James A. Kowalski
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James A. Kowalski | |
|---|---|
| Dean of Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York | |
| Church | Episcopal Church in the United States of America |
| Appointed | November 2001 |
| Installed | April 13, 2002 |
| Predecessor | Harry Houghton Pritchett, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 11, 1951 |
James A. Kowalski[1] was the 9th dean of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, of the Episcopal Church in New York City,[2] the largest city in the United States.[3][4] He had been Dean from April 13, 2002,[5] until he stepped down effective June 2017.[6][7]
Kowalski's father was Roman Catholic and his mother was Jewish, but they joined the Episcopal Church when they started a family.[1][5] His father was "a blue collar worker, [who] served on the vestry...."[1] Kowalski was born on September 11, 1951, in Willimantic, Connecticut,[1] also described as a "blue collar town".[3]
As a boy, Kowalski sang in a choir, served as an acolyte, and was an Eagle Scout in a boy scout troop.[3]
Kowalski earned a bachelor's degree in English,[8] at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a notable honors society.[3] He attended Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and, after a hiatus at New York University School of Law, he returned to theology studies in 1976 and graduated in 1978 with a master's degree in divinity.[3] In the meantime, in 1976, he married Anne Brewer, a medical doctor who has also been an ordained Episcopal priest since 1980.[3][5] They have two grown children.[3]
In 1978, Kowalski was ordained as a deacon.[4] He served for a time as a chaplain at the University of Vermont and was curate at Trinity Church in Newtown, Connecticut.[4] After ordination to the priesthood, he served as priest at the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1982 to 1993.[1][4] He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Hartford Seminary.[4]
Kowalski served as rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut, from 1993 to 2001,[1] for nine years at one of the largest Episcopal churches in the United States,[5] with 4,000 members.[4] He raised a capital campaign of $2.8 million and increased giving by $450,000 annually to St. Luke's parish.[4] Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.[4]
