- 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 four-year tenure. She ably steered us through the Covid pandemic, our rector’s sabbatical, and much more. Rebekah Shore became senior warden and Pat Krol, who had retired after 15 years as Executive Director of Emmanuel Music, became junior warden.
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.
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.
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.
2019
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.
- 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.
The Rev. Tamra Tucker with our rector, deacon, and parishioners who attended her ordination at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.
- Tamra Tucker was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. She had been parish administrator when Penny Lane (on her right) was senior warden (2013-15). Also pictured are (left to right): Pat Krol, Paul Guttry, Peter and Margaret Johnson, Joy Howard, Pam Werntzm Bob Greiner, Jenn Poole & Liz Levin.
- Pendragon Press published Bringing Bach’s Music to Life, a compilation of Craig Smith‘s program notes for 24 cantatas, edited by Pamela Dellal, in its series of Monographs in Musicology.
Craig Smith directing the orchestra with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson on viola; Don Wilkinson, Paul Guttry et al. in the chorus.
1998
- August 1. Nancy Granert began as organist.
- Building Chair David Carlson wrote a grant proposal to the Mass. Historical Commission, which awarded us a $100K matching grant for restoration of the Lindsey Chapel.
- Scenes of The Proposition with Kenneth Branagh as priest were filmed at Emmanuel.
- Mary Eliot (Pat) Jackson served as junior warden with John Hsia as senior warden. She edited Emmanuel News from 2000-01.
Mary Eliot (Pat) Jackson with her poodle Zephira in 2025
1992
Richard Bently became Sr. Warden, and Carolyn Roosevelt became Jr. Warden. The vestry experienced conflict with their new rector in what came to be remembered as the Time of Troubles.
1991
- The Rev. Michael Kuhn was called as our tenth rector.
- Barbara DeVries continued as senior warden, and Martha Christian (Mutrie) became junior warden.
- Christopher Roos served as clerk of the vestry.
- Susy Cheston served as treasurer.
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.
