THE REV. PEGGY SCHNACK COURTESY OF ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
BRUNSWICK
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick has named a new assistant rector for children and youth.
The Rev. Carolyn Eklund, tector at the church, announced this week that the Rev. Peggy Schnack would serve fill the role.
Schnack grew up in Minneapolis, Minn., and attended the University of St. Catherine in neighboring St. Paul, earning a bachelor’s degree, dual majors in Spanish and criminal justice and graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors. An active camper, hiker kayaker and outdoorswoman, she also participated in Civil Air Patrol for seven years after her freshman year in high school.
Influenced by her youth Air Force activities, Schnack enlisted in the Air Force and served five years as a bio-environmental engineering technician. She worked on and solved problems involving radiation, air quality, presence of hazardous substances and many other workplace hazards at Joint Base Lewis- McChord in Washington state. She advanced in rank to staff sergeant.
She found the job wasn’t suited to her character, she said, adding that she wanted to connect with people and get to know them.
After her time in the Air Force, she volunteered with several organizations, including Habitat for Humanity for six months. Schnack began working with the Mission Continues, a veterans’ service organization dealing with homelessness and poverty, and Team Rubicon which organizes emergency teams to assist in areas recovering from flood, severe earthquake or hurricane damage. She responded with teams assisting in hurricane-ravaged areas of Puerto Rico, where loss of electricity and other services created uninhabitable conditions everywhere. She continues to work with veterans’ organizations.
Schnack is close to her parents, older brothers and younger sister and their families, and other family members. They and friends had suggested she become a chaplain. She started to give this idea some serious thought and eventually decided to pursue an Episcopalian ministry. She received her Master of Divinity from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
She considered available assistant rector positions in half a dozen states, and chose Maine. Schnack has been ardently welcomed at St. Paul’s and is looking forward to her new responsibilities with enthusiasm and passion to serve people of all ages.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was consecrated in 1845 and now is in its 173rd year. A renovation of the exterior and certain interior sections of the church is in progress.
Newcomers are welcomed with services and programs offered to the young and maturing children and their parents.
Call the office at (207) 725-5342 or visit stpaulsmaine.org for more information.
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