Priest in Charge
Father Brendon Helms
Father Brendon Helms
Father Brendon Helms is a graduate of Appalachian State University in Boone, North
Carolina where he completed his B.S. in History, Secondary Education. He completed his
Master of Arts in both Biblical Studies (2010) and Philosophy (2015) at Southern Evangelical
Seminary in Matthews, NC.
Professionally he is a financial advisor. In the past he has worked as a high school
history teacher, a Youth Pastor for two different churches, and an Instructional Designer at
Southern Evangelical Seminary. Brendon was also the Co-founder of Ratio Christi, an
international apologetics ministry to college students.
Brendon and his wife Elizabeth live in Concord, NC with their children.
Father Helms was ordained a Deacon by Bishop Thomas Gordon of the Orthodox
Anglican Church on May 22, 2021 and a Priest on June 5, 2022. On July 31, 2025 he was
ordained a Priest, sub conditione by Bishop William Bower of the Anglican Church of America.
His Episcopal motto "Dominus illuminatio mea" (The Lord is my light) is taken from the opening words of Psalm 27 and is the used by the University of Oxford as its motto. It reminds us that only in Christ do we have the light of salvation. In the light of Christ, we shall not be afraid of anything.
The Right Reverend William Bower, SSC was elected to be the bishop suffragan of the Diocese of the West of the Anglican Church in America at its Synod in September 2020 and was consecrated on July 10, 2021. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1964, where he attended grade school through high school. It was during this period that he was a member of the Grammy A ward winning Atlanta Boy Choir and was part of a student exchange program with the Vienna Boys Choir. In his teen years he relocated with his family to the Los Angeles area where he finished high school and met the love of his life, Sabrina Thai, whom he married in 1984.
He attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) on an Army scholarship and received a Reserve commission in 1985. In 1986 he founded Contemporary Information Corporation, a data company, in Santa Clarita, California. As a bi-vocational clergyman, he continues to work full time at his secular employment as well as being engaged in pastoral ministry.
After being ordained both deacon and priest in a noncanonical old calendar Orthodox jurisdiction, Bishop Bower moved his congregation into the Orthodox Church in America. In 1997 he completed the Late Vocations Program and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Tikhon (Fitzgerald). He attended St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary from 1997 - 2000. He was incardinated in the Anglican Church in America in July of 2000 and assigned to St. Mary of the Angels parish in Hollywood, California, where he participated in the St. Mary's Theological College. In 2002 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop James Gordon Stewart. In 2001 Bishop Bower began a degree by research program with the University of Oxford, and in 2013 was awarded the degree of Master of Philosophy specializing in Theology.
Bishop Bower was the founding rector of the parish of St. Columba in Lancaster, California which he served from 2002-2013. From 2014 until 2019 he assisted at two Anglican parishes in Atlanta, Georgia. In July 2019 he began filling in at St. Mary of the Angels parish and was assigned as Locum Tenens in August of that year. He has faithfully served St. Mary of the Angels for two years providing pastoral leadership to guide the parish through a crisis period into stability including finding and training a permanent parish priest.
He has served as Canon to the Ordinary for three diocesan bishops, has been a member of almost every diocesan committee, and is a long-term member of the Societas Sanctae Crucis (Society of the Holy Cross).
Bishop Bower and his wife Sabrina have four adult children, Rebecca, Ian, Catherine, and Julia. When not engaged by secular or church work, they enjoy spending time boating in coastal South Carolina or on the Suwannee River in Florida.
We Are a Biblical Church
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inerrant and infallible Word of God, and that they contain all doctrine necessary for salvation.
While there are a great many worthwhile translations of the Holy Bible, the texts that are authorized for use in our parishes are the King James Version (KJV). Other translations are used frequently for Bible study and other purposes as approved by the Bishop Ordinary.
We Are a Sacramental Church
The Anglican Catholic Church regards the two Gospel Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as being 'necessary to salvation'. Five other Sacraments including: Confirmation, Penance, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Holy Unction complete the primary seven Sacraments of the undivided Church.
We Are a Liturgical Church
Our churches worship God using the timeless services of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the American or Anglican Missals. Both of these have texts that go back to the very earliest liturgies of the Christian tradition. Other service booklets or texts, such as the "Traditional St. Augustine Prayerbook", are used as approved by the Bishop Ordinary. The primary authorized hymnal is the "1940 Hymnal of the Episcopal Church". "Hymns Ancient and Modern" is also used upon approval. Other musical texts are also widely used to enhance our classical Anglican worship.
We Are a Creedal Church
“I believe in one God…” so begins the Nicene Creed. The Anglican Catholic Church accepts the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed as succinct summaries of the Christian faith. The statements made in these creeds are both our personal and corporate expression of our faith.
We Are An Apostolic Church
The Anglican Catholic Church maintains the three major catholic orders of deacon, priest, and bishop. Our bishops are consecrated within the historic apostolic succession that traces back to the original Apostles of Jesus Christ.
In addition to the major orders, we uphold the minor orders of reader and subdeacon as well as the ancient lay vocation of deaconesses. These minor orders are not ordained but are “called and set apart” lay ministries for the good of the Church.
We Are A Timeless Church
From our faith to our governance of the Church, we haven’t changed much over the two millennia history of the Church. Our worship services are timeless and our focus on the Holy Scriptures set us apart as the antidote for the struggles and foolishness of modern society.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Hebrews 13:8