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The Rt. Rev. Barry Leigh Beisner was elected the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California on May 6, 2006. He was ordained and consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor on September 30, 2006. He became Bishop of Northern California on January 1, 2007.
Bishop Beisner was born in Dayton, Ohio on June 5, 1951. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1973, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received the Master of Divinity degree in 1978 from The Church Divinity School of the Pacific, the Master of Sacred Theology degree from The General Theological Seminary in 1994, and the degree of Doctor of Divinity from The General Theological Seminary in 2007.
He was ordained to the diaconate in 1978 and to the priesthood in 1979 in the Diocese of California.
He served as Assistant to the Rector at St. Stephen’s in San Luis Obispo, California from 1978-1979 and as Vicar of St. Paul’s in Cambria, California from 1978-1980. Concurrently, he was a chaplain at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. From 1980-1983, he was the Associate Rector of St. Mark’s in Upper Arlington, Ohio; he also co-led a new church plant in a neighboring community of Dublin. He returned to California to serve as Rector of The Church of the Incarnation, San Francisco from 1983-1989. He next served as Rector of St. Martin’s in Davis from 1989-2002. While there, he was instrumental in founding Davis Community Meals, helping to feed and house the community’s poor. He was a Field Education Supervisor and Lecturer in Pastoral and Practical Theology with the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and a Chaplain for the Clergy Leadership Project. He also served as an Army Reserve Chaplain.
He was named Canon to the Ordinary to Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Diocese of Northern California in 2002, and took on responsibility for congregational development, transition ministry, clergy support and development, and shared ministry in a geographically widespread and demographically diverse diocese.
He currently serves as Chair of The Episcopal Church’s Board for Transition Ministry, President of the Province VIII Court of Review, member of the Board of Directors of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and member of the Council of Advice of Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers. He is also a member of Bishops Working for a Just World and Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem, and of the Board of Anglican Theological Review.
Bishop Beisner has been married to The Rev. L. Ann Hallisey since 1998, and together they have six grown children.
The Rev. Anne Largent Smith has always been a churchgoer but didn't discover the Episcopal Church until 1999. She's been at home there ever since. She went through the discernment process with St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley, in the Diocese of California. She received her MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, also in Berkeley, in 2010, and was ordained deacon and priest the same year. Her undergraduate degree is in English, and her professional work prior to seminary was in editing.
Anne serves the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California as a member of the Board of Trustees, the Commission for Intercultural Ministries, and the Bishop Transition Committee.
Anne is a little crafty with knitting needles and a sewing machine, and she loves her Zumba classes! Other hobbies include accumulating books, visiting museums, crosswords, and indulging her predilection for non-fiction reading and twenty-five-cent words. She has lived in California most of her life, with sojourns in Maryland, DC, and Oregon. Anne now resides in Elk Grove with her husband, Keith, and their two daughters, Kate and Zoey. Anne's husband Keith is a professor of political science at the University of the Pacific.
But what do we call her?
Anne answers to Reverend Anne, Father Anne, Mother Anne, and Pastor Anne, but she is happy to be called just Anne.
I was born on June 10, 1934 in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. I entered in the Roman Seminary and I stayed there for five years of study, then transferred to the Philippine Independent Church.
On November 24, 1957, I was ordained to the priesthood. I was assigned by the Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Manuel Apostol as a missionary to the Diocese of Ilocos Sur, Abra and La Union, Philippines. After three years of missionary work, I served as parish rector in two different parishes in the Diocese of the Second District of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. I spent three years in the Parish of Banna, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. For nine years I served the parish of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, Currinao, Ilocos Norte, Philippines.
I immigrated to the United States of America, Sacramento, California on July 24, 1969. In 1975 I became a naturalized American Citizen. On November 17, 1971, I presented myself to the Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California, the Rt. Rev. Clarence R. Haden, Jr., as a priest of the Philippine Independent Church, a sister church of the Episcopal Church. He granted me the license to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and preach. I served under the vicarship of the Rev. Barry Williams in the Church of our Merciful Savior, Sacramento.
On June 22, 1999, the Rt. Rev. Jerry A. Lamb formally recognized my ministry at St. Mary's Episcopal Church parish and also my transfer to the church in the United States.
My family and I are so happy and grateful that I can help in one way or the other in the growth and success of the church for God's honor and glory.
-Father Restituto "Roy" Coloma
First of all, I wish to thank the community of St. Mary’s for accepting me into their community after being Rector of All Saint’s in Sacramento where I left in my 50’s when a brain injury of 12 years ago started to act up. It was caused by a 104 degree fever which caused a certain part of the brain to shut down and thus after all that time the pension fund helped me decide that I need to leave as a full time Rector.
I was born in Providence. Yes, I am a Yankee, but I don’t act like most Yankees. I am however an avid Red Sox supporter and in 2004, the year my father died, they won the World Series the first time since 1918. I was overwhelmed when the curse of Babe Ruth trade to the N.Y. Yankees was always with them…..so the New York Yankees thought and my father got to see his team win which he never thought he would witness.
I went to Seminary in Rochester, New York at the University of Rochester interfaith Seminary and was ordained a priest on June 2, 1979. I then finally went back to school with the Bishops encouragement and graduated with my Doctor of Ministry in 1995. (I would never suggest anyone going back to the university after a long time from the time you graduate.)
I was Youth Ministry Director for the Diocese of St. Louis, Missouri after being received into the Episcopal Church from the Roman Church. Then I was called to be Rector of St. Alban’s in Providence, Rhode Island and was there for over 6 years. I was then called to Tulsa, Oklahoma with a congregation of about 700 people until 2000 (yes tornado alley, which scared me each time I saw a black cloud) and this is where I had the brain injury while under doctor care for over 4 weeks and they were never sure what caused it because I am ”never” sick”. After a period of recovery I was elected to the smaller congregation of All Saint’s, Sacramento which was smaller and the right size for me to manage. I retired in 2006 with the pension blessing and then this is when I arrived at St. Mary’s since I live in Elk Grove and Father Ray Hess wanted some help and I gladly accepted his offer
It is a pleasure to serve you here but when you don’t see me I am also a supply priest for other parishes of this Diocese, who need a priest because of vacation and other reasons.
- The Rev. Dr. Raymond Potter