Ministries

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Altar Guild

Without question, the oldest organization in the parish is the St. Agnes Altar Guild which started in 1884. Members of the guild clean all of the silver, dressings, linens, and vestments for each worship service, fill the candles with oil for each mass, and maintain the altar linens and priest’s vestments.

***We are always looking for volunteers.

Interested Please call Bill Laws: 909-622-2015

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Society of Mary

Established in 1893 with an active membership worldwide, the Society of Mary aims to love and honor Mary by seeing her as a model for living the Christian way of life.

The Society is active at St. Paul’s parish in both prayer ministry and in community service to help with the educational needs of under-privileged children. The Society celebrates major feasts of the Blessed Virgin with Mass, Vespers, or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Our ward helps establish new wards in other parishes, and members of the Society pray a month-long rosary for those who request it.

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Pastoral Care

The Pastoral Care ministry at St. Paul’s helps transform us into people who care compassionately for one another in all stages of the life journey. There are many opportunities for Pastoral Care at St. Paul’s including spiritual counseling, weekly healing mass, lay eucharistic visits to the sick and shut-ins, pastoral visits to those in the hospital or are ill at home, and trainings in intercessory prayer.

Please Email: juniorwarden@stpaulspomona.org

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Daughters of the King

The Daughters of the King is an order for women who are communicants of the Episcopal Church. Its purpose is to bring others into a living, loving relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and to help strengthen the spiritual life of the community.

Members are involved in all aspects of the work of the parish. Special service projects of our Chapter are that of Eucharistic Visitors, providing a sacramental ministry for parish members who are unable to attend church and responding to prayer card requests from Parishioners requesting daily prayer for themselves or others. The Daughters are also St. Paul's bereavement team, communicating with family members of parishioners who have recently died, helping with a reception after the service if requested, and being a constant support team.

We meet every 1st Sunday after mass at 11:15am.

Any special prayers send to admin@stpaulspomona.org

Learn more about DOK: www.doknational.org

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Building and Grounds

The Buildings and Grounds ministry strives to be stewards of the physical space of St. Paul’s, inside and out. We meet on the third Saturday of the month for breakfast and fellowship and then continue on to St. Paul’s for a planned workday. 

Currently looking for Willing Volunteers, Please call the church (909) 622-2015 or email admin@stpaulspomona.org

Community Engagement

Dress-A-Girl Exhibit at the dA Center for the Arts

Dress A Girl Exhibit at the dA Center for the Arts in old town Pomona.

Dress A Girl Sewing Circle

Dress a Girl Around the World delivers dresses and hope to girls in need and who are at risk around the world. The goal is to restore a sense of worth to vulnerable girls suffering from extreme poverty. Being given a beautiful new dress and being told it was made just for her by someone who loves her and prays for her can give her a new feeling of self-worth and dignity.

No sewing experience necessary! Bring your scissors and extra fabric if you have it!!

We meet the 2nd Saturday of each month.

(909) 622-2015

admin@stpaulspomona.org

Dress-A-Girl made the Episcopal News…

Los Angeles-area church’s ministry brings new dresses to girls, renewed energy to congregation

By Pat McCaughan

Posted Mar 6, 2025

[Diocese of Los Angeles] Members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pomona, California, launched a ministry to help dress young girls around the world and revitalized community in their own backyard.

On a recent Saturday, about a dozen women and men in the church’s Sophia room were busily laying out patterns, cutting, stitching and ironing vibrant animal print and flowered materials to make sleeveless dresses to send to Dress A Girl Around the World.

“When we have finished 100 dresses, we send them off to be distributed,” said Jo Ann Newton, St. Paul’s senior warden. Newton inspired the ministry, which began in June 2024.

“Dress A Girl” is a campaign of Hope for Women International, a Christian nonprofit women’s empowerment organization. The sleeveless, zipper-less, buttonless dresses, made to specification, bear the organization’s labels which, Newton hopes, could help prevent young girls from becoming victims of human trafficking.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pomona, California, launched a dressmaking ministry to make and donate dresses to Dress A Girl Around the World, a campaign of Hope for Women International, a Christian nonprofit women’s empowerment organization. Photo: Diocese of Los Angeles

“Young girls in need have always been near and dear to my heart. Many people in this country don’t realize there are children without clothes,” she said, affirming the organization’s mission to raising awareness of human trafficking while distributing the dresses.

Newton shared her vision with Sandra Martinez-Moore, chair of the church’s chapter of the Daughters of the King, an international order of women of Episcopal and other denominations who dedicate themselves to a life of prayer and service. Martinez-Moore embraced the ministry, and it has continued to expand.

The women – and a few men – gather on the first Saturday of each month to sew, using donated materials and machines. They also work at home, according to Martinez-Moore. She said she was there with her mother, Anna Toledo, who makes about 14 dresses each week.

“The wonderful thing is, the men in the church were excited by what we were doing, so they formed a men’s ministry,” Newton said. “They wanted to work alongside us in some way and in December, we had a joint project.”

By Christmas, members were making stockings for the children attending a preschool renting space on their campus. The men’s ministry purchased small toys to put in the stockings “and we had a party for the children,” Newton said. “We’d never had a relationship with the preschool before. Now, the men’s ministry is activated, and they are planning other things for this year.”

Extra stockings were taken to a nearby shelter; now the church is planning an Easter outreach to the shelter as well. Enthusiasm has continued to build. Another plan in the works is to create a quilted reversible bag and other fundraisers to celebrate St. Paul’s 150th anniversary in 2026.

“We are planning a year’s worth of activities,” said Patricia Hernandez, who attends the monthly gatherings. “People come and do what they can.”

Dress A Girl has “brought new life” to the parish which, like some 40 other churches in the Diocese of Los Angeles, has been without permanent clergy. St. Paul’s had both lay and supply clergy leadership, but until recently had seemed to be floundering, according to Hernandez.

Now, there is hope, and there are plans for the future. “We are still going to be here,” Hernandez said.

“I joined the church because of this ministry,” said Diana Bermudez, a teacher and new vestry member, who brought along a friend March 1 to help with the sewing. “I like to make a difference, and this has already made one. Coming to the sewing ministry was, for me, a calling.”

Bill Laws, St. Paul’s administrator, said he needed a lot of “hand-holding” while learning to make bias tape to finish the neckline and armholes of the dress he was working on.

The dresses are an A-line pattern with front, back, side panels and no fastenings, and made of cotton, with pockets. Sizes range from toddlers up to 12 or 14, according to Louise Barbee. “Once buttons or zippers are lost or broken, the garment isn’t usable anymore” so the dresses slip on easily over the head, she said.

Bolts of donated material fill a nearby closet where the machines and other accessories are stored between gatherings. Bright-colored dresses are on hangers, and laughter fills the room as the members gather.

The ministry has also attracted people from the local community, said Martinez-Moore, adding, “We want to see Dress A Girl in every church in the diocese.”


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St Paul’s Pride Ministries

Pride Ministries acknowledges LGBTQ+ parish members who’ve long called St. Paul’s their adopted home and family. LGBTQ+ members are active in the community as mentors and activist; as queer scholars, theologians, and artists; while still others serve in leadership positions in organizations such as Pomona Pride Center, and Foothill AIDS Project.

We meet at different locations every 2nd Friday of the month to be in community, share our stories, heal past emotional injuries created by different culprits including discriminatory churches, to have fun, be OPEN, be FREE, be TRUTHFUL and just BE the way God made us.

Call to find out our next meeting spot:

Sandra Martinez-Moore 714-328-2212

email: Sanlvlee@gmail.com

Bill Laws 909-622-2015 email: admin@stpaulspomona.org