Rejoice with us!

"Heritage and Hope "
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All Saints Church, Pasadena

to Celebrate

125th

Anniversary

in 2008

[Press release: 01/04/08] Pasadena CA -- All Saints Episcopal Church will launch its 125th anniversary year amid fanfare, with celebratory banners flying, on Sunday, January 6. The church’s Rector, the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon, Jr., will announce the year-long celebration of the historic church and preach on “Stars That Guide 21st Century Wise Men and Women” at the 7:30, 9 and 11:15 a.m. services.

All Saints Church has a well-established reputation for offering spiritual as well as social services to the community, and a long history of activism focused on social justice issues. “All Saints Church has always been a home for and defender of those on the margins of society. We think it’s important to hold the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other in doing God’s work in the world. Our mission is to live out God’s all-inclusive love in order to turn the human race into the human family.”

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Bacon reiterated an invitation, which is offered at every Eucharist service at the church, “Whoever you are and wherever your find yourself on the journey of faith, there is a place for you in the center of life at All Saints.”

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Celebratory Events and Activities
Numerous events celebrating the church’s 125th anniversary will be held throughout the year, and a special oral history project of All Saints has been launched to preserve memories of the church and the role it has played in the lives of parishioners, the community, and the wider world. A complete church history is being researched and recorded.

The anniversary celebration will culminate in October 2008, with the groundbreaking for construction of three buildings providing 60,000 square feet of new space for the church’s mission. The expansion will allow for more meeting rooms, youth and music facilities, event space, offices, and a new community outreach center that will incubate newly formed non-profit outreach organizations.

Historic Milestones
All Saints was founded in 1883, and six years later moved to its present location on Euclid. The church, with approximately 4000 active parishioners, conducts four services each Sunday, including a bilingual service in Spanish and English at 1 p.m., and an informal service on Saturday evenings at 5:00 for families with young children.

Surviving earthquake damage and a devastating fire in 1976, the church has remained a place of worship and an important meeting place for discussion of vital issues of the day featuring world leaders, luminaries and activists including Bishop Desmond Tutu, Cesar Chavez, Rabbi Leonard Beerman, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, William Sloane Coffin and Marian Wright Edelman.

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In 1942, during World War II, the church actively protested the incarceration of the Japanese-Americans in internment camps. During the Vietnam War, it assumed a leadership role in the anti-war movement. In 1984, All Saints declared the church a Sanctuary for Central American refugees. Recently, the IRS conducted an investigation into the church and a sermon delivered by former Rector, the Rev. Dr. George Regas, which the IRS claimed constituted “political intervention.” The IRS recently announced that the investigation was closed, and no action was taken regarding the church’s tax-exempt status.
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