Contributors
Fr. Patrick Cardine
Founder, Administrator
Author of
Lorica
Father Patrick Cardine is pastor of St. Patrick Orthodox Church in Bealeton, Virginia and administrator of The Orthodox West. Born in 1967 and raised in a devout Evangelical home, he began asking questions about historical Christianity in 1985 and serendipitously stumbled onto Orthodoxy through reading Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”. Twenty-one years later, he and a group of 43 souls were received into the Orthodox Church by Bishop Thomas of the Antiochian Archdiocese in Warrenton, Virginia. Fr. Patrick and his wife have five daughters and one son. Fr. Patrick is also a master blacksmith. He intends to be buried, God willing, in the cemetery at St. Patrick’s.
Founder & Administrator of The Orthodox West
Writer & Podcaster
Author of Lorica
V. Rev. Fr. Patrick Cardine
Father Patrick Cardine is pastor of St. Patrick Orthodox Church in Bealeton, Virginia and administrator of The Orthodox West. Born in 1967 and raised in a devout Evangelical home, he began asking questions about historical Christianity in 1985 and serendipitously stumbled onto Orthodoxy through reading Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”. Twenty-one years later, he and a group of 43 souls were received into the Orthodox Church by Bishop Thomas of the Antiochian Archdiocese in Warrenton, Virginia. Fr. Patrick and his wife have five daughters and one son. Fr. Patrick is also a master blacksmith. He intends to be buried, God willing, in the cemetery at St. Patrick’s.
Vicar General of the Western Rite Vicariate
Writer
Praxis & Journal Content
V. Rev. Fr. Edward Hughes
V. Rev. Edward Hughes has served St. George, Lawrence, since 1989. He is the spiritual advisor to the Diocese of Worcester and New England Antiochian Women and Dean of the New England Deanery. He also is chair of the Archdiocese Departments of Liturgics and Translations and is Vicar General of The Western Rite Commission.
Asst. to the Vicar General of the Western Rite Vicariate
Writer
Author of Cum Angelis et Archangelis
V. Rev. Fr. John Fenton
The Very Reverend John W. Fenton was appointed the Third Pastor of St Michael’s by Metropolitan Joseph in October 2015.
Fr. John Fenton came to Orthodoxy after 16 years of service as a Lutheran minister. Ordained a priest by Bishop MARK on 11 February 2007, Fr John was first assigned to form Holy Incarnation Orthodox Church. Fr John has earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Sacred Theology, and is a candidate for a Doctor of Ministry degree.
Fr John has taught theology and philosophy in both high school and college classrooms. In 2009, Metropolitan PHILIP appointed Fr John as Assistant to the Vicar General of the Western Rite Vicariate.
Fr John is married to Kh Julie. They have seven children and six grandchildren, and live in Whittier.
Writer
Fr. Alban Waggener
Author of Pererinion
Fr. Alban Waggener is the pastor of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Lynchburg, VA. He is a “pererin gwael ei wedd” (loosely translated, “a pilgrim of poor appearance”) – hence the name of this blog, Pererinion which is Welsh for Pilgrimage.
Author(s) of The Rule
Abbot Theodore & Friends of St. Lawrence
Father Abbot, formerly a monastic in the Roman Catholic Church and subsequently a deacon and monastic in the Episcopal Church, entered the Orthodox Church in 2002.
After several years as a novice monk living in the world under obedience to an elder monk, he was tonsured Rasophore monk in 2007 by Bishop (Now Metropolitan) JOSEPH. The year before, he graduated from the Antiochian St Stephen's Program and House of Studies.
During 2008 - 2010, Father spent time at two small Orthodox monasteries (one Eastern, one Western). Then, in early 2010, he accepted an invitation to move to Ohio and pursue his vocation there in a Greek Orthodox monastery whose observance was modeled on the Rule of St Benedict.
In August of 2010, Father was tonsured to the Great Schema (Habit) by His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, receiving the name "Theodore" (after St Theodore of Tarsus, Abp. of Canterbury). In February of 2012, he was ordained subdeacon by His Eminence Metropolitan Savas. Tragically, later that year the monastery became unable to sustain itself and voluntarily closed.
In November of 2012 Father arrived at the Retreat Center as a "refugee" and, soon after, he became the Guest Master at the Retreat Center. Shortly after the foundation of the monastic community in 2013, he was elected as the first Prior (superior).
Father was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on September 27, 2015, by His Grace Bishop JOHN, at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and officially assigned to the Monastery by His Eminence, Metropolitan JOSEPH.
