Saint Andrew’s Has Called an Associate Rector!

Mtr. Molly McGee Short to Start in March 2026

Dear Saint Andrew’s Parishioners,

In the midst of this joyous Christmas season, our 125^th Anniversary Year at Saint Andrew’s has drawn to a close, and we are now entering the next chapter in our life as a parish. As we continue to answer God’s call upon our lives, we have many reasons to offer thanksgiving – given the abundant blessings that we have received and are continuing to receive in this place.

Recognizing the plentiful harvest that God has prepared for us, I am delighted to be able to announce that we will soon have another co-laborer as we tend to the particular fields that have been set before us – as Mother Molly McGee Short has recently accepted a call to serve as Saint Andrew’s Associate Rector starting in March of this year.

As many of you are aware, we have been working over the past year to envision when and how Saint Andrew’s could hire a second full-time priest to assist in leading the pastoral, sacramental, and formational life of the parish. Ultimately, we created an Associate Rector position with particular emphasis on youth and children’s ministry as well as mission and outreach efforts, and we have now filled that position. As I have explained on several occasions to members of the Staffing Task Force, our Vestry, and to Diocesan Staff (all of whom were involved in this process), I cannot imagine finding a better priest than Mother Molly to serve in this role, and I eagerly anticipate getting to see the ways that her gifts in ministry will help us to continue to grow together in the knowledge and love of God.

Some of you may recall Mother Molly as one of our guest preachers over the course of this past year. Specifically, Mother Molly was our guest preacher in August for our Backpack Blessing Sunday services (as pictured below), where her experience as an Episcopal School chaplain made her an especially appropriate messenger as we sought to offer God’s blessing upon our students and teachers as they prepared to begin another school year. 

That Sunday was Mother Molly’s first opportunity to be introduced to Saint Andrew’s, and I am grateful that, after having had that opportunity, she was interested in discerning together whether God might be calling her to serve here.  I am even more grateful that, in the intervening months, we have been able to confirm that call – and that I can now share a little more about Mother Molly and the depth of the gifts and experience that she will bring to her role as Associate Rector at Saint Andrew’s.

For the past seven years, Mother Molly has served as the Chaplain at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, an Episcopal boarding and day school in Sewanee, Tennessee, where she also teaches ethics and religious studies. Mother Molly is a native of Mobile, Alabama, where she grew up attending St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. As an undergraduate, she attended Furman University (so she is no stranger to Greenville), where she studied Earth and Environmental Sciences, was active with the Mere Christianity Forum campus ministry, and, most importantly, met her husband, Michael, a fellow Earth and Environmental Sciences major. After Furman, Molly completed an M. Div. at Duke Divinity School. While at Duke, she and Michael lived in the Franciscan Way, a Catholic Worker style community dedicated to daily Eucharist and meals with neighbors living on the streets.

During her years at Duke, Molly entered into the discernment process for ordination to the Episcopal priesthood. She completed her formation and preparation for the ministry at The School of Theology at Sewanee with a Diploma in Anglican Studies (DAS) before joining St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School—first as Assistant Chaplain, then as Chaplain.

Thus, for the past twelve years, Sewanee has been home for Mother Molly and her husband, Michael, who works as the Outdoor Education Coordinator, climbing coach, mountain biking coach, and Humanities teacher at St. Andrew's-Sewanee School. Mother Molly and Michael have two sons, Ezra and Kilian, as well as their black cat, Johnny Cash.

In the weeks ahead, I look forward to the many opportunities that we will have to continue to introduce Mother Molly and her family to Saint Andrew’s – and vice versa. Having known Saint Andrew’s for almost ten years now – and having known Mother Molly for even longer than that, I eagerly anticipate the many ways that your gifts and hers will be knit together in the fabric of God’s ongoing revelation of love.

Let me close this introduction by stating how humbled and grateful I am that Mother Molly has accepted this call. God has great things in store for us as we continue to share Christ’s love in and through our common worship, witness, and welcome at Saint Andrew’s. Thanks be to God!

Grace & Peace,

Fr. Gary+