New Pastor: The Rev. Dr. John Bodo
Westhope gets a pastor--at least temporarily
By Shari Kaplan
The Rev. Dr. John Bodo has noticed his three favorite things--preaching, teaching and writing--form something of a trinity. It's no surprise he makes that comparison, as Bodo has been a Christian minister for much of his life.
Although retired for years, he returned to the pulpit this November to serve as Temporary Supply at Westhope Church in Saratoga. The title refers to a pastor or minister who leads a Presbyterian congregation when its regular leader is no longer there. In this case, that person is the Rev. Dr. David "Dave" Hansen, who left Westhope this summer.
Between then and now, Bodo says, Westhope invited various ministers in the community to lead worship services as "pulpit guests." Sometimes congregation members also served. After Bodo's third reprise as guest, the church administration decided they wanted to keep him.
That suited Bodo fine. Although Presbyterianism was founded in Scotland and Bodo is a native of Budapest, Hungary, he realized early on in his spiritual path that he identified with this Protestant denomination.
"The theology of the Reformed Church in Hungary and the Presbyterian Church in America are very similar," he says. "I like the intellectual draw of it--you can worship God with your mind as well as your heart."
From 1938 to 1940, Bodo exercised his intellect by majoring in Protestant theology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Along with untangling the red tape necessary to immigrate to the United States, he also earned a diploma from the Institut Superior de Musique Geneve, a Swiss music conservatory where he studied cello.
"The idea of being useful to people appealed to me, but I didn't yet have an adult understanding of what it entailed," he says of his early religious studies.
By the end of 1940, Bodo and his parents had settled in New York. He completed his bachelor's of divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary in June 1942 and was ordained that October. Two years later, he earned his master's of theology from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.
"I didn't have a lightning conversion; I kind of grew into it," he says of his decision to join the ministry. I realized I had gifts with language, and speaking and being upfront."
The first place Bodo used those gifts was Wolff Presbyterian Church in Newark, N.J. After several years, he took time off to pursue a doctorate in church history. In early 1951, while finishing his dissertation, he joined the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, first as Stated Supply (one up from Temporary Supply), then as pastor--a position he held through mid-1959.
Over the years, Bodo's career path brought him many titles, including professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary, chaplain and professor at Macalester College in Minnesota and pastor at the Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California's oldest surviving Protestant congregation.
Even after his formal retirement in 1985, Bodo--who now lives in Mountain View with his wife, Mary--held several Interim Pastor positions in different states and got involved in Christian adult education and writings. On and off, he also revisited his musical studies and played cello with other musicians in small performances.
"What I like best is preaching, teaching and writing," he says of his long career. "I hope I've been useful to people by clarifying how they look at their faith."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
