The Pathfinder: July 31st, 2025
Save the Date: Annual Parish Retreat
All Souls Parish will host our annual retreat on September 12, 2025, 5:00 pm to September 14, 2025, 2:00 pm at The Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg.
Enjoy the last days of summer with the All Souls Parish community. Spend time in nature, reunite with other All Soulsians, and make new friends.
Registration opens soon!
– Mother Rachel
All Souls will be at Berkeley Pride!
Berkeley will host its first ever Pride celebration on Saturday, August 16, from 11am-5pm in downtown Berkeley. The event, hosted by Pacific Center for Human Growth and co-hosted by Downtown Berkeley Association and Visit Berkeley, will include a street festival and performance stage – and an All Souls table!
Our goals for getting involved at Berkeley Pride 2025 include 1) showing our support for the LGBTQIA+ community as an affirming church, 2) providing information to interested folks about All Souls and Christianity in general, and 3) having fun and connecting as LGBTQIA+ and allied All Soulsians!
We’re looking for volunteers to help set up, break down, and staff the table, and we’d love to hear your ideas about tabling materials and games, or interactive activities we can provide. If you’re interested in showing your pride and support for our LGBTQIA+ siblings, please get in touch!
Click here for more information about Berkeley Pride 2025. Click here to sign up to volunteer at the All Souls table. If you have questions or ideas for tabling materials or games, please click here to email Kelsey Byers or click here to email Emily Boring.
– Kelsey Byers
July Vestry Reflection
The meeting began with an Angel Band song, “By the Mark,” sung by Ryan Greene-Roesel, one of our chaplains. As Ryan was singing, we paused to reflect on the beautiful words and her graceful voice.
We then discussed two questions: What does it mean by the marks? What does it mean to be marked as a Christian?
The vestry approved the Consent Agenda, which included: June meeting minutes, Treasurer’s Report, Budget, Balance Sheet, Living Waters Balance Sheet, Friends of All Souls/Legacy Giving Strategic Reserve Resolution, and the Employee Handbook Holiday Policy.
Grace Telcs provided an update on Living Waters. She shared the good news that the heating system is operational for the church and the chapel! We have new windows in the Parish Hall, power is hooked up to begin phase 3 of the elevator installation, WiFi is set up, Parish Hall bamboo flooring is installed, switch gear has passed inspection with the city and PGE, and we plan to replace the stove in the kitchen as it is too small. Landscaping will begin after the completion of construction work.
Phil reported that the organ installation will begin in August. We have $130,000 of the $150,000 needed to buy and build the organ. We discussed additional programming with the new organ, which will supplement the necessary additional funding.
Michael and Phil updated the Vestry on the work to retrofit All Souls seismically. They touched on and we discussed the roof work, the sheer wall and brackets for support, and the structural standard necessary to host an early childhood center or a similar type of program. We all agreed that these improvements will be better for future tenants as well as making the space more earthquake resilient.
The Vestry unanimously and enthusiastically voted to support Emily Hansen Curran’s application to Candidacy status after her report on her process in Candidacy. Emily also gave us an update on St. Lucy’s.
The rector’s report from Phil included discussion on selling the current stove in the kitchen and replacing it with a larger one. He also brought up the topic of the “summer slowdown” at All Souls. We discussed ways to keep All Soulsian’s engaged in person and virtually through Kinship, prayer and gatherings. Phil talked about upcoming events/ways to church together: Big Sur camping trip, Homecoming Sunday and Blessing of the Backpacks, and the Annual Parish Retreat.
Before Ryan led us in a closing prayer we shared prayers of Gratitude, Petition and Intersession. I left this meeting with gratitude for the way this group shows respect and compassion for one another while accomplishing the tasks at hand.
– Cathy Goshorn
Isaiah Project:
Delivering the First Grant Checks
After many months of research, discussion, prayer and reflection, the Isaiah Project team in October of 2024 recommended to the Vestry that All Souls award grants of $100,000 each to four East Bay organizations. The Vestry approved this request.
These four organizations are: Youth Spirit Artworks; the American Indian Child Resource Center; the Center for ArtEsteem; and Elizabeth House. The grants will be disbursed over a three-year period. Our hope is that these grants may in some small measure promote repair of the harms caused by the history of racism in our local communities.
Under the grant agreements the first installment grant payments were due in June 2025. The Isaiah Project team decided to deliver these first checks in person in an effort to get to know the people at each organization better and as a way to demonstrate how much we value the work they are doing. What follows below are the brief reflections of three members of the Isaiah Project team – Paul Mathew, Christine Trost; and Lewis Maldonado – on the experience of delivering these initial payments.
