All Saints Episcopal Church

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election. Rector J. Edwin Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena told many congregants during morning services Sunday that a guest sermon by the church's former rector, the Rev. George F. Regas, on Oct. 31, 2004, had prompted a letter from the IRS.

The Rev. Ed Bacon is facing one of the biggest dilemmas of his ecclesiastical career: Should he turn over voluminous parish records demanded by the Internal Revenue Service, or resist and risk losing tax-exempt status for his church? These equally tough prospects explain why Bacon spent all day Tuesday huddled in his wood-paneled office in the neo-Gothic All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena with attorneys and congregants, and in prayer.

Ending a two-year search for a new priest to lead one of the nation's largest and most socially active Episcopal parishes, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena has announced the appointment of the Very Rev. James Edwin Bacon Jr. as its new rector. Bacon, 46, is the dean of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Jackson, Miss. He is expected to take his post here in July, after the retirement of the Rev. George F. Regas in April.

Stepping up its probe of allegedly improper campaigning by churches, the Internal Revenue Service on Friday ordered a liberal Pasadena parish to turn over all the documents and e-mails it produced during the 2004 election year with references to political candidates. All Saints Episcopal Church and its rector, the Rev. Ed Bacon, have until Sept. 29 to present the sermons, newsletters and electronic communications.

The buttoned-down Episcopalian minister was the first to stand up and introduce himself. Then came a Jew wearing a yarmulke. Then a Palestinian Christian attired in black clericals. Next, a Muslim cloaked in an aqua hijab. On and on they went, 50 people representing three faiths, their clothing a reminder of their differences but their presence a sign of unifying goals: to oppose the war in Iraq, change U.S. foreign policy and find common ground among three religions.

So what exactly did a priest say to get a Pasadena church in trouble with the IRS? The federal agency has launched an investigation into the activities of All Saints Episcopal Church, asking whether a sermon by a former rector before the 2004 presidential campaign constituted campaigning. As tax-exempt organizations, churches are barred from campaigning for candidates. The sermon, delivered Oct. 31, 2004, by the Rev. George F.

Rector J. Edwin Bacon told parishioners Sunday that All Saints Church had received "a surprising outpouring of solidarity and support" since he revealed that the liberal Pasadena church could lose its tax-exempt status because of an IRS probe. In a sermon titled "The IRS Goes to Church," Bacon said support has come from Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, 1st Amendment scholars and heads of secular nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations.

For one father, this Father's Day was not a day to gather with family around cards and presents. Instead, James Byrd Sr., whose son's savage death at the hands of alleged white supremacists in Jasper, Texas, grabbed headlines two weeks ago, spent Sunday visiting two Southland churches and talking about peace and reconciliation. "Love is able to heal all wounds," Byrd said before attending services at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

The Very Rev. Ed Bacon, chosen last month by All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena to succeed the Rev. George Regas as rector, is a former Baptist preacher who spends a weekend a month at a Jesuit retreat house. Like Regas, Bacon is a Southerner. Born in Georgia, the son of a Baptist preacher, he made his way by stages into the Episcopal priesthood. A defining period in his life, as in Regas', was the Vietnam War.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu returned Sunday to a Pasadena church long active in the anti-apartheid movement to celebrate this spring's historic elections in South Africa. "We are free, all of us! Blacks and whites together," Tutu told an overflow crowd at All Saints Episcopal Church, where many parishioners had supported boycotts and other tactics to end white minority rule.

So what exactly did a priest say to get a Pasadena church in trouble with the IRS? The federal agency has launched an investigation into the activities of All Saints Episcopal Church, asking whether a sermon by a former rector before the 2004 presidential campaign constituted campaigning. As tax-exempt organizations, churches are barred from campaigning for candidates. The sermon, delivered Oct. 31, 2004, by the Rev. George F.

A liberal Pasadena church on Thursday declared that it will refuse to comply with an IRS investigation into its tax-exemption status launched after a guest speaker was critical of President Bush in a sermon. At a news conference attended by 50 cheering supporters gathered before the marble altar at All Saints Episcopal Church, the Rev.

The Rev. Ed Bacon is facing one of the biggest dilemmas of his ecclesiastical career: Should he turn over voluminous parish records demanded by the Internal Revenue Service, or resist and risk losing tax-exempt status for his church? These equally tough prospects explain why Bacon spent all day Tuesday huddled in his wood-paneled office in the neo-Gothic All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena with attorneys and congregants, and in prayer.

A liberal Pasadena church facing an IRS investigation over alleged politicking sounded a defiant note Sunday, with its leaders and many congregants saying the probe amounted to an assault on their constitutional rights and that they were inclined to defy the agency's request for documents. "These people are offended," said the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, after delivering an impassioned sermon about the investigation to a standing-room-only crowd of about 900.

Stepping up its probe of allegedly improper campaigning by churches, the Internal Revenue Service on Friday ordered a liberal Pasadena parish to turn over all the documents and e-mails it produced during the 2004 election year with references to political candidates. All Saints Episcopal Church and its rector, the Rev. Ed Bacon, have until Sept. 29 to present the sermons, newsletters and electronic communications.

The buttoned-down Episcopalian minister was the first to stand up and introduce himself. Then came a Jew wearing a yarmulke. Then a Palestinian Christian attired in black clericals. Next, a Muslim cloaked in an aqua hijab. On and on they went, 50 people representing three faiths, their clothing a reminder of their differences but their presence a sign of unifying goals: to oppose the war in Iraq, change U.S. foreign policy and find common ground among three religions.

Rector J. Edwin Bacon told parishioners Sunday that All Saints Church had received "a surprising outpouring of solidarity and support" since he revealed that the liberal Pasadena church could lose its tax-exempt status because of an IRS probe. In a sermon titled "The IRS Goes to Church," Bacon said support has come from Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, 1st Amendment scholars and heads of secular nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations.

All Saints Episcopal Church seems to embody staid, moneyed old Pasadena. Facing City Hall, the 80-year-old Gothic Revival church has glowing stained-glass windows by Tiffany and the local Judson Studios. But though the medieval-looking church exudes serenity and other-worldliness, the 3,500-member congregation has been speaking out on controversial issues since an All Saints rector protested the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election. Rector J. Edwin Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena told many congregants during morning services Sunday that a guest sermon by the church's former rector, the Rev. George F. Regas, on Oct. 31, 2004, had prompted a letter from the IRS.

For one father, this Father's Day was not a day to gather with family around cards and presents. Instead, James Byrd Sr., whose son's savage death at the hands of alleged white supremacists in Jasper, Texas, grabbed headlines two weeks ago, spent Sunday visiting two Southland churches and talking about peace and reconciliation. "Love is able to heal all wounds," Byrd said before attending services at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.