(This page is "under construction", but it has been made public to make the information it contains more widely available. Some details may be wrong.)

General information

The congregations of the San Luis Obispo Deanery jointly sponsor groups for junior and senior high school students, using the youth ministry programs "Rite-13" and "J2A".

Rite-13 and J2A are both part of the Journey to Adulthood program

New York Times article about the origin of Rite-13

Many of our deanery's youth go on diocesan youth mission trips organized by the Sierra Service Project. John Hammerlund wrote an article about his experience this summer on pages 5-6 of St. Ben's Sep-Oct newsletter

Anna Foote and Berkeley Johnson are the mentors for the Rite 13 group, and Father Matt Conrad and Neita Oates are the mentors for the J2A group. Leann Brooks coordinates (and often leads) youth mission and recreational trips for the diocese. All five of these wonderful folks have many years of experience working with the youth of the Episcopal Church.

Anna Foote led the Rite 13 program last year with her husband, Jim Foote, in gratitude for the wonderful experience their son Henry had when he was part of the program two years ago.  Anna has been a middle school teacher and has been involved with St. James’ Church leadership.  She moved to the Sacramento area this past summer, but has vowed to continue to come down for the Rite-13 meetings because she believes the program to be vital to the spiritual development and encouragement of our deanery youth.  Berkeley Johnson has a long resume of church youth leadership experience and is currently Chaplain of the deanery's "Canterbury ministry" for youth and young adults.  He will bring his wisdom and pastoral experience to the group.  He is very committed to the Rite-13 program and is excited about the year coming up. He joins Anna as co-leader for this year.

Father Matt Conrad is Rector (pastor) of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atascadero. Neita Oates has many years of experience working with children and youth. She has been active in youth work for more than a decade and for six years was the Minister for Children and Families at St Barnabas, Arroyo Grande. Neita has served on the diocesan Commission for Children and Youth, and has played a key role in organising and leading youth programs both locally and for the diocese. She is now the full-time director of the Happy Time Preschool in Pismo Beach.

Leann Brooks, a retired computer geek, received the Bishop's Cross at the 2008 diocesan convention in recognition of her many years of service to the diocese's youth. She got started leading youth trips when her own children wanted to go on one. She is very active with and a former member of the board of Sierra Service Project, an interdenominational Christian organization which organizes mission trips for church youth groups.

The Deanery's youth programs are coordinated by a Deanery Youth Board. Current members are Stephanie Brazil (St. Barnabas'), Leann Brooks (St. Luke's), Fr. Matt Conrad (St. Luke's), Anna Foote, Diana Hammerlund (St. Benedict's), Berkeley Johnson (Canterbury chaplain), Neita Oates, and Kathleen Pennington (St. Stephen's).


Middle School Program for September 2009 – June 2010

The Deanery middle school youth group, RITE 13, begins its second year of the two-year program. The RITE 13 program currently has 7 young people from around the deanery, both boys and girls

The Rite 13 group gets together once a month, meeting at the designated church in the morning to attend morning worship and coffee hour together; after lunch (provided by the parish) the teens then meet for about 3 hours for lessons and discussion. The lessons are centered in scripture, church traditions and personal reflection with the creation of community within the group at the core of the program goals. They return to their homes about 4 pm.

The current schedule for church visits and Rite 13 meetings is as follows:


High School Program for September 2009 – June 2010

The Deanery high school youth group, J2A, follows a schedule of monthly meetings which is similar to that of the Rite 13 program, listed above. Many months the J2A and Rite-13 groups meet on the same day at the same parish. [Your friendly web reporter, Rob Ross, is working on getting more complete information.]