Amid the week’s myriad blessings and responsibilities, some precious time with three brilliant institution builders.
To wish her a belated happy Mother’s Day, I looked in on elder daughter Valerie Passarella on Monday at the Yorba Linda Cultural Center, which she runs after overseeing its construction.
Then today, Catherine Marie Michaels and her sister Cindy Michaels Drennan made the trek to St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park for a pizza lunch and wide-ranging conversation in my office. Here you see them catching up with Canon Clare Zabala-Bangao.
Catherine was in charge of advancement at Orange County School of the Arts, where she still consults. Formerly church administrator at my old hang, St John Chrysostom Church, Cindy is one of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ most respected lay leaders. The day I interviewed her at the Nixon library, in the hope of closing the deal, I introduced her to director Ron Howard, who happened to be scoping locations for his film “Frost/Nixon.”She still spends two days a week at St. John’s, mentoring her successor and helping church leaders in myriad ways. I can’t tell you how much I learned from Cindy about practical parochial ministry and the power of faith and grace.
