Clergy and Staff
Our Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus (second from right), presiding at St. John’s 150th anniversary mass, Nov. 2007.

Clergy

The Rev. Bertie Pearson
Priest-in-Charge
fatherbertie@saintjohnsf.org

Before joining Saint John the Evangelist as Priest in Charge, Father Bertie spent two years serving on Bishop Marc Andrus' staff as Youth and Young Adult Coordinator for the Diocese of California. During this time he also served as a non-stipendiary associate at both The Church of the Advent of Christ the King and St. Luke's. Bertie completed his masters of divinity at CDSP in Berkeley, and went on to pursue further study in Philosophical Theology at Ripon College Cuddesdon, a theological college in the UK. There he served as Assistant Chaplain at Hertford College, a college of Oxford University.

Before ordination, Bertie worked as a musician and DJ, and some of his work continues to be used as interstitial music on networks like MTV and VH1. Bertie maintains a very active interest in the arts, continuing to play music with friends, and doing photography. Bertie and his wife Rahel love travel and have spent a lot of time exploring France and Rahel's native Netherlands.

The Rev. Jacqueline ("Jackie") Cherry
Deacon

The Rev. Dr. John (“Jack”) Eastwood
Rector Emeritus, St. John's
jheastwood@yahoo.com
Jack retired in 2007 after 36 years in parish ministry and returned as a Priest Associate to St. John the Evangelist, where he was the Rector from 1985 to 1993. He was installed as Rector Emeritus on October 26, 2008. Fr. Jack began his ordained ministry in the Diocese of Indianapolis, serving parishes and missions in and around Indianapolis until coming to St. John’s in 1985. He served for fourteen years as Rector of St. Paul’s, Oakland until retirement. Following his graduation from Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, he served for two years in the Navy, then attended General Theological Seminary, graduating in 1971. He received a Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, in 1981. Jack and his wife, Judy, live in San Francisco. They have two adult children, Adam who is married to Amy who have grandson Jack, living in Massachusetts; and Jessica who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

The Rev. Gloria del Castillo
Vicar, El Buen Samaritano

The Rev. Dr. Richard Smith
Priest Associate
Blog (and sermons): richardlsmith.blogspot.com
Over 20 years ago, when AIDS was mowing down friends left and right, I came to St. John’s for the first time. I was meeting a friend who had asked me to join him for the funeral of an Episcopal priest whose name I can’t remember. At the time, I was a Catholic priest, a Jesuit, and, after several years of parish work in the Northwest, was plugging away at a doctorate in Berkeley. Shortly before my coming to Berkeley, the Vatican had issued another of its searing letters about gays, one that had left me fragmented and weary and wondering where my own life was heading. Finding my way through the red doors of St. John’s with my friend, I slumped into the last pew.

To my surprise, that liturgy, with its many stories about this gay priest, gave me a glimmer of hope that my own disparate life could become whole again.

Fast forward several years: I have left the Jesuits and become an Episcopalian, and my partner, Rob, and I have been together five years. A friend, learning we are moving to San Francisco, suggests we check out St. John’s.

We did, and we stayed. In time, we were married here. Later, I was received as an Episcopal priest and began assisting here. Later still, perhaps best of all, our son, David, was baptized here.

I remain at St. John's for three reasons.

The location. During the week, I’m a technical writer in the Financial District. But Sunday mornings, on my walk to St. John’s, I see life from a different angle: giggly children bantering in Spanish with their playmates; homeless people in doorways; carefree twenty-somethings wandering home from a night at the clubs; shopkeepers sweeping up the windblown newspapers, hypodermic needles, and broken wine bottles; bright, colorful murals telling the joys and struggles of this diverse and lively neighborhood. I gather up all this terrible beauty and press it to my heart on my way to the Eucharist.

The people. Despite our ups and downs, the people of this parish keep inspiring me to learn more about Jesus and what it means to follow him. We try, each in our own small ways, to do this — looking out for each other when we get sick, lending a hand to struggling parishes in El Salvador, helping neighborhood kids get a jump on their math and reading, handing out food and vouchers to people off the street, or just being a little kinder, more joyful, throughout the week. We do what we can.

Our eight-year-old son. He’s crazy about the place. He loves his friends and the special treatment they get in Godly Play, the ladybugs and spiders in the garden, and the oatmeal raisin cookies that occasionally appear at coffee hour after mass.

The Rev. Canon David Forbes
Priest Associate
Rev. Forbes is currently serving at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco.

The Rev. Eric Nefstead
Priest Associate
I have been a priest associate at St. John’s since January of 2005. My primary vocation is healthcare chaplaincy, and I am endorsed for chaplaincy by the Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincy of the Episcopal Church (www.ecusa-chaplain.org). I work at John Muir Medical Center, in Concord, and have served as a Palliative Care Chaplain Fellow and CPE Supervisor in Training at the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, in Palo Alto, and as Executive Director of Sojourn Chaplaincy at San Francisco General Hospital, a partner agency of Episcopal Charities.

I am a native of Minnesota. I graduated from St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota, with a degree in history. I received a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City (www.uts.columbia.edu), and a Certificate of Anglican Studies from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley (www.cdsp.edu). I am a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (www.professionalchaplains.org). I also serve as an Instructor in Pastoral Care at the Episcopal School for Deacons, in Berkeley (www.sfd.edu). While in seminary in New York in the early 1990s, I worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an AIDS Service organization, and as Acting Executive Director of The Oasis, a mission and ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, with lesbian and gay people, their families and friends. I helped to found the Oasis Congregations Program. My partner, David, and I live in San Francisco.

Staff

Thomas Conroy
Music Director
Thomas Conroy is a member of the Musicianship and Theory faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory. He earned his D.M.A. in composition at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, and his M.M. in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has served on the faculties of Texas A and M University and The Moores School of Music (University of Houston). The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra premiered his orchestral work Symphonic Metamorphosis, and the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra has premiered several of his orchestral pieces. Awards include: The Paul Cooper Memorial Award in Composition and The James Highsmith award in orchestral composition. He has served as production manager for MUSIQA, a Houston-based contemporary ensemble. He has sung professionally with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and with the Houston Chamber Choir, for whom he composed This Is Why I Sing, to celebrate their 10th anniversary season in May 2006. He has studied in Paris in the European American Musical Alliance composition program. He is currently developing a new musical drama, Searching for Spinoza, to be premiered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in spring 2010.

Rev. Deacon David Stickley
Office Administrator
Rev. David was ordained in June 2009 and currently serves as deacon at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in Diamond Heights.