- 6 Jan. Our Candidate for Holy Orders, The Rev. Joshua Padraig (Paddy) Cavanaugh, was ordained to the priesthood at All Saints Church, Richmond VA.
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The Rev. Lisa Faber Ginggen, Senior Warden Liz Levin & Julian Bullitt
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!
Timeline of History at Emmanuel
2023
Peter & Margaret Johnson
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.
5 Feb. At our annual meeting, Peter Johnson and Elizabeth Richardson retired from our vestry. He (or his wife Margaret) had served almost continuously since 1985.
Peter was senior warden for two rectors: William Blaine-Wallace and Pamela Wertnz. 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 had served almost continuously since 2003 as a vestry member, clerk of the vestry, or junior warden. She 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.
1 December. On Rosemary Harbison’s birthday we celebrated John Harbison’s 85th birthday (Dec. 20) with dinner and music in the Parish Hall.
2022
20 May. The Rev. Pamela Werntz blessed the Babcock Doors to the Sargent Lobby at the rear of our sanctuary, where head usher Stephen Babcock welcomed congregants to our services for fseveral decades. Assisting her are subdeacon Karen King and the Rev. Robert Greiner, with Stephen facing his doors. Although our rector had lifted our mask mandate for the Covid pandemic earlier, vulnerable congregants and many of our musicians continued to wear them. See also: Timeline 1997.- May. Vaughan Sherrill joined us as Parish Administrator. She is a great-granddaughter of Henry Knox Sherrill, who was ninth bishop of our diocese, twentieth Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, a founder of the Episcopal Church Foundation, and President of the World Council of Churches.
- Sept. Our rector became dean of our diocese’s Boston Harbor Deanery.
- 11 Dec. The Chorus of Emmanuel Music sang parishioner Sid Richardson’s Magnificat, which they had commissioned for Gaudete Sunday. Listen to it on our YouTube Channel.
- Our puppeteer Sara Peattie published on Amazon’s Kindle platform 68 Ways to Make Really Big Puppets.
2021
- 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 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.
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.
2019
Thanks to a generous grant from the City of Boston’s Community Preservation, Commission restoration work on our Newbury St. façade began under the direction of Vestry member Peter K. Johnson. The multi-year project involved repair and refinishing of five sets of doors with their tympana, masonry work for our central entrance and several staircases, and roof work to prevent ice dams.
29 January. We celebrated John Harbison‘s 80th birthday in our Parish Hall with some of his jazz songs, a piece composed by Michael Gandolfi with libretto of Lloyd Schwartz‘ selections from John’s recently published book What Do We Make of Bach, and a tower of cupcakes wheeled in by Pat Krol, Executive Director of Emmanuel Music.
John Harbison at the piano provided by M. Steinert & Sons with Don Berman, Lynn Torgove, Pat Krol, and singers of Emmanuel Music.
2018
Emmanuel House, home to a small intentional community, was created by the Charles River Episcopal Co-Housing Endeavor (CRECHE) with funding from our diocese’s Together Now campaign. As Executive Director of CRECHE, The Rev. Isaac Everett (above right) serves at the altar and in our pulpit from time to time. They rent from our diocese the former rectory of St. Luke and St. Margaret at Packard’s Corner, Allston. Learn more about the intentions of Emmanuelites who live there on their website.
September. The Rev. Susan Ackley joined us while our rector the Rev. Pamela Werntz took sabbatical leave. In addition to preaching and provided pastoral care, she was instrumental in creating a weekly Recovery Eucharist held in Lindsey Chapel.
Digits of the hamsa signify generosity, strength, replenishment, blessing & well-being.
The theme Pam chose for her sabbatical was exploration of the hamsa, a palm-shaped symbol used by Muslims, Jews, and Christians, also known as the Hand of Fatima and the Hand of Miriam. She visited Istanbul, Vienna, and Andalusia in search of its depictions. We also used it for our stewardship campaign.
2017
- Feb. 5. At our annual meeting we voted to update our Parish By-Laws.
- Oct 15. Rabbi Howard Berman preached about the 13th anniversary of our relationship with Central Reform Temple (formerly Boston Jewish Spirit).
- Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray by Rosiland Rosenberg is published by Oxford U. Press. Amazon’s record describes her contribution: “Throughout her prodigious life, activist and lawyer Pauli Murray systematically fought against all arbitrary distinctions in society, channeling her outrage at the discrimination she faced to make America a more democratic country.”
Book jacket, Oxford U. Press
Its last chapter deals with Pauli’s call to ordained ministry. On p. 356, Rosenblatt notes that in 1967 Pauli began to attend Emmanuel, where then rector Alvin Kershaw advised her and referred her to The Rt. Rev. John W. Burgess, who was our diocesan bishop and the first African American episcopal bishop.
See also Timeline entries for Pauli Murray: 1944, 1951, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1985, 1987, 2012 & 2015.
See also Timeline entry 2007 about the restoration of our former organ: Casavant Frères Opus 700.
2016
The Rev. Robert Greiner
June. The Rev. Robert Greiner was ordained to the diaconate and began his tenure with us.
Kevin Neel began his six-year tenure as organist and director of our parish choir.
Kevin Neel playing our Rogers organ
2015
April 4. The New York Times reported that Pauli Murray’s family home in Raleigh NC had been named a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
As part of the Pauli Murray Project a memorial mural painted on the brick wall of a former tobacco warehouse in Durham NC shows her flanked by panels that read:
As an Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray used the pulpit to find the “spirit of love and reconciliation” as expressed in her ministry as the “goal of human wholeness”. — Karla Holloway
It may be that when historians look back on 20th century America, all roads will lead to Pauli Murray. Civil rights, feminism, religion, literature, law, sexuality — no matter what the subject, there is Pauli. — Historian Susan Ware
Pauli Murray taught us that our lives are not defined by our race or our gender but by our striving to make the world a better place than when we found it. — Elnora J. Shields, Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project
Pauli Murray mural (detail) on tobacco warehouse in Durham NC
See also: