Welcome Fr. Doug!

This month, we welcome our new Senior Associate Rector, The Rev. Doug Kirby!

Fr. Doug Kirby was born in Louisville, Kentucky. After graduating from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky, he was commissioned as a Regular Army Field Artillery officer.  Across 27 years of active duty, he served in command, staff, and leadership positions in postings in the United States, Germany, the Republic of Korea, and three deployments to Iraq. After earning a Master of Science Degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College in Washington, DC, he served his final active-duty assignments in the Pentagon on the Joint Staff and the Army Staff.  He retired as a Colonel in 2015.  

Following retirement from the Army, Father Doug discerned a call to the priesthood and parish ministry.  He earned a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2021 and was ordained a priest that same year in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. As a priest, he has served in parishes in the Washington, DC, area. Currently, he is an Assisting Priest at St. Francis Episcopal Church, Potomac, Maryland.

Among his interests in ministry are liturgy and worship, Christian formation, pilgrimage, and ecumenism. 

He serves the wider church as the Board Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the American Friends of the Anglican Centre in Rome, supporting the Centre’s work in Anglican-Roman Catholic dialog. He also supports St. George’s College, Jerusalem, in its mission of supporting pilgrimage, education, and reconciliation.

In addition to his Master of Science and Master of Divinity, Father Doug earned a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. He continues lifelong learning through graduate-level coursework at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.

Outside of ministry, Father Doug is the chief of staff to two English Labrador Retrievers. They lay claim to all his free time and money.

We will welcome Fr. Doug at his first Sunday, August 23, with a reception in the Student Union at 10:10 a.m. We look forward to meeting Fr. Doug soon!