Daniel Green named priest-in-charge at St. John's, Petaluma, in Northern California
Episcopal News Service. May 27, 2010 [052710-04]
Pat McCaughan
Bishop Barry Beisner of the Diocese of Northern California has appointed the Rev. Daniel Currie Green priest-in-charge at St. John's Episcopal Church in Petaluma, according to a letter posted on the church website.
Green, 44, currently an associate rector at All Saints Church in Carmel, in the Diocese of El Camino Real, is expected to begin his new ministry Aug. 1.
Born in Riverside, California, Green wrote a letter of introduction to the congregation, which in July 2009 resumed worship in the 119-year-old church that had been held by a breakaway group for nearly three years.
A group calling itself St. John's Anglican Church had cited theological differences over the ordination of gay clergy and broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2006. They had attempted to retain the property and assets. After the California Supreme Court ruled that parish property and assets are held in trust for the mission and ministry of the wider church, the two groups worked out an agreement for return of the property.
Since their return the church has been growing and attracting young families, said Marti Overton, a volunteer and parishioner for 20 years.
With Green's appointment, "there's a real sense now that we can finally really put down some roots and move forward," she said in a May 27 telephone interview from the church office. "That sense of being temporary is finally over and it feels to me unbelievably unifying for all of us to have a priest we can gather around and include in our family.
"He seems like a perfect match for the vision and mission of St. John's in that we are an inclusive church," Overton added. "We're excited to finally have a priest who will be here full-time. We're excited to have his wife and daughter, a young family here to join us."
In an introductory letter to the congregation, Green said he is also excited about the new ministry. He described growing up in California, Indiana and Vermont, drifting away from the church during adolescence and later re-engaging and working as a carpenter, community organizer, and farmer.
Green said he appreciates "the courage that the Episcopal Church has shown in keeping the conversation between church tradition and cultural currents open and balanced, especially as regards the breaking down of barriers to full inclusion of people of all kinds, and maintaining the compatibility of faith and reason."
He added that he welcomes the opportunity to establish relationships with those of differing views. "My hope and prayer is that we will be a blessing to one another, and form a stable, creative, and caring partnership at St. John's, in service to the community of Petaluma, our diocese and the Episcopal Church, to God's good creation, and to Jesus the Messiah, who lives and reigns with God and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever."
Ordained to the priesthood in 2005, Green is married to Meg Tinsley, a marriage and family therapist; the couple has a five-year-old daughter, Risa.