Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles today encompasses 65,000 Episcopalians in some 135 congregations and ministry centers located in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Served by some 400 clergy, the diocese also includes some 40 Episcopal schools and 10 social service and chaplaincy institutions.
The historic cathedra of the Bishop of Los Angeles and original chair of the Bishop Suffragan of Los Angeles journeyed Oct. 18, 2019 to St. John’s Cathedral, taking their places near the high altar after 25 years in Echo Park at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul, now St. Paul’s Commons.
St. John’s is the fourth location of the chairs, which were custom made for St. Paul’s Cathedral on Figueroa Street, residing there from 1924 until 1980, when earthquake damage led to demolition of the buildings. The chairs were then displayed at the former Diocesan House from 1980 to 1994.
Hand-carved by an actor who portrayed Christ in Germany’s world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play, the cathedra’s upper panels depict scenes of the apostles and Christ in action, including a rendering of St. Paul being freed from jail by an earthquake. The cathedra also features inlaid wood dating from the year 1070 and once part of England’s Winchester Cathedral.
Transfer of the cathedra and suffragan’s chair was welcomed by vestry action of the cathedral parish at the invitation of Bishop Diocesan John Harvey Taylor. Transfer by O & H Moving was overseen by Canon Luis Garibay, St. Paul’s Commons building supervisor, and Canon for Common Life Bob Williams.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Antonio José Gallardo Lucena was elected eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on November 8, 2025, by clergy and lay delegates to Diocesan Convention meeting in Riverside, California. Having received consents from the bishops and standing committees of the dioceses of The Episcopal Church, he was ordained and consecrated to the episcopate on July 11, 2026, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California. For his ministry as bishop he has chosen the theme “In the Spirit of Love and Truth / En El Espíritu de Amor y Verdad.”
Bishop Gallardo L., 59, was most recently rector of St. Luke’s / San Lucas Episcopal Church in Long Beach, serving the parish from February 2022 to April 2026. Previously, from 2019 to 2022 he was priest-in-charge and then vicar of St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church in La Crescenta, and from 2015 to 2019 served as pastor for Latino ministries at All Saints, Pasadena. From 2020 to 2024 he facilitated the diocesan group of clergy serving Latino-Hispanic communities.
A native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Bishop Gallardo L. is the first Latino to be elected bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
Read more at the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles website.
The people behind St. John’s Cathedral who sustain our community.
