Meet Fr. Paul:

Fr. Paul Bresnahan was born in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1945. He lived there until his mom remarried and then moved to Toronto for 11 years. He graduated from Glendon College at York University in 1967 with a major in Psychology and a minor in Sociology.

From there he returned to the Boston area and graduated from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge in 1972 with a major in Scripture.

He served Christ Church, Hyde Park, Boston during the integration crisis from 1975-1983. From there he moved with his family to Ohio where he served Epiphany, Euclid from 1983 until 1990. Again he faced issues involving desegregation and the public schools. He then returned to Massachusetts where he served St. Andrew’s in Methuen from 1991 until 1995.

From 1995 until 2006 he was the rector of St. Mark’s Saint Albans, in West Virginia. While there, Fr. Paul led the way in building a homeless shelter, and again dealt with racial tensions after a cross burning in Saint Albans. He continued to build a Soup Kitchen and a Food Pantry and received statewide recognition for some of his achievements while serving there. Joe Manchin, the Governor of West Virginia awarded Fr. Paul the “Mountaineer of the Year” award in 2006 upon his retirement from St. Mark’s.

Fr. Paul is the author of “Everything You Need to Know About Sex in Order to Get to Heaven” a satirical treatment of the controversy over human sexuality in the Episcopal Church. Fr. Paul suggests that it is time for the Church to “grow up” and face facts: gay folks are in our families, our work places and yes even in our churches. It is time we embrace them in a kinder gentler way.

He also wrote a pamphlet called “User Friendly Evangelism”. This useful guide to church growth and development techniques was quite popular in the Episcopal Church in the 1990’s and sold over 8000 copies.

Fr. Paul is a trained Spiritual Director, and is a member of Spiritual Directors International. He received his training at the West Virginia Institute for Spirituality.

He is married to Cynthia Bresnahan. Cindy works for Hospice of the North Shore. Paul and Cindy are parents of three fine young men. David, is a graduate of the London School of Economics and works for Beverly Affordable Housing, Joshua works for US Airways at Logan Airport and Michael has just graduated from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago. The Bresnahans love living in Salem and have happily made it their new home.

Please feel free to visit Fr. Paul at www.frpaul.com