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The Reverend Cynthia Lanham Engle was appointed the fourth rector and first female priest for St. Francis of Assisi on July 1, 2011. She served through July 31, 2019.  She also served as Rector of St. Paul's Navasota during the same period of time. The joint appointment is a visionary program of the Diocese of Texas and the first to be implemented for study.

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Reverend Engle is a native Texan and “cradle” (lifelong) Episcopalian, born in Waco, and grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, living in Houston, Corpus Christi, Victoria.  She was raised mostly in “high church” expressions of Anglicanism, and has also experienced the gamut of Episcopal formation, from Renewal to Gospel to Christian Community.

Reverend Engle Bids Farewell . . .

 

 

Following graduation from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA in 1995, she relocated to Arizona and worked as a lay pastoral assistant in several churches while awaiting ordination.  She subsequently lived in England for four years, earning a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies (Old Testament) at the University of Cambridge.  She was ordained deacon in the Diocese of the Rio Grande in December 2008.

 

Prior to being named rector at St. Francis of Assisi and St. Paul’s Navasota, Reverend Engle served as Assistant Rector at St. Mark’s Beaumont, a deacon at Christ Church of the Ascension in Paradise Valley (Phoenix), Arizona, and adjunct professor in the Fuller Theological Seminary regional campuses in California, Arizona, Texas and Colorado, Director of Christian Education at Christ Church of the Ascension and as Pastoral Assistant at Good Shepherd of the Hills, Cave Creek, Arizona.

 

In addition to her duties at both St. Francis and St. Paul, Dr. Engle continues as an adjunct professor in biblical studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, regional campus in Houston.

 

She loves music of all kinds, exploring new places, traveling and (easy!) gardening.

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