Who we are
St. Dunstan’s is a growing, active, and gregarious Episcopal parish in the Diocese of El Camino Real within the worldwide Anglican Communion. We are located on the spectacularly beautiful Central Coast of California in Mid-Carmel Valley, six miles east of California Highway 1 and Carmel-By-The-Sea, about eight miles from the Pacific Ocean.
St. Dunstan’s is known for warm hospitality and service to the community outside our church walls. We celebrate God’s diverse creation and strive to build an inclusive community that welcomes everyone, no matter age, gender, sexual identity, culture, ethnicity, economic status, or ability.
If you just want to spend some quiet time with God, we welcome you. If you’ve been away from the Church and want to give it another try, we welcome you. If you want to dive right into the activities of a busy church, we welcome you and will help you to get involved. Whether you are a visitor passing us momentarily or are considering joining us, we invite you to explore the life and work of this faithful and dedicated church family. Pray with us. Serve with us. Laugh with us.
Everyone needs a place
We hope you find yours here
Here is a place that is ancient and new, a faith that we hold going back to Jesus, back to his spiritual ancestors, back to those who walked the earth and found holy ground. And what we do is often based on really ancient patterns—worship and music; loving service to the poor, the hurting, the lonely; working for justice and peace; lively, fearless education and formation of minds and souls. And that faith is also completely contemporary, engaged in the culture and the needs of the moment.
Our Beginning
St. Dunstan’s originated as a mission church. Like so many congregations with humble origins, its members met in borrowed community facilities, sitting on folding metal chairs in the company of a buzzing Coke machine. It was 1955.
The fledgling church was named for St. Dunstan, so honored because Dunstan was an illuminator, musician and silversmith-jewelry maker, and Carmel Valley is noted as a center for the arts. It remained a mission church for the next 14 years, when it became self-sufficient. The exciting prospect of building a church for St. Dunstan’s became a reality when construction began in 1962. In the years since, the campus has expanded to include multi-purpose spaces, offices, a kitchen, a Montessori school and playground, a columbarium, and a labyrinth. The crown jewel of the sanctuary was set with the 2015 installation of Opus 94, a magnificent pipe organ designed and built especially for St. Dunstan’s.
St. Dunstan’s is older than the diocese to which it belongs. The Diocese of El Camino Real was part of the Diocese of California until 1980. It is named after the Spanish colonial road that ran from Mexico City to Oregon. The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real is as vibrant and diverse as the region it serves. The diocese spans 42 congregations across five counties: Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo. (Learn more at realepiscopal.org)
You must be logged in to post a comment.