Yale Divinity School

Notes from 2008

Mark Allan ’04 M.Div. recently accepted a call to become the pastor of Christ Church on Quaker Hill, an interdenominational church located in Pawling, NY. Prior to this call Mark served as Associate Pastor of First Congregational Church in Ridgefield, CT for seven years. He and his wife, Barbara will live in Pawling. Their twins, Sean and Blair, both just recently graduated from college.

Tom Donlan ’04 M.A.R. is a Ph.D. candidate in the Division for Late Medieval And Reformation Studies in the History Department at the University of Arizona. His dissertation topic is Francois de Sales and early modern French Catholicism. He’ll be in France next year to conduct dissertation research.

Beginning in September 2008 Erin McGrath ’04 M.A.R. will be teaching Theology at Malden Catholic High School, a Xaverian Brothers sponsored school located in Malden, MA near Boston.

Kevin L Morris ’04 M.Div. was called in June to be the Director of Pastoral Care at Christ Hospital in Jersey City, NJ, an Episcopal hospital affiliated with the Diocese of Newark. Kevin lives alone in Jersey City and continues to enjoy family, friends and travel.

Bernard J. Owens ’04 M.Div. has served as an Associate Rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cary, NC since June 2006. In May 2008 he was married to Johanna Nygard, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). They live in Durham, NC.

Christopher Pappas ’04 M.Div. is Rector of Christ Church, Westerly, RI as of August 2008. He and Elisabeth Thompson ’03 M.Div., with children Iliana (13), Aleta (9), Aeneas (2.5) and Tasia (1), Pumpkin the cat and Eclipse the puppy, trekked from Barrhead, Alberta Canada, to their new home on Sesame Street (no kidding)! Elisabeth will resume her medical practice and clergy supply work once everyone is settled and her immigration status allows.

Saralynn Potter ’04 M.Div. accepted a call as Rector to Saint Alban’s Episcopal Church in Arcata, CA.

Melissa Pucci ’04 M.A.R., Assistant Director of Admission, has been selected as one of eight "Women Making a Difference in the Valley" by the Valley Women's Health Initiative.  Melissa is a member of the Board of Directors of the Valley United Way and the Birmingham Group Health Services and has worked to secure a better life for residents of the towns in the Naugatuck Valley.  She was honored at a reception and luncheon.

Lucas L. Schulte ’04 M.A.R. taught introductory biblical Hebrew for the 2007-08 academic year as an adjunct professor at Claremont School of Theology. He recently assistant edited the forthcoming book The Contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls toward Understanding Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible. Luke and his wife, Leah, also worked at the Ramat Rachel Archaeological Excavation in Israel this summer, where he served as a square supervisor in an Iron Age II area.

The Rev. Daniel L. Gross '04 M.Div. is now serving as rector of Emmanuel Church, Chester Parish in Chestertown, Maryland.

Following graduation and ordination in 2004, Kurt Levensaler '04 M.Div. served for two years as assistant rector at historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, where he participated in the congregation’s pastoral residency program, one of the Lilly Endowment’s Transition into Ministry initiatives designed to mentor new clergy in the development of holy habits and healthy leadership practices as a foundation for a lifetime of future ministry. In April 2005, Kurt attended the Latin American Theology Congress at the Universidad Centroamericana in San Salvador, El Salvador, which commemorated the 25th anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s martyrdom. In July 2006, Kurt was married to Leighanne DeMarzo of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The wedding took place at St. Francis in the Mountains, the Episcopal summer chapel at Fallen Leaf Lake in northern California. Leighanne works in the human resource development field as Principal Analyst with Bersin & Associates. Kurt and Leighanne now live in Portland, Oregon, where he serves as Director of Outreach and Justice Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. There he oversees local ministries with homeless and marginalized persons, a growing advocacy ministry, and a partnership with Proyecto Aldea Global (Project Global Village), the Honduran subsidiary of the Portland-based international development organization Mercy Corps.

Erin McGrath ’04 M.A.R. in collaboration with Dr. Lauress Wilkins of Regis College is currently illustrating a textbook for introductory Bible classes entitled Sleuthing the Scriptures. Erin is also at her alma mater for the 2007-2008 school year teaching Old Testament in the fall and New Testament in the spring.

Sara Potter ’04 M.Div. and her husband Aaron are the proud and happy parents of a baby girl named Miriam born on March 16, 2007.  Sara, Aaron, and Jonah are doing well and are all very happy about little Miriam.

Martin Shuster ’04 M.A.R. lives with his wife Robin in Baltimore, MD. He is pursuing a philosophy Ph.D. at the Humanities Center at the Johns Hopkins University. You can look for his first article appearing in JSOT entitled “Being as Breath, Vapor as Joy–Using Martin Heidegger to Re-Read the Book of Ecclesiastes.” Additionally, he will co-author with Stephen Vicchio ’76 M.A.R. a commentary on the Book of Job in the Blackwell Bible Commentaries series.

Tyler Wigg Stevenson ’04 M.Div. and his wife Natalie have settled in Nashville where she is doing Ph.D. work in theology at Vanderbuilt while Tyler continues to look for ministry positions.  His first book, Brand Jesus, comes out in March 2008.