has been asked to coordinate religious and spiritual care services for the unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the San Diego Convention Center this week. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and these are God's beloved children who will be our neighbors for a short time. Caring for them answers God's commandment to love others. We are glad to add their spiritual care to the many other ways our churches help those in need in the greater San Diego area. The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, led by its Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook, is working with our partners in other denominations and other faiths to organize volunteers who would bring comfort, worship, and prayers to these children. Volunteers would need to speak Spanish, be fully vaccinated against COVID, and have a background check. We are thankful for the support of the Pacifica Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, and many other faith leaders in our city, who stand ready to help the children with spiritual care. Working with the contractor providing programming for the children in the convention center, we hope to have an organizational structure in place soon.”
Published: 3:12 PM PDT March 29, 2021
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has been asked to coordinate services for the unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the San Diego Convention Center for the days ahead. Since Wednesday, The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has checked-in hundreds of volunteers to be available to assist the children.
Reverend Rebecca Dinovo told News8, "Volunteers will provide religious and spiritual care services, bringing comfort, worship, and prayers to these children, hoping this will help with their transition in a new place."
They’re looking for faith-based volunteers and counselors immediately.
Dinovo said there are specific requirements of being a volunteer:
You must speak Spanish
Be fully vaccinated against COVID-19
There will be an extensive background check.
Dinovo said this is just the beginning, members will be at the convention center assessing to see the personal needs of the children. EDSD hopes to have a structured plan in place as of this week to operate effectively to start providing services.
EDSD said their organization is no longer seeking volunteers; however, anyone interested in volunteering should contact SBCS (previously known as South Bay Community Services via their website at sbcssandiego.org/volunteer or by email at volunteer@csbcs.org.
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego provided a statement to News 8 on Saturday which read:
“The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego has been asked to coordinate religious and spiritual care services for the unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the San Diego Convention Center this week. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and these are God's beloved children who will be our neighbors for a short time. Caring for them answers God's commandment to love others. We are glad to add their spiritual care to the many other ways our churches help those in need in the greater San Diego area. The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, led by its Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook, is working with our partners in other denominations and other faiths to organize volunteers who would bring comfort, worship, and prayers to these children. Volunteers would need to speak Spanish, be fully vaccinated against COVID, and have a background check. We are thankful for the support of the Pacifica Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, and many other faith leaders in our city, who stand ready to help the children with spiritual care. Working with the contractor providing programming for the children in the convention center, we hope to have an organizational structure in place soon.”
Local nonprofit helps La Jolla restaurant worker access care for multiple sclerosis
Caption for Photo in Graphics/Outreach: Edgar Uribe (left) stands with Piatti customer Martha Ehringer and Jesse Vigil of Big Table, which helped Uribe access treatment for his multiple sclerosis.
By Elisabeth Frausto, Staff Writer, La Jolla Light
Nov. 9, 2020
La Jolla restaurant employee Edgar Uribe has multiple sclerosis that went untreated for a decade, until a local nonprofit stepped in to connect him with the care he needed.
Uribe, a busser at Piatti in The Shores for eight of his 10 years at the restaurant, has been receiving medical care facilitated and paid for by Big Table, a faith-based nonprofit that works to connect workers in the food service and hotel industries with whatever assistance they need.
Uribe said his MS “didn’t get really bad until last year.” He tried to find treatment, which proved difficult due to his citizenship status, he said. “I didn’t get any help.”
Uribe was referred to Big Table through Piatti guest Martha Ehringer, who complimented Uribe’s hard work to the restaurant’s manager, Tom Spano. Uribe was “charming, sweet and helpful,” she said.
When she learned of Uribe’s MS, Ehringer spoke to Spano about referring him to Big Table, which she had just learned about as outreach chairwoman for St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.
Jesse Vigil, city director for the San Diego chapter of Big Table, said Spano submitted the referral for Uribe. Big Table, which has an office in Pacific Beach, does not accept self-referrals.
Uribe “is a great guy,” Spano said. “He works as hard as he can; he’s a good person in and out. We hope his MS can be halted, if not reversed.”
