2026

31 Jan.  We celebrated the life and ministry of our Senior Pastoral Assistant (his choice of title), The Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew II, 10th Bishop of Ohio (1939-2025).  Our rector, family members, The Rev. Jennifer Daly, and The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr. spoke and were joined in the chancel by bishops Arthur B. Williams, Jr.; Julia Whitworth; Thomas J. Brown, and Alan M. Gates.  Dr. John Dilworth and violinist Daniella Maddon provided the musical offering.  See also the order of service and the livestream recording.

Clark Grew in his dinghy Goodness & Mercy

Pulpit statue of Vida Dutton Scudder by Ted Southwick

8 March. The Rt. Rev. Julia Whitworth visited us and dedicated Ted Southwick’s commissioned pulpit statue of Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954). Confirmed as Episcopalian by Phillips Brooks, she became a saint of The Episcopal Church, whose feast day is October 10.  She was a niece of publisher E.P. Dutton, who was the first clerk of our vestry, and of Horace Scudder, editor The Atlantic Monthly (1890-98).   She helped found in 1887 the College Settlements Association, which established Denison House for immigrants in the South Cove. In 1911 she joined the Socialist Party and founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League.  Her support in 1912 of striking textile workers in the Bread and Roses Strike drew criticism and threatened her teaching position at Wellesley College. Her 96 works religious, social, and literary topics can be downloaded from the Internet Archive.

King’s Chapel unveils ‘Unbound’.

photo credit: WGBH Boston

On September 14, 2025, King’s Chapel unveiled its Memorial Sculpture, “Unbound,” by artist Harmonia Rosales.

Rosales’s work was stewarded by the MASS Design Group. It is a tribute to the 219 enslaved parishioners brought to church by their enslavers.

As many of you know, King’s Chapel has been actively engaged in studying and revealing many aspects of its racial history over recent years. A rich summary, including their plans for an ongoing project, is presented online via the page entitled King’s Chapel Memorial to Enslaved Persons.

September 22, 2025 –Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin.

Blessed Pauli Murray

Feast of Pauli Murray.  9 July. 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Sirach 15:1-6. They will lean on her and not fall.
  • Galatians 3:23-29. There is no longer Jew or Greek…slave or free…male and female.
  • Mark 12:1-12.  The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone [or keystone]; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing.

O God of reconciling love, grant us the wisdom, the strength and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.


Today is a long-anticipated, special day at Emmanuel Church because we are celebrating the Feast Day of The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray with the unveiling of a statue of her, beautifully rendered by our Artist-in-Residence Ted Southwick. The statue is installed on the sanctuary pulpit, from which Dr. Murray preached. We are thrilled and honored to welcome her niece Rosita Stevens-Holsey, who will speak with us after the service. While Dr. Murray’s feast day is July 1, the day that she completed her earthly mission, today is the 112th anniversary of her baptism at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Baltimore. Just prior to being ordained, she had described herself as: woman, Christian, seminarian, poet, lawyer, person of color, and senior citizen. Last week in Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in the bigoted-website case, she recalled Murray’s pioneering work with regard to public accommodations.[1] I want to assure you that Pauli Murray is still speaking to us all. Continue reading

1989

  • April 8.  Emmanuel Music gave a concert in honor of Principal Guest Conductor John Harbison’s 50th birthday (20 Dec. 1988).  His wife Rose Mary Pederson Harbison opened with a violin concerto she had played at its 1980 premiere.
  • Katharine Ward Lane Weems died and bequeathed a pair of Spanish candelabra now standing in the  baptistery of our Sanctuary.  Born 22 Feb.1899, she was the only child of  Emma Gildersleeve and Gardiner Martin Lane, who was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts from 1907 until his death in 1914. They lived at 53 Marlborough Street and were members of Emmanuel.

Katharine attended the Museum School from 1915 and began to show her work in 1920.  She designed the brick friezes and bronze doors of Harvard’s Biological Laboratories with two massive bronze rhinoceri (one pictured below) installed in the courtyard in 1937.

See also

Image by Daderot, WikiCommons, of her sculpture at the Museum School, Boston

1891

bronze statue of Brooks outside Trinity Church

Augustus St. Gaudens’ bronze of Jesus blessing Phillips Brooks was installed on Boylston St. in 1910.

14 Oct.  Our second rector, the Rev. Dr. Alexander Hamilton Vinton, preached at the installation of the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks at Trinity Church, which had been recently constructed under his direction in nearby Copley Square.  Vinton was a mentor of Brooks, whose prayer our rector, the Rev. Pamela Werntz,  prays (in modified form) at the start of her sermons:  O God, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Later in the year Brooks was elected Bishop of Massachusetts.

1883

Memorial bronze bust of The Rev. Dr. Alexander Hamilton Vinton by Augustus St. Gaudens was installed in the nave.  It was finally dedicated in 1894. For details please see an article in the Boston Daily Globe.

The family of the late Benjamin Smith Rotch endowed the Rotch Travelling Scholarship for architects.

See also