Adam Shoemaker

» 29 years old
» Diocese of Massachusetts (Province 1)
» YASC – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2005)
» Ordained Priest (Curate at Christ Church, Andover, MA)

Adam attributes much of where he is today to his college chaplaincy and his college chaplain (Boston University and the Rev. Margaret Schwarzer). A cradle Episcopalian, Adam was not very involved in church life as a child and teenager. In fact, he spent most of his time with friends in the Roman Catholic church. Adam came from a family he describes as “not very religious” and when he was “on the verge of checking out” of the whole church idea, he found himself at St. Anthony’s—a Franciscan High School in Long Island, NY. There, Adam learned about faith, liturgy, God, and community, and was drawn deeper into a life of faith.

The most exciting part of St. Anthony’s for Adam was “watching young adults mixing it up,” questioning and engaging their faith. Adam chose ultimately to stay in the Episcopal Church because he had a deep appreciation for the intellectual autonomy and integrity that is provided in the church, in his words, “the space that our tradition lends people to be part of a community and still have the freedom to be on their own journey to God.”

Adam left Long Island to attend Boston University and found the Episcopal Church at BU. He recalls identifying the first seeds of a call to ordained ministry while being part of this community. Through a summer volunteer opportunity working with victims of domestic violence, Adam was able to see a side of life and faith that he hadn’t before been familiar with. When he came back to BU in the fall, his chaplain listened to his stories, helped him put language to what he had seen and experienced, and for the first time named for him that he might want to consider that he was being called to ordained ministry. For Adam, the Episcopal Church at BU provided a home—it was a worshipping community to continually return to, and it was a place where he could continue to engage in “mixing it up” with other young adults.

After graduating from BU, Adam went on to Harvard Divinity School and eventually  graduated with an M.Div, and had entered the ordination process in the Diocese of Massachusetts. Having already completed seminary and with a few years to fill before he was eligible to be ordained, Adam joined the Young Adult Service Corps and went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was a difficult and eye-opening experience for Adam as he taught English to a people of all ages while working in a small Anglican mission in a dangerous part of the city.

Adam understands his role as a young adult leader in the church, and specifically as an ordained leader in the church, as being a guide. His faith, as he’s received it and as he has been formed by the Episcopal Church, calls him to help people, and to point people to the presence of God in their own lives while also giving people space to carve their own paths. His goal in exercising his ministry as an ordained leader is that he will be able to create an environment that people will care enough to “mix it up” and ask the deeper questions about faith, and that he will be able to help them interpret their life transitions and ask the questions of where God is in their lives, just as his college chaplain was able to do for him.