The Parish of St. James Anglican Church
Calgary, Alberta
May 24, 2020
Dear Parish of St. James: This is a letter following Archbishop Greg’s May 24th announcement of Rev. Dane Neufeld as Incumbent Priest at St. James Anglican, Calgary.
It was with great rejoicing and deep gratitude that we learned that Rev. Dr. Dane Neufeld and his family will be moving to Calgary from Fort McMurray. Rev. Dane will be leading us in the next chapter of our parish life at St. James. Today, the joy of this is compounded as at last we can all share this wonderful news as a congregation. Rev. Dane and his family have strong roots in North West Calgary. He attended school here and earned his first degree at the University of Calgary.
Rev. Dane is married to Juanita Neufeld, and they have four children – Anton (10), Clara (7), Maggie (4) and Leo (4). They are an active family, who enjoy hiking, paddling, playing sports, gardening and reading. The Neufelds have lived in Fort McMurray for the past five years, where Dane served as rector of All Saints Anglican Church. Prior to that, they lived in Toronto for six years, while Dane was earning his M.Div. and Th.D. at Wycliffe College. He remains connected to Wycliffe as an adjunct professor.
Rev. Dr. Dane’s academic achievements are broad and significant but his record of pastoral leadership is especially important during this global pandemic which is affecting our city so much. Under his pastoral leadership the congregation at All Saints came through the devastating fires of May, 2016 and again this year with the flooding of the Athabasca River on April 28th.
It is a great pleasure for us to join our Diocese in welcoming the Neufelds to St. James.
The search and selection of a new rector for St. James has been a long but fruitful process and we are so very grateful to Archbishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson and Archdeacon Pilar Gateman. They have guided and sometimes carried us to this day. Thank you Rev. Pilar. Thank you Bishop Greg. And above all Thanks Be to Him: Our Lord Jesus Christ for this wonderful provision.
We also want to acknowledge the encouragement and the patience of our people at St. James and most especially the St. James Selection Committee for the time and commitment which they gave to this process. For each of them it is clear that it was a labour of love – Thank you.
Your delighted Wardens
St. James Anglican
Calgary