In December of 2024, three East Tennessee seminarians, Reverends Mark Colbert, Ryan Lockwood, and Rebecca Paluzzi were ordained to the diaconate as part of their ongoing discernment and formation as priests.
The Rev. Mark Colbert, originally from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee, studied at Virginia Theological Seminary. The Rev. Ryan Lockwood, originally from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland, Tennessee, studied at the School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. The Rev. Rebecca Paluzzi, from St. John’s Episcopal Church, Johnson City, Tennessee, also studied at the School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee.
As their final year of seminary has drawn to a close, we were able to interview them about their experience of academics and life while at seminary. Although often compared to a bubble, it appears that life while at seminary was engaging, fruitful, and clarifying for all.
Shifts in Seminary
Rev. Mark Colbert, a recent Virginia Theological Seminary graduate, will be headed to Good Samaritan, Knoxville.
During his time at Virginia Theological Seminary, Rev. Colbert experienced a shift in his call to ordained ministry. Originally perceiving a call to military chaplaincy, Colbert experienced parish ministry at St. Augustine’s in Washington, DC, and there felt the call to parochial ministry with part-time chaplaincy. He said, “I just love going to church and hearing the pastor preach and hearing how loved he was by his congregation. And I was like, I can’t do that as a chaplain and I like this. And then I really fell in love with preaching and having people kind of soak in what the priest in saying and giving them the sacraments[…]I love all of this. I want to do this.” Colbert’s call shifted from one directed solely toward military chaplaincy to one composed of mostly parochial work as he built a relationship with the parish.
While clear in his call toward parish ministry, Rev. Lockwood experienced a shift not in call but in the perception of those ahead in the process at seminary and those now ordained while he was still early in his seminary education. We dove into this perception shift. Lockwood said, “I think more than anything, my view of ministers has shifted[…]in the sense of when I got here, I remember looking at the folks I still think of as seniors and thinking, ‘oh wow, they have this figured out.’ […] And there seemed to be a tremendous gulf between me and them.”
As time went on, Lockwood realized that each of these seminarians had developed their strengths in different fields, taking advantage of each of their own uniqueness. They were all called to ordained ministry, and the same applied to him. It was only time that made a difference between each class. Lockwood said, “It took me a little while to be able to say, ‘okay, I’m not going to try to be this or that person doing ministry. I’m going to do this thing as me’ realizing that the gulf between me as a junior seminarian and the person on their way out the door was really only experience.” The perceived gap had, by the end of seminary, vanished, and a great lesson had been learned.
Time is of the Essence
Rev. Rebecca Paluzzi, a recent graduate of the School of Theology, Sewanee, will head to St. John’s, Johnson City.
All three seminarians felt that time was much shorter than expected, and that there were certainly things they would do differently if they could go back. Friendships, free time, and even travel were missed as time at seminary drew to a close.
While having spent time in chapel services and centering prayer, Rev. Paluzzi wished she had taken more time for presence with nature and friends. She said, “Seminary is intense and the workload is heavy. […] I wish I had found more time to take a walk in the woods, sit beside a stream, or have coffee with a friend.”
Balancing academics and community engagement challenged both Rev. Colbert and Lockwood. The stress Lockwood experienced to perform academically consumed the start of his time at seminary, but as he progressed through his second year, Lockwood realized he needed to balance academics and time in community. He said, “Not that the academics aren’t important, I will be the last person to say that, but the formative human connections that happen really are, I think, the lasting influence of being at a residential seminary.”
For Colbert, he and his classmates began to realize that, in some way, they should prioritize relationship and experience. Instead of cramming homework to then free themselves to some experience, they realized, as Colbert noted, “we were having this great experience together and we were living life and we needed just a few days to sit down and do our homework.”
Gratitude for the Experience
Rev. Ryan Lockwood, a recent graduate of the School of Theology, Sewanee, will go to Grace Episcopal, Traverse City, Michigan.
All three seminarians expressed their gratitude to the institutions they attended and noted particular experiences they appreciated from their time at seminary.
Rev. Paluzzi was grateful for the faculty at the School of Theology, in particular “their dedication to our formation and for modeling a vocation lived with integrity and in service of others.” She notes that she will miss praying the Daily Office and the liturgical music sung by the seminary’s schola.
Rev. Colbert thanked Fr. Quinn Parman, Fr. Robert Hartmans, Fr. Drew Bunting, and Fr. John Bonner for their guidance throughout his life. Colbert greatly appreciated his courses in Resistance Theology, a convergence of Liberation Theology and post-colonialist studies, and Preaching the Pastoral Offices, a high demand offering at Virginia Theological Seminary that addressed preaching in the services of weddings, funerals, and baptisms. He noted that he will miss his classmates and the city of Alexandria.
In his many thanks, Rev. Lockwood noted his gratitude for Fr. Joel Huffstetler, Mr. Isaac Doty, Mtr. April Berends, Fr. Zac Settle, Mtr. Julia Gatta, and Fr. Richard Cogill. In moving to Michigan, Lockwood noted that he will miss the East Tennessee mountains and the communities he has been a part of in Cleveland and Chattanooga. Out of his seminary experience, he said that Mtr. Julia Gatta’s course on Foundations of Christian Spirituality and her book Life in Christ, was a particularly meaningful course.
Next Steps
Each of these seminarians are headed to parochial ministry, albeit in very different contexts.
The Rev. Mark Colbert will next go to the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Knoxville, Tennessee, to complete his curacy under the supervision of Good Samaritan’s rector, the Rev. Cal Calhoun. Colbert also expressed his eagerness to work with Good Samaritan’s Director of Music and Liturgy, Mr. Freddie Brabson, and to learn about the various programming at the parish.
The Rev. Ryan Lockwood will go to Grace Episcopal Church in Traverse City, Michigan, and work with Grace’s rector, the Rev. Jim Perra. When asked about the move to Michigan away from East Tennessee, Lockwood said, “Grace was not on my radar until they announced that they were looking for a curate to bring on for three years. They are a parish that’s in a really good place. They’re growing. They’re in a really cool part of the country. Grace is actually the sending parish of a couple of our close friends here at seminary. So in a way, we felt like we already knew the place.”
The Rev. Rebecca Paluzzi will go to St. John’s Episcopal Church, Johnson City, and work with St. John’s rector, the Rev. Dr. Laura Bryant. In looking ahead to her experience at St. John’s, Paluzzi said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve at St. John’s and look forward to sharing in the ministry of this parish, which has such a heart for hospitality, inclusion, and outreach.”