On February 1st, 2018, Metropolitan JOSEPH the monasteries and installed Fr. Theodore as the Abbot.
Writer & Podcaster
Fr. Peter Kavanaugh
Author of In the Desert
The Reverend Father Peter Kavanaugh was appointed as Rector to St. Benedict Orthodox Church on January 11th, 2016.
A convert to Orthodoxy, Fr. Peter grew up in a non-denominational church in Virginia. He was raised in a devout family of missionaries and musicians, and early on found his love for God and the Holy Scriptures, as well as for history and classical literature.
Fr. Peter’s convictions were further influenced by studying philosophy, religion, and psychology in college, and over a year spent at a monastery on Mt. Olympus, Greece. Afterwards, he earned his M.A. in Divinity at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and has worked as a farmhand, chaplain, and Harvard research assistant.
Today, he is the happily married husband of Zoe and three, Kevin, Eva, and Ella Rose. He can't imagine a better place to raise his family than Wichita Falls, Texas.
Writer & Blog Managment
Stephen Brannen
Author of According to the Whole
Stephen Brannen serves on staff as a subdeacon at Church of the Advent (Antiochian) in Atlanta, GA. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, he discovered the Anglican Communion and helped to plant Church of the Advent, which would later be received as a Western Rite Orthodox congregation. His path from evangelical Protestantism to Anglo-Catholicism to Orthodoxy has been a continuous seeking to move from only having parts of the Faith to having the whole Faith. Now in the Orthodox Church, Stephen also values the Church’s historic embrace of the expressions of that Faith according to the whole of the world’s cultures, from East to West.
Writer, Videographer, Podcaster, Podcast & Backend Managment
Fr. Finn (Adam) Roberts
Author of Locally Grown
In 2014 (then Deacon) Adam began working full-time for the Antiochian Archdiocese as the administrator for Becoming Truly Human, an outreach ministry.
Through his work with Becoming Truly Human and his experience as a co-author for the first ever, national study on evangelization and outreach in Orthodox parishes in the United States, Fr. Adam developed an interest in helping create evangelistic media for the Orthodox Church. Media includes films (both short and long), websites, podcasts, and social media promotions. Fr. Adam previously worked for the Department of Missions & Evangelism of the Antiochian Archdiocese as a Content Creator. He is now the parish priest at St. Paul Orthodox Church in Katy, TX.
Podcaster
Author of The Eleventh Hour Show
Dn. Stephen Kerr
The Rev. Deacon Stephen Kerr serves at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church, a parish of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in Lewistown, Maryland. In the decade before his ordination to the Holy Diaconate by His Grace Bishop JOHN on December 11, 2017, Deacon Stephen had journeyed with Father James Hamrick, the parish priest, from the United Methodist Church into the Charismatic Episcopal Church before establishing a CEC mission in Lewistown, MD just prior to Christmas 2005. In the three years following, Deacon Stephen served an integral role with Fr. James in leading the CEC congregation into Holy Orthodoxy. Following the congregation’s catechism and conversion into Holy Orthodoxy, Deacon Stephen was elevated to Subdeacon by His Grace Bishop THOMAS, and served in that capacity for nearly nine years before his ordination.
Deacon Stephen supervises the altar and acolyte ministry, assists with preaching, serves Holy Eucharist to shut-ins, and leads special teaching programs in the parish which has included a lecture series on the Saints, the inaugural launch of the archdiocese’s Becoming Truly Human program, and a Men’s Ministry teaching series.
Deacon Stephen holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, and St. Stephen’s Course Certificate in Applied Orthodox Theology from the Antiochian House of Studies. Deacon Stephen and his wife, Danielle, reside in Lewistown, Maryland with their three young children, and is quite involved with his son, Zachary, in youth soccer.
Writer
Adrienne Meador
Author of This Orthodox Life: A blog about Liturgical Living in the Western Rite
Adrienne Meador is a wife and mother of five children. She and her family are members of St. Patrick's Orthodox Church in Bealeton, Virginia. At her parish, Adrienne volunteers in the nursery, researches and writes curriculum for the children's Sunday School, and organizes the meals ministry for those recovering from birth, surgery, illness, and loss within the parish community. In her daily work, Adrienne labors at home, keeping house, cooking, and caring for her young children. When she has spare time, Adrienne enjoys reading and writing letters to friends. She hopes This Orthodox Life blog will be a helpful resource for new parents, godparents, or converts who aren't sure how to get started with "liturgical living." Her blog will give readers a glimpse into the traditions of one Western Rite Orthodox family as they live out their faith through the liturgical seasons.