Youth Spirit Artworks by Paul Mathew
It was such a delight (and honor!) to personally deliver our first Isaiah Project grant check to Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA). All Souls has been engaged with YSA for many years, and it's really heartwarming to see this relationship strengthening through the Isaiah Project.
YSA does amazing work with youth in our community impacted by adversity, economic, and housing challenges. They offer transitional housing and leadership development utilizing art as therapy. I handed over the check to Karini Periera-Bowers, the Executive Director. Karini mentioned that vital support for mental health services is at risk due to federal funding cuts and policy changes. Our grant could not be more timely! On a personal note, I'll say it was a bit of a strange feeling to be in the position of a grantor, since I'm usually on the other side of that weird power dynamic. That said, I really do feel good about how All Souls has approached this whole effort. We've been mindful of the power and privilege dynamic in our engagement with grantees, intentionally sought to learn about historic racial harms in our community, and genuinely endeavored to approach this with heart and not just mind. What a blessing it is indeed to give!
American Indian Child Resource Center by Christine Trost
On June 26, I delivered our first Isaiah Project check ($33,333) to Mary Trimble Norris, Executive Director of the American Indian Child Resource Center (AICRC), which is located in a two-story house-like structure overlooking Lake Merritt on Grand Avenue in Oakland. I had never been to AICRC before and was excited to see the place that has served as not only a vital resource but a community gathering point for Native children, youth and families for so many years. Founded in 1974 by American Indian nurses, AICRC sought to address the critical needs of newly arrived American Indian families, who – in response to a federal program promising employment, job training, housing, and a pathway out of poverty – had emigrated to the Bay Area from their tribal homelands. Once they arrived, many families found that housing and financial support were limited, the promised employment and training were inadequate, and they struggled to make ends meet in an unfamiliar urban environment. Guided by its founding mission “to preserve and promote the integrity and culture of American Indian youth and their families,” AICRC staff and volunteers responded then and now to the changing needs of community members by providing programs and services that are anchored in Native American culture and traditions.
On the day that I visited, the Center was full of activity – a summer youth program was underway and aromas from a lunchtime meal lingered in the air. It really felt like a home to me. After ascending a set of creaky stairs, Mary and I sat inher office for a bit as she shared with me the difference the check that I had just handed her would make to retaining her staff and supporting their vital work, especially in light of massive cuts to federal grants proposed by the new administration that would have a direct impact on the children and families that AICRC serves. Mary also told me that because of the exorbitant increase in insurance rates, they were having to re-think and likely scale back or even end a program that provides case management and mental health services for Native youth in the foster care system. In spite of these challenges, Mary said she views them as an opportunity to envision and create something new. She left me feeling hopeful and incredibly grateful for the trust and partnership opportunity that she and AICRC have extended to all of us at All Souls.
Center for ArtEsteem by Lewis Maldonado
Last winter the Center for ArtEsteem had extended an invitation to All Souls to visit their center, meet their staff, and learn more about their work. The Center for ArtEsteem (formerly known as Attitudinal Healing Connection) addresses social ills by providing opportunities for creative expression and healing to children, families, and individuals. Founded in 1989, the organization “empowers individuals to be self-aware and inspired through art, creativity, and education, and to make positive choices to break the cycle of violence for themselves and their communities.” The Center for ArtEsteem also provides education to youth on environmental justice, particularly the history of environmental injustice experienced by people of color in Oakland. The program has served over 75 at-risk schools and their communities, directly and indirectly reaching over 100,000 children, youth, and families in the East Bay.
We decided that we would bring their first grant check with us and present it to them on our visit, which was scheduled for June 20. The following All Soulsians planned to participate in this visit: Margaret Sparks; Janet Chisholm; Mark Richardson; Kim Wong; Paul Mathew; Cathy Goshorn; Wendy Calimag; and Lewis Maldonado. As we all now know, Margaret, Janet, and Mark, who were traveling together in one car, were broadsided on their way to the Center, suffered injuries, and were taken to Highland Hospital for treatment.
Thus, this visit had a particular emotional impact on all of us. While we delivered the grant check and met the Center’s staff, the most important aspect of the visit for me was the care that the Center’s Amana Harris and Adam Menter took of Kim, Paul, Cathy, Wendy and myself as we struggled with the news of the accident (which we learned about via a phone call from Mark Richardson from Highland) and the accompanying shock and uncertainty about the condition of our friends. They took us to a quiet room, offered us water, and engaged in a form of prayer circle with us. On Sunday, Adam brought flowers and a note to the congregation on behalf of the Center, which only reaffirmed the deepening of our relationship.
Oakland Elizabeth House by Lewis Maldonado
I delivered the first grant check to Elizabeth House on the following Monday, June 23. Although Elizabeth House is less than a mile from my house, I had never visited their space before. It is a beautiful house on a quiet street in Oakland’s Rockridge District, about midway between College and Telegraph Avenues.
