Who We Are

San Jose, "the capital of Silicon Valley," is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area. Trinity Cathedral's downtown neighborhood showcases both high-tech wealth and acute need. We strive to shine as a beacon of grace and hope, and we warmly celebrate our parish's diversity across socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, ability, religious upbringing, political affiliation, and language (información en Español).

As members of the Episcopal Church, we seek to center our lives on Jesus Christ and to follow him into loving, liberating, and life-giving relationship with God, each other, and creation. Trinity Cathedral is the seat of the bishop for the Diocese of El Camino Real, currently the Right Reverend Lucinda Ashby. Our diocese includes about forty parishes in Silicon Valley and on the central California coast, stretching from Palo Alto to San Luis Obispo. We are committed to serving as a gathering place and seat of learning for the diocese.

Trinity Cathedral is a place of worship, contemplation, and action. Our choir and musicians, readers, intercessors, crucifers, acolytes, altar guild volunteers, and ushers assist the clergy in glorifying God through weekly Sunday worship. The cathedral also offers common prayer, online or in-person, every day of the week. Our children and families ministry, young adult ministry, theology seminar/reading group, and other educational offerings enrich the mind and open the heart. Our ministries of service provide food and necessities to our unhoused neighbors and put the gospel into action in other ways. Volunteers called to serve God and neighbor will always find a valued place at Trinity Cathedral!

Dedicated to worship in 1863, Trinity Cathedral is the oldest church building in continuous use in San Jose and the oldest Episcopal cathedral church in California. Our church’s beautiful and lovingly maintained “carpenter gothic” architecture and stained glass windows have inspired generations of worshippers and provided a glorious venue for innumerable weddings, funerals, concerts, and community events. Founders of the parish include modern-day saints Peter Williams Cassey and Annie Besant Cassey. The building was designed by John W. Hammond, a retired sea captain and ship builder, and visitors often compare the interior of its steep hipped wooden roof to the hull of a ship. The comparison is apt. Over the course of our 160-year history, waves of change and challenge have sometimes tossed the boat to and fro! Yet by God’s grace we continue our voyage, together peering deeply into the ocean of divine love revealed in Christ.

Although our cathedral parish is historic, we are a people who look to the future. We listen for the ways in which the Holy Spirit speaks to us in our twenty-first century context. We strive to make our parish and community more inclusive. Undeterred by struggle, we ever seek to serve the Kingdom of God. Join us.

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