- 6 Jan. Our Candidate for Holy Orders, The Rev. Joshua Padraig (Paddy) Cavanaugh, was ordained to the priesthood at All Saints Church, Richmond VA.
- 4 Feb. Senior Warden Elizabeth (Liz) Levin retired after an eventful three-year tenure. She ably steered us through the Covid pandemic, our rector’s sabbatical, and much more. May her successor Rebekah Shore fill her big shoes!
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The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray & The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris on our Sanctuary’s pulpit
28 April. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Carol J. Gallagher, Assistant Bishop of our diocese, presided at our Sunday service for the dedication of Ted Southwick’s statue of the late Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris.
- May. With funding from Hanna and James Bartlett, John Tiedemann’s crew cleaned our Sanctuary’s reredos and walls below its clerestory. Jim Anderson designed a replacement herald for a window that had been broken in 2000 by firefighters.
Photo by Julian Bullitt
Charles Connick had designed its original to match Kempe’s heralds in the south clerestory. Its banner reads in Latin: with angels and archangels. We thank Jill Zunshine, who funded it in memory of her husband Zach and in thanksgiving for her faith and hope.
- 28 Sept. The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates preached and presided at a service commemorating the Centennial of Lindsey Chapel.
Thanks to the generosity of Hanna and James Bartlett the walls of our apse were cleaned.
Tag Archives: wardens
2023
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.
The Widow’s Mite
Lately I’ve been thinking about some of the contrasts that chase us through life at Emmanuel. They start on Sunday when I walk over the small round disk embossed BOSTON GROUNDWATER TRUST, which is set into the sidewalk in front of the church. It’s one of 800 wells monitoring the groundwater that still covers the 200,000 Maine spruce-tree trunks that were steam-pile driven-in 160 years ago to keep our feet out of the soup below. Sure, I know that part of the motivation for filling the Back Bay was to keep prosperous white Protestants from decamping to the suburbs, and my Irish great-grandfather south of the tracks. But still, there’s no way to get into Emmanuel without at least an unthinking pilgrimage over that magical, invisible, upside-down forest.
Grateful Former Wardens
About 25 years ago we spotted a headline on the front page of the Boston Globe stating, “Historic church in Back Bay is about to close and become a concert hall”. We greeted this semi-accurate and hyperbolic announcement with great joy! It prompted us to investigate and soon to embrace Emmanuel as our church home.
2020
- March 7. 10th anniversary of our 12th rector’s installation. On its eve, we feasted with dinner, speeches, poetry, and song. Thanks to the efforts of our deacon The Rev. Robert Greiner, Mayor of Boston Martin J. Walsh proclaimed it Reverend Pamela L. Werntz Day. Pictured in the banner of this post are Pam Werntz, Amanda Grant-Rose, Rebekah Rodrigues, Joy Howard, Grace McElroy-Howard, Laura Simons, Bob Greiner, Rabbi Devon Lerner, Gennifer Sussman, The Rev. Tamra Tucker, and Jaylyn Olivo.
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The Rev. William Blaine-Wallace
June 28. Our 11th rector, the Rev. William Blaine-Wallace, read for Chapel Camp from his book When Tears Sing: The Art of Lament in Christian Community (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 2020).
- July. Before he left to study at Virginia Theological Seminary, our Candidate for Holy Orders Joshua Padraig (Paddy) Cavanaugh compiled a liturgical customary, an illustrated manual which is used by our Altar Guild in its preparations for services throughout the year.
- Oct. 21. Parish Operations Manager Kevin Neel set up our YouTube Channel and with video equipment bought by Emmanuel Music, Brad Dumont and Matt Griffing began to livestream our services.
- Nov. 1. A Saint for All Saints, a conference about the legacy of our own saint, Pauli Murray, organized by a committee led by Jr. Warden William Margraf, was held via Zoom. The Rev. Dr. Yolanda A. Rolle, Episcopal Chaplain of Howard University, whom we sponsored for the priesthood,
The Rev. Dr. Anna Pauline Murray
moderated a panel comprised of Assoc. Dean Melissa W. Bartholomew of Harvard Divinity School; the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, rector of St. Aidan’s Church, San Francisco; and the Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, Canon Theologian of the National Cathedral and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. Please see our page for the program and more.
1990
Barbara DeVries became senior warden with George Graham as junior warden. She served not only for the three years of a rocky interim between rectors but also in these capacities for over forty years, a veritable Biblical span!
- Vestry member in 1968-74 & 1979-82 under Rectors Metters & Kershaw
- Junior warden from 1986-1989 under Rector Kershaw
- Treasurer from 2011-15 under our rector Pam Werntz.
- Member of our Finance Commission and Altar Guild. She guided our Green Team with her friend Jr. Warden Nancy Mueller and selected the red floribunda rose, which still blooms in our garden. Here she is pictured in 2024 with another friend, Ann Higgins, who has served for years as head of our Altar Guild under Rector Werntz.
1978
- 21 April. Gov. Michael Dukakis proclaimed it to be Johann Sebastian Bach Day in the Commonwealth as “the orchestra and chorus of Emmanuel Church in the City of Boston…after seven years [had] completed for the first time in the USA the cycle of [his]194 sacred cantatas”.
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Constance visited us in Oct. 2017
Constance Hammond was elected our first woman (junior) warden. After ordination in our diocese, she served as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR (1990-98) and then as rector and priest in other churches in the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon Since 1998, she has been a practitioner and instructor in the Healing Touch Program. See also: 1986.
1943
- 17 September. The Rev. Henrietta Rue Goodwin died. She had retired from the faculty of the National Cathedral School to live with her sister Helen Goodwin French, widow of Hollis French, who was warden here from 1914-1940. After her burial from the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem PA, which the Goodwins had helped to found, a memorial was held at Emmanuel. For a discussion of her ministry here, see also: 1897.
1940
July 19. Our fourth rector, The Rev. Dr. Elwood Worcester, died at the age of 78.
Hollis French, warden 1914-1940. Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art
Nov. 21. Senior Warden Hollis French died. Born in Boston in 1868, he had served as Jr. Warden 1914-1936, when he became Sr. Warden under Rector P.E. Osgood, who is pictured below with Associate Rector Arthur Silver Payzant (served 1937-1945).
The Rev. Dr. Phillips Endecott Osgood (1882-1956) & The Rev. Arthur Silver Paysant (1884-1965) in 1938.
1936
December 13. Celebration of our 75th Year
The Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D.D., Bishop of Massachusetts (1893-1927). Photo credit: WikiCommons
Our fifth rector, The Rev. Dr. Phillips Endecott Osgood, said in his sermon: “We are stewards of an inheritance, interpreters of a tradition”. Organist Dr. Albert Snow composed an anthem for the service. Bishop Emeritus William Lawrence praised our first four wardens:
- Edward Sprague Rand (1st senior warden), a trustworthy, public-spirited lawyer
- William Richards Lawrence (1st junior warden), who had bought the land for our church. was his uncle.
- Benjamin Tyler Reed (2nd senior warden), who founded in Cambridge the Episcopal Theological School, which became the Episcopal Divinity School
- Enoch Reddington Mudge (2nd junior warden), who later built St. Stephen’s Church, Lynn
For more detail, see Boston Globe, Dec. 14, 1936, p. 4: “Bishop Lawrence in Tribute to Early Emmanuel Wardens. Services Celebrate 75th Birthday of Church. Dr. Osgood Views Future”.