Founded in North Oakland in 1991, Elizabeth House is a small organization, but it makes a tremendous impact on the people it serves – women and children (primarily people of color) who have been living unhoused and in extreme poverty – by providing transitional housing. Ninety percent of the women who come to Elizabeth House were homeless for between 1 ½ and 5 years. All have experienced domestic violence, addiction, or extreme poverty. Families live at the House for an average stay of 18 months, but can stay up to two years. Approximately 80% of the women who have stayed at Elizabeth House go on to find safe, permanent housing and employment.
I delivered the check to Dr. Jackie Yancy, Elizabeth House’s executive director. After we had talked a bit, Dr. Yancy invited All Souls to come for a visit, meet the staff, and learn more about Elizabeth House’s work. We are working on selecting a date, which will be sometime in the fall. More details will follow later, but if you already think you would be interested in attending, please click here to let me know by email or by text or phone at 510-326-7230. If you need a ride, we may be able to provide one. If you can offer a ride, we would also appreciate knowing that.
– Lewis Maldonado on behalf of the Isaiah Project team
The Parish Hall has a new floor! Bamboo flooring is a budget-friendly option for hardwood flooring. Bamboo flooring is known to be easier to install, sustainable, and good with moisture exposure. While the plywood floor we have had for months was certainly usable, this is much, much nicer!
The tall storage cabinets in the parish hall are filling up quickly.
Otis Elevator has been onsite, and installation has begun on this exciting addition to our space! Please be aware of closed areas and do not touch anything that isn’t yours. Once PG&E finishes its power transformation, Otis will finish the job.
Construction of a new roof on the total building will begin August 11th and take approximately three weeks. The solar panels have been removed and stored in the undercroft and will be reinstalled towards the end of the roofing project.
So exciting times all around! Please remember that work and organization are still in progress, and your patience and understanding concerning disruptions are appreciated. If you have questions, commentsor concerns about what you see, please click here to contact Ann Myers for clarification.
Thanks,
– Ann Myers on behalf of the Property team
Announcements & Events
Happening This Week
SUNDAY
7 AM, Reading Between the Lines Bible Study, either in person in the Common Room or click here to join by Zoom.
8 AM, Holy Eucharist in the Chapel. Please access the Chapel through the copper doors on Cedar St.
9:15 AM, Summer Book Group Discussion in the Common Room or click here to join by Zoom.
10:30 AM, Sung Eucharist in the Nave. Join us via livestream here. Coffee hour after the service.
MONDAY
7:00 PM, Reading Between the Lines Bible Study, either in person in the Common Room or click here to join by Zoom.
WEDNESDAY
9:00 AM, Eucharist in the Chapel
Learn with Us
ADULT FORMATION
Summer Reading Group THIS SUNDAY
Patrick Bringley's All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me. Please join Jane Vandenburgh and the Rev. Mark Richardson to discuss this gorgeously written memoir of the ten years the author spent as a museum guard at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each week, we will read and discuss the following chapters:
Week 1 - August 3rd: Chapters 1-5
Week 2 - August 10th: Chapters 6-9
Week 3 - August 17th: Chapters 10-13
To view the art that is referenced in the book, please click on this link patrickbringley.com/art. Once you are there, click on the name of the work to see the photograph of it.
This group will meet in the Common Room at 9:15 am or click here to join by Zoom on the following Sundays in August: 3rd, 10th, 17th.
Gather with Us
SAVE THE DATES
Homecoming Sunday - August 24th
You are invited to Homecoming! Whether you’ve been coming for a while and are returning from summer, or you’ve been away for a very long time and hoping to reconnect, or if it’s your first time: welcome home. Come celebrate the start of the new year with us. This fun event is also open to all our neighbors. More details coming soon!
Kids of All Ages - Sing With Us! On Homecoming Sunday, we will perform a song together! Join us for rehearsals during the 10:30 service in August. Kids of all ages and abilities are welcome. Start in the nave at the beginning of the service; a teacher will lead you out when it’s time to rehearse.
All Parish Retreat - September 12-14th
All are welcome to join us for our annual all-parish retreat up in Healdsburg at The Bishop’s Ranch. Each year we work through a theme for the weekend, from pilgrimage, to heaven, to reparations & repair. We do this by age-specific programming on Saturday afternoon and spend the rest of our time up at the Ranch having fun and relaxing by the pool or in Adirondack chairs on the lawn. It is a beautiful intergenerational weekend set in a spectacular setting. Registration is coming soon!
Pray with Us
Stephen Ministers are standing by!
