Donny is our Vicar. 

The best thing you can say about him is he is married to Mary and the father of Doug.  He has pretty much spent his entire life trying to get the church thing right.  Born and raised in Norfolk, he is a “cradle Episcopalian” which is actually a rare bird.  He has a BS from Old Dominion University and began studying theology at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.  The commute was harsh so he came back to the states and got an M Div from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.  He has also been blessed to study in Israel and England and is known to take a course at any college, university or seminary that grabs his attention.  Along the way he was trained and has served as a licensed mediator in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

After years of interim or transitional ministry in the Dioceses of Virginia and Southern Virginia and serving as the Canon to Bishop Carol Gallagher he thought Holy Family might be fun.  He was right.  As someone who does not want to be “stuck”, he has found Holy Family to be a place where everyone seems to be interested in growing into the full stature of Christ, as soon as we figure out what that means.  He is very interested in the Emerging Church and reads a fair bit.  Feel free to poke around in his library.  (Some of Donny's Library)

Donny, Mary and Doug live on an old farm in Powhatan County known as “Greenwood” where they love to entertain and where Donny and Doug love to turn small orange disks to powder with shot guns!

What is one?

All Anglicans, and especially Episcopalians, love archaic words.  The stranger the better.  And even though they might not even know what they mean, they like to drop them to let you know they are part of the "in group".  So most Episcopalians have no idea that “Vicar” (Latin vicarious) means “a substitute”.  It dates back to mediaeval times and the founding of the Church of England which had to do with NOT Henry VIII’s divorce but something much more important, getting money!  (Henry was a notorious spender and bad manager and all the wives and wars he was want to carry on with were, well, expensive.  I mean if you bring in a French swordsman for a beheading of a wife there is an excessive mileage fee!)  Henry would take the “tithes” (offerings) from a church and give them to some person or institution to gain favor or pay off a debt.  Whoever received the “Great Tithes” or “Rectorial Tithes” was obligated to send someone to tend the flock or take the “little tithes” (about 1/3 of the whole income) and hire a substitute or “Vicar”.  The “Vicar” had all the rights and privileges of “Rector” which is the archaic term we use for “Pastor” or “Full Time Preacher” (and comes from the Latin for “rule” but lay people get real upset when they hear that so we’ll move on) except the “Vicar” doesn’t get all the money.  That is still true in England but our Vicar is thankful that here that is not the case.  Instead, we consider that all “missions” or new congregations are under the leadership of the Bishop of the Diocese until totally self supporting so she or he sends a substitute or “Vicar” to minister to that congregation.