Governance

Kathleen is vice chancellor of ECN, a director on the EDC board, and chair of the Friends of Navajoland.  At home in Fort Worth, Texas, Kathleen serves as a deputy to General Convention and is counsel of record in the diocesan litigation against breakaway leaders who left the Episcopal Church in 2008.  Kathleen was a classroom teacher in Texas and Utah and has practiced trial and appellate law in Texas since 1979.

Becoming an Episcopalian at age 36, Kathleen has served on the vestry of two parishes, as deputy to four sessions of General Convention (2009, 2012, 2015, 2018), and as chancellor and now as assistant chancellor for the Diocese of Fort Worth. She has served on the Church’s Standing Commission for Constitution and Canons, legislative committees for Constitution and Canons, and the HOD Resolution Review Committee. Kathleen also volunteers with the local hospice program, is a reading mentor to kindergarteners, and serves on the boards of the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin and Texas Impact in Austin.

Kathleen has worked as assistant director of a rape crisis center and classroom teacher in Austin and Salt Lake City. She is a graduate of the University of Texas (B.A. in English and history), Texas Tech University School of Law (J.D. with honors), and Seminary of the Southwest (Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry).

Kathleen says, “Working in Navajoland feeds my love for the Southwest desert and its indigenous peoples and offers me the opportunity to serve God while diving deep into the rich spirituality of the Dine. I am in awe of these beautiful people. And I have learned that you don’t need a passport in order to be a missionary!”

 

John is a member of Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati where he serves on the Vestry and is Chair of the Native American Ministry Council that supports Native American initiatives throughout the United States.  In this position he has expanded his involvement in the promotion of social justice initiatives and worked with the Office of Indigenous Ministries of The Episcopal Church, the Bishops Native Collaborative and the Episcopal Church in Navajoland.  He succeeded in sponsoring the adoption of a Diocese of Southern Ohio resolution regarding Indigenous People’s Day.  John is currently a Trustee of the Economic Development Corporation of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland.

John earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Education and Administration from the University of Cincinnati and attended the National Science Foundation Institute at Ohio State University where he also completed the candidacy for a Ph.D. with a major in science education and minors in curriculum and research.

After 34 years of service, John retired from Cincinnati Public Schools. In those years, he serving as a classroom teacher, teacher of science on public television, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Director of Intermediate Grades, and Director of Resource Planning and Development.  He also served as a Graduate Instructor at Miami University, University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. Following retirement, he served as a consultant on educational equity, curriculum and instruction, and strategic planning for technology, and program evaluation throughout the U.S.   For over 23 years he worked with the San Jose Unified School District, CA, as a Researcher and Project Evaluator of Desegregation and Magnet Schools.  He also served as an advisor for the U.S. Department of Education, several national educational labs, and a number of urban education and technology organizations.

John is an active volunteer and Emeritus Trustee of the Camping and Education, LLC that operates two camps for youth in International Falls, Minnesota.  The camps specialize in wilderness canoeing, backpacking and climbing, and follow many Native American traditions.  John was a Counselor, Head of the Senior Camp, Assistant Director and is now the Artist in Residence. He is currently active with the Camping and Education Foundation in the development of an Urban Wilderness Experience Program for teenage youth in collaboration with the Cincinnati Park Board and the University of Cincinnati.

 

John is married to Toni Tallmadge Grate and lives in Mt Adams, Cincinnati, Ohio. Together they have five grown children with eleven grandchildren.

 

Sam is a retired educator from Fort Lewis College in Colorado in Durango, Colorado.  He and his wife Kathleen have three sons and two grandsons and attend St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Durango.

After discharge from the U.S. Army, Sam entered a Ph.D. program in medical sociology at CU-Boulder, after graduating from the University of San Francisco in economics in 1962.

Sam was called to Fort Lewis College in 1972 to create a major in Sociology and Human Services, which was strongly oriented to experiential and project learning.  During these years he had many students who were Native American.  In the mid-seventies, we created a field-based program for the Navajo Mental Health Program, centered in Window Rock, Arizona.   This was for a staff of about 25 who were acquiring some so-called “western” counseling skills, while being encouraged to maintain their cultural orientation to Dine’ healing practices. We spent considerable time working in small groups in Navajoland and a summer on campus in Durango.  After about a year and a half, they moved the program to Loretto Heights College (now merged with Regis College in Denver) where 18 students were able to acquire their B.A.

Sam became the Director and then research director of the Office of Community Services at Fort Lewis College, initially funded by the Kellogg Foundation, through which they provided community development assistance to municipalities, counties, tribes, and Federal Land Management agencies in the Four Corners Region. From 1993 on, he was primarily involved in contract work with the U.S. Forest Service, and the BLM, addressing strategic planning, community involvement, wilderness land, and wildfire management.

At St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Durango, he has served as senior warden, directed a search for a new rector, and spent 6 years on the Diocesan Standing Committee under the episcopacy of Bishop Robert O’Neil.  He was the secretary of the Standing Committee for four of these years and has spent approximately ten years on the Southwestern Region’s Executive Committee, a coordinating body for 10-12 congregations that span from Grand Junction to Alamosa, Colorado.  He also has served on the board of directors for Mercy Regional Medical Center for nine years.

In 2015 Sam began work with the Daybreak Rotary (one of 3 Rotary Clubs in Durango) to install solar lights in un-electrified Navajo homes.  For two years we concentrate our work in northern New Mexico from Sanostee towards Cuba.  This work was supported by parish donations.  Three southwest Colorado Episcopal congregations, (St Patrick’s, St Mark’s and St Barnabas participate together in this project. In 2017, they gradually transitioned to a deeper, focused, collaborative partnership with St Christopher’s Mission within the ECN.  Our current objectives are directed towards refurbishing what are called the Monk’s Rooms in the historic Commons Building.

In 2017 the Colorado Episcopal Diocese invited two ordained clergy and three laypersons to its Annual Convention, held that year in Grand Junction, Colorado.  The purpose of this visit, beyond the spiritual learning and neighborly interaction, was to create a pathway for additional Colorado congregations to join in the Partnership with St Christopher’s.  This venture has already begun work, although they are just at the beginning of the journey.

Sam says, “I can safely say that working with Canon Chan Anaya, and Mother Kay Rohde, and many new Dine’ friends at St Christopher’s, we have many development dreams about this sacred place.”

B.A. from Eastern CT State University (1978), in Fine Arts & Psychology, and Master’s from URI in Human Development, Counseling & Family studies (1983). Post-graduate training to obtain MFT license (1988) and HIV Counselor Certificate from the CT Dept. of Public Health (1992).– Active in HIV/AIDS counseling at Backus Hospital, Norwich, CT from 1992 to 2010. Previously, clinician at N.E. Psychiatric Counseling Center in Groton, CT (1984 to 1998) and as Group Facilitator in a substance abuse prevention program (NADSAP) at the US Submarine base in Groton, CT. –Member of Christ Church since 1974, served on the vestry and as Junior Warden (1999/2000), helped establish and work at the Living Supplies Closet—a pantry for non-food essential items (since 1990). –Convener of the Peace & Justice Committee at Christ Church (since 2004). –Traveled to Navajoland once a year since 1998, to help with Vacation Bible School, crafts, house painting, women’s retreats, community suppers etc., mostly at St Mary’s in Oljato, UT. –Hobbies: Painting (ink, water colors), writing, reading, book groups. Member of Raging rannies.org  –Married  51 years to George Parent, mother of daughter Judy and son Ben, and 3 grandchildren.

Margaret is a member of the ECN Council and active in the Episcopal ministry in the Utah region at St. Christopher’s.