Grace Cathedral
Dear Friends,
I’m writing with very exciting news. The Rev. Dr. Greg Kimura has agreed to be our new Vice Dean and will be joining us here at Grace Cathedral on May 1, 2022. We will officially welcome him at 11 a.m. Choral Eucharist on Sunday, May 1.
Greg is a fourth-generation Alaskan with a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. He is married to Joy Atrops-Kimura with two children, Julian (19) and Lilly (13).
Most recently Greg has been serving as the Rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ojai, California. Before that, he was President and C.E.O. of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Greg also served as the President and C.E.O. of the Alaska Humanities Forum. He has taught at Alaska Pacific University and at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
Greg has led various churches and college chaplaincies. He is an international expert on philosophical pragmatism. His previous experiences will be a great blessing to our shared life. We look forward to many opportunities for you to welcome him and to learn more about his story.
Love,
Malcolm
The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThD
Dean of Grace Cathedral
Dear Friends,
Long before I joined our staff team, Grace Cathedral had a face for me. It was the face of Charles Shipley, our Head Verger. Most times that I came to the Cathedral, Charles would be set up for services, talking to tourists, pointing out architectural and artistic details, and walking reverently in procession. I somehow intuited that Charles with his generosity of spirit represented the community.
Today I am writing to share the news that Charles will be retiring from his Cathedral duties at the end of April.
Charles first began work as a verger at Grace Cathedral on December 1, 1988. Although he left San Francisco for a while to serve in Kansas City for a few years he has been an essential part of our life together for a generation. We are very grateful that Charles has served as our ambassador to the city and the whole world. We rejoice in the way that he has brought us together for so many years.
I know that over the next few weeks you will want to thank Charles for all that he has done for our shared life over the years. We will celebrate his life and ministry at a special evensong on April 28.
I hope that you are doing well in these days as we move beyond the Omicron phase of the pandemic and into a more hopeful time. Our theme is “The Year of Connection” and I pray that you will be inspired by the ministry of Charles Shipley and find new ways to connect more profoundly to our shared life.
Love,
Malcolm
The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThD
Dean of Grace Cathedral
P.S. In this week’s #MoreGoodNews, we explore how to see God in another person’s face. Watch onYouTube today!
P.P.S. In this week’s sermon, we reflect on our mission statement — Reimagining Church with Courage, Joy and Wonder. Reimagining church involves us in deep joy because it opens our eyes to the astonishing abundance that God gives us. Watch on YouTube today!
Philanthropist, LGBT activist, diplomat and valued former member of our Board of Trustees James Catherwood Hormel died today, August 13, 2021. Jim served as the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg from 1999 to 2001, and as the first openly gay man to represent the United States as an ambassador. Grace Cathedral honors Jim Hormel’s legacy and strives to uphold the values he represented. May Jim’s memory and lasting legacy be a comfort to his husband, Michael and his children.
Prayer for Jim Hormel (1/1/1933 – 8/13/2021)
O God you give us life to cherish and enjoy. You also make us capable of costly service and commitment to justice. You raise up prophets who teach us to expand the circles of our care and love.
We thank you for our brother James, for his deep commitment to the truth that all people are your children. We bless you for his gentle nature, his abiding wisdom, his thoughtfulness and his kind laughter. May we be worthy of his high hopes for us.
We pray this in the name of the one who laid down his life so that all people might be free, your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Photo by Willy Chen
A Poet Laureate, the co-founder of Glide Memorial Church, and “First Lady of the Tenderloin” – we honor the memory of Janice Mirikitani. Her impact to the city of San Francisco in undeniable and we carry her memory in our hearts.
With sorrow, affection, respect and gratitude
we mourn the death of Janice Mirikitani
and pray that God send solace and comfort
to the Rev. Cecil Williams and the Glide Memorial Church community.
Loving and merciful God,
We commend to your eternal embrace
the life, soul and witness of Janice Mirikitani:
A champion of children,
An inspiration for the imprisoned,
Advocate and warrior for women,
Poet of both street and statehouse,
Courageous saint to our city and all who live and work here,
Prophetic co-founder and powerful presence among the people of Glide;
Receive her into the heavenly city where there is no want or need
In the company of prophets, saints, matriarchs and patriarchs
of ages past and yet to come.
Bestow on all who mourn
Your gifts of bright hope and steadfast determination
that all your children may be free to rise to the fullest flowering of their dignity
here and everywhere.
We pray in loving memory of Janice
And to the glory of your most holy Name.
Amen.
Dear God,
Help us to breathe, to breathe again, because we have been holding our breath for so long looking for signs of hope, wondering if we would see justice in our time.
