Welcome to SLOepiscopalians.org
We are the congregations and and other ministries of The Episcopal Church in and near San Luis Obispo County, California. SLO County is on the coast, between Monterey to the north and Santa Barbara to the south. Officially, we are the San Luis Obispo Deanery of the Diocese of El Camino Real.
On this site you will find (or, you will find as soon as we implement more of our plans)
- links to the websites of our congregations, diocese, and national church
- activites for youth (junior and senior high students)
- Canterbury Club: activities for young adults (age 18-25), including students at our local colleges, Cal Poly State University and Cuesta College
- educational opportunities for adults
- music and art events
- programs serving God in our community
- what it means to be an Episcopalian
Celebrating the Seasons
Community Thanksgiving Service at St. Barnabas' Church, Arroyo Grande
Wednesday November 26 at 7 pm
St. Barnabas will be hosting Arroyo Grande’s ecumenical Community Thanksgiving Service this year. Come and join with five other congregations as we listen to our combined choirs, sing songs of praise, and give thanks for the abundance of God’s gifts.
Thanksgiving Worship at St. James’ Church, Paso Robles
Wednesday November 26 at 6 pm
St. James’ Thanksgiving Eve worship will include a celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
Thanksgiving Worship at St. Stephen’s Church, San Luis Obispo
Thursday November 27 at 10 am
St. Stephen's has a Thanksgiving Day service of Holy Eucharist at 10 am including organ and hymns. All are invited to bring their own loaves of bread and bottles of wine for a blessing to take home for their family meals.
Community Advent Service at Santa Rosa Church, Cambria
Wednesday December 3 at 7 pm
This annual ecumenical service features readers and singers from throughout the Cambria community. Members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church always take part. (Santa Rosa Catholic Church is at 1174 Main Street, Cambria.)
Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols in Morro Bay
Sunday December 7 at 5 pm
St. Peter's annual service comes from King's College, Cambridge, and features lessons from scripture on salvation history, interspersed with hymns sung by the choir and congregation. Singers include St. Peter's choir as well as several members of St. Benedict's, Los Osos; the music director is Dr. Marti Lindholm. Reception follows in the parish hall.
Advent Festivals of Lessons and Carols in North County
Sunday December 14 at St. James, Paso Robles at 5 pm
Sunday December 21 at St. Luke's, Atascadero at 3:30 pm
St. James and St. Luke's, Atascadero will join voices for two services of Lessons and Carols: on December 14 at St. James (5 pm) or December 21 at St. Luke's (3:30 pm).
Community Carol Singing with Retelling of the Christmas Story in Los Osos
Thursday December 18 at St. Benedict’s, Los Osos at 7pm
St Benedict's hosts its third annual evening for the community to come and sing carols and enjoy a retelling of the Christmas Story followed by spiced cider and cookies.
Blue Holiday Service, Los Osos
Sunday December 21 at St. Benedict’s at 5pm
The holidays are not an easy time of year for everyone. This quiet service acknowledges the sorrow that many of us feel due the absence of loved ones and the presence of great difficulty in our lives.
Canterbury – Youth Adult Ministry
Cal Poly Students and Chaplain Berkeley Johnson:
will be visiting and preaching at St. James, Paso Robles on November 9; St. Stephen’s, San Luis Obispo on November 16; and St. Benedict’s, Los Osos on November 23.
APPLE PIES FOR YOUTH: You know you want an apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner, but you don’t want to do all that peeling and slicing. Sure, there are canned pie fillings, but they’re just not the same. We have the solution for you…. teenagers to the rescue! On Saturday, November 15 junior and senior high schoolers from the Episcopal churches in our deanery will be gathering at St. Stephen’s for an afternoon of peeling, slicing and pie preparation, and we’ll sell our wonderful, frozen, ready-to-bake creations to you for just $10. Funds raised from the sale of apple pies will go to a Deanery Youth Scholarship fund to help young people participate in activities like Rock-N-Water, J2A or Rite 13 Retreats and other Deanery Youth activities. We’re taking orders through Sunday, November 9th and will be making the apple pies on Saturday, November 15th. There will be a limited number of these very special creations, so get your order in early. Order forms are available from our young people, or by emailing kapennington@netscape.net or anna_foote@yahoo.com . If you don’t want to order an apple pie and want to help in some other way, we can use donations toward ingredients or donations directly to the scholarship fund.
Recent Deanery Celebrations
Sunday, October 12: The Clergy and People of St. James, Paso Robles invited our presence and participation in a Celebration of a New Ministry – to install the Rev. Mary K. Morrison as Rector and to celebrate and affirm the ministry of all the baptized. Following the service in the Grand Ballroom of the Paso Robles Inn, we processed to the reception at St. James’ Church.
Sunday, October 19: St. Luke’s, Atascadero celebrated 50 years of ministry with a service at 9:30am, followed by a luncheon feast. There were displays of pictures from the past fifty years, and a DVD playing continuously with video clips and more pictures. The Rev. Matthew Conrad writes, “It is amazing to reflect on the fact that I have been the priest (vicar, and now rector) for half of those fifty years. It simply astounds the senses!”
Deanery Communications
Next SLO News: December 1, 2008. Send contributions to donnaross@charter.net.