Locals Remember George Regas’ Commitment to Social Justice

[UPDATED] Local residents remembered All Saints Rector Emeritus George Regas on Monday as a man of deep faith with a heart for justice. 

Regas, 90, died Sunday morning after a long illness.

“I share the profound sadness in Pasadena upon the death of George Regas,” said former Mayor Bill Bogaard. “He provided courageous leadership not only to the members of All Saints Church, but to the entire community, and well beyond, as he offered inspiration and guidance on the many challenges of the day. He was a master in translating spiritual values into productive and compassionate programs that continue today to sustain community needs, including Union Station Homeless Services, AIDS Service Center, Young and Healthy, Day One, and the Coalition for a Non-Violent City. We have lost a great leader, but his legacy lives on.”

Regas joined All Saints in 1967 and took the church to new heights by not shying away from complicated social issues. 

“I was fortunate to work with George at the Coalition for a Non-Violent City for many years,: said Vannia de la Cuba, who serves as Mayor Victor Gordo’s field representative. “While the work was focused on violence prevention, George focused beyond that horizon to community building, coalition building, and bringing people together to see the humanity and goodness in one another. I saw how George prayed with his feet, applying his faith to sincerely work together with others to improve the lives of so many in our community. He opened my heart and mind to my own relationship with God without having to preach one sermon. I forever will be grateful for his words, his guidance, and our friendship, and I carry his teachings with me every ”

Gordo worked closely with Regas in the early 1990s while Gordo was a youth counselor at Day One.

“All of Pasadena mourns the passing of George Regas,” Gordo said. “He personally led Pasadena’s effort to address the AIDS pandemic resulting in the Pasadena AIDS Service Center, co-founded the Coalition for a Non-Violent City, started Union Station to serve the homeless, and established Young and Healthy. His legacy will continue through the many contributions he made to Pasadena. George Regas is an icon and a symbol of how great things can happen in the city when people come together, and work together in the name of creating a better community for all.”

Regas was a top advocate for the Episcopal Church’s 1976 approval of women’s ordination to the priesthood and episcopacy. He worked as a coalition floor manager at that year’s General Convention in Minneapolis. 

“Rev. Regas led All Saints to become a powerhouse of faith in action,” said former Mayor Rick Cole. 

“Regas and All Saints parishioners could always be counted on to effectively mobilize to confront urgent challenges, including homelessness, civil rights, the scourge of AIDS and the horrific tragedy of three boys gunned down in the street on Halloween night,” Cole said. “Pasadena is a different and better city because of his prophetic voice and formidable passion for civic partnership.” 

Regas was born on Oct. 1, 1930, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1956 and to the priesthood in 1957. He succeeded John Burt as rector when he was just 36. 

“The passing of George Regas is a huge loss for All Saints Church and Pasadena,” said Juliana Serrano, senior associate for peace & justice and the office for creative connections at All Saints Church. 

“George was a tremendous leader and fighter for justice in our local community, our nation, and our world. No doubt his ministry and direction helped pave the path for lay women like myself to take on the role of advocate and facilitator of social change within the Episcopal Church. I especially appreciate his vocal support for reproductive rights and how he worked with women leaders in our church to publically declare that All Saints Church is a prayerfully pro-choice community of faith. George is a legend and will be greatly missed. May we continue to build upon the foundation that he, and those before him, laid for the creation of a Christian community that is inclusive of all people, and deeply rooted in radical love. ”

Regis married Mary Lowry McCaslin in 1977, who was reportedly at his bedside when he passed away.

He is survived by his daughter Susan Regas, sons Tim and Tyler, Mary’s sons Burke and Lowry Smith, and their families. Regas’ daughter Michelle Regas Worrel died in 2002, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

“George Regas balanced a combination of hang-on-every-word oratory, theological worldliness and a steadfast commitment to social justice and reform,” said former Pasadena Public Information Officer Ann Erdman. “This wasn’t calculated on his part; it just came naturally. I first got to know George when I moved to Pasadena from Palm Springs in 1991 and started going to All Saints Church. I was the city of Pasadena’s public information officer, and there were a number of partnerships between All Saints and the city of Pasadena, from the AIDS Service Center to Young and Healthy, so our paths crossed often out in the community. He was a man of great charisma with an extraordinarily generous heart. I will always be grateful that he counseled me through a very difficult issue in my private life in the mid-’90s. I loved him tremendously and was inspired by him constantly. God rest his sweet soul.” 

Regas never backed away from injustice. He waited patiently to be arrested after the LAPD began arresting protesters blocking an intersection to show opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. – friend and colleagues of Civil Rights Giants Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. John Lewis – told The Episcopal News that Regas “embodied the religion of Jesus and organized it at All Saints Church and in many campaigns for truth and justice.”

Lawson pointed to Regas’s founding in 2001 of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, and how he helped that coalition “come up with a major mantra: ‘Religion must stop blessing war and violence.’”

He worked with friend and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to establish a South Africa ministry at All Saints Church.

The church came under fire over a sermon preached by Regas on Oct. 31, 2004, the Sunday before the 2004 Presidential election.

The IRS claimed that the sermon may have been an “implicit” intervention in the 2004 presidential election between President George W. Bush and John Kerry, then a U.S. senator. The sermon was written as a debate between Bush and Kerry narrated by Jesus Christ, and it reminded parishioners of the need to consider their values when voting.

With the church’s tax-exempt status on the line, Regas and then-Rector Ed Bacon did not back down, pointing out that he told people early on in the sermon that he was not telling them how to vote. He informed the IRS of the First Amendment implications of the case and questioned why conservative churches were not investigated.

The church ultimately maintained its tax-exempt status. 

He was arrested again in 2011, this time for an act of civil disobedience during a march in downtown L.A. marking the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. 

In his final sermon, Regas said:

“The place I’ve loved being the most is not on the protest marches,” Regas said on April 30, 1995, in his final sermon as All Saints’ rector, “but with you as you celebrated your marriage and baptized your children; at your bedside when you are told you have cancer; with you when you are grieved with failure and defeat; and beside you when, with crushed hearts, you bury your dead. We have been together in the most glorious of times and the bleakest moments, and we’ve made our way to a trust that nothing can ultimately destroy, goodness and love.”