Tag Archives: study groups

2023

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1 Feb.  The US Mint announced that The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray and four other women will be honored on quarters next year as part of its American Women Quarters series, celebrating the contributions of women to American history.

Peter & Margaret Johnson

5 Feb. At our annual meeting, Peter Johnson and Elizabeth Richardson retired from our vestry. He or his wife Margaret had served continuously since 1985, and Elizabeth for twenty. Peter was senior warden for two rectors:  William Blaine-Wallace and Pamela Werntz.  He was project manager for renovations of our back wall (see image above) and facade.  While becoming a Master Gardener in 2018, he assumed responsibility for our garden and continues to serve on our Building Commission.  Elizabeth, who served as a vestry member, clerk of the vestry, and junior warden, continues to serve on our Communications Commission and History & Archives Commission.

9 July. We celebrated the feast of our own saint, Pauli Murray.  Our rector preached about Murray’s ordination and significance for The Episcopal Church and justice in the United States. Murray’s niece Rosita Stevens-Holsey spoke after the service and signed copies of her book Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist.  A statue of Murray sculpted by Artist-in-Residence Ted Southwick was installed in a niche on our Sanctuary pulpit.

September.  The Rev. Dr. Martha Tucker joined us as Interim Priest while our rector began her 3-month sabbatical.

The late Walter Jonas chatted with his friend Philip Henry weekly in our Parish Hall.

Nov. 10.  Walter Jonas, chair of our Care Commission, died at the age of eighty.  After earning a masters degree from Harvard Divinity School (HDS), he had been ordained a Unitarian Universalist (UU) minister and served two churches. He came here for our music and stayed to become a beloved parishioner.  During the Covid pandemic he was a founding advocate for the Emmanuel Center’s  Zoom groups for studying biblical languages.  He joined its Latin group, which was led by the Rev. Susan Ackley and her son Andy Cabell, with the help of another masters student at HDS, Carolyn Beard. He brought its current leader Peter Bonis, whom he knew at the First Church (UU).

December 1. On Rosemary Harbison‘s birthday we celebrated John Harbison’s 85th birthday (Dec. 20) with dinner and music in the Parish Hall.

2021

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  • 1 Jan. Orbis Books published When Tears Sing: The Art of Lament in Christian Community by our 11th rector, The Rev. Dr. William Blaine-Wallace.
  • 21 Jan.  Boston Sun article by Seth Daniel, “Made for This Time: Surprisingly Emmanuel Church Was Engineered for COVID-19”, discussed the efforts of Michael Scanlon and Julian Bullitt to monitor air quality throughout our building, which was designed in the time of tuberculosis.
  • March.  The Rev. Tamra Tucker and our rector formed two mixed groups of parishioners from common cathedral and Emmanuel to follow The Episcopal Church’s Sacred Ground dialogue series on race and faith.
  • July 6.  Beloved parishioner Ann Taylor Roosevelt died.  She endowed our Taylor Fund for Theological Education in memory of her father, The Rev. Charles Lincoln Taylor, who served as Dean of the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge MA from 1944-1956.
  • July 29.  Kevin Neel retired as organist and parish administrator par excellence.
  • 26 Sept. We celebrated the retirement of Pat Krol, who had served as Executive Director of Emmanuel Music and greeter since 2006.  We funded the cantata and dedicated in her honor these doors, which she held open every Sunday while our choristers and liturgists to processed into the Sanctuary.
  • 31 Oct.  Memorial service for The Rev. Dr. David J. Siegenthaler (1926-2020), former priest in charge, was held in our well-ventilated sanctuary.  After leaving Emmanuel, Dr. Siegenthaler had served as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Duxbury MA, and then as archivist at the Episcopal Divinity School, where he taught for four decades.