Woman Named L.A. Episcopal Chief of Staff
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The Rev. Canon Anne Sutherland Howard has become the first woman to serve as chief of staff in the 98-year history of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
Howard, 40, of Santa Barbara, was appointed to the post by the Rt. Rev. Frederick Borsch, bishop of the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
As chief of staff, Howard, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1989, will oversee diocesan programs affecting 85,000 parishioners in 148 congregations, 450 clergy, 39 schools, 10 major institutions, including a hospital and retirement homes, and a 40-person diocesan staff. Her official title is canon to the ordinary. “Ordinary” is an ancient term for a bishop who heads a diocese.
Howard and her husband, Randall, a physician, have one son. She holds a master’s degree in Christian ethics from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., and a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara. Before she entered the priesthood, she was a reporter for the Pasadena Star-News.
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