The vestry of St. John’s Cathedral, Los Angeles, has elected the Rev. Anne Sawyer as dean, Bishop John Harvey Taylor announced in a May 21 message welcoming the vote and confirming his approval.
“Dean Sawyer’s leadership has been a blessing and revelation – as a pastor during a time of transition, a prophet of the justice and love of our God in Christ, and an institution builder with a bracing vision for the future of St. John’s Cathedral,” Taylor told The Episcopal News. “I give thanks for her and for lay leaders who called her as dean, which I had the inestimable pleasure of affirming.”
Sawyer has served the cathedral since 2023 as interim priest in charge, most recently under the canonical provision of “special circumstances” that allowed for her permanent appointment. Previously she served as rector of New York City’s St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery and as a co-founder of Imago Dei Middle School in Tucson, Ariz.
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your dean of St. John’s Cathedral,” Sawyer said in a message to the congregation. “I am honored and grateful to accept this call by the vestry of St. John’s and affirmed by Bishop John Harvey Taylor on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.”
Bishop-elect Antonio J. Gallardo L., whose installation at the cathedral is set for Evensong on July 12, also welcomed Sawyer’s election.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the people of St. John’s Cathedral on the election of the Rev. Anne Sawyer as the next dean of the cathedral,” the bishop-elect told The News.
“As St. John’s Cathedral is home to the seat from which I will exercise the teaching authority and pastoral leadership of my episcopacy, I look forward to working alongside Dean Anne as we continue the cathedral’s vision of being a community where people grow in a closer relationship with Jesus Christ,” Gallardo L. added.
“This shared commitment to faith, discipleship, and community will be central to my episcopacy as we begin our journey together across the diocese.”
Canon Lurelean Gaines, senior warden of the cathedral, expressed her gratitude for Sawyer’s election and for the support of the bishop and bishop-elect.
“It is a gift and blessing to serve with Rev. Sawyer who worked endless days and hours to bring the congregation together,” Gaines told The News. “I look forward to the confirmed open and honest leadership as Rev. Sawyer continue to build bridges to St. John’s Cathedral.
“As a woman of strong faith, I never give up, and I found that gift in Rev. Sawyer,” Gaines added. “Prayer has been the source of my ability to work with her and the congregation at large. Trusting in God’s plan provided the necessary strength to continue working to bring the community together at St. John’s and in the diocese at large.
“It’s such a great feeling to have the support of those individuals who put their trust in the vestry to make such a wise decision to give Rev. Sawyer the opportunity to become the dean of St. John’s Cathedral.”
Sawyer, 60 – a native of Tucson, Ariz., who as a child traveled widely with her family and went on to reside, as an adult, in large cities – was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 by Arizona Bishop Kirk Smith, who was previously rector of St. James’ in-the-City, Los Angeles, from 1991 to 2003.
Elected in 2017 to serve as 14th rector of St. Mark’s in the Bowery, Sawyer there succeeded the Rev. Winnie Varghese, a priest ordained in the Diocese of Los Angeles who is now dean of New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
In Tucson, Sawyer and her spouse, the Rev. Susan Anderson-Smith – also an Episcopal priest who is currently priest-n-charge of L.A.’s Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Leimert Park – co-founded Imago Dei Middle School where Sawyer served as head of school from 2005 to 2017. From 2008 to 2012, Sawyer also assisted as affiliated clergy of St. Philip’s in the Hills Church, Tucson.
Sawyer holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago, and a 1987 bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona. While in Chicago, Sawyer interned in that city’s Department of Health.
During her five years as rector of St. Mark’s, Sawyer assisted that Lower Manhattan parish in fund development – including a capital campaign that in its first phase raised $400,000 during the pandemic – also negotiating six tenant leases while overseeing major building renovation projects.
Sawyer’s management expertise is particularly invaluable, Gaines said, in helping guide the cathedral’s vision for future construction on onsite housing and retrofitting its landmark Romanesque Revival sanctuary which last year celebrated the centennial of its completion.
Consecrated in 1925, St. John’s was named the diocese’s pro-cathedral in 2007 by then-Bishop J. Jon Bruno. The Very Rev. Canon Mark Kowalewski and the Very Rev. Canon Dan Ade then served St. John’s as co-deans for 17 years before their retirement Jan. 31, 2023.
As pro-cathedral – a designation by which an existing parish church agrees to provide cathedral ministries – St. John’s is home to the cathedra, or historic chair, of L.A.’s diocesan bishop. Originally handcrafted for the former St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1924, the cathedra was moved to St. John’s in 2017 from St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park, at the request of Bishop Taylor to consolidate cathedral ministries at St. John’s.
Located at 514 W. Adams Blvd., St. John’s Cathedral is near USC’s main campus and provides Canterbury chaplaincy ministry to students and other university community members. Outreach also includes an extensive food distribution program building on a legacy of service begun by St. John’s Community Health system and Carter House, home to residents with mental and physical disabilities. Concurrently, St. John’s is well known for excellence in liturgy and music and ecumenical-interfaith ministries.
“In community, we know our strengths and growing edges,” Sawyer added in her message to the congregation. “We know the division of labor in our household. Those who enjoy cooking and hosting friends, those who prefer serving at the table, or caring for mother earth. We know who enjoys working with their hands, versus the ones who sing, and the ones who are life-long learners that thrive on theological study. Together, we are becoming the body of Christ, even when we do not always agree, or occasionally step on each other toes. Yet, to the glory of God, every member, every visitor and guest, every choir member, every young person and old, every child and parent, every staff member, every vestry member, all who enters to pray and worship, to be fed, to rest and to be loved are essential to the whole, the body of Christ.”