Sam Candler is a priest in The Episcopal Church, and the dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip, in Atlanta, since 1998. He has served parishes of various sizes in the dioceses of Atlanta, South Carolina, and Upper South Carolina. He was raised, however, on a farm in Coweta County, about an hour south of Atlanta, and learned there to love the woods, and the stars, and the birds. He received his B.A. degree, cum laude, from Occidental College, in Los Angeles, California. In 1982, he graduated magna cum laude from Yale University Divinity School (and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale). He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree by the University of the South in 2021. An amateur pianist, he intended to become a jazz musician before he was called into the priesthood, and he still plays piano and looks for stars and birds as often as he can. He values the role of music in prayer, and has served on Liturgy and Music Committees in several dioceses. Some of his poems have been published in The Mendicant, Poetry South, Salvation South, and Atlanta Review. A founder of Atlanta’s formal interfaith community, the Faith Alliance of Metro Alliance, Dean Candler is a frequent teacher and preacher in the United States and in the wider Anglican Communion. He maintains an internet presence through his occasional writings, titled, “Good Faith and the Common Good.”
