User:Resurrectionph/sandbox

Church of the Resurrection - Pleasant Hill, CA

Church of the Resurrection is located on Gregory Lane in Pleasant Hill, California. It is a member church of the Episcopal Diocese of California. It was formed as an Episcopal mission on July 1, 1959 and the vicar was the Reverend Richard Shackell. Church of the Resurrection became a parish on March 16, 1967.

Because there was no church building, the congregation met at the Pleasant Hill Bowling Alley and later met at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Pleasant Hill during the construction of Resurrection’s church building. Many members of the congregation volunteered in the building of the new church. The first church services in the new building were held on March 3, 1962. This was a service of Holy Communion for those who were working on the church. The church building was officially dedicated on April 29, 1962 by the Bishop of the Diocese of California, the Right Reverend James A. Pike.

The church building was designed by the Ratcliff Architects, the oldest architectural firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. The firm was founded by Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr., in 1906. His father was an Anglican minister. Ratcliff Architects designed several of the buildings on “Holy Hill” in Berkeley. The design of the Church of the Resurrection building is noted for the bell-curve vault of its wood-paneled sanctuary.

However, the Ratcliff Architect's plans intended that the new redwood building, with soaring curved arches, would serve eventually as the Parish Hall, and a second building with a high spired roof would serve as the church. Instead, the second building, completed in 2004, is the Parish Hall, and the original building has been reconfigured as the church. In 2009, Church of the Resurrection celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. From its beginning, Church of the Resurrection has had only three rectors: the Reverend Richard Shackell (vicar 1959 – 1967, rector 1967 – 1976) and received his master’s degree from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, the Reverend Ronald Atwood (1977 – 1984) and received his master’s degree from Nashotah House, and the Reverend Bruce Smith (1987 – present) and received his master’s degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. During the period between 1984 and 1987, four interim priests served Resurrection: the Reverend Robert Howell, the Reverend John Archer, the Reverend George Foxworthy, and the Reverend Fran Toy.