Pastor Ann moved to Paradise with her husband, Linn Brownmiller, and their seven-year-old son, Victor, on May 1, 2006. Ann was ordained on February 4, 1999, at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Mountain View, California. Before coming to St. Nicholas', she previously served for six years as assistant priest at St. Edward's Episcopal Church in San Jose, California.


Ann is also licensed as an LMFT (Licensed Marriage Family Therapist).  She had a private practice for fifteen years in San Jose. Her areas of specialty are addictions of all kinds, codependency, couples counseling, grief counseling, and depression. She is especially gifted in the area of combining spiritual growth with psychological and emotional healing.


Ann grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in San Jose. She attended Santa Clara University for her Masters in Counseling Psychology from 1983-1987. When she discerned a clear call to the priesthood at age 29, she transferred to the Episcopal Church. She went to seminary at the GTU (Graduate Theological Union) in Berkeley, CA from 1992-1997.

     
Ann has a passion for healing and for spreading the gospel to all ages. She was hired specifically at St. Nicholas' to revitalize the congregation. In the Episcopal tradition, this is also called "congregation redevelopment". Redevelopment means that a current model of church is no longer vibrant. The redevelopment process includes: 

-  establishing a biblical basis for the focus of
   the church, 

-  ministering to the pastoral needs of the
   current members of the church, 

-  learning what the needs of the immediate
   neighborhood are and focusing 

-  the mission of the church on meeting their
   physical needs. 

Redevelopment in 2008 means working together as thebody of Christ to understand what the postmodern or mostly unchurched (folks ages 0-40) need and to discover new models of church to meet their needs. 

    
For the past fifteen years, Ann has helped individuals, couples, families and church congregations move from unhealthy dynamics to healthy and vibrant relationships and communities.


She loves music, family life, singing, movies, exercise and cooking for others.