We are excited to announce a trial program for our new hearing assistance platform! If your hearing aids connect with your smartphone and you are interested in participating in a pilot group as we roll out ListenWiFi, please e-mail Father Jon (jfeuss@stjla.org) and he will give you details on how to connect.
Intercessory Prayer Group Retreat September 13th
On Saturday, September 13th from 9:00am – noon, members of St. James’ Intercessory Prayer Group – a dedicated team of church members who pray for us all – will gather for a morning retreat led by Mother Kate, at her residence, and you are invited to join them. The retreat will begin with a potluck breakfast. RSVP to kcress@stjla.org to let us know if you would like to come!
Great Food at St. James
We have a wonderful soup kitchen here at St. James, always looking for volunteers and donations. If you would like to receive their newsletter, here you go!
Please join me for a book group on Zoom, as we read Tina Rathbone’s amazing book, The Asylum Seekers. At this time when our immigrant friends are suffering, let’s delve more deeply into their stories. We will meet Tuesday evenings at 7PM Pacific Time on September 2,9,16 and 23.
I hope you will join me for this rich discussion. Email me for the Zoom link at kcress@stjla.org
Peace,
Kate+
The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border
Learn the human stories of what happens at the border.
A remarkable, decimating work of reporting by award-winning journalist and priest Cristina Rathbone about asylum seekers trapped at a port of entry to the US: the trauma they carry, the community they create, and the faith they maintain.
The Asylum Seekers offers a rare narrative account of the horror of the US-Mexico border. Borders run through author Cristina Rathbone too, whose mother was a Cuban refugee. So she travels to Juarez, unsure what to do but determined to learn.
Weaving intimate portraits of individuals with broader stories about the community, reporting from the border as a whole, and reflections on the meaning of faith in a place of suffering, Rathbone tells the story of Mexican asylum seekers living in a makeshift tent camp at the foot of a bridge. Life in the camp is both hectic and harrowing. Families arrive. Families leave.
Families get through to the US. Families are returned from the US. Women weep, children squabble, and grown men sob over photographs of their murdered sons' mutilated bodies.
Here too, however, are beauty, and empathy, and hope. Over time, a leadership team emerges. The community begins to convene daily meetings, establish systems of distribution for donations, and start classes for the kids. Serving as an unofficial chaplain, Rathbone is there through it all: listening, receiving, assisting, and most of all learning about what authentic faith looks like under conditions such as these.
Written in the tradition of Solito and Rivermouth, The Asylum Seekers renders in startling, intimate detail the day-to-day lives of people who are determined to enter the US legally and who often suffer for it. The result is a fierce, poignant inquiry into the dignity of those who seek asylum--and into what we owe each other.
Flower Power
Here at St. James, we love flowers at the altar. However, typically we only have flowers when one of you makes a special dedication. For instance, if someone you love is celebrating a birthday or baptism, or you are having an anniversary, or want to remember a dear one who has passed, you can dedicate flowers and have the dedication appear in that Sunday's bulletin. The current price of flowers is $175. Individuals are also encouraged to band together to support the flowers for a particular weekend. So, if you are part of a group here at St. James, you might like to donate flowers collectively in celebration of your ministry.
Another idea is to support flowers for very special occasions, such as St Michael and All Angels at the end of September, or All Saints Day the first Sunday in November. These special occasions are a great opportunity to dedicate flowers and make the church look amazing.
If you would like to dedicate flowers, please email the office at lazeltine@stjla.org
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St. James in-the-City | LOS ANGELESSTJLA.org Dear Friends, Please join me for a book group on Zoom, as we read Tina Rathbone’s amazing book, The Asylum Seekers. At this time when our immigrant friends are suffering, let’s delve more deeply into their stories. We will meet Tuesday evenings at 7PM Pacific Time on September 2,9,16 and 23. I hope you will join me for this rich discussion. Email me for the Zoom link at kcress@stjla.org Peace, Kate+ The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death,...
St. James in-the-City | LOS ANGELESSTJLA.org Enjoy these photos capturing some of the exciting renovation work underway at St. James this month! The newly painted church. The Parish Hall building was painted too. Our scaffolding life! Painting one of the small quadrafoils; you can find this motif all over the interior and exterior of St. James. Copper flashing for the roof. Stained glass windows cleaned and restored. The sanctuary is brighter now with clean windows. Front door paint color...
St. James in-the-City | LOS ANGELESSTJLA.org “O Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New” Premieres in Europe Last month, the ZêzereArts Festival in Portugal chose our own Canon Jim Buonemani’s exquisite composition, “O Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New,” as the cornerstone piece for their choral festival. My daughter Allie and I traveled to Portugal to attend the premiere and cheer on our beloved director of music. Festival singers from all over Europe gathered to perform Jim’s composition in two...
