Oct. 5, 2020 Meet Mother Regan Schutz - The Next Rector of Christ Church Coronado
Dear Friends in Christ,
I am overjoyed to be called to serve as the next rector of Christ Church Coronado! The Holy Spirit’s presence in this discernment process has been profound, and I am grateful to the Call Committee and to the Vestry for their professionalism in allowing the revelation of God’s dream for all of us to unfold with such grace. Indeed, discernment requires patience and prayer, especially amid the anxieties and changing landscape of 2020. Yet at every step in this journey, I have felt a palpable call to serve God and the body of Christ at Christ Church Coronado. I am so excited to get to know you: to hear your stories of joy and struggle and to learn about God at work in your life!
In the meantime, here is a bit about me. Growing up in Hillsboro, Oregon in the Episcopal tradition, I attended Jesuit High School in Portland before heading to college at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I graduated a year early to realize my Big Apple dreams, and I spent a year in New York City before returning to Oregon with a very handsome East Coast Episcopalian named Paul (he is still handsome—and he is still with me!). As Paul and I became a family, we built deep roots at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, which became my sponsoring parish for ordination to the priesthood.
In early 2014, we moved to Sewanee, Tennessee—home of the Episcopal university—for Paul to take a position as Marketing and Communications Director at the seminary’s lay education center and for me to begin my academic studies in earnest. For the past several years I have had the privilege of serving as Priest in Charge of a loving parish in Shelbyville, Tennessee; and last year I served as Adjunct Chaplain at our local Episcopal boarding and day school where I also taught an academic course. I am eager to introduce you to my fabulous family of two daughters (Cecilia, age 16; and Genevieve, age 10), two cats (Hazel and Minnie), and one (incredible) husband. We are all very excited to be with you in Coronado and to join our family with yours for the glory of God!
My call to ministry is a deep desire that all of God’s children learn how to be transformed by Christ’s love in times of both chaos and joy. Having been shaped by my decade serving the Godly Play Foundation, I truly believe that we do this work best in community through relationship. My ministry, spiritual practice, and doctoral studies focus significantly on Christian formation in and through the body of Christ: how do we together discern God’s will through wonder and play, that spiritual discipline of re-creation with God and each other?
I am particularly interested in how we as Christians maintain our integrity as a community following Jesus while growing the reach of Christ’s love through courageous hospitality. Christ Church’s dictum of “Bridging Love and Service” speaks to me deeply—I am so excited to come alongside you to serve in your thriving ministries! And I am eager to continue discerning our mutual ministry to discover new and imaginative ways to be a blessing to God, to our country and the wider San Diego area, to the community of Coronado, and to each other: “for nothing will be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37)
Please know that you are in my prayers daily! And I covet your prayers as my family and I engage in the work of saying good-bye to our life in Tennessee and finding our way to our new home in Coronado. There looks to be a very blessed Advent on the horizon—thanks be to God!
Yours in the Love of Christ,
Mtr Regan+