Prior to seminary I was a high school English teacher. Most recently I served as the English Department Chair and the Associate Dean of Academics at Gould Academy, an independent boarding school located in the mountains of western Maine. I also coached an on-snow program in which students learned to teach skiing and snowboarding to the local elementary students, and I was the director of Gould Academy’s Writing Center.
In my nearly twenty-year career as an English teacher, I also taught in the Maine public schools in a few communities. Working with youth, their families, and the school faculty and administration towards a common mission has turned out to be a helpful background for parish ministry.
I didn’t anticipate this would be so when I followed my call to serve God in a new way and came to YDS. It felt like stepping into a great unknown. I am continually amazed at how God takes all I have been, all that I know, and all that I am and puts that to new uses all the while I am learning and discovering new insights about myself, the world, and a life of faith.
Two experiences of supervised ministry spring to mind as having been particularly transformative. The first is Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). Working as an intern hospital chaplain was an experience that affirmed my gifts for ministry as well as my desire to journey beside people of all ages through times of hardship and joy. CPE also helped me to gain important insights into how I relate with others. It was life changing. I am incredibly grateful towards my site supervisor and the people I served that summer in the hospital.
The second experience is my parish internship at Trinity on the Green, an Episcopal church in downtown New Haven, during my Middler year. Serving under the mentorship of Rev. Luk de Volder and within the community of Trinity helped shape me into the priest I am becoming, in ways that are both subtle and profound.
I have been called to serve as the Assistant Rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, a small coastal community just south of the city of Portland. While I have gotten to know this parish as their summer seminarian in 2017, serving there twice a month over this past school year, I am greatly looking forward to being with this community every Sunday starting in June. I hope to pursue my interest in becoming a Spiritual Director as well. I am delighted to be returning to my home diocese of Maine as my first call in parish ministry.