Big Table “got me a doctor, who prescribed steroids,” Uribe said, which “calm down my nervous system.”
“Basically what happens is, when I get an [immune system] attack like allergies, my immune system attacks [the allergies] but at the same time attacks my brain and spine,” he said.
The steroids, Uribe said, have helped keep his MS under control for the past year.
Vigil said he met Uribe in November 2019 and was able to connect him with a doctor within a day. He accompanied Uribe to his first appointment to pay for the treatment.
“I’m so grateful,” Uribe said. “It has helped me so much.”
He said Big Table has since helped his mother, who also works in the restaurant industry, with her dental bills.
Big Table, which started in Spokane, Wash., in 2009 and also has a location in Seattle, launched in San Diego in March 2019 and has seen the number of people helped surge since the coronavirus pandemic began earlier this year and cost about 77,000 local hospitality workers their jobs.
The nonprofit helps hospitality workers with “anything and everything,” Vigil said, including connecting people with medical and mental health services, car repair and food and housing aid.
“We focus on specific needs,” Vigil said, “whatever the situation is.”
The San Diego chapter says it has helped 598 people in 2020, a ninefold increase over the 67 people it assisted in 2019.
Uribe has kept his job through the pandemic but said wearing a mask at work aggravates his condition. “It was hard to work without a mask; imagine having a restriction, trying to breathe,” he said.
Uribe said he’s thankful for the support of Piatti throughout his treatment and the pandemic. “I’m blessed to work there.”
Though Vigil said he’s Uribe’s care coordinator, Uribe often will text him to ask about his welfare. “It’s a relationship; ‘rewarding’ doesn’t begin to describe it,” Vigil said.
“Jesse’s like my big brother,” Uribe said.
Though Big Table is faith-based, founded by a former pastor, the organization cares for everybody, “with no strings attached,” Vigil said.
For more information about referrals or to participate in Big Table’s virtual fundraiser Friday, Nov. 13, visit big-table.com/san-diego-eatw. ◆
https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story/2020-11-09/local-nonprofit-helping-la-jolla-restaurant-worker-access-care-for-multiple-sclerosis
Nov. 9, 2020
La Jolla restaurant employee Edgar Uribe has multiple sclerosis that went untreated for a decade, until a local nonprofit stepped in to connect him with the care he needed.
Uribe, a busser at Piatti in The Shores for eight of his 10 years at the restaurant, has been receiving medical care facilitated and paid for by Big Table, a faith-based nonprofit that works to connect workers in the food service and hotel industries with whatever assistance they need.
Uribe said his MS “didn’t get really bad until last year.” He tried to find treatment, which proved difficult due to his citizenship status, he said. “I didn’t get any help.”
Uribe was referred to Big Table through Piatti guest Martha Ehringer, who complimented Uribe’s hard work to the restaurant’s manager, Tom Spano. Uribe was “charming, sweet and helpful,” she said.
When she learned of Uribe’s MS, Ehringer spoke to Spano about referring him to Big Table, which she had just learned about as outreach chairwoman for St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.
Jesse Vigil, city director for the San Diego chapter of Big Table, said Spano submitted the referral for Uribe. Big Table, which has an office in Pacific Beach, does not accept self-referrals.
Uribe “is a great guy,” Spano said. “He works as hard as he can; he’s a good person in and out. We hope his MS can be halted, if not reversed.”
Big Table “got me a doctor, who prescribed steroids,” Uribe said, which “calm down my nervous system.”
“Basically what happens is, when I get an [immune system] attack like allergies, my immune system attacks [the allergies] but at the same time attacks my brain and spine,” he said.
The steroids, Uribe said, have helped keep his MS under control for the past year.
Vigil said he met Uribe in November 2019 and was able to connect him with a doctor within a day. He accompanied Uribe to his first appointment to pay for the treatment.
“I’m so grateful,” Uribe said. “It has helped me so much.”
He said Big Table has since helped his mother, who also works in the restaurant industry, with her dental bills.
Big Table, which started in Spokane, Wash., in 2009 and also has a location in Seattle, launched in San Diego in March 2019 and has seen the number of people helped surge since the coronavirus pandemic began earlier this year and cost about 77,000 local hospitality workers their jobs.
