All Saints Church will host a free public conversation Sunday between the outgoing bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and a prominent church scholar about why younger Americans are leaving organized religion and what faith communities might learn from their departure.
The event, titled “Becoming the Church of Tomorrow,” pairs the Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, seventh bishop of the diocese, with the Rev. Canon Dr. Stephanie Spellers, author of “Church Tomorrow?: What the ‘Nones’ and ‘Dones’ Teach Us About the Future of Faith,” published in December by Morehouse Publishing. The conversation runs from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at 132 N. Euclid Ave., followed by a book-signing, according to the church’s website. Admission is free.
The event arrives at a transitional moment for the historic Pasadena parish. All Saints is currently in a rector search, with the Rev. Tim Rich serving as Priest-in-Charge since August 2024, according to a church announcement at the time of his appointment. The church is also preparing to host the consecration of the diocese’s eighth bishop on July 11, according to the diocese. Bishop Taylor is set to retire in October 2026 after reaching the church’s mandatory retirement age, according to the diocese’s website.
Spellers’ book addresses the growing number of Americans, particularly Millennials and members of Generation Z, who identify as religious “Nones” — those with no religious affiliation — and “Dones” — those who have left organized religion, according to the author’s website.
Sean Rowe, the 28th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, said in a published endorsement that Spellers “has given us a lively, accessible guide to the demographic and sociological trends reshaping our church and the perspectives of generations we too often fail to reach.”
Spellers, currently Canon in Residence at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York, worked alongside former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry for nearly a decade, according to her publisher bio. She is a graduate of both Episcopal Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School and was previously a newspaper reporter in East Tennessee, according to the Episcopal Church in Connecticut’s website.
The March 1 visit is a return engagement. Spellers visited All Saints in late October, meeting with the vestry and preaching at the parish forum, according to vestry minutes from that month. Earlier in the day Sunday, she will speak at the All Saints Forum at 9 a.m. on the topic “How Radical Is Our Welcome?” addressing intersections of racial healing, liturgy and Anglican identity, according to the church’s website.
All Saints, founded in 1883, is Pasadena’s first Episcopal parish and the largest in the diocese, with seating for 800 in its main sanctuary, according to prior Pasadena Now reporting. The Gothic Revival building, constructed from 1923 to 1924, sits across the street from Pasadena City Hall.
For more information, contact the church at 626-796-1172 or frontdesk@allsaints-pas.org.
Bishop Taylor’s diocese encompasses roughly 40,000 Episcopalians in about 133 congregations across six Southern California counties, according to the diocese’s website.
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