I shall forever be grateful that I was born into a family deeply committed to Christ and his Church and was surrounded from my earliest years by a powerful community of faith. I remember as a young child having a strong sense of God’s kindness – that he would never give up on me or anyone else, no matter what! In seventh grade I “discovered” the Bible and developed a passion for the scriptures that has never left me. Throughout my childhood, I was deeply moved by my exposure to the holiness of the priests who served our parish and by eighth grade I had decided I too wished to become a priest. My parents, however, felt the time was not right for me and insisted that “if you truly have a vocation, God will see it through,” as well he did years later!
In college, I majored in French, but pursued other coursework consistent with my interest in the ministry (e.g., Biblical Hebrew). Moreover, in my French studies, I made it a point to choose religious authors and topics for my scholarly work, including my Ph.D. dissertation. Indeed, the French Department asked a member of the Divinity School to serve on my dissertation committee for that very reason. I am an avid and voracious reader, and I have devoted most of my reading to deepening my knowledge of Christ and his Church.
Soon after Barbara and I married we became Anglicans, and we have seriously engaged in the life of the Church ever since, joining Church of the Resurrection in 2004. A key element in our faith has been our repeated experience of God’s providence, especially in negotiating a career change and through a number of health challenges that confronted us and our children. A great turning point in my life of faith was to discover in a profoundly personal way that God provides the grace we needwhen we need it, not in advance, which makes it possible to confront with confidence the kind of situation no one can ever truly prepare for.
I am a priest and Canon Theologian of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest. My primary responsibilities are assisting the bishop on matters of theology and liturgy and helping to prepare candidates for ordination. I also serve as Director of Formation for the Greenhouse Movement, where I am responsible for Saint Paul’s House of Formation and theWord and Tablepodcast.
