On the corner of 5th and C Streets in downtown Petaluma, the shingled roof and stained glass of St. John's Episcopal Church have watched over the town since 1891. Inside, the congregation that worships in that historic building describes itself with a single phrase: "a place where hope happens." St. John's is a Christ-centered, liturgically rooted parish within the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, drawn together around the Book of Common Prayer, contemplative spiritual practice, and a wide welcome that includes same-sex couples, refugees, and neighbors in need of food on the table.
A Heritage Building at 5th and C
The parish was first established in 1856 on land donated by Petaluma pioneer George P. McNear, making St. John's one of the oldest religious institutions in town. Its first home, a small wooden church, was destroyed by fire, but the cornerstone laid in 1890 launched a more permanent chapter. Architect Ernest A. Coxhead, who had recently moved to the San Francisco area after completing his training in London, designed the present church, which was dedicated on April 5, 1891.
Coxhead designed twenty-four churches throughout California, and St. John's is notable for being virtually intact after more than 130 years. The building carries a Romanesque entrance arch, a quatrefoil window over the door, an open beam ceiling with Elizabethan-style trusswork, and a glorious set of stained glass windows. The Heritage Homes Foundation of Petaluma has described the building as embodying the rustic California "Bay Tradition," a regional expression of the nineteenth-century Shingle Style rooted in the English Queen Anne.
One of those windows, the central "Angel of the Resurrection" image of the three Marys at the tomb of Jesus, was given in 1889 in memory of Dr. J.S. Shepherd, an English-born physician who traveled west by wagon in 1850 with his family and later practiced in Petaluma. The window was carefully restored in 2022 by Nzilani Glass Conservation of Oakland, preserving it for another generation of worshipers.
A Congregation Reborn in 2007
The congregation that occupies the building today is, in a real sense, a second founding. The original parish had been locked in deepening conflict with the wider Episcopal Church over the course of several years, a rift that became a chasm with the denomination's approval of full inclusion of LGBT persons in its life and leadership. In a vote just before Christmas 2006, the leaders and many members of the congregation decided to break away and form a new church that would continue to exclude LGBT persons.
Resolutely determined to continue St. John's, about a dozen members who opposed the schism gathered in a private living room the following Sunday morning. A retired Navy Chaplain and former Interim Priest-in-Charge, the Rev. Norman Cram, volunteered as pastor, and the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California extended his support. The congregation soon outgrew the living room, holding the first public service of the continuing St. John's at sunrise on Easter Day 2007 and then moving to Saturday evening worship at Elim Lutheran Church while legal proceedings unfolded.
In July 2009, after a California Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Episcopal Church in a similar case, St. John's returned to its historic home. The renewed congregation immediately turned to capital improvements, accessibility work, and rebuilding parish life. Norman Cram Hall, the spacious parish hall, was rededicated in his honor in November 2012. The Rev. Daniel C. Green was instituted as Rector on February 13, 2015, after the parish completed its transition to full economic self-sufficiency at the end of 2014.
Sunday Worship from the Book of Common Prayer
Sunday morning at St. John's flows from the Book of Common Prayer. The 9:30 a.m. service in the Sanctuary blends prayers, hymns, scripture readings, and a sermon, with the congregation actively participating through responsive readings and sharing in the Eucharist. Music plays a strong role: the parish features a liturgical, contemplative, and contemporary repertoire of songs, hymns, and chants. Choral offerings include Renaissance works such as Thomas Tallis's "If Ye Love Me," alongside hymns and contemporary pieces. Recording artist Mark Rasmussen is among the parish's organists and accompanists.
Sunday services are recorded and made available on the parish's YouTube channel, along with past sermons, evensong recordings, and short clips of music. Visitors who cannot attend in person can follow along online.
Centering Prayer, Taizé, Labyrinth, and Sacred Circle Dance
St. John's has cultivated a deep contemplative streak alongside its Sunday liturgy. Centering Prayer, drawing on the Christian contemplative tradition shaped by the late Father Thomas Keating, meets in the Sanctuary on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. After a brief instruction, participants sit together in silence and stillness for half an hour. Beginners and experienced practitioners are equally welcome. The Rev. Jeannette Myers, who was baptized at St. John's as an infant and later confirmed, married, and ordained there, leads the Wednesday morning gathering as well as a Tuesday evening session.
Taizé worship has been offered on the first Friday of each month at 7 p.m. since 2009, running from September through May. The candlelit service of contemplative chant and song is intentionally ecumenical, with no preaching and no formal liturgy, just space for meditation and for song led by cantors to the tones of piano and cello.
On the third Friday of each month at 7 p.m., the Labyrinth is walked in Cram Hall. Sacred Circle Dance gathers on the second Wednesday of each month for an afternoon of simple, taught dances set to music from many cultures. No partner or experience is needed; the circle itself is the partner. Dances are both meditative and joyful.
Together these rhythms give St. John's an unusually wide range of ways to pray and to be still.
