Bishop-Elect Can Call on Diverse Past

On his office wall near mementos of his ordination and photos of church leaders, the next Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles has a plaque for saving a fellow policeman’s life.

The Very Rev. J. Jon Bruno says he keeps it there to remind him where he’s been--and where he’s going as he prepares to lead 85,000 Episcopalians in six Southern California counties.

Bruno, who was elected to the top Los Angeles Diocese job Saturday, tries to use an unorthodox past to his advantage.

Raised a Roman Catholic and twice married, he earned a license in criminology from Cal State Long Beach and a master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary.

He briefly was a pro football center who knocked over opposing linemen for the Denver Broncos. He spent several years helping manage a French restaurant, where he concocted such dishes as French-style Chinese salads. He worked six years on patrol as a Burbank police officer.

It was there in the early 1970s that Bruno saved another officer’s life during a fatal shootout with a kidnapping suspect.

“I was policeman of the year for killing someone,” Bruno said as he pointed Sunday afternoon to the Optimist Club plaque on the wall of his Echo Park church office.

“The suspect took a shot at me and missed. Then he fired at my partner. I took a 12-gauge shotgun and shot him.”

Bruno’s unusual background is often reflected in his church work. Family members say that no matter what career path he took, he always had a strong spiritual nature.

As a pastor, he was instrumental in helping persuade the diocese to move its headquarters to what then was one of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods, Echo Park. He serves as the police chaplain for the city’s most problem-plagued police officers, those of the Rampart Division.

In a position where most clerics tend to be quiet, contemplative scholars, Bruno, an East Los Angeles native who lives in Pasadena, is an energetic, outgoing ex-athlete.

At 6 feet 4 inches and 279 pounds, the 52-year-old father of two is almost at his old Denver Broncos weight. But now he’s poised to tackle social issues as he takes over the diocese.

In the past, Bruno has called for the Episcopal church to be an “agent of healing and reconciliation” that can help the region balance its diversity with residents’ common goals.

Bruno’s election came on the eighth ballot after he was nominated from the floor. His victory left some veteran Episcopal leaders mulling the impact of such grass-roots power in the church.

He will assume his new duties when the current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, retires.

During the two sermons he preached Sunday morning at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Echo Park, Bruno acknowledged shock at his election.

“I had to get up this morning and check the [church] Web site just to make sure it was real,” he said. “It’s going to take all of you working with me to take charge of your souls. I am incapable of doing this job without the grace of God.”

He hinted that changes could be ahead. As he often does, Bruno reached into one of his past lives to help illustrate what he meant.

Bruno worked in the mid-1980s as a manager at Taix, the Sunset Boulevard restaurant owned by his sister and brother-in-law, Toni and Raymond Taix.

“This little French guy I’d known for years was a prophet for my life,” Bruno told the congregation, explaining that the man persuaded him that if you don’t take risks you don’t accomplish anything.

Churchgoers who lined up to sign a poster congratulating Bruno on his election said they welcome his approach.

Longtime member Marlene Coleman Huss of Los Angeles said Bruno’s outgoing personality is in keeping with what she described as “the renaissance of Los Angeles.”

“Jon’s the right guy at the right time,” Huss said.

“I’d count on the Episcopal church being more visible under him,” said Pat Reinman, a Monterey Park resident.

Others voiced hope that the church will grow under Bruno’s leadership. On Sunday, it got its start.

Sixteen-year-old Sean O’Reilly-Jones showed up, fulfilling a promise to his father that he would resume his childhood habit of attending church if Bruno became bishop.

“He’s such a great guy. He’s done so many things. He’s someone you can admire,” said Sean, of Hancock Park.