St, James Catholic Church - Pastor

This Sunday, I attended St. James Catholic Church, and played in their guitar mass. Since I regularly attend at St. James, this time I will write about their wonderful pastor, Fr. Michael Culligan.

Many stereotypes of Catholic priests present an Irishman with a rich brogue. Father Michael more than meets this meets this image, as he was born in Ireland, attended seminary there at All Hallows Seminary, has a musical brogue to match none, and a love of life and his Lord Jesus.

Pastor Culligan served in various capacities throughout Northern California till he was appointed as the pastor at St. James in 1984, where he has now served for more than 25 years, is at home, and has many wonderful friends.

I love it every time I see Michael. He has a musical tone in his talk, almost a dance in his feet, a kind word to say, and usually something wonderful to impart.

First Presbyterian Church - Polity

This Sunday, I broke my usual routine of visiting another church, and returned to attend First Presbyterian. I did so because they were holding a congregation meeting immediately after the church service, and since I am a member there, I wanted to attend it, participate, and vote.

Various churches and denominations have various forms of church government (called polity). Presbyterians are governed by elders (presbuteros in Greek) elected by the congregation. In Presbyterian churches most of the elders are lay elders (called ruling elders) while the pastor is also an elder (called the teaching elder). They call the Elders the Session (instead of the Board of Elders). The elders and the deacons make up the officers of the church. (The picture to the top left is a picture of the 2010 officers for First Presbyterian.)

Anyway, the Session called this special meeting of the Congregation to consider their motion to dissolve the relationship with pastor, Dave Weidlich, and approve a severance package for him. It followed his resignation. Any such motion usually brings up strong emotions, and they were present at the meeting. However, the meeting was orderly, everyone got to have their say, and a vote was held. I am sad to say the Congregation approved dissolving the relationship, and Pastor Dave will last preach at First Presbyterian on May 15, and then seek where else the Lord will lead him. (You can read Pastor Dave's Goodbye Letter.) This makes me sad. However, I was overall glad about the process, and look forward to see how the Lord leads Dave and how he leads First Presbyterian.

Good Friday (and Easter)

Though I went to church this Easter at First Presbyterian, what I want to talk about is Good Friday, one of the major Christian holidays. City Ministries of Petaluma, an association of 12 Petaluma chuches, sponsored a joint Good Friday service at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church, but jointly led both by it and St. John's Anglican Church, who focused on Stations of the Cross, a tradition familiar to Catholics, and some Anglicans, but not with most other Protestants.

The tradition of the Stations of the Cross originated in pilgrimages to Jerusalem, along the Via Dolorosa (the Way of Sorrows), but began as a chapel devotion with St. Francis of Assi, and expanded from there, especially in the Roman Catholic Church.

What I found interesting was observing this tradition in a Baptist church, with Christians from various denominations, or non-denominations. While the Anglicans were in the lead, the Baptist pastor of Valley Baptist, Tom Markum, joined in alternatively leading the readings, meditations, and other aspects of observing this tradition, and the Christians from several churches (and denominations) joined in observing it and in reciting the congregational responses as part of the liturgy in this tradition. It abode well for my spirit to observe and participate in this ecumenical observance of an old tradition of the church in a Protestant/Evangelical church, especially with Baptists, who usually do not observe any such traditions.

After the first hour of the stations of the Cross, the Anglicans continued the service for a second hour on the Message of the Cross, and then for a third hour on the Veneration of the Cross. I remained for all three hours. It was quite an experience in an old tradition of observing Good Friday.

Soveriegn Grace Community Church

This Sunday (April 17th) I visited Soveriegn Grace Community Church. They meet at the site of Bernard Eldridge Elementary School (which has shut down) at 217 Maria Drive. They are a new church, having formed in October of 2010, and currently have about 40 in attendance. However, the pastor and many members are from Petaluma Community Church which used to meet at the Seventh Day Adventist church building (since the SDA didn't use it on Sundays). That church closed down, but the pastor and many members wanted to continue on in a new church.

The Pastor, Kevin Kirby, is a graduate of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He also directs The Biblical Counseling Center of Sonoma County, which is connected with the church, and which shares office space with the church at the site. He is an adjunct professor at a bible college in Walnut Creek where he teaches biblical counseling.

