Pronouns:  He/Him/His

Max came to Canada in 2007 from New Jersey to study Library and Information Science at the University of Toronto. He intended to return home after finishing his library degree, but God had other plans. Max responded to a call to return to church while working as a librarian at Upper Canada College and so began his journey toward rediscovering his faith and love of Jesus while attending St John’s York Mills Anglican Church (SJYM). Max spent ten years at SJYM serving in lay ministry and church leadership and eventually decided to pursue God’s call to bi-vocational ministry. He is currently the librarian for East Asian Studies at the Royal Ontario Museum as well as an adjunct professor at UofT, where he teaches courses on comic books, book history, and cataloguing. In May 2020, Max graduated with a Master of Divinity from Wycliffe College where he enjoyed taking classes in Church history, preaching, and Biblical Greek. He was ordained a deacon at St. James Cathedral on May 1, 2022 and began his curacy at St John's on August 1, 2022. He was ordained a priest at St. John the Evangelist on March 26, 2023.  Max has a passion for inter-faith dialogue, preaching, and teaching. He is grateful to be serving at St. John the Evangelist and to be working with the congregations of the Rice Lake Regional Ministry. Together with his wife Anne, a minister in the United Church of Canada, they have three children: Eleanor, Rufino, and Catherine.

Pronouns:  She/Her/Hers

Ruth is a retired priest who is active in leading and participating in worship.  She facilitates the Journey Group at St John's and provides pastoral care to the congregation.  She is a trained spiritual director and can provide this ministry to parishioners upon request.

Pronouns:  She/Her/Hers

Mary is passionate about the Good News of Jesus Christ, and helping others to grow more deeply in their spiritual life.  She was raised Roman Catholic, and did her theological studies at the University of St. Michael’s College, graduating with a Master of Divinity in 1991.  After working as a chaplain, Mary joined the Anglican Church in 1993 and was ordained as a priest in 1996.  Mary is particularly interested in discovering new ways to connect with people who aren’t presently connected with a church community.  If you have some ideas about this, she would love to hear from you.

Mary loves leading Bible and and book studies and working with Biblical Storytellers who bring the scriptures to life.  Mary is an inspirational preacher and loves to teach and work collaboratively with others.  Mary and her husband Daniel have 3 adult children and 2 young grandsons.  They live in the country with their two horses, two donkeys and two cats.

Pronouns:  He/Him/His

Steve worked for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in a number of positions for 29 years before feeling the call to ordained ministry.  He graduated in 2002 with a Master of Divinity from Wycliffe College, Toronto.  His parish ministry was in the Parish of Cavan/Manvers for three years and the Parish of St Luke the Evangelist in Peterborough for nine years before retiring in 2015.  Now Steve finds himself back in the parish he worshipped in before ordination.  When he is not acting as an interim priest-in-charge in parishes in times of transition, he and his wife (of more than 40 years!) Barbara worship with us and Steve provides liturgical coverage during clergy absences.  They have four sons and four grandchildren.

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Before studying music at York University in Toronto, Robert studied locally in his hometown of Port Hope, where his first position as an organist was at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church. Since then, he has been the organist at Harmony United Church, Oshawa; organist-choirmaster at St Mark’s Anglican Church, Port Hope; Music Director at Wexford Heights United Church, Scarborough; and Minister of Music at Trinity United Church, Peterborough. Robert received his Service-Playing Diploma, and later, his Colleague’s Degree from the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO), winning scholarships on both occasions for the highest marks in Canada in those years. He was one of the founding members of the Northumberland Centre of the RCCO, and served for several years as the centre’s president. For many years, Robert has been a piano, organ and theory teacher, as well as a free-lance accompanist. He has also had a long relationship with the Oriana Singers of Northumberland, as a chorister, music director for two years, and currently, as accompanist and composer-in-residence. He was also the accompanist for the Upper Canada Boy Choir for two years. For many years now, Robert’s best-loved hobby has been composition. His choral works have been sung by the choirs of St Mark’s, Cobourg’s MusicMakers choir, the Oriana Singers, the Woodstock Fanshawe Singers, and the Trinity United Church choir. His larger works include the 1997 cantata “Music for a Saintly Celebration”; a set of “Seasonal Prayers” for choir, which were sung throughout 2000 at St Mark’s as Robert’s special Millennium project; and the “Advent Antiphons,” a large-scale work for divided choir, organ and handbells, sung by the Oriana Singers in 2000. In 2005, he was commissioned to write three pieces for the Oriana Singers: “The Vine,” and “Arbor Amoris” for choir and piano and “The Paradise of God” for unaccompanied choir. A few years later, he was jointly commissioned by the Concert Band of Cobourg and the Oriana Singers to write a piece for choir and band, entitled “Variations on ‘Wondrous Love’".

Pronouns:  She/Her/Hers

The Churchwardens and the Incumbent comprise the Corporation of the Parish.  The Wardens are responsible for the oversight of all lay parish staff, finances, and care of the buildings.  With the Incumbent, they are the decision-making officers of the parish.

Jennifer is the fourth generation of her family to attend St. John's.  She grew up in the choir, attending the Toronto Diocesan Choir School for Girls for 15 years.  She has been a lay member of Diocesan Synod as both youth member and adult.  She was a member of the Servers' Guild as a youth, rang the bells for weddings and services, and now participates as a reader and refreshment host.  Jennifer worked as both an Applications and Business Analyst for 20 years with three different global corporations.   She was also on the executive board of the Ottawa Classical Choir and condominium while living in Ottawa.  Jennifer currently teaches business computer applications at Sir Sandford Fleming College.  Jennifer brings with her business knowledge, leadership skills, as well as a love for the church, its parishioners and the Peterborough community.

Pronouns:  He/Him/His

The Churchwardens and the Incumbent comprise the Corporation of the Parish.  The Wardens are responsible for the oversight of all lay parish staff, finances, and care of the buildings.  With the Incumbent, they are the decision-making officers of the parish.

Jim came to St John's in 2018 when the parish amalgamated with St Barnabas' Church.  Previously, Jim served in a variety of leadership roles in St George's, Oshawa, and the Diocese of Toronto.  He is retired from a career as an accountant and delights in living in Peterborough with his wife Sherry.

Pronouns:  He/Him/His

The Deputy Churchwarden is a link from the congregation to the Corporation and attends corporation meetings to provide advice.

Andrew Vreugdenhil and his family joined St John's in 2001. Since then he has enjoyed participating in the St John's community as a bible study participant, Sunday School leader, Church Warden, Shrove Tuesday pancake flipper and as one of the founding members of the St John's canoe outing club. Currently, he enjoys serving as one of the people helping to live-stream the Sunday morning liturgy from the nave. An aspect of life at St John's that Andrew appreciates is the informal support and caring in the parish. Each year, the parish evolves and changes but a constant aspect of the community is its caring.

Pronouns:  She/Her/Hers

Carolyn Porteous as the parish administrator is responsible for all the secretarial duties of the Church as well as co-ordinating all the space rentals and room usage, a crucial task for the busy parish. For general information, Carolyn is a great person to call or email.

Email the Parish Administrator