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Welcome to St. Paul’s Father Dan

We are very excited to welcome Father Dan Graves to St. Paul’s. His first Sunday with us will be February 8th with services at 8 & 10am followed by coffee and cake!

Fr. Graves is an Anglican priest, writer, and Church historian. He grew up in Richmond Hill and while he was baptized at St. Gabriel’s he spent most his early years into adulthood at St. Mary’s. Fr. Graves’ greatest joy in ministry is being amongst the people. He is a “neighbourhood priest” who loves to be out and about in the community and building relationships. For the past five years he has been the Priest-in-Charge, and latterly, the Incumbent of Trinity Church, Bradford. He served his curacy at Holy Trinity, Thornhill where he also served as Associate Priest. Prior to ordained ministry, Fr. Graves was manager of the Anglican Book Centre in Toronto for many years.

Fr. Graves is also deeply dedicated to the ministry of healing, having served for many years on the Bishop’s Committee on Healing. He lectures widely on the healing ministry, having been invited to give retreats and workshops for seminaries, dioceses and parishes in Canada and as far away as Florida and Jamaica. He is the editor and compiler of Prayers for Healing from the Anglican Tradition (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2010).

As a scholar, Fr. Graves’ earliest academic training was in biblical studies, which remains his first love. As such he enjoys preaching, writing reflections on Holy Scripture, and leading Bible studies. For the past several years his published academic work has mostly focused on sixteenth century Anglicanism, with a special interest in the Anglican luminary Richard Hooker. His most recent book, co-edited with Scott Kindred-Barnes is Richard Hooker: His Life, Work, and Legacy – Essays in honour of W. David Neelands (Toronto: St. Osmund Press, 2013). He is an active member of the Richard Hooker Society. Fr.Graves is also the editor of the Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society and writes and lectures on the English Church in Upper Canada. He is currently completing a ThM in Anglican Theology at Trinity College, Toronto, under the direction of Canon David Neelands.

Fr. Graves is actively involved in the wider life of the Diocese, currently serving on the Diocesan Response Team. He has previously served on several diocesan boards, committees and commissions, including the Diocesan Archives Committee, the Archbishop’s Committee on Healing, the Hong Kong – Jamaica – Toronto Continuing Indaba Encounter, and the Archbishop’s Pastoral Response Advisory Commission.

His personal interests include genealogical research, the ecclesiastical, political and social history of 19th century Ontario, reading, reed organ restoration, collecting comic books, playing the guitar and piano (the latter certainly not for public consumption), and ballroom dancing.

He is married to Athena Graves (nee Leighton), who grew up in Queensville and the Newmarket area. Athena is a secondary school teacher in the York Region District School Board and a VP of OSSTF D-16. Their son Leighton is a cosmetics industry professional and their daughter Anastasia (Ana) is in grade 8 and is an artist.

Welcome Father Graves. St. Paul’s is delighted to have you as part of our church family!

Comments(3)

  1. Reply
    Darlene Ross says:

    Welcome to our wonderful church !

    • Reply
      stpauls says:

      We couldn’t agree more Darlene! Thanks for taking the time to extend a welcome to Fr. Dan!

  2. Reply
    Betty Jo McGrade says:

    I am trying to reach Fr Dan Graves, who has recently left phone messages for my husband, Arthur Stephen McGrade. Fr Dan’s contact numbers are only partially intelligible on my answering machine, and I do want to speak to him. Would you please send me current e-mail and/or telephone numbers for him. Thank you. Jo McGrade

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