St. John’s Episcopal Church in Clearwater has called the Rev. Alicia Anderson Gomes as their Priest-in-Charge beginning on Monday, August 3. She will celebrate her first service on Sunday, August 10. She shared the following letter with the congregation upon the announcement as priest of the church.
I am delighted to have been called as the Priest-in-Charge of St. John’s Episcopal Church. I first learned about St. John’s about two months ago, and as I got to know the parish, I realized how aligned its mission and goals are with my own. St. John’s is open, inclusive, and spiritually energetic. On the day of my first in-person interview, the campus was filled with volunteers and people from the community – just a typical day at St. John’s! On the way home, I listened to the Daily Office recording and the day’s Gospel reading was from Matthew 25:
“ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me… Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”
St. John’s is truly doing the Lord’s work, and I am honored and grateful to have been called here. I try to always keep in mind this line from the liturgy for the ordination of a priest: “In all that you do, you are to nourish Christ’s people from the riches of his grace, and strengthen them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come.” Over the coming months, we will develop many goals together for the short-term and long-term benefit of the parish, but I will remember this charge as my ultimate responsibility to you.
I grew up Episcopalian in Memphis, Tennessee. I had the first inklings of a call to ordained ministry at a young age and became highly involved in the life of the church as a teenager. I attended Millsaps College, a small liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi, where I earned a BA in History with a minor in Education and a minor in The Faith and Work Initiative (Religious Studies and Philosophy) as a Lilly Fellow. My M.Div. is from Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. In the years between college and seminary, I worked at a nonprofit organization in Memphis.
After seminary, I did a year of Clinical Pastoral Education, or as I like to think of it, “pastoral care bootcamp.” In this role, I served as a Chaplain Resident for a hospital system in Austin. In 2022, I was called as the Assistant Priest and School Chaplain at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and Day School in Tampa, where I have served until now. As the first school chaplain in over twenty years, I greatly strengthened the school’s Episcopal identity and started and led several programs for both church and school. Additionally, I led the church through a five-month period last year when we were without a rector or priest-in-charge. I will miss the children and families at St. Mary’s, but I am so excited for the opportunity to lead St. John’s, and I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.
In my free time, I enjoy reading, going for walks, visiting our beautiful Gulf beaches, and traveling to visit family and friends. My husband, Charles, and I try to take an international trip every year, and our most recent trip to Japan was our favorite so far. I have planned entire vacations around art museums as my parents did when I was growing up. Lately, I have gotten into taking cooking classes and attempting to learn Portuguese.