by John Putnam, Vestry Member
In my 40 years on Wall Street as a medical device analyst, I met and interviewed many interesting Chief Executive Officers and senior managements of companies ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups. While many of these men and women are smart, super achieving leaders, they frequently are laser focused on the mission of their companies and lack a broader perspective of the world around them.
Not so for a man that sits among us for a large part of the year, a man that I call “The Renaissance Man”, Father David Angelica. That is the only conclusion I could come to after recently sitting down with Fr. David to convey “his story”.
What makes Fr. David so special? I believe he melds the disciplines of his religious faith developed at a very early age, with his understanding and mastery of the secular world, acquired through his various educational and work experiences. As a result, David has an uncanny ability to counsel, mentor and spiritually shepherd people of all faiths. And I think many of us would agree, he has a razor sharp sense of humor.
I asked David when he knew he wanted to be a priest. He floored me by answering without hesitation…”when I was six years old”. Instead of playing baseball, it seems he preferred to play priest, dressing and acting the part. At age 8 he became an altar boy in a Felician Sisters’ Convent not far from his home in Enfield, CT where he actually learned to pray and to speak Polish, the language spoken by the nuns.
David and Geraldine’s wedding in 1969
After graduating from Suffield Academy in CT, where he was the organist and chapel director, he entered Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where he completed his course work in three years. Not being able to graduate until his fourth year by college rules, he forged ahead and was accepted into the University of Connecticut Medical School where he studied psychiatry. It was then that David married his childhood girlfriend, Geraldine, a nurse at Saint Francis’ Hospital.
In 1970, Fr. David transferred to NYU Medical College and “simultaneously” entered General Theological Seminary. Raised as a Roman Catholic, I asked him what made him join the Episcopal Church? His answer was that he felt the Episcopal Church offered a flexibility in pastoral leadership and ministry and gave its priests the ability to raise families, thus better understanding the complexities of the congregants in his parish. Also, Bishop Gray of Connecticut, a by-the-book kind of fellow, told David that he would send him to GTS only if he became an Episcopalian. Decision made. Soon after moving to NYC, David became Associate Carillonneur at Riverside Church, to augment his financial resources. (He learned to play the Carillion at Trinity, where he was the Master Carillionneur for 3 years.)
Ordination to the Priesthood, 1973
Always a gifted juggler, not only did he attend med school and seminary, he assisted at the Church of the Resurrection in East Elmhurst, Queens, and after he was ordained, served there as a part-time Curate. At the same time, he was a part-time psychiatric therapist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
In 1973, on a whim, David enrolled in the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) on the Hudson, as he always loved the culinary arts. He was there until 1975, when, after his wife passed away, he decided to “pack it in”, and picked up his roots, moving to Darien, Connecticut.
Fr. David at Rectory in CT, 1984
David served at Saint Luke’s Church in Darien, CT, then moved on to St. Andrew’s Church in Stamford, CT, where he was instrumental in founding The Whole Life Center, a center for Wholistic Medicine and Health Care Delivery. From there he became rector of St. Andrew’s Church, in Milford, CT, where he and a team of clergy, social workers and lay volunteers founded the Beth-el Center for the Homeless, including a residential program for the homeless and a soup kitchen and counseling center for those in need.
Moving to Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1994, David served at St. David’s Church in Yarmouth and St. Mary’s Church in Barnstable, until he became rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans, Massachusetts, where he was involved in a major parish expansion program, the founding of a Center for Spiritual Living (The Angelica Center for Spiritual Living), together with a myriad of outreach programs, involving the lower end of the Cape. The Church of the Holy Spirit had a demography a bit larger than St. Paul’s, but enjoyed the same type of outreach and community development.
Fr. David retired “officially” in 2008, but not really. In 2009, he met Fr. Chip Stokes, who hired him “on the spot” to be our seasonal clergy member. And as many of us would agree, Fr. David is not retired. He has made his numerous talents available to each and every one of us. As a member of the Brotherhood, he mentors us spiritually and liturgically. At our monthly meetings, we have a Bible study on the Sunday Gospel, led by a member. David sits back and lets us have at it. Finally, we run out of thoughts and ideas and David raises a whole new plethora of approaches to our study. He has also contributed immensely to our ability to raise funds for our charitable work by being the Celebrity Executive Chef for the dinner the Brotherhood auctions in conjunction with Trinkets and Treasures.
And we, St. Paul’s Church family, are the beneficiaries of Fr. David’s compilation of all these experiences. His gifts to all of us — prayer, contemplation, preaching, compassion and counseling — make him my choice as, “Renaissance Man of the Year” (and next year too!).
“Trying to get closer to God”, 1980