Our Vicar

Fr. Paul, an Indian New Zealander and an ordained Priest from the Church of South India, transferred his canonical residence to our Diocese, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. 

Fr. Paul was born and raised in South India and grew up with Anglican tradition. He says, “I accepted Lord Jesus as my savior at the age of 14 at a suicide point, and at that time, I was convinced about His calling on me to serve His Church and the World in need of His love”. He completed a Bachelor of Theology at 19 in Chennai, TN, India. He was sent as a missionary priest to the neighboring state Karnataka, where he learned a new language called Kannada and was involved in a Church planting mission for 14 years. Fr. Paul moved to New Zealand as a missionary to work among the migrant community. After serving the migrant community for 7 years, he moved to the US to complete his Doctoral Studies in Clinical Pastoral Education. 

Since coming to the USA in 2008, he has served the diaspora Churches of South India in Tristate, Texas, and Toronto. After his Masters of Divinity from Interfaith Seminary NY, he did supervisory level education in the ACPE Clinical Pastoral Education field at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Liberty University, specializing in Clinical Pastoral Education. He received a honorary Divinity degree from Bethany Theological College & Seminary, India in 2010. He has a Master of Arts in English Literature from Madurai University, India. 

He comes to Wantage with more than three decades of ministerial experience in various ministries, including clinical pastoral education, media evangelism, church planting missions, and eucharist ministries. He is the founder and visionary of several missional agencies such as Christian Life Service in India, Global Peace Mission in New Zealand, InterChristian Initiatives, InterCommunity Initiatives, and Interfaith Initiatives in the United States. He is trained and skilled in Chaplaincy from ACPE, Spiritual Direction from Metagem, Peace Building & Conflict Resolution from Tannenbaum, Domestic Violence Intervention from Manukau, Forest Dwelling from Oblate, Mission Formation from Global Episcopal Missions Network, Relationship Enrichment from MML Leadership Training, Ethical Economy from Trinity, Christian Counselling from CWR UK & CCS, and End of Life Care from VNA NY.

The vestry elected him to serve the Church of the Good Shepherd as our 23rd Priest in 2019, and he took charge as a priest on the first of January 2021 after serving a few months as our interim priest. He serves on various boards and Committees, including as a Mission Advocate for the Diocese relating to the Global Partnership of Episcopal Church, as president of Director of the Global Episcopal Mission Network, and as chair for the Global Mission Commission in the Diocese of Newark, a Member of International Relations Committee of Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, as Vice-President, Joint Council of Churches in Rockland County, and as Member of Spiritual Directors International. His wife and two sons well support his calling and priestly ministry.