I am very pleased to announce the appointment of the Rev. Janet A. Tunnell to the position of Associate Rector of St. John’s Parish, succeeding the late Mother Alice Sadler. In this position, Janet will be assisting me in all areas of parish ministry but will be focusing primarily on our ministries of pastoral care and outreach.
Janet was born and raised Catholic in Aurora, Illinois, and moved to Tampa to attend USF in 1995. Her first career was as a fisheries biologist for the State of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg where she worked mostly as a lab manager, but spent many summer days out on the water. Before heading to seminary, she and her husband Mike were both active members at St. Anne of Grace in Seminole. They returned to St. Pete after Janet graduated from Seminary of the Southwest in Austin in May 2013. Since then, she has been the Associate Rector at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Snell Isle in St. Petersburg. In that time she has found joy in loving and serving in all aspects of priestly ministry, from the most trying times to the most intimate.
Janet has been married for sixteen years – no kids, two cats. Her husband, Mike, is a native Floridian, cradle Episcopalian, a diehard UM fan, and works as a real estate photographer. They both love to travel, they love the outdoors, and they enjoy music, good food, and celebrating life. They feel blessed and filled with excitement as they begin this new chapter of life at St. John’s.
Janet will begin her work here in St. John’s later this summer. I know you will join me in keeping her in your prayers and wishing her all good things in this new season of service to Jesus Christ as a Priest in his Church.
