At left, representatives of St. John’s Community Health guide attendees at the July 19 wellness fair at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. At right, Acting Dean Anne Sawyer presides as Jim Mangia, president/CEO of St. John’s Community Health, and cathedral member Canon Karen Uhler are honored for their contributions to the clinic, originally an outreach ministry of St. John’s. Photos: Bob Williams
As part of the celebration marking the centennial of its landmark sanctuary, St. John’s Cathedral has this summer highlighted two longstanding social agencies – St. John’s Community Health and Carter House affordable housing – both founded and nurtured by parishioners and clergy.
Several hundred local neighbors attended a July 19 wellness fair co-hosted with St. John’s Community Health, a banner event in the cathedral’s summer focus on outreach ministries that also include a Saturday-morning food bank led by Canon Lurelean Gaines, senior warden, and team.
Health screenings, medical referrals, haircuts, and a garden lunch were part of the festivities at the cathedral, located at 514 W. Adams Blvd., in L.A.’s downtown University Park district near USC. The cathedral is set to open a new chapter of community service in the near future with development of affordable and market-rate housing on site.
Jim Mangia, president/CEO of St. John’s Community Health, and the cathedral’s Canon Karen Uhler, a vestry member when Mangia was hired 27 years ago, were honored during the fair by the Very Rev. Anne Sawyer, the cathedral’s interim dean and priest-in-charge, who welcomed all in attendance and was interviewed on-site by ABC7 television news.
A retired psychiatric nurse, Uhler also was a longtime board president of Carter House, built 30 years ago by the parish to serve homeless mentally ill residents. Uhler and developer Ted Handel, together with parishioner and veteran social worker Martha Watson, were recognized during Sunday services July 6. The 23-unit complex, located at 449 S. Figueroa, is named in honor of St. John’s late rector E. Lawrence Carter, under whose leadership St. John’s Well Child Clinic was founded in 1964.
Now marking its 60th year, St. John’s Community Health has grown to serve some 460,000 persons annually at multiple clinics in downtown, South L.A., and Compton locations.
Mangia, hired by the Rev. Canon Warner Traynham during his tenure as rector of St. John’s, recalled beginning his days in prayer inside the parish’s Romanesque Revival sanctuary before starting work at the clinic, then located on the church campus.
“St. John’s gave me my life’s mission,” Mangia said in remarks during the health fair. “It gave me the opportunity as a young, public health practitioner to build something in the community and create programs and services that improve the health, over all of these years, to millions of people. And that vision of St. John’s is what moves me today because this church has been a haven, and a a beacon of life, for so many years….
“In these times, as things get more difficult,” Mangia said, “we have to stand up and make sure that we can protect communities as we are…. So, we’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep serving. We’re going to keep partnering, and we’re going to keep true to our legacy. The Episcopal Diocese, this Episcopal Church, St. John’s, created an organization that is saving millions of lives, and gives purpose and meaning to me, and to so many other staff members. It’s really been an honor. Thank you so much.”