Let all people know that George Floyd’s life matters.
We pray for his family. We pray for all those who have lost loved ones in encounters with the law. We pray for all those who are humiliated, demeaned, ignored and not valued because of their race.
We give thanks for police officers who give courageous testimony because they respect justice. We praise you for activists and prophets who inspire us with courage and their dreams of equality.
Teach us all to name what is evil and to resist it, even when it seems like the way things have always been done, even when we feel alone.
Let this be the end of the nation’s dark night of racism. Let there finally be true equality before the law. Let there be the love of Jesus, the love that comes without conditions.
And may the living One who breathes the spirit of truth into all people draw us into the heart of God’s mercy where we will see each other face to face. Amen.
The Social Justice Working Group has written a letter that the Cathedral sent to President Biden expressing support for his actions in overturning several of the previous administration’s most egregious policies and encouraging the administration to act boldly to reorient the government’s approach to climate change, immigration, equity and racial justice.
Dear President Biden:
As the Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, let me congratulate you on being elected the 46th President of the United States and also congratulate California’s own Kamala Harris on being elected Vice President. Your affirmation of the American people’s common ideals and fundamental decency, and your commitment to the shared values and traditions of faith are welcome and inspiring.
Social justice and social outreach are central to the mission of Grace Cathedral. As the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the United States, we are a house of prayer for all people, home to a loving congregation of about 500 households, and a renowned landmark where diverse people come to celebrate, find solace, peace and quiet, connect with others, serve and be served, and learn.
It is in this spirit that I applaud you for acting without delay to reverse the most egregious examples of the previous administration’s shortsighted, punitive, and transparently political approach to public policy. The steps your administration is taking to restore America’s leadership in the global response to climate change, return decency and fairness to immigration policy, and commit the government to comprehensively address racial justice and structural inequities have special resonance for Grace Cathedral because you have made it a point to emphasize that they reflect the values of faith and morality to which communities such as ours are called.
I encourage you to build on these first steps by making care for the whole of creation, compassionate inclusion, and applying an equity lens to all policies the hallmarks of your administration. Our community of faithful people will seek to embody this approach in our worship, teaching, arts and cultural offerings, and when we speak out for social justice.
As we look ahead to the nation’s 245th year, please be assured that you and Vice President Harris and the members of your cabinet and administration will be in Grace Cathedral’s prayers.
Sincerely,
The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am writing today to share news that is both happy and sad. The Rev. Canon Dr. Ellen Clark-King, Vice Dean and Canon for Social Justice, has just been appointed the new Dean of King’s College London. Ellen is the first woman to hold this position in its 191-year history, and she will start in December 2020.
Ellen arrived at Grace Cathedral as Executive Pastor and Canon for Social Justice in December 2016 following on her previous role as Cathedral Vicar for Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, Canada. Her appointment was the result of a rigorous international search and I was overjoyed when she accepted this calling as a next step in her already impressive career. We promoted Ellen to Vice Dean and Canon for Social Justice in September 2019.
During Ellen’s time at Grace, she has been a connector to the wider church, and she serves on the boards of the San Francisco Interfaith Council and Episcopal Community Services. Ellen has capably led the Office of Congregation, overseeing pastoral care, formation, social justice, music, liturgy and evangelism. As a member of our chapter, she has exceeded every expectation for compassionate leadership, and she has led our excellent clergy team with competence and grace.
Because of my own reliance on her as colleague and a friend during her time with us, I can imagine how deeply her loss will be felt throughout our congregation.
Today, the cathedral chapter, clergy, staff and I join Ellen in celebrating her next professional opportunity, which is also a return to her home with proximity to her immediate family. Ellen’s position at King’s College begins this December, and we anticipate that she and her spouse Jeremy, who is also a beloved priest in the Diocese of California, will move in mid-October.
“This is a hard announcement for me, as well as a joyful one,” shares Ellen. “I have loved my years with Grace Cathedral and will be fully present here for my last four months. It is too early to start saying goodbyes but not too early to say how thankful I am for the way you all — staff, congregation and trustees — have welcomed and supported me, and enabled me to grow throughout my time with you. When I do leave in October Grace Cathedral will go to London with me, carried in my heart.”
This summer, Ellen will launch a social justice roadmap and be a part of the gradual re-opening of Grace Cathedral from the closure of the coronavirus pandemic. The cathedral’s congregation and the community as a whole will benefit from her leadership as it adjusts to new social, health and economic challenges. You will continue to hear Ellen’s strong voice championing social justice and anti-racism.
