Events
Status as of January 19, 2018 -Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2018
Please see the flyer for full details, and the registration page to sign up.Past Events
Some 30,000 Charismatic Christians from 130 countries are in town for four days of high-octane praise and adoration prayers and liturgies, as well as workshops, testimonies, healings, and not a few invocations of the Holy Spirit. The events culminate in a vigil in the Circus Maximus with Pope Francis on Saturday evening, and Pentecost Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.
At our meeting two weeks ago we discussed working with the Catholic diocese on an ecumenical Ash Wednesday service for 2018. In preparation for that all are invited to observe, pray, listen and receive ashes at the outdoor services. This Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. on the West Capitol steps bishop Soto will preside and again at 5:10 p.m. outside the Moss Federal Building bishop Cotta will preside. http://www.diocese-sacramento.org/
Bridgefolk Conference 2017
- Bridgefolk 2017 Report
- Conference theme: Pilgrimage toward Christian Unity: Beginning with Baptism
- Keynote speaker: Maxwell Johnson, Professor of Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame
- Place: School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle University, Seattle, WA
- Dates: July 27-30, 2017
World Events
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Season of Creation marks month of eco-contemplation for Christians
September 1, 2016 - October 4, 2016. PDF Document.Corpus Christi Procession
Please join the faithful of the Diocese of Sacramento as we celebrate the Jubilee for Deacons with a Corpus Christi procession on May 29th beginning at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 711 T Street, Sacramento. The consecration of the host will take place at a celebration of the Mass at 7:30am at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Sacramento. The Procession will end with Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament- 1017 11th Street, Sacramento.
Bishop Jaime Soto will preside over the celebrations. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Clergy Formation at (916)733-0242
"mercy is the very foundation of the Church's life" (Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus).
- The National Association of Evangelicals wishes to raise the awareness of religious liberty to our elected officials. In that effort, please visit http://nae.net/praytogether/ which is a call for different denomination of churches to gather on the National Mall (see reset2016.com for details) on July 16th. If you can't attend then join in prayer. Peace. Posted by A. Dwight Burchett, Chair of California Association of Evangelicals.
- Sacramento Catholics, Presbyterians come together to celebrate Palm Sunday | The Sacramento Bee (March 20, 2016)
- Catholic Auxilliary Bishop Myron Cotta speaks out on ISIS genocide (Mar 23, 2016 | Bill Lindelof |The Sacramento Bee)
Religious leaders gathered in Sacramento to condemn acts of persecution by ISIS against Christians. Last week, Secretary of State John Kerry called the killing of Christians and other religious minorities genocide.
Sacramento religious leaders decried the persecution of Christians by the Islamic State, a week after the terrorist organization was accused by the U.S. government of committing genocide against religious minorities.
More than a dozen clergy and lay people from Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim and Protestant houses of worship gathered Wednesday at a news conference on the steps of Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament downtown.
"We read nearly daily of more deaths, now numbered in the hundreds of thousands," said Jon Fish, who represents the Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento. "We seek peace. We want good. We want honor and decency. But most of all, we want to stand together. In this Holy Week, we stand with Christians everywhere."
The gathering was meant to call attention to Secretary of State John Kerry's announcement last week that Islamic State's persecution of Christians, Yazidis and Shiite Muslims amounts to genocide.
Sacramento Roman Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto said the declaration from Kerry that the group, also known as ISIS or Daesh, has committed genocide is long overdue.
"Lives are being extinguished," said Soto, and the good works of churches, schools, hospitals and social services, founded and maintained by Christians, are being erased.
Yazidis, Christians and other sects, who have survived wars and dictatorships, have been forced to flee their lands or face slaughter, rape and enslavement by the Islamic State.
Minorities in Syria and Iraq have seen their churches destroyed, clergy kidnapped and executed, their villages reduced to rubble. Taken in their entirety, Kerry said, the offenses meet the criteria for genocide.
"Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by action – what it says, what it believes and what it does," Kerry said at the State Department.
A finding might seem to be a given, considering the amount of bloodletting by the Islamic State, but genocide is a legal term, and scholars have debated whether the extremist group's violence in Syria and Iraq falls into that category, or into categories such as war crimes or crimes against humanity. Sacramento religious leaders said that entire communities have been driven out or eliminated.
Soto also said the group wanted to remember those killed in Tuesday's airport and subway bombings in Belgium. Islamic State has taken credit for the attack.
