Clergy
The Right Reverend Lucinda Ashby, Bishop
Trinity Cathedral is the seat of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. The Right Rev. Lucinda Beth Ashby is the fourth bishop of the Diocese and was ordained and consecrated as bishop on January 11, 2020. Exploring New Church is a significant part of Bishop Lucinda’s vision for our Diocese. Being New Church means being mobile, adaptive, and relevant. It calls us to travel light, being mindful of what is essential for our ministry and mission; stay in balance, taking into account the beauty and grounding of our tradition while exploring what is creative and innovative; having the courage to be lost, being brave enough to step forward even when especially when we don’t have all the answers. Being New Church is about walking a faithful path of pilgrimage, trusting in God, and taking each step with those we meet along The Way. (Learn more about being New Church.)
Bishop Lucinda’s life pre-ordination gave her a perfect background to lead our Diocese. She taught Spanish and music in grades 7-12 and was Head of School for a private school in Sacramento. She also founded and built a school for Native Americans in Capay Valley, Calif. While in seminary, she served as Chaplain at St. Michael’s Episcopal Day School in Carmichael, Calif. Ashby grew up in Peru and northern New Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. She and her husband, Bob McEvilly, share two dogs, Charli and Sammi, along with three grown children who reside in California with their spouses.
The Reverend Filemón Díaz, Canon for Leadership Development
Father Filemón was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and was ordained in 1997. He moved to the United States in 2006, along with his wife and children (Nancy, Nancy Jr., Diego, and Sebastian) to work with various non-profit organizations helping the Latino community in the Los Angeles area. In 2012 he was invited to collaborate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in the development of Latino missions, and in 2014 he received a call to reestablish a Latino congregation in Denver. Says Filemón: “It was an exciting experience, a place that gave me the opportunity to reaffirm my call to serve others in the example of Christ.”
In 2018 he was invited to serve as a mission developer in the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, in the King City area, encompassing all of South Monterey County. He enjoyed the support of the diocesan team, which gave him the opportunity to plant a new Latino church in the area, serving a large immigrant community, and also three Anglo congregations. “Through it,” Filemón says, “I learned a lot about the Episcopal Church, its leadership, its deep spirituality, its great sense of service and its special interest in opening the doors to all people, especially in the Latino community.” Father Filemón was received into the Episcopal Church in 2023.
The Reverend Dr. Bertram Nagarajah, Deacon
The Reverend Dr. Bertram Nagarajah is a volunteer jail chaplain at the Elmwood jail in San Jose and a volunteer hospital chaplain at Kaiser Hospital in Fremont. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and a Bachelor of Diaconal Studies from the School for Deacons in Berkeley, California. He is an electrical engineer by training and holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Information Technology.
Deacon Bertram is passionate about the well-being of homeless and marginalized people in the community. His emphasis is the ministry of presence, where we walk and accompany people on their life’s journey. His spiritual life is founded in prayer and worship, the source of strength and power to do God’s work here on earth.
The Reverend Joel Miller, Associate Clergy
Father Joel was ordained to the priesthood in 1999. He served as the rector of St. Francis Church in Turlock, California, from 2000 to 2006 and of Calvary Church in Santa Cruz, California, from 2006 to 2016. At various times since 2016, he has served as an interim priest, first at Emanuel Church in Geneva, Switzerland, and later at St. Luke’s Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He currently works with unhoused people in Santa Cruz and has done so for many years.
Father Joel now serves as a supply priest at Trinity Cathedral's Villages Community in San Jose. Joel is also a certified Core Transformation life coach. Prior to his ordination, Joel served in churches in France, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Sweden over a 17-year span from 1980 to 1997.
The Reverend Anna Lange-Soto, Associate Clergy
Madre Anna was born in Arizona, bordering Sonora, Mexico. With family and friends on both sides of the border, she grew up bilingual and bicultural, trying to integrate differences in life and expressions of faith. She joined Trinity Cathedral around 1990. She helped found the Spanish-speaking congregation at Trinity Cathedral and re-start the campus ministry at San Jose State University. The Diocese of El Camino Real ordained her to the priesthood in 1998. In her ministry in Latino communities in the Diocese of California, she developed some of the early online tools used by Episcopal Latino ministries and others, including a complete bilingual Sunday lectionary, service booklets, and immigration information and resources. Madre Anna is now retired from full-time ministry and serving again at Trinity Cathedral, mostly with Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
Staff
Adrien Cotta, Canon Director of Music
Adrien Cotta has a Classics degree from Oxford University and a Master’s degree in music from the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied piano with John Barstow (who taught Barry Douglas) for six years. He has played organ at churches since the age of nine and accompanies the San Jose Symphonic Choir. He works for Vialto Partners, formerly part of PwC, where he advises companies and individuals on their global mobility needs. He has lived in Silicon Valley since 2006, after moving from London, England.
Shane Patrick Connolly, Canon for Administration
Shane Patrick Connolly has been, since 1997, a communicant of Trinity Cathedral, where he volunteers as cantor, carillonneur, and choir member. He is a native of Central New York and has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Cum Laude) and an MBA in Accounting from the University at Buffalo (State University of New York). He was Chief of Staff for District 10 Councilmember Johnny Khamis for both of his 4-year terms, preceded by two years as a council staffer for District 1 Councilmember Pete Constant. Prior to Shane Patrick's public service, he served in progressively responsible accounting positions for a Fortune-500 paper-based packaging producer, including as Business Unit Controller for multiple facilities comprising a $180 million business unit.
2024 Cathedral Annual Meeting materials
View the materials (slides and video) from our most recent cathedral annual meeting.