After Ellen leaves there will be an interim plan for managing the Office of Congregation, followed by a search for new leadership when public health and economic conditions better support the timing of an international search. So that we can connect more personally as we navigate this transition, as is our annual tradition, we will hold a Town Hall this summer.
Ellen’s next four months with us will be underpinned by what has always been Ellen’s core purpose – helping people discover their true identity as beloved children of God. Please join me today with enthusiasm for her important future and with the deepest gratitude for her service to Grace Cathedral.
Love,
Malcolm
Dear Grace Community,
I am writing to let you know that the coronavirus pandemic has led us to decide to close Grace Cathedral for most in-person regular worship and cultural events from now through at least March 31. Please be sure to continue to check our website for details – click on the coronavirus tab at the top right hand side.
During this time we are planning a video broadcast of future Thursday 5:15 p.m. Evensong and the 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning Eucharist. Although no one other than clergy, choir and readers will be able to attend these services they will be available online. No congregation will be present at tonight’s Evensong but we will put an audio recording of it on the website.
At this point we are also planning to keep the Cathedral open during the day for individual prayer. Clergy also will be available by phone and for one on one pastoral conversations during this time. We will be refraining from having in person meetings. Please contact the convener of your regular meetings to learn how you might participate via phone.
City, state, federal, international and Diocesan authorities have all made statements about the importance of limiting interpersonal contact especially for the sake of seniors and vulnerable people with health conditions. As an intergenerational community we are especially concerned about members of the Grace Cathedral family who are most threatened by the illness.
As many of you know I love Sunday worship. It is a time when I feel especially close to God and to the other people who help me to understand who God is in my life. I feel a moral obligation to honor the sabbath and have done this through Sunday worship. This has been a painful decision but I am glad that we are being careful. God wants us to love each other and this is how we are doing that right now. We have to be open to how the spirit is calling each one of us to do ministry in these days.
Finally, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please also reach out to one another. If you are feeling alone or isolated let people in our community know. Try to help each other if you can.
As always you are in my prayers every day. We are so blessed by God in so many ways but especially in one another. May God bless and keep you now and always!
Love,
Malcolm
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
You may have already heard news about the Bishop’s Ranch up in Healdsburg, California being evacuated yesterday along with many friends who are dear to us at the cathedral.
I know that you join me in praying for those who are fighting the fires, along with those who have been evacuated or are worried about loved ones or homes. As the winds build we are also praying for those who are losing electricity.
If you live in a relatively unaffected area you may want to reach out to people you know who might need a place to stay.
We are likely to have a few people at church today who are fleeing the fires. Let’s show them great hospitality.
If you donate to the Disaster Relief Fund at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, 100 percent of your donation goes directly to help those impacted by disaster.
Finally I wanted to let you know that whatever you are facing today, you are in my prayers. We are all blessed to have each other and the example of our savior Jesus who brings us together and strengthens us in surprising ways.
Love,
Malcolm
Last night, Dean Malcolm Clemens Young shared his reflections on Notre Dame and the spirit on rebuilding. You can read his sermon below.
During spring of ninth grade my English class went up to Ashland, Oregon to see the Shakespeare Festival. We stayed in a local campground. Instead of sleeping with my friends I ended up getting a tent by myself. It wasn’t what I usually did but that night I prayed before going to sleep.
Then at 4:00 a.m. although it was still dark I woke up. This has never happened to me before or since but I was completely awake. My body felt like it was noon. I went for a walk through the wildflowers around the lake. I completely lost track of time. A wonderful sense of contentment came over me. It was almost a kind of heightened awareness of the spring clouds, the symphony of birdsong, a light breeze in the new oak leave and the smell of the earth.
When the sun rose, with my whole being I felt a voice say, “All of this is created. It all comes from God.” I will never forget this experience of holiness when everything felt so new, as if it was the beginning of a world.
People talk about spiritual rebirth in two main ways.
1. Most often we hear about a sudden conversion. A person is going about their life and a powerful experience changes them forever. Some Christian groups love this experience so much that they make it the basis for pretty much everything they do. People in those kinds of churches sometimes feel that they don’t really belong unless they can claim to have felt this. It can degenerate into a forced emotionalism.
2. Great mystics describe another path for spiritual rebirth. In the past people like the Puritans called it sanctification. This is the long-term practice of gradually growing nearer to the Divine. The story that guides my life, my habits of perception, the way that I meet people in the world, my sense of myself, even my connection to nature are gradually changing over time as I draw closer to God.
Cathedrals help us to meet God in both ways: in dramatic moments that change our life and gradually over time. Cathedrals are built by human beings over generations to be places where the beauty and love of God really get our attention. The architecture, the soaring arches, the spires reaching into the sky, the light filtering through stained glass, the deep notes of the organ give us a sense of transcendence. They connect us to the mystery at the heart of our life.
