How long have you worshiped at Saint Philip’s?
About three years now.

How’d you find your way here?
I knew about Saint Philip’s because I attended Jen and Steve Tellman’s wedding 30 years ago.

Were you raised in a faith tradition?
I was raised in the Roman Catholic church. I went to parochial grade school and attended two years of parochial high school.

I was an altar boy from age 8 until 12. I had to walk to church at six in the morning for a 6:30 mass. It felt pretty brutal.

How did you find your way to the Episcopal Church?
Very slowly! I’ve explored several religions over the years. I attended Quaker meetings for several years, practiced Zen meditation, and was part of the Mormon Church for awhile.

What about Saint Philip’s appeals to you?
On the one hand, it’s the literature—the Book of Common Prayer specifically. I love the study of that and how it developed. And I appreciate the openness to explore.

On the other hand, I just really like the people who make up this parish. There are people from so many different places and yet we come together to worship. There’s a real unity in that.

Where did you grow up?
In Grosse Point Park, Michigan.

What’s something you’re proud of?
Getting two advanced degrees: a Master of Arts in History and a Master of Library Science. No one in my family has one. I came out of a different egg and hatched differently than they did.

What inspired that?
I love to learn. I was in school for over 20 years—fall, winter, spring, and summer. I never took any time off and also had to work because I had to live somewhere and eat.

The most important thing I learned from school is that I have to believe in myself. And that belief has to come from within.

I’m so grateful I was able to attend school. I’m forever in debt to everyone who taught and trained me.

20 years is a long time. What kept you motivated?
Well, I’m Irish! (My great-grandfather migrated to Montreal around 1890 and relatives then settled in Michigan.)

But I’m also a student of history. Lots of people paid heavy prices for the different religious wars but persevered. So my effort was pretty easy compared to that.

With all the different paths I’ve taken professionally, faith has been the one constant in my life. In fact, it was one of the reasons my first marriage didn’t work. My wife didn’t welcome my religious interests.

What did you do professionally?
I worked at the University of Arizona’s main library; I was there for about 18 years.

Where did you work before retiring five years ago?
I spent my last two working years as a librarian at the University of Arizona’s poetry center. I ordered books, processed them, and kept the card catalogue up to date.

The center has weekly readings of poets from all over the world. It’s wonderful.

Do you write poetry?
I call myself a scribbler. I write with pencils and a notebook—sometimes poetry and sometimes narrative.

What about history captures your heart and mind?
As a freshman at the University of Utah I took a lot of different classes. My experience with English literature was that a lot of philosophy was argued. There wasn’t anything concrete.

History deals with facts, names, dates, places and is pretty easy for me to grasp. I have a mechanical mind and appreciate having something concrete to hold on to so I can turn it around, consider it, and link it to what came before and after.

It’s not always uplifting but it happened. And there’s a lot of philosophy and literary theories used to demonstrate an author’s point of view that I also enjoy.

What’s something you’re passionate about?
Reading—especially history and the history of the church.

I may not always be able to read so I take full advantage of it now.

Can you explain that?
I’m blind in one eye and am rather self-conscious about it. I’ve covered it in the past but that has drawbacks, too.

When I was five or six years old I was in a sandbox and my head was cracked open by a shovel. I think that’s when the blindness started.

Now I get injections every eight weeks and between those and other efforts, I’ve kept 97% of the vision in my other eye.

What’s something you find challenging?
I think the church is challenging. I’m never good enough; I can’t reach the standards that are acceptable.

Would you say more about that?
The church is really a lofty enterprise. I’m just a human with faults and weaknesses. Just to be even considered for membership is very meaningful to me.

The church provides a road map with goals that I can aim for. They’re always higher and lead the way for me to be better. I wonder how the deacons and priests among us manage that. It takes a lot of courage to try and I love all of them for that.

How are you involved at Saint Philip’s?
I belong to the group that meets on Friday mornings in La Parroquia. It’s a wonderful group of men from Saint Philip’s that gathers to read different books.

I also participate in the Tuesday Bible Study via Zoom that Deacon Susan facilitates. She has insightful ideas and interpretations. Everyone contributes and that feeds into the newness and the inspiration of discussing what we read.

What’s something you know now that your younger self didn’t?
My answer isn’t very romantic but I have to say how to handle money.

I received almost no training—just what my parents modeled. And yet dealing with money underpins everything. If you have it, how do you invest it? If you don’t have it, how do you pay your bills?

It’s an ongoing education—especially with bitcoin and e-currency.

What’s one of your core values?
Loyalty—because it builds trust.

My wife Erin and I met at the University of Arizona and have been married for 32 years. She says that she appreciates my loyalty. Erin is a priority for me; I’ve never chosen something or someone over her.

What’s one of your guiding principles?
Be kind. I worked at the Amphi school district as a substitute teacher and every middle school has a mural that says “be kind.” I appreciate that.

What’s something you’re grateful for?
That I can walk. I broke my back and now have plates, screws, and rods that keep me upright and mobile.

Is there something new you’d like to try?
I’d love to participate in the liturgy—maybe as an acolyte.

Is there something you’d like to share that hasn’t been asked?
I’m grateful to the clergy here. They demonstrate what faith can do, and I’m grateful to them for their examples.

What might people be surprised to learn about you?
That I’m an artist as much as I am a devotee of history.

After graduating from high school in 1971, I attended Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina for a year. There was an event that invited artists to stay for a week. I met craftsmen, weavers, glass blowers, jewelers, potters, blacksmiths—it was my first exposure to a variety of crafts.

It prompted my journey as a potter. I set up a studio in Leyden, Massachusetts and did that for quite a few years. Unfortunately, I lost everything when a fire swept through the studio.

Would you close with some poetry?
What sayest thou
When thy time hast come?
What sayest they
When thou time hast gone?