The Reverend Nicholas J. Romans
On behalf of the Vestry, we are thrilled to announce that The Reverend Nicholas J. Romans has accepted the call to become our next rector. Fr. Romans is currently serving as the rector of The Church of the Transfiguration in Mesa, Arizona. He will be joining us on February 15th and will celebrate his first services with us on Sunday, February 19th.
During December, the Vestry and all of the members of the Search and Selection Committee had an opportunity to meet with Nicholas. We found him to be a charming and gracious man who possesses a wonderful sense of humor. While he was here, he conducted a Eucharistic service and an adult education forum for us. He proved to be a dynamic preacher and an excellent instructor. We were fascinated with his impromptu discussion of the icons that hang in the lower-level chapel.
We believe that Nicholas possesses all of the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to lead Transfiguration into the future. He received his undergraduate degree in religion and psychology from the University of Southern California and his Masters of Divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.
He was ordained to the priesthood in Peterborough, England in 1983. He then spent the following eight years in England serving as a curate and then as a rector of a parish.
Upon his return to the USA, he worked for eight years as the Director of Undergraduate Advisement at USC while also serving as the assisting priest and assisting chaplain at St. Thomas of Canterbury and Canterbury USC respectively. This experience provided him with administrative skills which will serve us well as a pastoral church.
In 2001, Nicholas moved to New Orleans to become the founding pastor of a church that serviced the disenfranchised and unchurched. This was a growing community when Hurricane Katrina destroyed it and the surrounding area.
Nicholas moved on to the Diocese of Arizona, where he first served as an interim rector and then in his current position.
On a personal note, Nicholas has been in a committed relationship with his life-partner, Rex, for over twenty years. They have two dogs and two cats, all of which were rescue animals.
All of us who have met Nicholas are waiting with great anticipation and excitement for his arrival. We believe that he is the perfect fit for Transfiguration. We cannot thank the Search and Selection Committee enough for their hard work and diligence. We believe that they have done an outstanding job and have found the best possible priest to lead us.
Helen Fitch and Cathi Ratay, Wardens
And a note to our congregation from Rev. Romans:
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
It is with great joy that I write to you, in anticipation of beginning my new ministry among you as your Rector. I have been holding you in prayer for many months, as the search process has unfolded and the members of the Search Committee and the Vestry and I have discerned together and with the Holy Spirit what we best understand to be the way forward in Christ for the Church of the Transfiguration. I am humbled and delighted to be the one who has been asked to take up this position among you.
In the next few weeks I will be concluding my ministry at another parish dedicated to the Transfiguration, in the Diocese of Arizona and in early February will be on my way to Palos Park. I will be accompanied by Rex, my life partner of more than twenty years, who is as excited as I am that we are on our way to taking our place among you. We will be bringing with us our household of two dogs and two cats, all of whom we have rescued from homelessness over the years and who range in age from approximately three years to sixteen.
I love parish ministry in all of its joys and challenges, and am blessed to have served in a variety of contexts, including the Church of England, where I was ordained and served for over eight years. I am confident that during the time that God gives us together you and I will discover new joys and meet new challenges and embrace joyfully all that we are given to do together in Christ’s name. The bonds of affection that we form with one another will strengthen us and sustain us to do great things.
In the few weeks that remain until we come to you, please keep Rex and me in your prayers, offering them to God with hope and anticipation. When we arrive, as a community we will begin to gather in the harvest of God’s gracious will for us and for the world.
Be assured that we are praying for you, too.
In Christ,
Nicholas