The church affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention. They participate in a church planting program through the SBC. However, the church sees itself rooted in the Calvinist Baptist tradition, reaching back to the Reformation, and looks to the First and Second London Confessions in 1646 and 1689, respectively.

While there, I met a friend from a long time ago, Kathleen Morgan (Kathleen Belton), whom I used to know at Church of the Open Door. It was a joy to see her and catch up. She told me she was very happy with her new church and their level of Bible teaching.

First Presbyterian Church - Local History

I attended First Presbyterian on Sunday (4/10). Since I wrote about their pastor last time, I will write about their local history this time. The church first met at Derby's Hall, on Main Street (now Petaluma Blvd. N.) and Washington on July 22, 1883 where the Rev. J.S. McDonald gave the first sermon. Before long, the church built its original church building on 4th Street, near the Carnegie Library (now the Petaluma Historical Museum) - just to north of it.

By the 1960s, the church was ready for a new building, and began construction at its current location at 935 B Street. The new building was completed in 1963, and the old church building was demolished. The new church building had a very tall steeple. However, the tall steeple was plagued with problems from the beginning, and was replaced later with a shorter steeple. In the meantime, additional facilities were added so that the church now has a fellowship hall with a fireside room, a counseling center for Hope Counseling, a building for offices, and a building to house its Happy Day Presbyterian School (preschool). You can find out more about its history at this link.

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church

I visited St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church on Sunday (April 3rd) at 35 Liberty Street. (Most Petalumans just call it St. Vincent's.) It's the church for the parish for West Petaluma. (St. James for East Petaluma.)

The most fascinating aspect of this church is the art and architecture of the building itself - the first shovel was pushed On April 20, 1926, and the building completed in 1928. (The previous church building was sold to Elim Lutheran Church.) Leo J. Devlin designed it in a Spanish Romaesque style during the height of the California Mission Revival Period.

The interior almost takes your breath away with 3 rose windows, 16 art glass windowns, an alter made of bottocino classico marble (a creamy white stone), various marble throughout, pews made of solid oak, all in a spacious building that holds between 800 and 1000. I was particluarly struck by the columns in the church made of marble of a creamy color and which spiral with deeper colors. The interior bespeaks of an emphasis on art and creativity.

The pastor, Father Gary Lombardi, leads the large congregation (of about 2400 families, about half Spanish speaking) - and has done so since 1994. He is from Southern California, and served as the assistant pastor at St. Vincent's from 1973-1977. He serves as an Affiliate Member of the Community Health Foundation of Greater Petaluma.

St. John's Anglican Church

I visited St. John's Anglican Church this Sunday (March 27) which meets at the Luccessi Community Center at 320 N. McDowell (with a Traditional service at 8:30, and a Contemporary service at 10:30 - I went to the 10:30 service). Though the service is liturgical, the setting is informal. This is because they broke with the Episcopalian denomination a few years back and lost their beautiful church building at 40 Fifth Street (after arbitration with the denomination). They (along with many other conservative Episcopalians) broke with the denomination over the promotion to bishop of an openly homosexual priest (the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, though many other issues had long been a source of contention between conservative and liberal Episcopalians for many years).

Anyway, most members followed the conservative pastor/priest, David Miller, to the community center, though the church seeks another building. David Miller, at one time used to be a hippie guru before converting to Christ and his Episcopal upbringing. The church has an average attendance of around 200 between both services.

Anglicans/Episcopals trace their roots back to when King Henry VIII of England broke with Rome in order to annul the marriage to his wife with whom he had no child. Their history sways back and forth between Catholic and Protestant traditions, though mostly leaning towards the latter. After the American Revolution, it was not PC to be part of the Church of England, so the churches in America became the Episcopal Church with ties to the Anglican Communion. The Anglo-Catholic movement during the latter 19th and early 20th Century brought a resurgence in Catholic tradition. These days, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between a Catholic or Episcopal/Anglican service.

Anyway, I have known this community for sometime who ardently prayed for me while I literally laid on my deathbed a number of years ago, and they always hold a special place in my heart.  I am always encouraged when I visit them.