The nonprofit helps hospitality workers with “anything and everything,” Vigil said, including connecting people with medical and mental health services, car repair and food and housing aid.
“We focus on specific needs,” Vigil said, “whatever the situation is.”
The San Diego chapter says it has helped 598 people in 2020, a ninefold increase over the 67 people it assisted in 2019.
Uribe has kept his job through the pandemic but said wearing a mask at work aggravates his condition. “It was hard to work without a mask; imagine having a restriction, trying to breathe,” he said.
Uribe said he’s thankful for the support of Piatti throughout his treatment and the pandemic. “I’m blessed to work there.”
Though Vigil said he’s Uribe’s care coordinator, Uribe often will text him to ask about his welfare. “It’s a relationship; ‘rewarding’ doesn’t begin to describe it,” Vigil said.
“Jesse’s like my big brother,” Uribe said.
Though Big Table is faith-based, founded by a former pastor, the organization cares for everybody, “with no strings attached,” Vigil said.
For more information about referrals or to participate in Big Table’s virtual fundraiser Friday, Nov. 13, visit big-table.com/san-diego-eatw. ◆
https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story/2020-11-09/local-nonprofit-helping-la-jolla-restaurant-worker-access-care-for-multiple-sclerosis
Fr. Mark Interviewed by Channel 7 NBC News for Perspective on Christmas Without Inside Services
The video from the 2020 Advent season is no longer available.
Mo. Rebecca Noted for Organizing Interfaith Vigil of Prayer for Election Integrity
Rev. Marcus Lohrmann says a prayer in front of the San Diego County Administration Building for a pre-election Interfaith Prayer and Peace vigil organized by faith leaders of San Diego and the San Diego Organizing Project on Nov. 1, 2020.(Ariana Drehsler/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
By MARCUS C. LOHRMANN, pastor, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, La Mesa
NOV. 11, 2020
Prayer is a vulnerable project.
Step back a moment to consider the audacity of the thing: In prayer, meager human beings set out to connect our hearts, minds, strengths and souls with the source of all life and creation. Talk about ambitious!
One psalmist articulates how ludicrous this can all feel: “When I consider the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars in their courses ... who am I that you would be mindful of me?”
Cynics point to this preposterous ambition as its central weakness, yet the inclination towards prayer is an ancient and constant word of “nevertheless.”
Suffering exists: nevertheless. Futility always seems to get the last word: nevertheless. The world isn’t always as it should be: nevertheless, we persist in hope. Suffering and futility never get the last word on us.
To pray is to become vulnerable to the Divine reality of nevertheless.
We are shaped by the daily postures we assume. We are shaped by the positions that our bodies take as we move through the world, as they are bent over by the forces around us. As a pastor, I have become deeply concerned with the spiritual damage that persistent postures of division inflict upon us as communities and individuals.
This inclination towards division has become such a mainstay of American punditry, political speech and water-cooler conversation (or maybe in 2020 we’d say Zoom conversation) that to let the word “unity” dribble out of one’s mouth is to welcome, even to expect, mockery and derision by the cynical.
At a minimum such postures of division contort our bodies into defensiveness, closing us down and cutting us off from one another as we shrink back from harm into self-preservation. To persist in division is to decline into isolation.
Nevertheless.
On Nov. 1, at the outset of a week that would tempt our nation into further division, faith leaders from across San Diego County gathered together on the steps of the County Administration Building united in a prophetic posture of prayer.
Now, in the biblical imagination of which many of these folks shared, prophets are just truth speakers. The prophets are those obnoxious loudmouths in history who can’t help but readily speak the Divine truth of nevertheless to a world that so fiercely insists on saying no.
As capable as human beings are at creating and maintaining division, this group of faith leaders stood together to witness to the Divine reality — to prophesy! — that we human beings are not made for division. We are made for unity.
Representing traditions with longstanding animosities of their own, they united in prayer for election integrity, racial justice, nonviolence and peace. They stood together as an embodied antidote to the persistent postures of division that have so ransacked our spiritual, emotional and mental well-beings for too long.
