Leadership
Diocese of San Joaquin, Anglican Church in North America
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Eric Vawter Menees
Bishop, Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin
We are a part of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin based in Fresno and led by its bishop, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Eric Vawter Menees. The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin is a member of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), led by its College of Bishops and its Archbishop, The Most Rev. Steven D. Wood. ACNA also belongs to GAFCON, a global movement within the Anglican Communion which represents the majority of all Anglicans. GAFCON recognizes the ACNA as a province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Born in Compton, California, Bishop Eric Menees is a tenth-generation Los Angelino. Bishop Menees graduated from the General Theological Seminary with an M.Div and from Seabury Western Theological Seminary with a D.Min.
After his ordination, Bishop Menees served Spanish-speaking congregations in East Los Angeles and Santa Ana within the Diocese of Los Angeles. He then joined the Diocese of San Diego, where he served as chaplain at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, California, and later as vicar and ultimately rector of Grace Church in San Marcos. In 2011, Bishop Menees was elected by God’s grace as the fifth bishop of San Joaquin, succeeding Bishop John David Schofield. Bishop Menees currently serves as the bishop for Caminemos Juntos, the ACNA’s Spanish language ministry support network. He also leads the Border Bishops’ Conference, working to evangelize and plant churches in Mexico, and acts as the ACNA representative to both the Anglican Province of South America and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In addition, Bishop Menees is President of Forward in Faith North America, which describes itself as “the catholic voice of Anglicanism in North America.”
Our Vestry and Senior Warden
The practical affairs of St. John’s Anglican are directed by a Vestry comprised of five elected lay persons. The Senior Warden, who chairs the Vestry, is Dr. Graham Walker. Dr. Walker also serves as primary liturgist for our services, except when Bishop Menees comes to lead us in person or when we welcome a priest, once each month, from elsewhere in our Diocese to officiate at a complete Holy Communion service.
Senior Warden Dr. Graham Walker is a licensed Lay Reader and Lay Eucharistic Minister in the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. Dr. Walker formerly served as Lay Pastor of Waterford Anglican Fellowship in the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, where he also served on the Standing Committee and was elected as a member of the Provincial Council convened at the ACNA Provincial Assembly of 2013.
After graduate study in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Walker earned the Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. Born in Berkeley, California, he is the seventh generation of his family rooted in the San Francisco area.