Visiting teen now an Anglican priest

In 1974, a teenager named David Wostenholm traveled from Scotland to the Albany Diocese as part of a cultural exchange program.

For three weeks, the 17-year-old Anglican joined 13 other young people from Great Britain to stay with host families from St. John the Baptist parish in Schenectady.

The idea of the exchange was to provide the young visitors with opportunities to work with various social service agencies as part of a well-rounded view of American life. During his visit, for example, David spent time talking with and ministering to residents at a facility in Schenectady for the mentally challenged.

What happened

In 1974, The Evangelist wrote about the exchange program. When that article recently surfaced from the files, the staff began wondering what happened to the Scottish teen. An internet search and subsequent email exchange brought some interesting answers.

Thirty-two years later, the teen is Father Wostenholm, an Anglican priest who serves as rector of four city churches, including All Saints in Hove, England, in the Diocese of Chichester.

While Father Wostenholm was brought up in Scotland, he moved to England to study theology, worked as a curate in the east end of London and moved to a parish in Brighton.

Formative

"My visit to Schenectady was certainly a formative experience and something I'll never forget," the priest emailed. "I recall being a rather naively religious teenager, brought up in a very conservative Episcopalian environment. I was bowled over by the experience at St. John the Baptist Church."

Father Wostenholm recalled the 1970s as seeming to be "full of liberation and promise, which was celebrated at St. John's with great exuberance -- and a new experience for me!

"I have an abiding memory of someone at Mass going to fetch the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle -- and she was a woman! Shock and horror! We'd never heard of Eucharistic ministers back in Scotland, and I recall quickly fleeing to the safety of St. George's [Episcopal Church] in Schenectady to find the familiar birettas and Latin, a little enclave of old-fashioned ways."

Ironically, the teen who was shocked by a female Eucharistic minister would later, as rector, appoint a female Anglican priest to one of the four churches he oversees.

Impressions

Asked about his contemporary views, the priest wrote, "I have to admit that I share a concern about political developments in the U.S. with many others over here.

"When we were referred to, on the brink of the Iraq War, as 'Old Europe,' it became clear that, in fact, most of the member States of the European Union are far more radical and forward-looking, both economically and politically, than the U.S.

"Some...from Britain feel uneasy about the attitude of the U.S. to the rest of the world and the needs of the planet."

Ecumenism

Asked about ecumenical developments in the time since he was in the Albany Diocese, Father Wostenholm wrote, "Our local Roman Catholic parish, whom we share Stations of the Cross with in Lent, now has a local priest as their pastor. He was brought up in the Anglican Church in Brighton, where I was pastor for 12 years.

"Here in Brighton and Hove, we do a lot of interfaith work, we have an interfaith forum, and the government is now encouraging 'listening' within our communities and between the cultures that we have in our communities.

"This is not at all simple as we have many refugee groups that are often at loggerheads. We have a strong Coptic community from the Sudan and Egypt. They find it difficult to meet with our many and varied Muslim groups. That's just one aspect of the community work we try to support as the 'national' Church trying to promote societal harmony."

Concluding his email, the priest said, "My strongest memories of my visit to Schenectady are full of deep thankfulness, and I would definitely love to return one day. God Bless."

(Father Wostenholm called his visit to the U.S "fantastic. I loved every minute. When I returned to my room back home in Scotland, I cried because the Ognibenes [Dick and Elaine who taught at the time at Siena College in Loudonville and who live in Schenectady] were a wonderful host family.")

(2/2/06) [[In-content Ad]]