Hello! I am Johnnie…

I was born in the San Fernando Valley of California and consider myself a dyed in the wool Valley boy. I went to elementary and junior high school just blocks from Mission San Fernando Rey de España and graduated from the Van Nuys High School Performing Arts Magnet program. I also spent a significant amount of time in the Santa Clarita Valley as well, as I was incredibly close to my grandmother and would spend as much time as humanly possible visiting!

The arts are incredibly important to me as both a person and as a minister. It was a junior high school counselor who placed me in my first theatre arts class, and I was hooked! Now in my spare time I am president of a nonprofit theatre reenactment troupe that performs at various renaissance faires and charity events, as well as teaching through living theatre at schools when requested. I love to act, I love to sing, and I feel that there is beauty and solemnity in the arts that can be tapped for worship.  It’s why I am also currently working on a Doctor of Ministry in Arts and Theology.

I currently live in Sunnyvale, CA with my husband of ten years René, and my 25-year-old son Geordyn. We share our home with two very precocious animals, Rukia (a medium-haired tortoiseshell cat) and a white Pomeranian named Polyphemus. My husband works as a Site Supervisor for Canon in Palo Alto, and my son is a Manager-in-Training at the local Boudin Bakery (known for their original sour dough bread).

Jack of All Trades

I have a lot of hobbies, including reading, writing, and sewing. I design, create, tailor and embellish all of my own garments for my reenactments, as well as those of my son and the members of my troupe. While I love a good mystery, suspense or fantasy novel, I am a sucker for a good romance! I also love movies and have a small obsession with all things Disney, Harry Potter, and Dr. Who. Trips to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, camping, and faire are all spiritual retreats, sewing and machine embroidery are part of my spiritual practice.

The Rev. Johnnie Bloom-Ramirez

I can’t say that I have always wanted to become a minister. In fact, I rebelled against it. I never thought that it would be possible for me as a queer human to actually become a minister – as I had only seen or been shown Christian ministers. I didn’t grow up with a good experience with Christianity.

When I was small, I started wanting to become a fashion or costume designer. Reality versus fantasy forced me to take a stronger look at that for the long term, and I ultimately realized that while I love designing and making garments, I hate the idea of it becoming a business or a way of life for me. Instead, I tried focusing on English, theatre, and dance – things that I felt that I was good at. I had planned to become a teacher, and chose initially to double-major in English and Theatre, minor in Dance. I had hoped to become a theatre teacher, and thought that having dance as well would help me produce musicals with the kids that I taught.

Life has a funny way of changing your perspective. I became enamored with Art History, which in itself was steeped in religious iconography, but was forever changed with a course on the Anthropology of Religion, which led me to Wicca, the Craft, and Paganism in general. I realized that my desire for spirituality was not being met, and set out to meet it with exploration and experimentation.

I eventually found a teacher, we formed a circle, and I remained active in my local Pagan community for 13 years. I was ordained as a High Priest in my circle, but I still felt something was missing. I was nominally involved in interfaith work through Covenant of the Goddess, an international Wiccan/Witch organization, and I serve both as Second Officer of my local council and nationally as Recorder (secretary – with less than great results). I was a member of the Antelope Valley Interfaith Choir, and I was chair of our local pagan meetup group in the Santa Clarita Valley. I realized that I thrived in community, but again, something was missing.

The economic collapse forced a move for my family from our home in Canyon Country to the Inland Empire. Here I felt isolated and after my divorce, started to want to do more with my faith to broaden it. It wasn’t until after my divorce and a subsequent move to Anaheim that I discovered the Unitarian Universalist Church there. It was here I discovered a community that was passionate, accepting and incredibly liberal. The seven principles aligned with my personal ethics, and the open embracing of the six sources was pure enlightenment! Here I felt welcome to embrace my Paganism, but also explore other faiths and ways of thinking as a path to spiritual nourishment and enlightenment. It was here I felt the call to a deeper engagement of this faith.

My call to ministry was a subtle as an anvil dropped on my head. I had graduated with my undergraduate degree and was at a loss as to my next steps. For various reasons, I did not see my career progressing the way I had envisioned at Disneyland. I loved my job, but was frustrated at the lack of pay, poor union representation, and a misclassification of my job title and duties. I wanted to make a change. I had a vision: I saw myself as a minister, both in the pulpit but also active with the community. I toyed with the idea of professional ministry but balked at the idea of returning to school for another degree, mostly for financial reasons. I am a firm believer in fate and providence, however. I looked at several schools but was gently nudged by my minister Rev. Karen Stoyanoff toward Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, IL. The stars aligned, and due to Karen’s generosity and guidance I took my first class at Meadville Lombard and was hooked! I applied and was accepted to Meadville just before my wedding to my husband Rene.

In 2018 I graduated Meadville, and honestly was not in the best of places. The Ministerial Fellowship Committee informed me that they saw a passion for ministry in me, but that I needed more work. I pondered that for a while, preaching occasionally when I could as pulpit supply, until the pandemic closed my job. I saw it as a sign to do more. I applied and was accepted to a residency at the University of San Francisco Medical Center. It was a life-changing and incredible experience. I learned about who I was as a human being and what my potential was a minister.

I was invited to Preliminary Fellowship in the Unitarian Universalist denomination in February of 2023, and was co-ordained by Tapestry: A Unitarian Universalist Congregation, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Anaheim on August 5, 2023. I chose that date because it was the closest to my beloved grandmother Vickey Peters’ birthday.

So, now I am serving the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sunnyvale as a part-time Contract Minister. This new community is a small, family-sized, and ready to grow into the urban-sized community I know that they are meant to be. Mostly made up of Silicon Valley engineers and area professionals, this Fellowship challenges me in unexpected and exciting ways. It’s the perfect place to begin what I hope will be a long career.