RÉSUMÉ
Reverend Mr. R. Christoph Sandoval, Deacon is a pioneer in breaking down the walls between Spiritual Care, Mental Care and Physical Care in addressing human suffering and is internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, master trainer and facilitator. Deacon Sandoval has fifty years of progressively responsible organizational development and implementation experience of peak performance programs across sectors and disciplines in both non-profit and for-profit and faith based environments.
As Clergy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption he facilitates the "Through Darkness into New Light" Grief and Bereavement Spiritual Support Group and offers Spiritual Care to People with Life Threatening Illness and their families in his “Strength for the Journey Ministry.” Both are open to all faith traditions. He also spearheads the Spiritual Care Ministries for 16 skilled nursing homes with the Dementia Care Units and Hospices.
CORE STRENGTHS:
Anticipatory Grief, Bereavement and Traumatic Loss Facilitator and Pastoral Care Provider.
Founder and Facilitator of the "Strength for Journey Ministry" for People with Life Threatening and Chronic Illnesses providing Spiritual Care.
Internationally acclaimed Keynote Speaker & Trainer on the Shanti Model of Peer Support for People with Life Threatening Illness.
Master Trainer
Lecturer
Organizational Development Professional specializing in team building, conflict mediation and navigating cultural pluralism.
Accomplished administrator and motivational management professional
Strategic planner, implementer and evaluator.
Positions of Responsibility Held
…Partial listing
2005-Present Deacon and Pastoral Associate at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, Archdiocese of San Francisco
His pastoral experience runs the gamut between offering training to the Chancery Staff, Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University Board of Regents and Seminarians and multiple parishes throughout the Archdiocese.
Current ministries to the Roman Catholic Church of San Francisco include:
Deacon and Pastoral Associate at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (Mother Church of the Archdiocese) serving at the Episcopal masses of the Archbishop and liturgical celebrations for the local Parish community;
Facilitator for the "From Darkness into New Light" Grief and Bereavement Spiritual Care Support Group at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption;
Founder and Facilitator of the “Strength for the Journey” ministry for People Living with Life threatening Illnesses or Chronic Diseases at the Cathedral offering Spiritual Care Support;
Member of the Parish Council at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption.
Knight of Columbus Chaplain for St. Mary's Cathedral Council 15883; 4th Degree and-Deputy Grand Knight emeritus;
Member of the Deacon Advisory Board for the Archdiocese of San Francisco;
Coordinator and Director of Training for the Saint Joseph Healing and Deliverance Ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Oblate of the Camaldolese Benedictine Order;
Chaplain Emeritus of the Knights of Saint Francis.
2012-2014 -Director of the Community Services Division at Westside Community Services
Deacon Sandoval oversaw anticipatory grief and bereavement community services to San Francisco's vulnerable populations who have been marginalized due to poverty, race, mental illness, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and homelessness. He received the "Distinguished Employee Leadership and Team Achievement (Delta) Award in 2013."
2009-2014 President & CEO of The Diversity Institute
As a consultant in private practice his roles have included Chaplain and Community Liaison for S.F. Crisis Care offering spiritual care and mobilizing volunteers, donors and community support for a new program serving Survivors of the 25 weekly unexpected fatalities due to homicide, suicide, sudden infant death, accidents and natural death in the City and County of San Francisco. He provided Spiritual Care to both its volunteers and the Survivors of sudden and unexpected deaths. He also delivered Diversity Trainings to the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing (DISH) and the Institute on Aging.
2003-2009 Director of Training (professional development) and Director of Philanthropy/ Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Mission Neighborhood Health Center (MNHC), San Francisco a patient centered Community Clinic. He also served as the Emergency Preparedness Chaplain for MNHC’s four sites.
1993-2003 Director for the Multicultural AIDS Resource Center of California (MARCC) at Polaris Research & Development, Inc. whose mission was to provide cultural competencies training and technical assistance to Departments of Public Health in all 68 counties of California. He was also the Statewide Director for two California Statewide AIDS Marketing Campaigns for the Department of Health Services for the State of California. He also served the firm as a Senior Research Associate and Principal Partner Emeritus of the firm. His Cultural Competencies trainings included a focus on Cultural, Gender, Class and Interfaith Diversities.
1991-1993 Director of AIDS Services-- Santa Clara County Health Department and the Men's and Women's Health Section Manager with oversight of the AIDS Program, STD Clinic, Family Planning Clinic, Communicable Disease Investigators Unit and the Epidemiology Branch. (He helped to grow the annual budget from 10 to 30 million). He was honored by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for outstanding contributions to the community.
1988-1991 Senior Public Administration Analyst working on special assignment as Community Liaison at the San Francisco Department of Public Health San Francisco. Helped to build Community Advisory Committees to the AIDS Office of SFDPH and played a pivotal role in community mobilization to bring about dialogue, collaboration and mutual support in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
1985-1988 Assistant Director and Affirmative Action Officer for Shanti Project, the first agency that provided direct services to People with HIV/AIDS in the nation. He also acted as a Trainer of Trainers who traveled the world organizing local and global responses to the HIV pandemic. He also provided Emotional Support for People Living with HIV Disease and Life-Death Transition Support.
