Dean Penny Bridges to Retire
As Dean Penny Bridges prepares to retire after more than a decade of leadership, St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral reflects on a transformative season of renewed visibility, growth, and public engagement in the heart of San Diego. Since arriving as dean in 2014, Dean Penny has helped modernize cathedral systems, expand digital ministry, strengthen interfaith relationships, and position St. Paul’s as both a spiritual home and a civic gathering place for the wider community.
Under her leadership, the cathedral became widely recognized for its “Light Up the Cathedral” ministry, launched in 2015 with a public rainbow illumination tied to San Diego Pride. The project transformed the cathedral’s exterior into a visible public witness of welcome, solidarity, and prayer. Through its lighting displays, the cathedral has stood alongside San Diego’s LGBTQ+ community and many others during moments of celebration and civic significance across the city.
Dean Penny has also helped oversee significant growth and development on the cathedral campus, including major property redevelopment initiatives designed to support
the cathedral’s long-term ministry and presence in Bankers Hill. Alongside these efforts, she has continued investing deeply in the cathedral’s nationally recognized music program. Most recently, the cathedral celebrated the opening of the new Music Center, further strengthening St. Paul’s commitment to sacred music, concerts, chorister formation, and the arts as central to the cathedral’s ministry and outreach.
Bishop Susan Brown Snook said, “Dean Penny has helped St. Paul’s Cathedral become a visible example of God’s love in the heart of San Diego. Her ministry has been marked by creativity, compassion, and a deep commitment to public witness. Through seasons of challenge and change, she has led with grace and vision, strengthening the cathedral’s role as a place where all people know they are welcomed and beloved.”
Throughout her tenure, Dean Penny has consistently emphasized that a cathedral should serve not only the church, but the whole city around it.
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Dean Penny has been an incredible leader of St. Paul’s Cathedral, strengthening and growing the church in myriad ways. She is an inspiring example of true leadership, moving the Cathedral forward and outward into the community, while shepherding many positive changes to the physical building, from the renovated chapel, to the newly accessible chancel and reconfigure-able chairs in the nave, to the lights outside, the beautiful new campus buildings, and the magnificent Music Center. Meanwhile, she models compassion, care for our neighbors, and connecting with the wider community. She has transformed St. Paul’s into a truly engaged and thriving congregation. We are deeply grateful to her!