I'm a member of St John's Episcopal Church in Oakland (Montclair) and it's a great community. Services are similar to Catholic services, so will probably be familiar to you, but the Church is less strict: anyone can take communian, there is no confession with a priest, we have women priests/pastors and our priests/pastors can be married, divorced, have kids, etc. No birth control ban, gays and lesbians are welcome (you probably remember the hubub when the gay bishop was ordained a few years ago.)

The Bishop of our diocese, the Diocese of California (which encompases most of Northen California,) is a wonderful, progressive man with great visions for the future of the church and religion in general (unfortunately he's retiring in a little more than a year.) He established the United Religions Initiative with the hope to help break down religious barriers across the world and have religious leaders work together to help end social and world problems (read more at www.uri.com) The Episcopal Church (especially in California) is one of the more progressive churches out there. Everyone is welcome to come to and particiapte in services, even if they are not Episcopal or even Christian. The church works for peace around the world and in our own communities.

Our particular church (St John's) has very active fellowship: coffee hour after service, sunday school (starting at age 3, there is a nursery for younger children), confirmation programs, and an active youth group (which was a godsend to me in high school) There are also mid-week services, an annual weekend parish retreat up at a ranch in Napa that the Diocese owns, and other events (the youth group holds a biannual auction/dinner to raise money which is a blast. Big pancake supper to kick off lent every year, and adult study groups. It's a great group of people, lots of families with children. you can read more about St John's at: http://www.stjohnsoakland.org/ and the diocese of California at: www.diocal.org (there also is a church directory here that lists all of the Episcopal churches in the diocese by city, (you don't mention where you live))

The Episcopal church is a great place, and a great community to be a part of.

If you want to talk further, feel free to e-mail me. Elizabeth