As I watched the event unfold, it reminded me of some of the earliest artwork to emerge out of the Christian tradition, ancient etchings found on the walls of caves. These etchings depict groups of people with arms outstretched in a posture we can recognize today as prayer, a position that is inherently vulnerable. It’s impossible to hold a weapon or point a fist towards a perceived enemy when your palms dare openness towards the heavens.
“It seems we have hit a crisis moment in America and, as faith leaders, we recognize the important role that faith and prayer can play as a force for peace and justice,” said Rev. Rebecca Dinovo, a priest at St. James by-the-Sea in La Jolla, who took the initial steps to draw these leaders together months ago.
While at my best I do try to be open to the Divine desire for unity, cynicism tends to be my default disposition. Most days I’m just as likely as anyone else to be found balled up on the couch binge-watching TV in order to drown out the noise around me.
And yet, Dinovo’s tireless work in pulling formerly divided communities into the united vulnerability of prayer has been the antidote to my own season of what has felt like endless hopelessness.
Cynicism be damned.
Whatever happens in the days to come we can be assured that there will be those who continue to place themselves in postures of unity, peace and justice in the days ahead, expressing this Divine truth of nevertheless in their very bodies.
For those of us generally inclined towards cynicism, it’s just the antidote we need.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2020-11-11/division-healing-prayer-election
NOV. 11, 2020
Prayer is a vulnerable project.
Step back a moment to consider the audacity of the thing: In prayer, meager human beings set out to connect our hearts, minds, strengths and souls with the source of all life and creation. Talk about ambitious!
One psalmist articulates how ludicrous this can all feel: “When I consider the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars in their courses ... who am I that you would be mindful of me?”
Cynics point to this preposterous ambition as its central weakness, yet the inclination towards prayer is an ancient and constant word of “nevertheless.”
Suffering exists: nevertheless. Futility always seems to get the last word: nevertheless. The world isn’t always as it should be: nevertheless, we persist in hope. Suffering and futility never get the last word on us.
To pray is to become vulnerable to the Divine reality of nevertheless.
We are shaped by the daily postures we assume. We are shaped by the positions that our bodies take as we move through the world, as they are bent over by the forces around us. As a pastor, I have become deeply concerned with the spiritual damage that persistent postures of division inflict upon us as communities and individuals.
This inclination towards division has become such a mainstay of American punditry, political speech and water-cooler conversation (or maybe in 2020 we’d say Zoom conversation) that to let the word “unity” dribble out of one’s mouth is to welcome, even to expect, mockery and derision by the cynical.
At a minimum such postures of division contort our bodies into defensiveness, closing us down and cutting us off from one another as we shrink back from harm into self-preservation. To persist in division is to decline into isolation.
Nevertheless.
On Nov. 1, at the outset of a week that would tempt our nation into further division, faith leaders from across San Diego County gathered together on the steps of the County Administration Building united in a prophetic posture of prayer.
Now, in the biblical imagination of which many of these folks shared, prophets are just truth speakers. The prophets are those obnoxious loudmouths in history who can’t help but readily speak the Divine truth of nevertheless to a world that so fiercely insists on saying no.
As capable as human beings are at creating and maintaining division, this group of faith leaders stood together to witness to the Divine reality — to prophesy! — that we human beings are not made for division. We are made for unity.
Representing traditions with longstanding animosities of their own, they united in prayer for election integrity, racial justice, nonviolence and peace. They stood together as an embodied antidote to the persistent postures of division that have so ransacked our spiritual, emotional and mental well-beings for too long.
As I watched the event unfold, it reminded me of some of the earliest artwork to emerge out of the Christian tradition, ancient etchings found on the walls of caves. These etchings depict groups of people with arms outstretched in a posture we can recognize today as prayer, a position that is inherently vulnerable. It’s impossible to hold a weapon or point a fist towards a perceived enemy when your palms dare openness towards the heavens.
“It seems we have hit a crisis moment in America and, as faith leaders, we recognize the important role that faith and prayer can play as a force for peace and justice,” said Rev. Rebecca Dinovo, a priest at St. James by-the-Sea in La Jolla, who took the initial steps to draw these leaders together months ago.
