Hayden Royster

1 month ago | berkeleyside.org | Hayden Royster

On the afternoon of Sept. 30, 2016, Rev. Molly Baskette was running errands in San Francisco when she got a call from her church’s building manager. First Congregational Church of Berkeley, he told her, was on fire. Within minutes, she was racing back to Berkeley’s Southside neighborhood. “As I was driving over the Bay Bridge, I saw the column of smoke coming up where the church was,” Baskette recalled recently.

1 month ago | stmarys-ca.edu | Hayden Royster

Hundreds of graduating seniors, friends, and family gathered for the ceremony in Saint Mary’s Stadium on May 24. The themes of the day were hope, perseverance—and bringing an ethic of community to a world that badly needs it. by Hayden Royster, Office of Marketing & Communications | May 24, 2025 From the moment they entered Saint Mary’s Stadium on May 24, each member of the Class of 2025 told a story all their own.

2 months ago | stmarys-ca.edu | Hayden Royster |Francis Tatem

Don’t let our serene campus fool you—at Saint Mary’s College, there is always plenty afoot. Just ask any Gael who has attended an electrifying basketball game at the University Credit Union Pavilion, joined a glow-in-the-dark spin class at the Joseph L. Alioto Recreation Center, or belted it out during a karaoke night at the 1928 Pub. While there is always fun to be had on campus, Saint Mary’s also has one of the world’s best backyards: the San Francisco Bay Area.

2 months ago | religionnews.com | Hayden Royster

SAN FRANCISCO (RNS) — The most popular Easter service in this capital of alternative living occurs not in church but on the sloping lawns of Dolores Park, where thousands show up in their Sunday best — which at the annual Hunky Jesus Contest can mean steampunk bonnets, a life-size Peep suit or, for those competing, elaborate (and usually scanty) Jesus and Mary costumes.

Dec 24, 2024 | berkeleyside.org | Hayden Royster

Editors’ note: This week we’re republishing some of our favorite stories of 2024. This story was first published on Jan. 16. For Janice Myles and her seven siblings, their lives are forever bound up in the life — and death — of their father’s church. The Rev. Leonard L. Hester and his wife, Parthena, founded New Light Baptist Church in 1954, and right from the outset, it was a family endeavor.