I am the Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix AZ. I moved to Phoenix from Bethlehem PA where I was the Rector of Trinity Church in the city of Bethlehem.
Here in Phoenix I’ve been involved with local and national ecumenical work, continued my involvement with communications ministry and have been asked to serve on the state’s ecumenical Theology Committee. I’ve become interested in the issues surrounding immigration reform and expect to be involved in the diocesan and faith communities’ response to proposed federal legislation this spring. As Dean of the Cathedral I’ve been working closely with Bishop Smith to design alternative education programs for ordinands. I serve on the diocesan Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Program group and have been working with various parish based groups around the diocese to coordinate our mission response in this area.
In 2003 and 2006 I was elected by the people of the Diocese of Bethlehem to serve as a Deputy to The General Convention of the Episcopal Church. At General Convention in 2003 I was the recording secretary of the World Mission Legislative Committee. After that convention I was appointed/elected the Chair of the Standing Commission on Episcopal Church Communication and will serve on that body until 2009. I served on the Communications Legislative Committee at the 2006 General Convention. I was elected to serve from Arizona as chair of the deputation for the 2009 and upcoming 2012 convention. I served again on the Communications Legislative Committee in Anaheim (2009).
I was invited to serve on the Dialogue team of Moravians and Episcopalians here in the United States. We are moving forward to full communion between these two denominations. The agreement was passed unanimously by both houses of General Convention in the summer of 2009 and by the Moravian Northern and Southern Provinces in 2010. The celebration of Full Communion between our two denominations happened in February of 2011.
My training is as a priest is somewhat unusual. I did my undergraduate degree in Physics and Astronomy at Franklin and Marshall College. I did my graduate studies at the University of Delaware in Cosmology and Solid State Physics. I then left the world of Physics and studied at Yale and Berkeley Divinity Schools from which I received my theological degrees.
For 6 years or so in Bethlehem I taught Astronomy and Physics at Lehigh University. Now that I’m Arizona, I’m going to have to find new ways to stay up-to-date in Astronomy and Physics.