Conducted the first HIV training in the Caribbean in San Juan Puerto Rico for the Archdiocese of San Juan Puerto Rico upon the Request of the late Archbishop John Raphael Quinn.
In 1987 took 100 people with AIDS to Mission Dolores to be blessed by the late Saint Pope John Paul II as a member of the Papal Task Force and as the first Assistant Director of Shanti Project in San Francisco.
Played pivotal role in launching Coming Home Hospice.
Program Convener for the First citywide Interfaith Conference on AIDS in San Francisco in 1988 at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption.
In 1999 designed and convened the First statewide interfaith conference in San Francisco named “A Call to Oneness, A Conference on Compassion.
Keynote speaker for the First AIDS conference by the British Health Authority. Appeared on Good Morning Britain, radio and television networks and spoke at Oxford University.
Affiliations:
Mayor’s Interfaith Advisory Committee for the City and County of San Francisco
San Francisco Interfaith Council Member emeritus
Knight of Columbus Chaplain- 4th Degree-Deputy Grand Knight Emeritus at St. Mary's Cathedral Council 15883
Chaplain-Emeritus for the Archconfraternity of the Knights of Saint Francis of Assisi
Board of Trustees Member Emeritus of the Archconfraternity of the Knights of Saint Francis of Assisi
Eucharistic Minister and Hospital Ministry at Saint Dominic’s Catholic Church
Board President Emeritus of Westside Community Services
Association of Fundraising Professionals - AFP Member Emeritus
ISMs collaborative Member Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health’s Center for Public Health Practice
Exceptional contributions of distinction to the nation.
…Partial listing
Deacon Sandoval has been an organizational consultant with the Public Health Service, the Office of Minority Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Office of the Surgeon General, the California Department of Health Services and with many major universities throughout the nation.
Among his many notable distinctions, he has been acknowledged by two Governors of California for outstanding humanitarianism and honored by the City and County of San Francisco with an official proclamation of “Chris Sandoval Day”.
Deacon Sandoval has been a keynote speaker on public health issues in such venues as the International Conferences on AIDS, the British Health Authority’s Annual Conference in London, and in bi-national settings with Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. As an internationally and nationally acclaimed motivational speaker and trainer, he has responded to numerous requests to set the tone and launch pivotal conferences, symposia and summits that are critical to the public health and well being of the country.
Deacon Sandoval has an international reputation as an expert in the field of managing diversity and cross-cultural communication. He was principal architect and chair for the first Cultural Issues Track, which premiered at the Seventh National AIDS Update Conference in San Francisco in 1995 and is a Trainer of Trainers in this field of practice. He is the author of the first prototype of the Framework for Cultural Competencies Standards for the State of California. He mobilized the first Interfaith Conference on HIV in San Francisco in 1997 as the Program Convener at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption and was the Architect of the Call to Oneness, A Conference on Compassion in 1999 (an interfaith conference held at five sites for four days) keynoted by Cardinal William J. Levada.
Honors & Awards
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Deacon of the Year 2017-2018, Archdiocese of San Francisco, Knights of Columbus
Saint Francis of Assisi Award 2016
Distinguished Employee Leadership and Team Achievement (Delta) Award of the Year 2013
An Award of Outstanding Accomplishment by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1993.
Commendation for Outstanding Contributions and Accomplishments in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS in California by the Office of the Governor 1991 and 2002
Recognition from the Mayor and City Council of the City of Sacramento, 2002
Declarations, Commendations, and Legislative Ordinances recognizing A Call to Oneness, A Conference on Compassion and HIV Disease 1999
National Community Volunteer Award, 4th Annual Founder Dinner, August 1997
Honored by the City and County of San Francisco with Official Proclamation of “Chris Sandoval Day” as acknowledgement of public service 1991
Shanti Project Honors for Outstanding Service as a Volunteer, Board Member and Assistant Director 1988
Correctional HIV Consortium German V. Maisonet, Jr. MD Memorial Award, 1997 +
Listed in Who’s Who Among Hispanic Americans.
Catholic Education & Training
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Saint Patrick's Seminary & University 2000 – 2005
Formation and Preparation for Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate by the Archdiocese of San Francisco at Saint Patrick's Seminary & University.
Pope Leo XIII Institute at Mundelein Seminary at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake
Completion of a two-year course of study for the Ministry of Healing and Deliverance under the approval and auspices of the United States Conference of Bishops.
Sacerdos Institute affiliated with the Pontifical Atheneum Regina Apostolorum University in Rome.
Completed Annual Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation Course addressing the theoretical and practical matters concerning exorcism and demonic possession. The course touches on the anthropological, phenomenological, theological, pastoral and spiritual aspects of this phenomenon.
The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas in Rome
Completed Ecclesial Ministry Course at the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas, which promotes the lay vocation, Christian unity and inter-religious dialogue and it, offers a home to lay students at Pontifical Universities in Rome