Announcement from the Bishop's Office

By the Grace of God 

and the consent of the people

The Right Reverend Douglas J. Fisher 

IX Bishop of Western Massachusetts

 

Will Ordain 

  

Silas Jude Lee Kotnour

Nathan Christopher Leach


 To the Sacred Order of Priests

  In Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church 

  

On Saturday, December 14th

At ten o'clock in the morning


At


Christ Church Cathedral

35 Chestnut Street

Springfield, MA 01103

 

Your prayers and presence are requested


Reception follows 

 Clergy are invited to vest and process in red

    

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Meet Our Newest Priests

Nathan Leach

Nathan Leach was born and raised in the Boston area, where his mother was a Presbyterian pastor. He graduated from Williams College in 2017, majoring in English and Religion. While at Williams, he started attending St. John’s Williamstown. Following Williams, Nathan spent one year living as an intern at Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE), an Anglo-Catholic Monastery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one year working as a choir director in Boston. Subsequently, Nathan enrolled at Yale Divinity School and began the ordination process in the Presbyterian Church.


While at Yale, Nathan bid a fond farewell to the Presbyterian Church and was confirmed as an Episcopalian. Having moved back to Williamstown during the pandemic, Nathan reconnected with St. John’s and was honored when they agreed to sponsor his ordination process. Nathan graduated in 2023, receiving a Master’s of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and a Certificate in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School.


Nathan currently serves as Director of Religious Education at St. Paul’s in Wallingford, CT and does grant-writing for a variety of nonprofits. He lives in New Haven with his wife Elizabeth, who is studying to be a nurse-midwife, their 21-month old daughter Josephine, and their dog, Janie. 

Silas Kotnour

Silas Kotnour graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. While in New York, they served as the seminarian at Saint Luke in the Fields in the West Village. As seminarian, Silas oversaw outreach ministries, including a free clothing closet and a drop in space for marginally housed LGBTQ young adults. Silas currently serves as Family Minister at All Saints Parish in Brookline, MA and as a chaplain intern at Hebrew Senior Life. 

 

Many communities have supported Silas through this process to ordination, including their sending parish, the Episcopal Church of the Atonement in Westfield and Lawrence House, the community of Beloved in the Desert in Tucson, Arizona, and Harcourt Parish in Ohio.


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