The Log

St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church

Dear Parish Family:

Greeting to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a while since I sat down to write a parish letter and as most of you know, we have had some new developments in the parish that are worthy of note. Chiefly among these is that we now have a new Associate Rector, the Rev. Minh Hanh Nguyen, coming to us from the Lutheran Church, and representing for us a living witness to the full communion between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Pastor Minh Hanh will be engaged in both English language ministry and Vietnamese language ministry. At the moment she is part-time, and working mostly with the Vietnamese congregation while she maintains her full time ministry as the Interim Pastor at St. Olafs Lutheran Church here in Garden Grove. Come January she will be with us full time, and her work with St. Olafs will be done. Funding for her position is coming from the Diocese of L.A., and Bishop Bruno has assured us that the diocese will fund her position for the next three years. Her coming marks the continuation of our transition toward becoming a truly multicultural parish.

Already we have a Spanish speaking worshipping community that is part of St. Anselms, along with our historical English speaking congregation. Plans are on the way for the Vietnamese Redeemer Mission to be dissolved and the members will become part of our St. Anselms family. This event will probably take place on Pentecost Sunday of 2006. Our respective Vestries and Bishops Committees will be meeting every 4^th Tuesday of the month to continue paving the way for this to happen and already there is much enthusiasm for this. I look forward to having a "Welcome Eucharist" for Pastor Minh Hanh in January when she begins serving the English-speaking congregation. Once she is with us full-time, she will be assisting me in celebrating and preaching at the English language Eucharist. Pastor Minh Hanh is fully bilingual and brings many gifts to our ministry.

On a similar note we have been enjoying the presence of Bill and Barbara Ledbetter in our midst (now with the added addition of their twins). Bill is a member and Youth Director of the Korean Resurrection Ministry. Bishop Bruno has accepted Bill as a Postulant for Holy Orders and requested that he be engaged in the liturgy at St. Anselms to help him along the process toward ordination. Thus Bill has become an active member of our community and a bridge builder between Resurrection Korean Ministry and us. Bill has already graduated from seminary and God willing will probably be ordained next year. We (the Diocese, Clergy and Vestry) anticipate that Resurrection will also become part of St. Anselms in 2007 (this is Bishop Brunos vision). As you can see, our parish is undergoing lots of change and we anticipate that through these new developments St. Anselms will adapt to the changing population surrounding our church. This we trust will move us forward into the future.

With all these new changes there is increased activity here at the parish, and an outcome of this is that we are beginning to consolidate our youth and childrens ministries. Ive been meeting with high school age teenagers for the last few weeks on Wednesday evenings. Sue Lansdon will soon lead a weekly childrens Christian education program and First Communion Class beginning this month. Our pool of teenagers and younger kids are coming from the Vietnamese and Latino communities at this time. All of the youth and childrens ministries are being conducted in English. The increased activity is a welcome sign.

Enclosed with this letter you will also find a Pledge Card for 2006. We are starting our pledge drive earlier than usual this year and I hope and pray that you consider increasing you pledge to the parish. As you know expenses always go up not down and our facilities continue to age. Just this month alone we have spent close to $5000.00 on a new roof for the rectory alone. I am not happy about the expense but I have to admit that I am very happy about the new roof since I will no longer need to put out the buckets and pots to catch the various leaks in the house when the rain comesJ . Weve been challenged with major repairs almost on a monthly basis, so please give your pledge your prayerful consideration. Your time and talent is also valuable to us and we do need extra persons to volunteer to serve on the Altar Guild, Acolyting, Choir, Readers, LEMs, Vestry, Christian Ed., etc. Your time and talent are just as important as your financial contribution. Without these we would have to close shop and who would spread the Good News (in our very unique Anglican/Episcopal style)? Your past generosity has been great, but our need is even greater this year, so please give from the heart from a place of trust in the Lord. Please return your pledge card to the church office or collection plate A.S.A.P.

In closing I would like to share that lately Ive had an increase in ministerial activity beyond the confines of the parish -- although I have given up my ministry as a chaplain with the Garden Grove Police Department, other activity has crept in. Ive always been an active member of our local interfaith council since its inception, and Ive been elected for the next fiscal year as Vice president to the Interfaith Council of Garden Grove, Westminster and Stanton. I also remain an active member of the Board of Directors of the St. Anselms Cross Cultural Community Center, and I have also become very active on the Diocesan Taskforce for Peace in the Middle East. Most recently I helped to organize the first countywide meeting of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and with well over 50 people in attendance, that meeting was a success. I look forward to further involvement with CLUE and outreach to the disenfranchised communities it seeks to serve. All in all it is a busy time here at St. Anselms, and as we draw closer to the liturgical seasons it is my prayer that we journey with Christ doing our share to make real Gods reign in our midst. Please remember your parish family in your prayers and pray especially for Ron Linfesty (who has come home this week after months in the hospital) and Penny. Ron and Penny recently celebrated 50 years of marriage. Please also remember Pat Casey who remains under hospital care, and Jane Dietsche who suffered a minor stroke and as I write is still hospitalized but recovering well. We have been blessed to be Gods people, may we be faithful to our calling.

In the Love of Christ,

The Rev. Wilfredo Benitez,

Rector

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