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SERVING THE SIX-COUNTY DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES

Richards brings experience to role as pastor to clergy
BY JANET KAWAMOTO

Pastoral care has always been the focus of ministry for the Rev. Canon M. Gregory Richards, recently appointed by Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno as pastor to clergy of the diocese.

In his new half-time position, Richards is responsible for pastoral care to the clergy and their families. As a representative of the bishop, he is able to offer them a variety of resources.

“It’s pastoral support like you’d give in a parish, giving ongoing attention to their pastoral needs,” says Richards, who in June was named an honorary canon of the Cathedral Center. The two most needed areas of care, he says, are support for clergy marriages and financial planning. He also emphasizes the need to support clergy in their role as parents.

With his experience as pastor and chaplain, Richards is uniquely suited to his new role. As associate rector at St. Stephen’s, Whittier, he founded the chaplaincy program at the La Habra police department. During his tenure at All Saints, Beverly Hills—where he was successively assistant rector, associate rector, priest-in-charge, and rector—he became a chaplain for the city police department, a position he still retains.

In 1988, Richards became chaplain at Campbell Hall school, a ministry he concluded at the end of August. He has recently become a consultant to schools on moral education, and is currently writing two books on that topic. He is also the author of When Someone You Know is Hurting (published by Harper, available at the Cathedral Bookstore).

Richards received his B. A. from California State University, Fullerton, in 1968, and his M.A. from the General Theological Seminary in 1971. He was ordained to the diaconate  in 1971 and the priesthood in 1972 by diocesan Bishop F. Eric Bloy.

With Canon Betty Connelly,  Richards was diocesan co-coordinator  for Episcopal Relief and Development (formerly the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief) for some 14 years, beginning in about 1988. He has also been involved in child advocacy programs and education, including a stint on the board of directors of Park Century School for children with learning disabilities.  He has also been a chaplain at a juvenile detention facility, and served on the diocesan task force on child abuse.

A lifelong resident of this diocese, Richards was born in Torrance and grew up as a member of St. Michael’s, Anaheim. He credits his childhood rector (and father-in-law), the Rev. J. Kimball Saville, as his pastoral role model and greatest influence. Greg and Deborah Richards, who recently celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary, have two sons, Matthew and Michael.

M. Gregory Richards

October Tomorrow’s Woman Conference will explore ‘Living Under the Influence’

Episcopal Church Women will consider the effects of the modern world at the annual Tomorrow’s Woman conference, with the theme “Living Under the Influence” of culture, church and ministry. The event will take place on Oct. 12 at St. Edmund’s Church, San Marino, 9am-3.30pm.

The Rev. Elizabeth Habecker, rector of St. Mark’s, Downey, will be keynote speaker at the conference, which will also include small-group discussions, a youth program and lunch.

The day’s activities will include a salute to Habecker and the Very Rev.  Canon Victoria Hatch, both of whom celebrate the 25th anniversary of their ordination this year. Hatch, who is vicar of St. Agnes Church, Banning, dean of Deanery 7, and a canon of the Cathedral Center, was in 1977 the first woman to be ordained a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles.  Habecker was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Newark in November, 1977. The conference will also recognize the Rev. Carol L. Anderson, rector of All Saints, Beverly Hills, who was ordained a a priest in 1977 in the Diocese of Virginia, but is scheduled elsewhere on Oct. 12.

At the conference, the keynote address by Habecker will be followed by small-group discussions moderated by several women priests, including: the Rev. Diane Bruce, rector of St. Clement’s, San Clemente; the Rev. Vanessa Mackenzie, rector of the Church of the Advent, Los Angeles; the Rev. Beryl  Nyre, priest-in-charge of Holy Communion Church, Gardena; and the Rev. Joanna Satorius, rector of St. George’s, Riverside.

Homilist for the concluding Eucharist will be the Rev. Karen Califat, a Nazarene pastor who is chaplain at Hillsides Home for Children, a diocesan institution located in Pasadena. Habecker and Hatch will celebrate.

