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Clergy Father John and his husband, Andrew Aldrich, celebrated their thirteenth anniversary in May. They live in Oakland, California, with their nine year-old son, Nehemiah. Father John is past president of the advisory board of Oasis/California, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ministry of the Diocese of California. Currently, he serves as chair of the diocesan resolutions committee and convenes a task force overseeing development work with LGBT Anglicans in Uganda. To read past sermons and other writings of Father John, visit his Blog: meditatio.
I served St. Aidan’s Church from 1965-70. I had a private practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist from 1970-81 until I was elected rector of Trinity, San Franicsco. At Trinity we ministered to many men who died of AIDS, their lovers, parents, children and even grandparents. I had become a lesbian/gay rights advocate in the 1960s and was one of the founders of San Francisco’s Council on Religion and the Homosexual. When I retired from Trinity in 2002, Ann and I tried many different parishes and discovered we liked Saint John’s, and it was in walking distance from our home on Dolores Park. We found the people friendly and warm. Interim Rector David Forbes has been a friend and colleague since 1962. John Kirkley was instantly welcoming and invited me to preach and celebrate Eucharist from time to time. We have always loved the Mission as a place of diversity, good food, and a wide variety of races and religions all within walking distance of our home and church. I have three daughters and six grandchildren from my first marriage. They all live in New England. Ann and I were married August 14, 1983. She has just retired after thirty-three years teaching high school girls.
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.
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 seven-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. Staff A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Charles has given solo concerts throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. He is also an organist for the San Francisco Symphony and has played many soloist and ensemble roles with the orchestra in their home at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. He has also toured extensively with them. Charles began his involvement with the organ by working with George Bozeman and Company Organbuilders in Deerfield, New Hampshire. After receiving degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Folkwang Hochschule für Musik in Germany. His teachers include Russell Saunders, Robert Glasgow, John Ferris, and Gisbert Schneider. Charles has been Professor of Organ at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is a composer of mainly choral music, some of which is published in the Episcopal Church's hymnal Wonder, Love, and Praise. More about Charles’ music can be found at www.charlesrus.com. He can also be heard on solo recordings and with the San Francisco Symphony.
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