From our Rector

Greetings to my new church family and friends at Saint Mark’s Orchard Park!

I am very excited to join all of you in fellowship, outreach, and worship. I have been an Episcopal priest for more than two decades, and I love all things church. I came to the faith through the choir at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania, and was educated at Bexley Hall Seminary in Rochester, New York.

Being a priest is my second career; before this, I was a theatre professor and university administrator at Gannon University in Erie. Courses I have taught include acting, arts appreciation, theatre directing, intercultural communication, music in film, public speaking, and film/theatre criticism and history. I love entertaining worship as much as I love spiritually engaging theatre. In my spare time, I enjoy traveling (my family and I regularly visit England, Ireland, and Scotland), performing (acting in community theatre productions, playing my trumpet in community bands, and singing in community choirs), and cooking (I am a member of the Erie Men’s Gourmet Club).

I look forward most to building close relationships with civic-minded outreach organizations in Orchard Park, enjoying the wonderful parks and hiking trails in the area, building healthy relationships with our Episcopal siblings in East Aurora and Hamburg, and walking in love with other spiritual sojourners in our community. I am also looking forward to being close to Lake Erie; those of us with Celtic hearts have a difficult time being too far from large bodies of water!

There is only one thing I am anxious about: I am a child of western Pennsylvania, so it will take me a while to replace my “Go Steelers!” with “Go Bills!”!

Please know that I, my spouse Almitra, our son Seamus, and our beagle Archie, are looking forward to getting to know all of you in the weeks, months, and years to come. In the meantime, let us pray for one another during this time of transition and renewal.

Peace in Christ,

Father Shawn