Children, Youth, and Adult Christian Education
Church School meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. for children in grades 1 through 4, using the Holy Moly curriculum from Sparkhouse. Each lesson moves through watching an animated Bible story, discussing what surprises and moves the children, opening Bibles to explore the passage, and reflecting through hands-on activities or games. Children in PreK and K are also welcome, with a second adult finding something age-appropriate for them. Yearly events include a wreath-making gathering with St. Nicholas, a Christmas Eve Children's Pageant at 5:00 p.m., a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, a children's talent show, the Blessing of the Animals, and an Easter Egg hunt.
Adult Sunday Education meets in the library after coffee hour, with topics that range from guided discussion of the Sunday scriptures and sermon to themed series such as a Christ-centered response to generational trauma and a class on All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day taught by the Rev. Melanie Donahoe. Bible Study is offered online on Wednesdays at noon.
Clergy and Leadership
The Rev. Andy Lobban serves as Rector. An Episcopal priest formed at the Seminary of Southwest in Austin, Texas, he has served in parishes and institutions across Texas and California, including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and St. Bartholomew's in Livermore. His ministry is marked by pastoral care, spiritual formation, and community engagement, with a particular enthusiasm for the wider Northern California region.
The Rev. Melanie Donahoe, a Priest Associate, came to Petaluma in 2022 after twelve years as Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in San Carlos. She has also served as a Campus Minister, a Hospital Chaplain, and a Disaster Relief Chaplain, and she leads pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Ireland, and Scotland. The Rev. Jeannette Myers, also a Priest Associate, was born in Petaluma in 1950, baptized at St. John's one month later, and confirmed, married, and ordained in the same parish. She supports the Sunday School, covers pastoral emergencies, visits parishioners, and leads Centering Prayer.
The Rev. Robert Conover, a retired Presbyterian minister and former Executive Presbyter and Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of the Redwoods, serves as Guest Preacher and holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in liturgical theology and homiletics. The Rev. Laurie Warren is the parish's Deacon, ordained in 2020 and raised up for Holy Orders by St. John's congregation itself. A member of the Fellowship of the Society of Saint John's the Evangelist, an Episcopal Benedictine monastery, she brings a contemplative grounding to her diaconal work and has spent more than thirty years serving people with significant disabling conditions as a behavior analyst, special education teacher, social worker, and recreation therapist.
The Vestry, the parish's elected governing body, includes Junior Warden Susan Hadenfeldt, Senior Warden Kathy Conover, Treasurer Connee Young, Clerk Mercedes Cooke, and members Gail Reid, Jerry Taylor, Emily Bell, Cindy Belnick, Alison Adams, Jacque Miranda, Betty Petrillo, and Matt Scoble, organized into classes that rotate on three-year terms.
The Westside Interfaith Food Pantry
Every Thursday evening at 5:00 p.m., free bags of groceries are distributed at the Elim Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall at 504 Baker Street through the Petaluma Westside Interfaith Food Pantry, an ecumenical effort involving St. John's and neighboring congregations. No paperwork is required. The pantry sources its food from the Redwood Empire Food Bank, and a team of volunteers sets up at 4:30 p.m., distributes from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m., and cleans up by 6:00 p.m. Anyone interested in joining the volunteer team can contact the church office to be added to the reminder list, or simply show up at 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday evening.
Becoming Beloved Community and Wider Ministries
St. John's is part of the Becoming Beloved Community initiative of The Episcopal Church, joining three other local parishes, St. Stephen's in Sebastopol, the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, and St. Patrick's in Kenwood, in learning, praying, and acting together around anti-racism, Care of Creation, reconciliation, and mutual care. The parish highlights Episcopal Relief and Development, including its Ukraine response, and Episcopal Migration Ministries' Afghan Parolee Services as concrete ways members can support wider work.
Through its membership in the Petaluma Community Relations Council and a Climate Action ministry, the parish extends its Christian formation into civic life.
Sacraments and Pastoral Care
Eucharist, also known as communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Mass, is the principal act of Christian worship at St. John's and is celebrated every Sunday. Baptism is offered to people of all ages, including infants, with water poured over the forehead in the Name of the Trinity and the forehead marked with sacred oil. The Episcopal Church recognizes all baptisms performed with water in the Name of the Trinity, and St. John's does not re-baptize.
Weddings are officiated by the parish's priests using rites approved by the Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California, and same-sex couples are equally invited to be married in the church. Funerals are officiated according to the rite of Christian burial in the Book of Common Prayer. Priests are also available for home, hospital, or nursing-facility visits, for prayers with the very ill or dying, and, for those who desire, for confession, absolution, and last rites.
Visiting St. John's
Sunday Worship is held at 9:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary at 40 5th Street, Petaluma. Cram Hall, the spacious 2,960-square-foot parish hall next door, seats up to 337 people in rows or 157 at tables and is available for community events. A fourteen-space parking lot sits adjacent to the hall, with additional unrestricted on-street parking on 6th and C Streets and time-limited parking on 5th Street. The hall is wheelchair accessible with a ramp and handicap-accessible bathrooms. Office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the parish can be reached at (707) 762-8872 or asm.sjecp@gmail.com. Newcomers are warmly welcomed, and a regular Newcomer Tea is held to introduce visitors to parish life.
Gifts to St. John's may be pledged online through the parish's Realm page, and the parish encourages members to consider including the church in their estate plans through the Episcopal Church Foundation, joining the 1856 Society of legacy givers who sustain the historic 1891 sanctuary for future generations.