“When I was 12 year old and a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, I realized that I would never be happy in life if I had to do another job other than the job that the priest at St. Joseph’s did.”
~(Beth LaRocca-Pitts: Senior Pastor St. Mark UMC)~
Staff - Saint Mark United Methodist Church - Atlanta, Georgia: Beth LaRocca-Pitts has been a member of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1983, though she has been preaching for longer than that! She was raised in Athens Georgia and began faith as a Roman Catholic. “When I was 12 year old and a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, I realized that I would never be happy in life if I had to do another job other than the job that the priest at St. Joseph’s did.” Understanding that as a call to ministry, she joined Athens First UMC and at 14 and trained to become a lay speaker at 17. She attended undergraduate school at Duke University where she received a BA in Religion. She received her M.Div from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and then returned to take her first ministerial appointment as pastor in charge of the Bishop Circuit in the Athens Elberton District. Next she attended Harvard University where she completed a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, with a concentration in Old Testament Studies. At Harvard she met her husband Mark and after they married they returned to Athens where she became the associate pastor at Athens First. In 1996 she was hired to teach Old Testament Studies at Duke Divinity School. While in Durham, Mark and Beth were blessed by the birth of their twins Ellie and Joe. In 2002 the family returned to Athens where Mark was hired as Staff Chaplain at Athens Regional Medical Center and Beth was appointed to be associate pastor at Snellville UMC. In 2002 Beth was appointed to be senior pastor at Watkinsville First UMC and in 2010 she was appointed to serve at Saint Mark. Mark works now as a chaplain with Crossroads Hospice. Ellie and Joe attend Grady High School. The whole family is blessed to be in ministry at Saint Mark.
***
In the Roman Catholic tradition, Fathers are celebrated on Saint Joseph's Day, commonly called the Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, though in certain countries Father's Day has become a secular celebration. It is also common for Catholics to honor their "spiritual father," their parish priest, on Father's Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment