Groups & Ministries

Everyone who enters our sanctuary or chapel to attend Sunday, Easter or Christmas services, First Wednesday Chapel Eucharist, baptisms, marriage ceremonies or memorial services witnesses the work of the members of the Altar Guild. The Guild members arrange altar and chapel flowers, care for the linens, brass and silver, and assure that the vestments and banners are ready for each service and season. During Christmas and Holy Week they beautify the church with special decorations.

The Guild is divided into four teams. Each team consists of two or three members and is on duty only one week a month. On months where there are five Sundays, the teams rotate in turn throughout the year.

Each team determines its own preparation schedule; however, most teams meet for 30 – 40 minutes on a Friday or Saturday. On Sunday morning one team member cleans up after the 8am service and the others clean up after the 10am service.

Mary Cloutier coordinates the altar flower donations, contacting people who have given flowers in the previous year, communicating with the florist and providing Grace Notes bulletin announcements. If you’d like to donate or arrange flowers, please talk with Mary.

Sheila Baraze (sbaraze@pacbell.net), Mary Cloutier (cloutier_34@yahoo.com), and Arlene Leslie (arleneleslie@comcast.net) serve as co-directors and share the responsibilities for coordinating Guild activities.

All interested men, women and teenagers are invited to join this ministry. We’re seeking additional members so there can be 3 and possibly 4 members per team.

The All Saints’ Book Club meets irregularly, but tries to meet every 6 – 8 weeks to read modern popular literature selected by members. We select both fiction and non-fiction. This last year we read The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen and The Pearl That Broke its Shell by Nadia Hashimi. We meet on various Sundays after church, after coordinating with adult forums. Please feel free to join us. We are an informal group and members are welcome to just listen or to speak about the book.

The All Saints’ Sunday School program currently consists of two age groups. For children aged three to six The Godly Play curriculum provides a story-based interactive introduction to both the Old and New Testaments. For the seven- to eleven-year-old group the lectionary-based Seasons of the Spirit curriculum offers a variety of activities based on the same scriptural readings their families experience in church each week. Leslie Bannerman, Dennis Manalo, and Barbara Sawka rotate as Godly Play teachers, while Marianne Witscher teaches Seasons of the Spirit. Darlene Luna serves as our childcare provider in Small Saints.

The first Sunday of each month the 10 am service incorporates children and youth as greeters, lectors, and usher assistants, and Rodney Gehrke includes Junior Choir participation in services on a regular basis – all ways to nurture and welcome the children to our broader parish life. Following the tradition of some years now, Father Terry with the help of parents and grandparents orchestrated the Christmas pageant as the focal point of the Family Service on Christmas Eve. The children also crafted celebratory “birthday” cards and signs and posed for photographs – all to be included in the time capsule commemorating the church’s 125th anniversary.

We especially value parish volunteers who assist in both Small Saints and the Godly Play program – you are always needed and welcome! Please contact Barbara Sawka or Marianne Witscher for more information on helping in Small Saints or with either of the Sunday School classes.

The All Saints’ Counters are a group of parishioners who share responsibility for counting, recording, and depositing each week’s income (including pledges, plate, rents, donations, and other miscellaneous receipts). Counting usually takes place on Monday morning when income is sorted and recorded for posting by the Parish Administrator and then deposited. Counters work in rotating teams of two so that any individual counts only once every three to four weeks. Parish Administrator Susan Reaves works closely with the team and is always available to answer questions and give direction when necessary.

Our dedicated team of counters includes Susan Barkan, Mary Cloutier, Bruce Delagi, Chris Gandel, Laurie Jarrett, Dianne Krueger, Barbara Sawka, Margaret Weil, and Kate Zablocki. Those interested in learning about or joining this ministry may contact Barbara Sawka.

The Eucharistic Visitor Ministry to the sick and home-bound at All Saints’ is carried out by

laity who have been trained for this ministry. Eucharistic Visitors (EVs) are first trained as Eucharistic Ministers (EMs – lay persons who assist the priest at the altar during services). Eucharistic Ministers must serve as EMs for two years before they can qualify to take EV training. After the Sunday service, the EV takes consecrated bread and wine to persons confined to home or hospitals so they are linked to the gathered worshiping community. The EVs serve an important role in augmenting the sacramental ministry provided by the clergy. EVs also coordinate with the pastoral care team to facilitate other needed services to parish members. This ministry was authorized by the national church in 1985 and All Saints’ has had EVs since that time. If you would like to join this ministry or receive EV services, contact the Rector.

Hospitality, the providing of snacks after the 10:00 service, continues per the generosity of our members. The list gets lean and then fully abundant. Thank you all who contribute. Your continued support is welcome and needed to add to the enjoyment of our after service community time.

All Saints’ is blessed to have several dedicated Eucharistic Ministers (EMs). Throughout the year Susan Bailey, Nancy Cohen, Diane Frankle, Laurie Jarrett, Arlene Leslie, Joan Raiter and Gloria Van Bree have assisted Fr. Terry in serving at Eucharistic services. Over half of the EMs have provided dedicated service for many years and for that we are most grateful.

Every Sunday two servers are needed at the 10am service. At present there are only seven trained EMs and we are looking to increase our numbers. If anyone (man or woman) is interested in becoming a Eucharistic Minister, or just interested in learning more about this ministry, please contact Fr. Terry (tpgleeson@asaints.org) or Arlene Leslie (arleneleslie@comcast.net). Training will be provided! Come be a part of this important ministry!

All Saints’ Men’s Group is an open forum where men can talk with other men about common issues of living in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith community such as Palo Alto. The Men’s Breakfast Group meets the fourth Tuesday morning each month from 8-9:30 at the Prolific Oven (across Waverley Street from the church) where we enjoy coffee, pastries, and conversation. As men we share spirituality and support for each other in personal difficulties and triumphs alike. We bear witness to each other’s lives. Together, the men also prepare the parish Christmas dinner and Easter meal, along with at least one dinner for Hotel de Zink.

Contacts: Ken Van Bree or John Tinsley

Another great year of liturgy and music making at All Saints’ has inspired us and held us together. As always, the singing of the congregation is the foundation of my work and the source of much joy. It is truly a delight to lead you in song. Of course our wonderful acoustic gives all of us encouragement, and our two fine Flentrop organs (as well as the grand piano and harpsichord) make hymn and anthem playing and voluntary offerings great fun.

I continue to be blessed by the commitment of our adult choir, now 26 members strong. Beyond supporting the weekly Eucharist through hymns, descants, canticles, and anthems, the choir again offered three Evensongs, an Advent Lessons and Carols liturgy, as well as extra liturgies on Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and of course Christmas Eve. Evensongs continue to attract many friends from other congregations and faith traditions, and some of my colleagues always sing along with the choir. We were again joined on Easter Day and Christmas Eve by the Whole Noyse, the premiere Bay Area early-music wind band. In August we hosted a very special choir event: a reunion of nearly 50 singers from the past 25 years or so, one from as far away as Colorado. A Saturday rehearsal and dinner was followed by a delightful liturgy the next morning with four anthems, two directed by me and two by my predecessor Albert Campbell. Al and I also shared the organ voluntaries.

I played two special instrumental concerts this year: The Whole Noyse joined me (on “Junior”) in April in a program of 17th-century Italian music. Then as part of our Open House during the August Art and Wine Festival, I offered a free recital on our two organs.

Our biggest celebration of the year, of course, was in October, as Bishop Mary joined us for the morning Eucharist and afternoon Evensong for our 125th anniversary. What a thrill to be a part of such a momentous day! The Howells “Te Deum,” our main anthem for Evensong, was a musical highlight for me.

The Junior Choir continues to sing about once a month during the school year. The children are full of energy (and sometimes a challenge to harness….) but they are always ready to sing in liturgy. As always, I am grateful to their parents for supporting their and my efforts. Special thanks to Mary Kim Walsh, mother of two of our singers, who played violin on several anthems.

All Saints’ is used by numerous outside performing groups with great regularity. I occasionally perform with these groups, and without exception they marvel at our wonderfully live space and warm staff. My thanks to John Sack, who prints and hangs posters for many groups, as well as for our own special offerings.

Now in my tenth year with you, I thank God for Terry’s leadership, support, and friendship, and for the generous collegiality of Susan Reaves, sextons Renee Reaves and Debi Torres, and for the support of the Vestry and Treasurer Lauren Bonomi.

Respectfully submitted, Rodney Gehrke Director of Music