"Innocent people were killed and maimed by madness," Soto said. "Such horrors only come from the heart of darkness."
Bill Lindelof: 916-321-1079, @Lindelofnews
Meetings
2010 meetings will be on January 14, March 11, May 13, September 9 and November 11.Regular meetings are held at 10:00 a.m. in the Board Room at Sierra Mission Partnership Office, Presbyterian Church USA, at 9985 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95887.
Driving directions from downtown Sacramento:
Drive north on Bradshaw Road
Turn right on Folsom Blvd. to 9985.
Sierra Mission Partnership Office is on the northwest corner of Folsom Blvd and Rod Beaudry.
Parking lots in front and rear of complex.
Paul Wattson - Marie Kidder Lecture Series
Named in memory of Marie Kidder, beloved mother of Reverend Monsignor James C. Kidder, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in El Dorado Hills, this lecture series perpetuates her devotion to ecumenism. The North State Ecumenical Conference hosts such ecumenical events to encourage communication and local discussion among Christian churches.
NSEC's Marie Kidder Lecture Series is now officially affiliated with the Paul Wattson Lecture Series in San Francisco.
The 2010 Paul Wattson-Marie Kidder Seminar will be held on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, at 7:00 PM, at the Catholic Pastoral Center, 21st and Broadway, Sacramento. Guest lecturer: The Reverend Dr. Fernando Enns is a Mennonite teaching ecumenical studies at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Enns is director of the Institute for Peace Church Theology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Public invited. Coordinator: The Reverend Bruce Lundberg may be contacted through Peace Lutheran Church, Grass Valley, CA.
For more information, please contact Rev. Bruce Lundberg.
Past Lectures
Topic: Christians in the Holy Lands, Yesterday and Today
Reverend Abu-Akel is originally from a small village near Nazareth.
Bishop David Mullen, Sierra Pacfic Synod, ELCA
Rebuttals:
Reverend Bruce Lundberg, Peace Lutheran Church, Grass Valley, CA
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
NSEC sponsors ecumenical worship services during the National Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU) January 18-25 each year.
Christian churches are encouraged to initiate pulpit exchanges on January 24, 2010. NSEC has available two printed articles (authored by The Reverend Michael Kiernan) for distribution and use in ecumenical formation. Christian judicatory leaders will meet on Monday, January 25, 2010. Rev. Kiernan may be contacted at the Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, CA.
2011 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to include a NSEC-sponsored "Christian Religious Leaders in Conversation" event on Tuesday, January 18, 2011, and be open to the public. Conversation will include current topics of the day.
Annual Christian Judicatory Leaders Luncheon
2010 luncheon for Christian judicatory leaders will be held on Monday, January 25, 2010, at the Pastoral Center, 21st and Broadway, Sacramento. Luncheon is hosted by North State Ecumenical Conference and Catholic Sacramento Diocesan Bishop Jaime Soto. Invitation is extended to Christian judicatory leaders and their ecumenical representatives.
2007 luncheon was held on Friday, April 27 at Trinity Episcopal Church, Folsom, and for NSEC members only.
The 2006 Judicatory Leaders Luncheon was held on February 17 at Holy Family Catholic Church in Citrus Heights.
The 2005 luncheon was held on February 18 and hosted by St. James Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Sacramento. Attendees included NSEC representatives, special guests and the following judicatory leaders:
- Archbishop Derderian, Armenian Orthodox Church Western Division, USA
- Bishop David Mullen, Sierra Pacific Synod, ELCA
- Bishop Jerry Lamb, Northern California Diocese, Episcopal Church
- Elder Sally Hinchman,Sierra Mission Partnership, Presbyterian Church USA
- The Reverend Glenn Cole, Superintendent (retired) Assemblies of God
Other NSEC sponsored events
Responders: Rev. Demetrius Dogias, Greek Orthodox
Rev. Dr. Kenan Osborn, Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley
Rev. Sandy Pierce, Federated Church
Armenian Orthodox
Lutheran
Episcopal
NSEC encourages participation in the annual National Workshop on Christian Unity (NWCU).
- 2008 NWCU April 14-17 in Chicago
- 2009 NWCU April 27-30 in Phoenix
- 2010 NWCU April 19-22 in Tampa, Florida
- 2011 NWCU in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania