By John Hayden
“I’m boring.” That was the warning Peggy Brereton gave me when we sat down to talk. Low key? Perhaps. Boring? Definitely not.
As we sat down to talk, the sun beamed through the stained glass windows of Sunshine Cathedral where she serves as head usher. She has called Sunshine home since coming to South Florida in 2009. She came here after the end of a twenty year relationship and in the midst of a fight with alcohol.
At Sunshine, she found hope, healing, and family. “I’m 14 years sober. I had used alcohol for self-medication, and she had had enough of me.” But when she makes up her mind to do something, she commits. In Alcoholics Anonymous, AA, you get a white chip on your first day of sobriety. Most collect several white chips on their journey. Brereton has one. “I came and did recovery here.”
“When I came here, I was hearing everything I needed to hear [spiritually]. I’ve always known I am gay and figured if I have to go to hell, I’ll go to hell. That’s the way I am.”
The staff and congregation offered her emotional support. “I cried my whole first year because I was so broken.” They also put her to work. “They were needing ushers and I figured I might as well.”
“I’m here for everything.” Though Brereton’s only been head usher for two years, she knows every nook and cranny on the campus. She’s painted, cleaned bathrooms, vacuums the sanctuary, and arranges the sanctuary before and after each service. Her focus is laser-like. I offered to come between Sunday services (9am and 10:30am) but there is too much to do.
Instead, we met in the quiet of a Sunday afternoon when everyone had cleared out.
“Each service, I make sure everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to do: being nice to people. Everybody knows my name. I don’t know everybody else’s.”
Ready For Anything
Being Head Usher isn’t an honorary title, it comes with responsibilities that may have been unimaginable a generation ago. On a recent Sunday, a man came during a Sunday service and tried to disrupt proceedings. Eventually he tried setting a fire outside the front doors.
“I was told to go to the back, and a guy had a bag and burnt some paper. He started burning things and yelling stuff. I had people come inside and made sure we took a picture of him and the car.”
The man left but later returned and egged the church. While he may be harmless, threats to the world’s largest queer church are very real. “I know everything that’s going on in here. I’m walking around and the staff will text me if they see someone who looks iffy.” There are many security measures in place and the staff has gone through extensive training. “We’re pretty much always on guard.”
Love All
“Our congregation is very open to new people. We make them feel welcome.” Brereton embodies the spirit and mission of Sunshine Cathedral, which is to welcome all.
“If we see somebody new, we send someone out to talk to them. We had a blind man here today. He’s been here about five weeks now. We helped him through the service, get him in the Tops van. He doesn’t feel welcome everywhere.”
But it’s not just the congregants that get her attention. “I have kittens. I bottle feed and tame them,” she said. She works with the Humane Society to rescue cats, helping trap, spay, and foster them. It’s a calling she literally stumbled upon. “I was going to a therapist and I looked down and there was a black blob. I touched it and it moved and it was a kitten.” The forlorn feline was only hours old. She nursed it back to health and helped find it a home. Today the cat is 14 years old and weighs twenty pounds.
Cat therapy started when she began her journey of sobriety. While she does have a couple of beautiful cats at home, she’s far from being the ‘crazy cat lady.’ “I don’t collect cats. But they do offer unconditional love.”
Now a retired painting contractor, she also works with the GMCSF and supports her 20-year-old daughter, who’s doing a year abroad in Italy.
Peggy’s story is a story of generosity. She nourishes her soul by being there for others. Many have no idea how she impacts their lives, but that’s beside the point. In the end, she works to make the world generally, and Sunshine Cathedral specifically, a better place. She succeeds one day at a time.
“It’s a safe place to be.”
