Tag Archives: vestry

2026

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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.

2025

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March 30.  We continued our annual meeting, which had begun in February via Zoom due to a snowstorm, with a celebration of the 15th anniversary of our rector’s installation. Actually Pam came to us as priest-in-charge 17 years ago and preached her first sermon on March 2, 2008.

Wardens Pat Krol & Rebekah Shore were joined by Jill Silverstein of Central Reform Temple in congratulating our rector Pam Werntz.

May 4.  Our rector presided at a memorial service in Lindsey Chapel for benefactor James Theodore Bartlett (2/13/1937 – 11/7/2024).  A beloved member of our congregation, Jim served for years as chair of our Finance Commission.

May 11.We dedicated our third pulpit statue to the Rev. Dr. Suzanne Radley Hiatt: theologian, prophet, priest, professor, and advocate.

Ordained as one of the Philadelphia 11 on July 29, 1974, this “bishop to the women” served as an inspirational mentor to many, including our rector, whose dedicatory sermon can be watched about 28 minutes into our recorded service.   For Dr. Hiatt’s connection to Pauli Murray, please see We’ve Come This Far by Faith.  We thank Ted Southwick and the friends of the late Dr. Hiatt for supporting this project.

Sculptor Ted Southwick smiled while our rector asperged his figure of the Rev. Dr. Suzanne Hiatt. Photo: JG Bullitt

Marianne Iaucco, vestry member (2007-08), Clerk of Vestry (2009-10); Mary Blocher, Treasurer (1995), vestry member (2007-11); Anna Pauline Zeusler, vestry member (1990-93)

Dec 21.  We bade farewell to Mary Blocher and Marianne Iauco as they joined our diaspora in order to be closer to family after their four decades of service on our vestry and Worship Commission. Pauli Zeusler, who had known them when she served on our troubled vestry in the early 1990s, came to the luncheon they gave the parish before their departure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec. 22.   The Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew II, Bishop of Ohio (1994-2004) and our Associate Priest for many years, died in Boston. Born 20 Dec. 1939, he was the namesake of his great uncle J.C. Grew, US Envoy to Denmark & Switzerland, Ambassador to Turkey & Japan, then Undersecretary of State during WWII. The Grew family held Pew 62 from the foundation of Emmanuel, and Annie Clark (Mrs. Henry) Grew held the deed for Pew 51 from 1897-1925. 

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.

July 30.  Clerk of the Vestry Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, and Pat Krol reported on a Chapel Camp session devoted to repairing the breach of racial injustice in what became the  blog of their Racial Justice Working Group, We’ve Come This Far by Faith.

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.

1969

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EllingtonConcert_of_Sacred_Music

Thanks to Radio Corporation of America for use of this image.

  • J. Barkev Kassarjian joined our vestry.  His wife Mary Catherine Bateson gave birth to their daughter Savanne (Vanni) Margaret, who was baptized here.
  • April 20.  Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington‘s Second Concert of Sacred Music, sponsored by the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard and Radcliffe, was performed for a large audience in our Sanctuary with our ninth rector, The Rev. Al Kershaw presiding.  Please see Wikipedia for information about this and Ellington’s other sacred concerts.

See also Timeline entries about Kershaw: 1956, 1963 & 1966.

1931

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Rosemary Dodge Hutcheson (1931-2000), 1957, Clerk of the Vestry (1971-72)

Rosemary Dodge was born in The Hague, Holland.  After graduating from Wellesley College and working in its admissions office, she married in 1957 a public-heath psychiatrist, Dr. Bellenden Hutcheson, and they had a son. In 1971 she became our first women officer as Clerk of the Vestry.

1917

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  • President Theodore Roosevelt came to Emmanuel for his son Archie’s wedding.  See a Library of Congress clip of their arrival on Newbury Street.
  • Emmanuel organist Lynnwood Farnam designed and supervised the installation by Casavant Frères of a 137-stop pipe organ, which was the third-largest in N. America.  See also Timeline entry 1918 about its dedication &  2007 about its sale and restoration.

Casavant567