Patrick Grannan

St. Barnabas, Borrego Springs

Nominee’s Bio: I am a member of St Barnabas Borrego Springs where I serve on the Vestry, the Worship Committee, the Communications Committee and the Calling Committee. Prior to attending St Barnabas, I was a member at St Thomas of Canterbury, Temecula where I served on the Bishop’s Committee.

On a Diocesan Level I am currently serving a one-year term as a Bishop’s Appointee to the Executive Council. I previously served as a member of the Diocesan Transition Committee during the transition period between Bishop Mathes and Bishop Brown-Snook.

I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic in Columbus, Ohio where I attended Catholic School for grades 1 – 12. From there I went on to Quaker College outside of Philadelphia where I gained an appreciation for the quiet spiritualism of the Quaker Religion.

I became Episcopalian in 2014 when I moved from Orange County to Riverside County. The inflection point was when I went to place an advertisement in the local Catholic Church Bulletin for my wedding photography. I was called and told that if I wished to advertise in the church bulletin I would have to remove all references on my website to same sex marriages. I was not willing to do this and began my search for a church more compatible with my own views. This led me to The Episcopal Church and St Thomas of Canterbury, Temecula.

When I moved further south to rural San Diego County (near Warner Springs) I began attending St Barnabas Borrego Springs where I have found many kindred spirits and a profoundly spiritual group committed to the Church as Community.

More biographically, I am a widower (my wife died in 2014 and that is part of what brought me back to organized religion), semi-retired. I am known by those both at St Barnabas and St Thomas for my love of my Border Collies with whom I actively sheep herd. I also enjoy photography and trying to help evangelize through building and using effective platforms for communication – both in person and virtually

Nominee’s Statement in Favor of Their Candidacy: I come from a family of participants. I was raised to “get involved” and help wherever I could from my youngest days with my father being active on Parish Council in the church where I grew up. When I converted to Episcopalian the sense of responsibility and urge to get involved came naturally. After a year at St Thomas, I was elected to the Bishop’s Committee. While serving in that role I was also privileged to participate on the Diocesan level by becoming a member of the Bishop’s Transition Committee. That work exposed me to many other good and deeply spiritual people around the Diocese. It also gave me an opportunity to get to know former Presiding Bishop Katherine and, of course, Bishop Susan as she went through the transition process.

That experience whetted my appetite to become more involved at a Diocesan level as well as to continue my involvement at the Parish level (now St. Barnabas).

As I have grown in my spiritual journey, I have given emphasis to living and practicing the teachings of Jesus, much more than theoretical knowledge (though I value the formal study of theology I recognize that I am not a theologian). As the Desert Father Anthony the Great replied when asked what to do to please God: “wherever you go, keep God in mind; whatever you do, follow the example of Holy Scripture; wherever you are, stay there and do not move away in a hurry.” Though often seen as hermits, the Desert Fathers believed hospitality and kindness were more important than keeping the ascetic practices that were so dominant in their monastic lives. I agree. Our relationship with our own community – including those with whom we worship but, perhaps even more importantly, with those in our communities who may not attend our church, is the most critical aspect of our Christianity. I believe we are most effective in Evangelism through the examples we set by our actions.

I view the position as a member of Executive Council as being a liaison between the Diocese and Parishes; between the clergy and the laity. Far too often it is too easy to view these as antagonists to each other; Diocese against Parish and Clergy against laity. In reality we are all part of the same church with the same goals – much like God the Trinity is of one being with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In my year on Executive Council, I have found that the Diocese – while sometimes having different concerns not applicable to all parishes – is really there to support all of us in our journey with God. There are wonderful people at the Diocese who simply want to help us at the parish level if we would only ask. Likewise, there are tremendous Diocesan resources available to assist individual parishes if we only knew they existed.

I also view myself as something of an advocate for the small parish (St Barnabas has a small ASA of committed Episcopalians) who often have different needs than does a large parish. We all have the same goal but the way to accomplish that goal may be different in a congregation of 40 than in a congregation of 200. We need to recognize that no one solution fits all, but here is a solution for all though it may differ from parish to parish.