Cost for the day, including lunch, is $15 for adults, $10 for youth and $5 for child care. For further information or to register, see the ad below, or call Donna Keller at 909.279.4236 or Martha Estes at 909.482.0936.          —Janet Kawamoto

Elizabeth Habecker

Victoria Hatch

Candidates may be nominated to the following offices:
• Standing Committee, one clergy and one lay, each for a 4-year term, plus one to be elected to fill a 1-year unexpired term.
• Diocesan Council, one clergy and one lay, each for a 3-year term.
• Commission on Ministry, one clergy and one lay, each for a 3-year term.
• Trustee of the Diocesan Investment Trust. One clergy or lay for a 4-year term.
• Secretary of Convention, one clergy or lay, for a one-year term.
• Directors, Corporation of the Diocese, three lay, each for a 3-year term.
• Director, Hillsides Home for Children, one clergy or lay, 2-year term.
• Directors, Corporation of the Cathedral Center, one clergy or lay, 1-year term.
• Director, Good Samaritan Hospital, one clergy or lay, 1-year term.
• Director, Canterbury USC, one clergy or lay, 1-year term.
• Judge of the Ecclesiastical Trial Court, one clergy and one lay, 3-year term.
• Director, Canterbury Irvine, one clergy or lay, 2-year term.

Nominations must be filed on official forms from the Secretary of Convention (available from the Cathedral Center, 213.482.2040 or from clergy members).

Each candidate must also file with The News a photograph (black and white or color, with a clear view of candidate’s face), a copy of the signed nomination form, a 25-word biographical statement, and a 70-word statement of vision for the office. Longer statements will be edited. Mail to P. O. Box 512164, Los Angeles 90051-0164, or e-mail to news@ladiocese.org

“The death penalty is part of the domestic violence that keeps us all trapped, because when you can kill one of your citizens that means you can do anything to anyone,” said Clark, executive director of Fellowship of Reconciliation, an 86-year-old interfaith peace and justice organization with international affiliates. The agency seeks nonviolent solutions to violence, she said.

“I always remember what my grandmother said after an uncle of mine, and a first cousin, were killed,” said Clark. “She said none of us has the right to seek justice.”

Conference organizers hoped to offer information and education, win converts and galvanize action against capital punishment, said the Rev. Alix Evans, rector of St. Mary’s, Los Angeles, and chair of the diocesan task force on the death penalty, which coordinated the event.

Evans, an attorney, became committed to helping the Episcopal Church take a more visible stand against capital punishment after she attended a Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) conference in Boston last year, she said.

“I was so moved by all of the people who had lost family members to murder and also family members of people on death row and of people who had been executed on death row, and by their approach to seeking a nonviolent response to the violence their families had suffered.

“One of the things they kept saying was the churches in this country are not taking a strong enough position against capital punishment. I kept hearing over and over, ‘Where are the churches? Why are the priests not speaking out against capital punishment?”

Constitutional attorney Stephen Rohde said the death penalty is just plain wrong.

“The death penalty system is riddled with error,” said Rohde, a past president of the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California. He cited race, class, the ineffective assistance of counsel, prejudice, police and prosecutorial misconduct, judge and jury misconduct as flaws and urged participants to sign petitions calling for a moratorium on the death penalty in California and to get more actively involved.

“The moratorium is the most effective step toward abolition,” said Rohde. “It is no coincidence that we call it a movement for abolition. It resonates with the movement for abolition of slavery, when supporters met in churches and homes. They knew slavery was wrong, that there would be a day that that institution, even though woven into American society as part of the economy and the social fabric of the society, and questioned by very few, would be abolished.”

Azim Khamisa, a San Diego in-vestment banker, created the Tariq Khamisa Foun-dation in memory of his 20-year-old son, who was fatally shot by a 14-year-old gang member while delivering pizzas five years ago.

Khamisa, a Muslim, said he drew on the wisdom of his faith to turn his rage into service. “I would help my country protect all of its children. I would become a foe of the forces that put a boy on a dark street holding a handgun,” said Khamisa, who details his experience in a book, titled Movement to Restorative Justice: A Father’s Journey from Murder to Forgiveness.

The foundation seeks nonviolent responses to violence. Eventually, Khamisa’s faith led him to Ples Felix, the grandfather and guardian of Tariq’s killer, Tony Hicks. The two men now appear together at schools throughout the nation, offering young people nonviolent solutions to violence.

“Twelve young people die violently every day. And every day, 237 kids are arrested for violent crimes,” said Khamisa. “But violent incidents have declined at the schools we visit. Fewer kids join gangs.”
From the beginning, his rage was never at his son’s killer, but at a society that failed him. “Gandhi said an eye for an eye would leave the world blind. I saw victims at both ends of the gun. This was a society I’d helped to create. What had I done to assure all of its children were safe?”

