Clergy & Staff

The Rev. Dr. Rachel Anne Nyback is rector at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach. She has served St. Cross since her ordination in 2004. She was the associate for family ministry and rector-elect. She has been rector since 2010. She enjoys working with the clergy and staff to build a team that supports the many ministries of the parish they serve. St. Cross is a lay-lead parish and she sees a main focus of her ministry to be sustaining lay leadership for current ministries while encouraging new leaders and ministries when the Spirit calls forth a new ministry. She teaches through her preaching, her pastoral care and her care for the parishioners of St. Cross. She is constantly challenging her congregation about where they can be active in the wider South Bay community and not just within the parish community.

Rachel’s love of ministry come from the combination of two of her passions: Jesus and people. Not matter where Rachel lands, she enjoys making new friendships, hearing peoples’ stories, and sharing the love of Jesus Christ through relationship. She has lived and worshiped in Massachusetts, Paris, Kuwait and Virginia. Each parish helped form her into the priest she is today though the multicultural experiences of worship in foreign countries with many nationalities worshiping together in common prayer, and in other parts of the United States which gave perspectives very different than that of Southern California.

In the Diocese of Los Angeles Rachel has served on the Program Group on Stewardship, the Program Group on Youth (as a youth and a young adult), and on the Standing Committee, currently as the representative to the Commission on Ministry. She is active in two clergy groups and also is part of a weekly sermon workshop with four seminary classmates.

Before following her call to priesthood, Rachel was a fifth grade teacher in Southern California public schools and in Kuwait. She received her MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2004 and her DMin from VTS in 2015. She benefited greatly in her first years of ordination as a participant in the Lily Foundation First Three Years program, which seeks to form newly ordained priests in healthy practices that will sustain them throughout the lifetime of their ministries. This program along with her passion for teaching formed her doctoral thesis on best practices for the formation of newly ordained priests. Currently, she is in charge of the supporting the mentors for the mentoring program for newly ordained priests in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and has served as a consultant on this topic in other dioceses.

Rachel is a child of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Born in Long Beach, baptized at St. Timothy’s, Compton and raised at St. Paul’s, Pomona (both congregations served by her father who is also a priest). In her free time she loves to read, cook for friends and family, embroider (which you will often see her doing at convention while listening) and go camping in the summer. She cannot decide if she loves the beach, mountains, valleys, or desert the best, as it all depends on where she is at the moment.

Patti Angelo was ordained in 2017 to the Sacred Order of Deacons. She and her family have been members of St. Cross since 1997. Following four years of Education for Ministry at St. Cross, she pursued her interest in Religious Studies at Cal State Long Beach. Patti discovered her passion for chaplaincy after serving as an intern at Long Beach Memorial/Miller’s Children’s Hospital. This led her to pursue her M.Div with an emphasis in Interfaith Chaplaincy at Claremont School of Theology, which she received in 2016, and to complete three units of Clinical Pastoral Education at different Southern California hospitals. She also studied at Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological Seminary at Claremont, receiving her Certificate in Diaconal Studies in 2016. Patti’s ministry includes serving at the altar, preaching, teaching, as well as pastoral case both within and outside the church.

This is my 62nd year of my life as a Christian that started at St. Cross. I was baptized, confirmed, and sponsored for ordination from this wonderful St. Cross community and my sons were baptized and confirmed here too. I served as a public school teacher for 24 years and spent my last seven years as the principal at the same high school in which I taught.

I retired to answer the call to serve as the rector at neighboring Christ Church in Redondo Beach and after 15 years of serving there, I retired in November of 2015. I am married to Madelyn Rosen and we have three children: Ben, Matt, and Ariana. We have a Granddaughter, Alex and a soon to be born second Grandchild.

I am ever thankful to Rachel for inviting me to come back to St. Cross and to help as I can. It is very good to be back home. Thank you for your kind welcome.