With the addition of three new Stephen Ministers to our team there are plenty of compassionate skilled people available to support you in a time of need. Stephen Ministers are trained lay persons who walk with you in a confidential one to one relationship to provide a listening ear, supportive dialogue, and prayer for all times of difficulty, stress, transition, loss and uncertainty. If you are interested in meeting with a Stephen Minister please click here to email the Rev. Emily or click here to email coordinator Marilyn Flood.
Worship with Us
WEDNESDAY EUCHARIST
The 9am Eucharist will be in the Chapel of the Nativity for the months of July and August. Come join us for a reflection on the Saint of the day and sustenance for the rest of the week.
CHILDREN & FAMILY
Godly Play will resume beginning August 24th. Over the summer, we hope you will take advantage of the soft spaces at the back of the church and in the side chapel, where you’ll find snacks, books, and toys. Kids are also welcome to use the playground with adult supervision.
Sing With Us! On Homecoming Sunday, August 24th, we will perform a song together! Join us for rehearsals during the 10:30 service in August. Kids of all ages and abilities are welcome. Start in the nave at the beginning of the service; a teacher will lead you out when it’s time to rehearse.
To sign up for our Children and Family newsletter, please email Emily B.
YOUTH PROGRAM
Youth Group (for grades 6-12) will resume in the Fall and will take place on Sunday evenings. Generally, we alternate between an all-grades gathering, and a high school small group (~once a month).
Serve with Us
All Soups and Such Cookbook
We’re creating an All Souls Community Cookbook filled with delicious, heartfelt recipes. Whether it’s your grandma’s secret soup or a go-to weeknight dinner, we’d love to include it. This isn’t just about good food—it’s about doing good. All proceeds from cookbook sales will go directly to the Berkeley Food Bank, supporting local families with access to healthy, nourishing meals.
How to contribute:
Click this link to submit your recipe. It only takes a few minutes!
Please send in your recipes by August 25, 2025, and feel free to include a short note about why the dish is meaningful to you.
Thank you for sharing your table and your heart with our community. If you have questions, please click here to contact Cathy Goshorn.
Food Bank collection is active. Please bring non-perishable food on Sundays and use the baskets in the Narthex. We also need drivers to deliver food. If you want to help, click here to e-mail Cathy G.
Meal Train delivers food to others. If you are in need of meals, or if you’d like to join this team to deliver to others, click here to email Sarah O.
Open Door Dinner (ODD) will make a warm jambalaya meal for anyone who is hungry next Sunday. Note: The ODD teams need a few people willing to drive these meals to various locations in Berkeley. If you can help, please click here to email Cathy G. If you are interested in joining the ODD team, click here to email Jennifer A.
Undergraduate Street Medicine Outreach (USMO) is a Cal student group that organizes outreach events every Saturday to bring food and resources to homeless encampments in Berkeley. They are especially seeking donations of the following items:
General hygiene products (toothbrushes/toothpaste, deodorant, soap, etc.)
Clothing
Bottled water
Please bring these donations to the red bin in the Narthex. Click here to email Beth Christensen for donation and other direct volunteer opportunities with USMO.
Ways to respond to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Education: Learn and educate yourself on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dating back to the late 19th Century.
Partnership: Consider partnering with these organizations: Episcopal Relief and Development (episcopalreleif.org), Episcopal Peace Fellowship (episcopalpeacefellowship.net), and the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (www.im4humanintegrity.org).
Advocacy: Our baptismal covenant calls us to "...strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being."
Last but not Least
An Invitation to the 1700th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed
You are invited to another ecumenical talk on the 1700th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed. This is a joint project of St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church and St. Mark's. This is the second part of a two-part series, and it will take place at St. Mark's on August 16th. Click here to see the flyer.
International Overdose Awareness Day - August 31st
USMO, along with the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse (NCAPDA), is inviting All Souls to an event at First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, August 31st, or International Overdose Awareness Day. The event is focused on community education, overdose rescue training, and a memorial to honor those we’ve lost to overdose. Click here to see the flyer.
Guatemala Spanish Language and Cultural Immersion - February 2026
The Very Rev. Julia McCray-Goldsmith and John McCray-Goldsmith are pleased to share a language and cultural immersion pilgrimage to beautiful Antigua, Guatemala. There is room for you to join the February 2026 group composed of (primarily but not exclusively) Episcopal lay and clergy leaders, in visiting this historic city. Language instruction and local excursions are provided by CSA, a Guatemalan language school with more than 30 years of experience teaching personalized on-site classes at their Antigua academy. The immersion includes nine half days of intensive one-on-one Spanish instruction, with afternoons free for guided tours or individual excursions.
Is God calling you to grow your language and cultural capacity in the company of good friends and experienced bilingual hosts? The deadline to register is rapidly approaching. Click here to email the Very Rev. Julia McCray-Goldsmith or you can reach her by cell phone at (415) 225-9351 with questions. Click here to download the brochure or register online.
