How were you called to serve?
As a newly ordained priest, I started out in the Diocese of Riverina in central west NSW. I served a curacy in Griffith at St Alban’s Cathedral and then moved to Corowa (50 km from Albury Wodonga) where I became Priest in Charge of St John’s Corowa, St Thomas’ Howlong, and St Mark’s Bungowannah. Working in the colourful, generous, and resilient communities of western NSW was a rich formational experience. I drove long kilometres and met so many amazing people. So many weddings, baptisms, confirmation classes and, of course, funerals; so many deep connections; and so much learning!
Why did you choose school Chaplaincy?
I was working as a parish priest in Corowa, NSW when Trinity Anglican College (TAC) in Albury advertised for their first full-time chaplain. I had originally trained as an English-History teacher and wondered whether it might be a good fit for me. I met the foundational principal at TAC, who gave me a tour of the dusty, still-under-construction campus in his Blundstones and picked up litter as we walked. Even though the school was a bit like the Wild West, there was so much positive energy, faith, and vision that I accepted the challenge and never regretted it. Chaplaincy was the best of both worlds for me, combining a vocation to teach and a calling to ordained Anglican ministry.
How did you come to be in your current role?
After a challenging and rewarding initial five years at TAC Albury, my partner had an opportunity to take her first full-time academic position at La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus. It was my turn to follow her this time and we moved to the Goldfields, where I accepted Bishop Andrew Curnow’s offer to become the Rector of St Mary’s Kangaroo Flat (a suburb of Bendigo). The old St Mary’s church had burnt down in 2008, and when I arrived, they were about to start construction of an exciting contemporary church. I even ended up with my name on a foundation stone! After five years at St Mary’s, my partner gained a promotion that took her back to the Wodonga campus of La Trobe, and I was fortunate enough to be asked to return to TAC, as then Chaplain Rev Lee Weisel was moving to the Hutchens School in TAS.
Six more years passed at TAC Albury, principals, colleagues, and students came and went, the Anglican Schools Commission acquired the school from the Diocese of Wangaratta, and with their capital injection, TAC changed from a dust bowl into a landscaped campus, with new, architect-designed, innovative senior and junior school buildings. We had developed a Religious and Values Education (RAVE) program that was well-embedded in the curriculum and established a way of doing chapel and incorporating Anglican worship into the life of the school that felt organic and grounded in place. Then, in 2021, La Trobe targeted my partner for redundancy (along with approximately four hundred other employees). It was a dark time for my partner who lives and breathes her vocation as an academic. We decided that her opportunities for future employment would be maximised in a capital city, so I started applying for chaplaincy jobs, which led to my current position as Senior Chaplain at Trinity Grammar School, Kew, in Melbourne. In 2022, we did something, as country people, we had never imagined doing and moved to the city. In a bizarre twist that still confounds me, my partner ended up keeping her job at La Trobe – news she received at the exact moment I was handing in my resignation in Albury! So, now I find myself in a whole new world: from 20-year-old TAC Albury to one of the oldest and most renowned Anglican Grammar schools in Melbourne and Australia.
In what ways does your role fill your cup?
Without a doubt, what I have always found most energising about chaplaincy is the relationships. I am somewhere halfway between an introvert and an extrovert, and I’m not fond of crowds, so I sometimes wonder what I enjoy about schools. I have concluded that the one-on-one connections you make as a chaplain and the quirky synergies arise with students and colleagues who ‘get it’ and are on the journey, too. The unexpected and unplanned conversations, the privilege of walking with people through joy and sorrow, the acts of kindness and courage that you see – all these things fill my cup.
What is a challenge of your role, and how do you overcome it?
It seems like an anti-climax to finish with a challenge, but the Jesus story insists we move through the cross before resurrection. The challenge for me, is trying to fan the flames of curiosity about faith and the wonderful mystery of God when so much in our contemporary culture seems antithetical to the life of the soul. To paraphrase Thomas Merton: ‘We need to actively defend the life of the soul because contemporary culture has no value for it.’ More hopefully though, he also said, (and this is perhaps timely given that as I write, we are in the middle of the Olympics): “Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity.” Thanks Tom! And thank you for reading to the end!
