Meet Diane, Our September Chaplain
The Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce was elected seventh bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on December 4, 2009, after having served 10 years as rector of St. Clement’s by-the-Sea Church in San Clemente, California. The first woman to be elected bishop in diocesan history, she was ordained to the episcopate on May 15, 2010.
From December 2021 to May 2025 she was Bishop Provisional in the Diocese of West Missouri, after which she retired. Retirement was postponed after 6 months as she became the Interim Dean and President of the Seminary of the Southwest located in Austin Texas on January 1, 2026, a post she will hold through the end of the year.
During her time as Bishop Suffragan in Los Angeles Bishop Bruce’s areas of specialization included New Community Ministry (formerly known as multicultural ministries), stewardship, and oversight of the congregations in the southern and northern areas of the Diocese.
Bishop Bruce became rector of the San Clemente parish in 2000. She was previously associate rector of the Church of the Messiah, Santa Ana, California. Prior to ordination she served Wells Fargo Bank as vice president, compensation management and analysis. She was employed by Wells Fargo (formerly Crocker Bank) in various capacities from 1980 through 1997.
Ordained a priest in 1998 in the Diocese of Los Angeles, Bishop Bruce speaks Spanish, Mandarin and some Cantonese as well as English. She holds a doctoral degree from Seabury-Western Seminary as well as a Master of Divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology and a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley.
A native of Pequannock, New Jersey, Bishop Bruce is married to G. Stephen (Steve) Bruce, a spiritual director. The Bruce’s have two adult children and four grandsons.