Khamisa also cited the limitations of the criminal justice system and the possibility of Hicks, if paroled at 36 after serving 25 years of a life sentence, being returned to society with no marketable skills.
“It makes no sense,” said Khamisa. “It is short-sighted and wrong-headed. Could there be a better process than feeding the endless cycle of violence that drags us deeper and deeper into the abyss?”
He believes he has found that better process: forgiveness and reconciliation.

“I have told Tony that when the day comes there will be a job waiting for him at the Tariq Khamisa Foundation.”

Bill Babbitt decided to do the right thing and notify police that he suspected his brother Manny was involved in the death of an elderly neighbor who died of a heart attack during the burglary of her home.
Manny, a former U. S. Marine who had served two tours of duty in Viet-nam, had been acting strangely and Bill knew he needed help. Although Manny had been unable to find work, he suddenly had money—and a cigarette lighter that didn’t belong to him. Bill Babbitt decided to go to the police and from the start, they and the Sacramento district attorney’s office misled him and lied to him, he said.

“They told me if I helped them, the death penalty would not even be a consideration,” he told the gathering. After hearing assurances that his brother would get the help he needed, Babbitt led police to his sister’s house, where Manny lived and where he was making tents with chairs and blankets in the living room with his nieces.

“I tricked him into leaving the house so he wouldn’t be arrested in front of my sister and nieces,” Babbitt said.

Manny Babbitt did, in fact, receive the death penalty and was executed May 4, 1999, a betrayal for which his brother Bill is still angry and bitter.

“I can’t pick up a paper with Gov. Gray Davis’s face on it,” he said. “I know that doesn’t say anything about reconciliation. But I got counseling and I’ve been working with Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation. And with your help, with my wife Linda’s help, I’m gonna do this right.”

The Rev. Bruce Bramlett also knows about executions. He described his experiences as spiritual advisor to Robert Lee Massie, who at 59 had been an in-mate on San Quentin’s Death Row for 35 years and in 2001 stopped his appeals and decided to die.

“Bob was one of the most accomplished jailhouse lawyers in the country,” said Bramlett. “He could out-argue, out-litigate about any trial or appellate lawyer in the country. All he did was study. He gave up his appeals to say it was a corrupt system.

“Bob needed to die for something,” said Bramlett, who described Massie’s last day, beginning with his arrival at the prison about 6am and culminating with the execution around 12.30am.

What he described could be called incredible grace and incredible horror.

Speakers also included the Rev. Mary Moreno Richardson, chaplain at Juvenile Hall, Rabbi Leonard Beerman, founder of Temple Leo Baeck in Los Angeles, and the Rev. Elbert Newton, minister of prophetic ministry and social outreach at Pasadena Mennonite Church.

An exhibit, “Not In Our Name,” prepared by MVFR was also featured.
Evans said that the task force will continue to serve as a resource for information about capital punishment and work with other groups, including attending a March 15, 2003, interfaith conference at Loyola Marymount University.

“I think it is extremely important to note that this was an interfaith gathering,” she said of the day’s conference. The bottom line, she said, is involvement.

“Clergy have a responsibility to speak out against capital punishment, whether from the pulpit or educational classes at our churches,” she said. Some churches, like St. James’ [Los Angeles] have a very committed group of lay people against capital punishment who provide opportunities for activism through vigils and bell ringing and other kinds of group activities.

“Some parishes are doing book studies where they study and discuss Dead Man Walking or other literature that really deals with issues of violence and a nonviolent response. And a very simple but effective action we can all take is to sign the petitions for Moratorium Against the Death Penalty in California. In that way, we are letting our governor know that we do not support his position and that there are other alternatives ethical and moral alternatives to capital punishment.”
For petitions, contact the Rev. Alix Evans, St. Mary’s Church (Mariposa) at 213.387.1334. For more information about the Moratorium Against the Death Penalty, log onto www.californiamoratorium.org 

Bill Babbit, Bishop Chester Talton, Pat Clark and Linda Babbit pause on Cathedral Center plaza during conference on death penalty.

Attorney and author Stephen Rohde signs book for death penalty conference participant.

Azim Khamisa  PHOTO: PAT CLARK