I guess a statistician would say that we are a self-selected group. Cathedrals matter to everyone here right now. That’s why I imagine that the news of the destruction of Notre Dame yesterday may have especially touched you in the way that it did me. It is tempting to see the collapse of the fleche, or main spire in flames as the end of something. It seems as if a unique and sacred place as been destroyed forever.
It’s hard to realize that the most seemingly transient parts of cathedral life, the prayers, the connections between friends, the sacraments, our memories of this shared yoga practice, the spiritual rebirth that happens here – these will continue on even if the building is destroyed. Cathedrals help us to connect with something higher than ourselves but they are not the only way to do so.
This week I encourage to see your own body as a kind of cathedral. Your body is beautifully constructed. This body that you work on through your yoga practice, and in other ways, it may be a way for someone near you to have a sudden conversion in how they look at the world. Your body over time might be the means for the people around you to gradually come nearer to God.It has been a very difficult week for me. But I have been looking forward to our time together tonight. You are images of the divine to me. Through you I see a new world coming into being.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am writing with some very exciting news. After a long process with many excellent applicants we have decided to hire the Rev. Kristin Saylor to be in charge of Christian adult formation at Grace Cathedral. Her first day will be Monday, October 1. She will have one month to work with the Rev. Canon Mark Stanger before his retirement.
Kristin comes to us from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Port Chester, New York, a primarily bilingual Latino congregation. She is comfortable preaching in Spanish, French and German. She served in two Episcopal Service Corps programs in New Haven and New York City.
Kristin attended Virginia Theological Seminary and is married to another Episcopal priest. She grew up in Milwaukee where she is currently training for a triathlon
We will never understand the full effects of our ministry together at Grace. As a young adult convert Kristin was inspired by the sermons of the Very Rev. Dr. Alan Jones and other preachers on staff. Now she is in a sense coming back to one of her spiritual homes.
I am very confident that Kristin will also help us to form new connections and to share the love we know in Jesus. Please speak to either Ellen or me if you have any questions.
We are also welcoming two new colleagues to our professional staff on Tuesday, September 4.
Jack Fagan will join us as Director of Operations. This is a new position at Grace Cathedral with responsibility for facilities and daily operations. Jack has strong operational management experience working in the nonprofit sector, most recently at Hamilton Families. For his entire career, Jack has been working and volunteering for social justice.
Debbie Jasso will join us as the cathedral’s Annual Giving Manager, coordinating many aspects of the cathedral’s rigorous annual fundraising, including congregational stewardship. Debbie has held nonprofit roles in social services and environmental advocacy, and with organizations like the Metropolitan Club and United Religions Initiative. Debbie is a member of St. Francis’ Episcopal Church in San Francisco.
Please join me in welcoming all of our newest colleagues.
May God bless and keep you today!
Love,
Malcolm
The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On this beautiful spring day you are so much on my mind. I am very grateful for our ministry together. God blesses us with each other.
You may have noticed news reports about a special worship service that will be happening here next week with music and a message inspired by the popular singer Beyoncé. You may have heard criticisms from our fundamentalist brothers and sisters that Grace Cathedral worships Beyoncé rather than our Lord Jesus.
As supporters of the cathedral you know how important it is for us to be involved in the public life of our city and the world. A longing for justice lies at the heart of our identity. We have a tradition of engaging popular culture on issues of social justice that stretches back long before our controversial Duke Ellington Jazz Service in the mid-1960s.
I thought that it might be helpful for you to know a little bit more about this Beyoncé Mass.
The Vine, our Wednesday night (6:30 pm) contemporary worship community, was inspired by the Grace Cathedral Year of Truth theme and initiated a preaching series specifically to raise up the voices of women. Last week we focused on Mary Magdalene.
For our April 25 Vine worship service, the Rev. Yolanda Norton, Assistant Professor of Old Testament at San Francisco Theological Seminary, will be preaching. Rev. Norton created a “Beyoncé and the Hebrew Bible” class at the Seminary that draws on Beyoncé’s music to raise awareness about the spiritual experience of Black women and the issues they face in our society.
We have been surprised by how much attention we have been receiving about this and do expect a large attendance at this worship service. Your friends may ask you about this. You might want to remind them that God is in all the world and that Beyoncé is made in God’s image. The church has not treated women of color fairly and it is time to face this truth.
You are welcome to join us at the Vine. Please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions you might have after this Sunday’s 11 am service here at the cathedral.
Love,
Malcolm
The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young