Priest Associates at St. Paul’s: BiographiesCarskadden + Hauge + Kirking + Searls-Ridge + Shaver + Torvend |
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Father Carskadden’s current interests include:Russia: “A piece of my soul is connected to the art, music and spirituality of Russian Orthodoxy.” He has recently returned from several weeks travel there, is on the board of the St. Petersburg, Russia, Seattle Sister Churches program, and helps raise support for the Children’s Hospice in St. Petersburg; Social Justice: He serves on the diocesan Anti-Racism Training Task Force, helping to facilitate workshops around the diocese on race relations. Liturgy: He teaches the Introduction to Christian Worship course in the Diocesan School of Ministry and Theology and serves on the Advisory Board of the Summer Liturgy Insitute at Seattle University; Home: Ralph and his long-time partner Steven live in a 1910 house on Beacon Hill where their companion is a delightful Scottish Terrier named “Jacob.”
Father Hauge has been interested in and involved with leadership training since the 1960s when he became a member of the TACS (Training and Consultation) network in the Diocese of Olympia. Through TACS he helped to lead group development training sessions and served as a consultant to congregations working to strengthen their common life. He is currently a trainer with the Diocesan College for Congregational Development. Father Hauge’s interests include Carl Jung and how Jung’s psychological approach can augment the Christian Gospel. During a three-month period between positions, Father Hauge read Jung’s Collected Works, later becoming involved in Jungian circles in Oregon and giving a presentation to a Jungian gathering at the University of Oregon on the relationship of Jungian Psychology and Christian Theology. Father Hauge also has an interest in Celtic Holy Places. In the last six years he has made two pilgrimages to Celtic Holy Places: Lindesfarne, Iona, Whithorn, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and St. Andrew’s. This interest has led him to involvement in offering sessions on Celtic Spirituality more broadly in the diocese. Morrie and his partner Scott Martin have been together for more than 30 years and live in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle.
In 1964, he became rector of St. Andrew's, Nogales, AZ (on the US – Mexican border). In 1970, he moved to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and was—simultaneously—vicar of the Iglesia Episcopal de la Epifanía, the pastor of the Union Church of Santo Domingo, and the director of a residence for twenty-two male university students. Fourteen years of cross-cultural, bilingual ministry motivated him to want to better understand the relationship between religion and culture. To that end, in 1977 he returned to the USA as a full-time graduate student at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, where he earned the degree of Doctor of Ministry in the area of religion and culture. Chuck “retired” in 2001, after serving as Rector of the Church of the Ascension (Magnolia). Three months before my retirement he began a year’s study of Appreciative Interim Ministry. He served as Interim Rector here at St. Paul’s for 2-1/2 years, during the prolonged search process between Fr. Morrie and Mother Melissa’s tenures. He has also been interim at St. Andrew’s, Tacoma, St. Margaret’s, Bellevue, and Emmanuel, Mercer Island. His interest and love for Hispanic ministry—especially across-cultural ministry—continues. He served on the Board of Directors of VIA—Viviendo la Identidad Anglicana/Living the Christian Life in the Anglican Way—for five years, celebrated the weekly Spanish Eucharists at St. David’s, Shelton for about a year, and has taught Spanish for Liturgy at Diocesan House. He is an Oblate at the (Roman Catholic) Benedictine Priory of St. Placid, Lacey, WA, and practices T’ai chi. He and his wife Courtney have lived in West Seattle since 1998, have a grown son and daughter, and one grandchild. “Two things that I am so grateful for that I want to share with you are: 1) I realized my vocation to the priesthood my junior year in college and feel indescribably grateful that I have never once doubted it and 2) After 47 years of celebrating the Eucharist, day in and day out, every time is still a privilege and a thrill for me!” Grace, peace, and love,
Although Stephen’s family comes from Reno, Nevada, he spent most of his childhood living overseas—about three years each in Seoul, Korea; Lahore, Pakistan; and Moscow, Russia. He then attended Emory University in Atlanta, where he majored in chemistry, discovered the Canterbury Episcopal campus ministry at Emory, and began discerning a call to ordination. He then spent three years in New York City at the General Theological Seminary before getting married, moving to Dallas, and being ordained a priest (all within six weeks, meaning it took a while to recover from the major life change of it all). He and Julia were thrilled to come to Seattle this past summer after years of withdrawal from the mountains, trees, and water of their beloved West Coast. Stephen’s passions include great liturgy, choral music, travel, baseball, hiking, and spending time with Julia (and their cat Ceili). He and Julia traveled to Israel and Palestine in April and May of 2009 to spend two weeks at St. George’s College in Jerusalem making pilgrimages to holy sites and studying both biblical history and the contemporary political situation. He also has a special love for Russian culture, language, and spirituality. As a choral musician, he has had the opportunity to sing with the Kronos Quartet, the San Francisco Symphony, and Japan’s NHK Symphony as a member of the Dessoff Choirs in New York; more recently, he was a member of Dallas’s Arts District Chorale. Over the past two years, he’s enthusiastically (well, mostly) discovered the joys of running and finished his first half-marathon in February. He loves being a priest and a young adult and living out both those identities as fully as possible.
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Father Ralph Carskadden holds degrees in music, theology and fine arts. He served as Canon Liturgist at St. Paul's Cathedral, Detroit, and at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle. He also served as Rector of All Souls', San Diego, and most recently as Rector of St. Clement's Church, Seattle. He served a three-year term on the City of Seattle Arts Commission and also on the board of the Association of Diocesan Liturgy and Music Commissions of the Episcopal Church. Father Carskadden has been a liturgical consultant to a variety of parish and cathedral congregations, and most recently served as Priest-In-Charge at St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle.
Father Charles Searls Ridge, D.Min. A postulant and candidate for Holy Orders under Bishop Bayne, in 1961, Fr. Chuck was ordained deacon at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, by Bishop Lewis, and moved immediately to Dover, DE, to be the assistant at Christ Church (founded 1703) with a particular ministry to college students at Wesley Junior College and (segregated) Delaware State College and to military personnel at Dover Air Force Base. Delaware churches and institutions were just beginning to desegregate.
Father Samuel Torvend coordinates and teaches in the many adult formation offerings scheduled throughout the year at St. Paul's. He also serves as professor of the history of Christianity at Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma) where he has taught for the past ten years. In addition to university teaching, he is the associate director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture in the Western United States. Within the Diocese of Olympia, he serves on the Commission on Liturgy and the Arts, the Committee on Liturgical Catechesis and Theology, and as a teacher in the Diocesan School of Theology and Ministry. During 2008-2009, he has been the Theologian in Residence at St. Mark's Cathedral, giving workshops on leadership in the community of faith. He is the author of Daily Bread, Holy Meal: Opening the Gifts of Holy Communion; Luther and the Hungry Poor; Praying in the Home; and a variety of articles on liturgy, sacraments, beauty, the environment, and social justice. |