God’s Unconditional Love
An Interview with Fr. Henry Doyle, ‘89
Nashotah House loves to hear stories about their sons and daughters who have graduated. If you would like to share your story, please email Jim Watkins (jwatkins@nashotah.edu). Today, we are sitting down with the Rev. Henry Doyle to learn about where God has called him after Nashotah House. We hope that his story connects with your own and that it inspires you to look for God’s grace in your life.
Jim Watkins: Let’s start with Nashotah. You graduated from the House with an MDiv. in 1989. What brought you to Nashotah House in the first place, and what impact did it make on you?
The Rev. Henry Doyle, ’89, Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, Faribault, Minnesota
Fr. Henry Doyle: The seminary’s location was appealing to me: small, rural; its ambience, “small” enrollment. I also enrolled because of the community life, academic program, and weekly schedule of chapel and classes. Its reputation and being the alma mater of clergy I have known and respected also brought me to the House. Nashotah House has had a lasting, deep impact upon me. At the House, I felt engaged, encouraged, and fed as well as uncomfortable, unsettled, and challenged. It seems essential and vital for all of us to have these feelings in the church and in society.
JW: After graduating, you took a position as chaplain at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minnesota. What is Shattuck-St. Mary’s and why did you choose to serve there?
Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, founded by the Rev. James Lloyd Breck, 1858. Breck, with William Adams and John Henry Hobart, Jr., also founded Nashotah House, 1842.
HD: Shattuck-St. Mary’s School is an Episcopal, college preparatory, boarding/day school for students in grades 6-12, and a postgraduate year, in Faribault, Minnesota. The Rev. James Lloyd Breck founded Shattuck School in 1858. Before seminary, I had worked in education. After I had earned my bachelor’s degree at the Colorado College, I joined the Peace Corps; Ethiopia was my assigned country. For two years, I taught English as a second language and geography to seventh- and eighth- graders in a village, about 55 miles west of Addis Ababa, the capitol. After I had earned a master’s degree in education - focused on college student personnel administration - at Colorado State University, I held full-time positions in residence life at CSU and Regis University. Besides my administrative role, I engaged in co-teaching a few courses.
What appealed to me about becoming a boarding/day school chaplain were the different ways I could reach young people, the present and the future of the church. I would have responsibility for the chapel program, and I would teach courses and serve as an advisor to a group of students. Moreover, I would serve as a dorm parent in a residence hall. Every day, I would see and talk with young people. I would work with the faculty and staff to fulfill the mission of the school.
JW: What is the most important lesson that your ministry has taught you about loving God and loving your neighbor?
HD: God loves us unconditionally. Through Jesus, the Son of God, I have learned what loving God and my neighbor involves. With God’s help, I respect the dignity of every human being. Since God created us, I make every effort to see Christ in each person, even if the person is a non-Christian or non-believer. There are those whom it is hard to love, but I go ahead and love. After all, to someone else, I know I can be hard to love.
JW: Serving as chaplain at Shattuck-St. Mary’s must have given you the opportunity to be a pastoral presence for both parents and their children. What opportunities did you find to be a vessel of pastoral care and peace for families at your school?
HD: After parents had met me at the start of the school year or during fall and winter family weekends, they sensed I was approachable and willing to help them in their parental roles. When the need arose, we engaged in conversations of depth and substance. Parents who attended Sunday mass during the fall and winter weekends knew from my homilies that I supported and encouraged them and their children to maintain and strengthen their respective relationships. Pastoral care to the students comforted and assured parents of my care for and love for their children, who felt I was genuine, kind, and loving.
In the first month of my tenure at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, I started hand addressing and sending birthday cards to students, faculty, staff, and their children. In January, one of the senior boys was excited about and thankful for my card, especially since his parents’ card had not arrived on his actual birthday. Twenty-nine years later, his girlfriend wrote to me from Utah; she stated he looked forward every year to receiving a card from me. It still meant so much to him that I remembered his birthday. In my own handwriting, I address cards to hundreds and hundreds of alumni/ae and past school employees and their families and, of course, to the present members of the school community. Besides birthday cards, I send anniversary, get well, sympathy, holy day, Jewish and Christian, and other cards near and far. The greeting card ministry is vast.
The ministry of presence is important. Students appreciate having me in the audience and in the stands; they like receiving my emails about their performance on stage, field, and ice. They are glad I attend their academic presentations, ask thoughtful questions, and give positive feedback.
I thank God for the opportunity to be a positive influence and inspiration, and I cherish the relationships I’ve fostered. I have traveled in and out of the country to join alumni/ae in marriage and to baptize many of their children. I felt honored to have a child named after me and to have become a godparent and “grandparent” to several children. I have even officiated at the funerals of alumni/ae - some who had been and others who had not been my students.
JW: In 2017, you were chosen as the Faribault Heritage Days Grand Marshall. What did this honor mean to you?
HD: It was a humble honor for which I gave thanks to God and the community for the recognition of my respect and love for the community I call home and in appreciation for my ministerial and pastoral roles in Faribault and nearby communities. It was good the parade took place in the early evening, for I had officiated at two weddings, each in a different location, before the parade.
JW: What is your current role at Shattuck- St. Mary’s, and where is the Holy Spirit guiding your ministry in the future?
HD: My primary role is Director of Alumni Relations and Outreach. I help alumni feel connected to and supportive of their alma mater. Very recently, I Skyped with a young man from the class of 2011, who shared how much it had meant to him to work with foster children and children with autism and his ambitious goal to open a boarding school for children without birth or adoptive parents.
I rely on the Holy Spirit to keep guiding, inspiring, strengthening, and encouraging me to serve God and the people of God in whatever way, to spread light, kindness, and love wherever I go. Besides my commitment to Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, I serve as the priest-in-charge of Christ Episcopal Church in Albert Lea; as one of the two priests-in-partnership at the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault (by the way, this is the oldest cathedral in Minnesota and the first church designed as a Cathedral in the Episcopal Church); and as the very long-term supply priest at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Waterville. I have been the perpetual president and secretary of the Faribault Area Christian Ministerial Association; I have been one of five Faribault Area Chaplains for Emergency Services. At least three out of four weeks each month, I deliver meals-on-wheels. I like to keep busy.
Dr. Jim Watkins is Senior Advancement Officer at Nashotah House. For the past seven years he has worked in Kindergarten - 12th grade Christian education and most recently as Director of Christian Formation at St. Augustine Preparatory Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received a Ph.D. in theological aesthetics from the University of St. Andrews and Master in Christian Studies with an emphasis in Christianity and the Arts from Regent College.