Senior Chaplain
The Rev. Luis Leon retired as Rector of St. John’s Church Lafayette Square in Washington, DC in 2018 after 24 years of service. His specialty was building inner city parishes through spiritual leadership, preaching, and outreach that involved parish members in community service. Luis was nationally sought after to teach courses in parish building and stewardship.
Luis began his spiritual journey when he was baptized into the Episcopal Church in Guantánamo, Cuba. In 1961, he came to the United States as part of the “Peter Pan” flights out of Cuba, joining thousands of children whose parents, at that time in history, feared for their future in Cuba. Luis was 11 years old when he arrived in the U.S., and was supported by the Episcopal Church in Miami.
Luis attended the University of the South, and graduated in 1971. He received a Masters in Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1977 and in 1999 was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of the South.
Luis and his wife, Lu, have two grown children, Emilia and Sofia. Luis is an avid Baltimore Orioles fan and, when working, never lived more than a day’s trip from Camden Yards.
Chaplain
Geoffrey Michael St. John Hoare is a retired Episcopal priest who lives in Wilmington NC
Geoffrey has deep experience in parish ministry, having served St. Alban’s Church in Washington DC, All Saints’, Atlanta GA and St. Paul’s in Alexandria VA He started his ministry as Deacon and Priest at Christ Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Along the way he has also taught parish ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He currently has a coaching practice, primarily for clergy. (www.clergycoachingllc.com)
A native of the United Kingdom, Geoffrey is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. He read theology at Magdalene College, Cambridge and has a Master of Sacred Theology degree (STM) from the Yale Divinity School. He is married to Sage Hoare and they share four adult children. He enjoys cooking and golf, music and reading.
Past St. Ann’s Chaplains
St. Ann’s has been fortunate to have eminent leaders serve as Chaplain. The very first was The Rev. George J. Prescott.
The Rev. Charles L. Short served from 1896-1901. During the 1920s, The Rt. Rev. John P. Tyler, Bishop of North Dakota, shared services with The Rt. Rev. Benjamin Brewster, Bishop of Maine, and The Rev. Dr. Percy E. Edrop.
The Very Rev. Chester Emerson, Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, OH, served St. Ann’s from 1942 – 1962. The Rev. Dr. Laman Bruner from Albany, NY enjoyed the longest tenure at St. Ann’s; he served from 1963 – 1989.
In 1985, Fr. Bruner began to share services with The Rt. Rev. John Maury Allin, 23rd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Bishop Allin was then Chaplain-in-Charge until 1995.
In 1993, The Very Rev. M.L. Agnew, Dean of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Shreveport, LA began sharing services with Bishop Allin. He became Chaplain-in-Charge when Bishop Allin retired in 1995.
In 2002, The Rev. Dr. Peter G. Cheney began sharing services with Dean Agnew, and continued to do that until 2015 when he became the sole Chaplain at St. Ann’s.
In 2020, The Rev. Dr. Luis León began to share services with Fr. Cheney. They did that until Fr. Cheney retired in August, 2022.