While at my best I do try to be open to the Divine desire for unity, cynicism tends to be my default disposition. Most days I’m just as likely as anyone else to be found balled up on the couch binge-watching TV in order to drown out the noise around me.
And yet, Dinovo’s tireless work in pulling formerly divided communities into the united vulnerability of prayer has been the antidote to my own season of what has felt like endless hopelessness.
Cynicism be damned.
Whatever happens in the days to come we can be assured that there will be those who continue to place themselves in postures of unity, peace and justice in the days ahead, expressing this Divine truth of nevertheless in their very bodies.
For those of us generally inclined towards cynicism, it’s just the antidote we need.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2020-11-11/division-healing-prayer-election
For whom the bells toll: La Jolla churches join residents’ effort to mourn pandemic losses
By ELISABETH FRAUSTO STAFF WRITER
SEP. 4, 2020, 3:42 PM
UPDATED SEP. 5, 2020 | 2:21 PM
Several La Jolla churches have joined an effort by two local residents to express collective mourning amid pandemic-related losses of lives and livelihoods.
Every Friday at noon, church bells in and around The Village will be heard ringing out a message of solidarity to help comfort those who may be grieving in isolation.
The effort was initiated by Molly Bowman-Styles and Barbara Dadswell, local residents who were inspired to act after reading a CNN article that noted “few signs of mourning” throughout the COVID-19 crisis. In San Diego County, the pandemic has been blamed for 701 deaths as of Sept. 4 and about 150,000 job losses since March.
“The article moved me on many levels,” said Bowman-Styles, a Windansea resident for whom the timing of the article was especially resonant, as her father died of cancer in June. “I was adrift; I was trying so hard to work through my grief. I gave it some thought and realized, ‘Well, the whole world is grieving.’”
The article “struck a chord,” Bowman-Styles said. “Our country won’t possess the emotional and spiritual fortitude to move forward from the ravages of this horrible pandemic if we’re denied the opportunity to experience the transformational power of collective mourning.”
Bowman-Styles believes the isolation brought on by adhering to stay-at-home orders contributes to prolonged grieving.
“When you’re mourning, you need to be affirmed,” she said. “You need to reach out to people. It’s part of the process.”
She talked about the article and her response with Dadswell, a Beach Barber Tract resident who agreed that there should be a way to collectively mourn losses suffered during and because of the pandemic.
“It occurred to me that our community is lacking an avenue to express our grief collectively,” Dadswell said. “I believe that we as a society are longing for a social connection in which we could acknowledge the pain and heartbreak of all those experiencing the loss of life and livelihood that this pandemic has brought upon us.”
Dadswell began contacting local churches to ask them to participate in a bell ringing at noon on Fridays.
“I feel this would provide a much-needed moment of pause, reflection and recognition to acknowledge all who have mourned and continue to do so,” she said.
She searched for area churches that have bells and contacted seven churches this week, receiving positive responses from most.
St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which already sounds its bells at noon Fridays and offers a monthly requiem via Zoom for anyone in mourning, is “grateful for the opportunity to continue to ring our bells at noon every Friday in solidarity with all those honoring those impacted by the coronavirus and to uphold our commitment to keep COVID-19 victims in our prayers,” according to Walter DuMelle, the church’s director of administration.
Jim Sedgwick, director of communications ministries for La Jolla Presbyterian Church, said his church is “enthusiastically participating in this show of community support and hope.” He said it would join in starting Sept. 11.
“We will proudly be ringing the steeple bells on Fridays along with our other brothers and sisters of local faith communities,” Sedgwick said. “We fully believe that the church is at its best when it’s out in the community.”
Bowman-Styles said Congregational Church of La Jolla also would ring its bells in support. Church pastor the Rev. Tim Seery did not respond to requests for comment from the Light.
The Rev. Patrick Mulcahy of Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church said that although the church’s bells already ring at noon daily, “we are pleased to join this effort to draw attention to the toll of the pandemic on so many families in their ultimate loss. The ringing of bells is a beautiful way to keep their memory in our hearts and minds.”
