Clergy Appreciation Month

October is Clergy Appreciation Month, and we want to take a moment to celebrate our clergy and thank them for how they serve and love our All Souls community. While it would take too long to express the depth of our gratitude or list everything they do for us, we have noted below some of those things for which we’re grateful. We also took the opportunity to ask them questions they may haven’t answered before for All Souls. So, please enjoy as we salute our clergy and get to know them just a little bit better.

Father James

Father James Arcadi serves as Rector of All Souls. He and his wife, Alli, and their three children came to All Souls in 2018. He began serving as Assisting Clergy before stepping up as Presiding Priest this past year.

This past year, he offered his help.

Father James’ calling is to help people know God, which means not only knowing God but having an encounter with Him. This mission fits in well with his job as a rector requires, which includes leading the parish’s liturgical life, administering the sacraments, preaching, and teaching the word of God.

In place since the summer, Father James has hit the ground running with prioritizing some of the most pressing needs outlined in the All Souls Strategic Plan. He has led efforts to increase organizational structure and accountability by developing job descriptions for increased collaboration between clergy, vestry, and staff has resulted in regular meetings.

Questions
  • What is your favorite dessert? — I’ll take salt over sugar 9 times out of 10, but I do love a boysenberry pie.
  • What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time? When I have the chance, I like to watch football—English (Go Liverpool!) and college (Go Irish!)
  • Favorite podcast? I’m a pretty regular “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” listener.
  • What’s your favorite church feast day? The Annunciation
  • What is one thing about you that people would never guess? I was in a hardcore punk band in college.
  • Please share a special church memory from any time in your life. My confirmation was very powerful for me. It was such a beautiful picture of a “three-streams” (Catholic, Evangelical, Charismatic) experience. We hear the Word preached with vigor and enthusiasm. I knelt before my bishop, who was seated on his cathedra with robes and mitre. He placed his hands on my head and prayed in tongues over me. It was disorienting in a reorienting way.

Father Rob

Father Rob Lewis serves as Assistant Minister (pending diocesan approval), Priest, and Ministry Leader of Youth Ministry and Souls on Mission. He and his wife, Tammy, began attending All Souls in 2011. Over the years, they gradually started serving in different roles before Father Rob was ordained to the diaconate. This past summer, Father Rob received Holy Orders, accompanied by great rejoicing among the All Souls community. Father Rob has done many things: overseeing Souls on Mission, leading a house group with Tammy, facilitating coffee time with excellent coffee, and organizing the summer Backyard Conversations, where his love of story helped parishioners share their own. Father Rob’s deep desire is to come alongside people just as they are and show them God’s amazing love. His care for people has been a great gift for All Souls (and those outside All Souls!), and many parishioners appreciated the front porch conversations he had with them these last few years to listen as they shared their struggles and questions. This past summer, he bravely agreed to oversee the renewal of the Youth Ministry, where he hopes to guide and facilitate God’s good work among them.

Questions
  • What is your favorite dessert? Coffee
  • What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time? Bodysurfing, if there’s an ocean nearby.
  • Favorite podcast? Selected Shorts
  • What’s your favorite church feast day? All Saint’s Day
  • What is one thing about you that people would never guess? When I was six years old, I hitchhiked from one Indonesian city to another.
  • Please share a special church memory from any time in your life. I was recounting the story of the Fiery Furnace in Children’s Church, using a doll that I had surrounded with flash paper. The paper was supposed to burn up in a split second and leave the doll intact. When I lit the paper, it burned slowly, and the doll ignited. My friend, one of the gentlest people I know, was holding the doll and beating it against the floor to try to put the fire out. The children were terrified.

Deacon Mary

Deacon Mary Baker serves as Assistant Minister (pending diocesan approval), Deacon, and Community Formation Ministry Leader at All Souls. She and her husband, Rich, joined All Souls in 2007 and have been busy serving our church ever since. In her role as deacon, Deacon Mary occasionally preaches, assists with the liturgy during worship services, and oversees the altar guild and weekly prayer gatherings. In overseeing Community Formation, she directs the House Group ministry, other small groups, Catechesis, retreats, and the All Souls Library. Deacon Mary has a deep desire to foster spiritual formation corporately and personally for those at All Souls. Her leadership in re-establishing Catechesis has already been a gift for All Souls this fall. She and Rich are also known for their relationship-building and service within the ACNA and for hosting lovely All Souls gatherings at their beautiful home.

Questions
  • What is your favorite dessert? Chocolate flourless cake with dark chocolate sauce and whipped cream
  • What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time? I love to walk in a forest, sit beside a water body, and read good fiction.
  • Favorite podcast? I listen to The Dispatch — which is a good news podcast, but honestly, I don’t listen to many podcasts because I would rather be listening to an audiobook. I usually listen to 1–2 audiobooks a week.
  • What’s your favorite church feast day? Easter Vigil and then Candlemas
  • What is one thing about you that people would never guess? That one of my favorite places to be is 60 feet under the ocean, swimming with and observing marine life — and feeling weightless
  • Please share a special church memory from any time in your life. When I was 4, or so I attended a Methodist church Sunday school, and I remember how I loved singing songs like Jesus Loves Me. It is my first memory of knowing Jesus loved me.

Father Paul

Though retired as Associate Rector Emeritus since 2016, Father Paul Snezek and his wife, Janet, are dear members of the All Souls family. They were some of the founders of our church. Father Paul was first ordained as a deacon before receiving Holy Orders in 2008. In this role, he occasionally preached and served as celebrant, though he also served All Souls in many other ways. He was a frequent teacher and even played Herod in a pageant (though he felt an intense dislike for the real Herod). A wise and experienced voice in the midst of challenges, he offered insight into joining the ACNA. He showed up for the all—parish vote in 2019 to switch dioceses, even though his decreasing mobility and eyesight made using the stairs challenging. Father Paul is someone who cares for people well, respecting and valuing them as individuals, and can be depended upon to pray for those in need. As one longtime parishioner noted, he is thoughtful, humble, and, more than anything else, unfailingly kind.

Questions
  • What is your favorite dessert? Chocolate Cake
  • What is your favorite thing to do in your free time? Listen to audible books.
  • Favorite podcast? The Young Investors
  • What is your favorite church feast day? Easter
  • What is something people would never guess about you? That I had thick curly hair
  • What is a special church memory? A Christmas Eve Service when I was 8 years old