Dadswell said La Jolla Lutheran Church will participate and that she also contacted La Jolla United Methodist Church and St. Mary’s Chapel at The Bishop’s School but had not heard back.
The Light was unable to reach representatives of those three churches for comment.
Dadswell hopes more churches will join in. “My main purpose in this little endeavor is to acknowledge that during the time of COVID, we as individuals are not alone in our grief,” she said. “As a community, we can recognize that we and those around us are in need of love, support and understanding. Especially now.” ◆
SEP. 4, 2020, 3:42 PM
UPDATED SEP. 5, 2020 | 2:21 PM
Several La Jolla churches have joined an effort by two local residents to express collective mourning amid pandemic-related losses of lives and livelihoods.
Every Friday at noon, church bells in and around The Village will be heard ringing out a message of solidarity to help comfort those who may be grieving in isolation.
The effort was initiated by Molly Bowman-Styles and Barbara Dadswell, local residents who were inspired to act after reading a CNN article that noted “few signs of mourning” throughout the COVID-19 crisis. In San Diego County, the pandemic has been blamed for 701 deaths as of Sept. 4 and about 150,000 job losses since March.
“The article moved me on many levels,” said Bowman-Styles, a Windansea resident for whom the timing of the article was especially resonant, as her father died of cancer in June. “I was adrift; I was trying so hard to work through my grief. I gave it some thought and realized, ‘Well, the whole world is grieving.’”
The article “struck a chord,” Bowman-Styles said. “Our country won’t possess the emotional and spiritual fortitude to move forward from the ravages of this horrible pandemic if we’re denied the opportunity to experience the transformational power of collective mourning.”
Bowman-Styles believes the isolation brought on by adhering to stay-at-home orders contributes to prolonged grieving.
“When you’re mourning, you need to be affirmed,” she said. “You need to reach out to people. It’s part of the process.”
She talked about the article and her response with Dadswell, a Beach Barber Tract resident who agreed that there should be a way to collectively mourn losses suffered during and because of the pandemic.
“It occurred to me that our community is lacking an avenue to express our grief collectively,” Dadswell said. “I believe that we as a society are longing for a social connection in which we could acknowledge the pain and heartbreak of all those experiencing the loss of life and livelihood that this pandemic has brought upon us.”
Dadswell began contacting local churches to ask them to participate in a bell ringing at noon on Fridays.
“I feel this would provide a much-needed moment of pause, reflection and recognition to acknowledge all who have mourned and continue to do so,” she said.
She searched for area churches that have bells and contacted seven churches this week, receiving positive responses from most.
St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which already sounds its bells at noon Fridays and offers a monthly requiem via Zoom for anyone in mourning, is “grateful for the opportunity to continue to ring our bells at noon every Friday in solidarity with all those honoring those impacted by the coronavirus and to uphold our commitment to keep COVID-19 victims in our prayers,” according to Walter DuMelle, the church’s director of administration.
Jim Sedgwick, director of communications ministries for La Jolla Presbyterian Church, said his church is “enthusiastically participating in this show of community support and hope.” He said it would join in starting Sept. 11.
“We will proudly be ringing the steeple bells on Fridays along with our other brothers and sisters of local faith communities,” Sedgwick said. “We fully believe that the church is at its best when it’s out in the community.”
Bowman-Styles said Congregational Church of La Jolla also would ring its bells in support. Church pastor the Rev. Tim Seery did not respond to requests for comment from the Light.
The Rev. Patrick Mulcahy of Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church said that although the church’s bells already ring at noon daily, “we are pleased to join this effort to draw attention to the toll of the pandemic on so many families in their ultimate loss. The ringing of bells is a beautiful way to keep their memory in our hearts and minds.”
Dadswell said La Jolla Lutheran Church will participate and that she also contacted La Jolla United Methodist Church and St. Mary’s Chapel at The Bishop’s School but had not heard back.
The Light was unable to reach representatives of those three churches for comment.
Dadswell hopes more churches will join in. “My main purpose in this little endeavor is to acknowledge that during the time of COVID, we as individuals are not alone in our grief,” she said. “As a community, we can recognize that we and those around us are in need of love, support and understanding. Especially now.” ◆