Father Paul Kane, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, participates
in Delray Beach’s Martin Luther King Day Walk to City Hall.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Janis Fontaine
If you come to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach and ask to speak to the chief shepherd, they’ll introduce you to Father Paul Kane.
He was recently named rector of the church, a role that calls him to preach, teach and outreach.
As the new face of St. Paul’s, Kane, 50, is tall and broad-shouldered; a people person, friendly and welcoming.
One wall in his office is filled with books, the shelves recently dusted. He doesn’t want to sit behind his big desk. He prefers the sofa and armchair.
Kane’s job in a nutshell is “the pastoral care of the congregation.” He’s responsible for bringing good quality preaching to the church, and that’s what he loves most about the job. Preaching brings more sheep to the fold, and attracting new members is critical to the sustainability of St. Paul’s.
“We don’t welcome people who are Episcopalians. We welcome people because we’re Episcopalians,” Kane said.
Once Kane has potential new members in the pew, their education begins. He does this when preaching, of course, but new worshipers interested in joining the church can attend a class called the Foundations of Faith, which covers the basics of the Episcopal religion.
Ultimately, members are recruited to support the church’s charities and outreach programs. They provide the money and the energy, the creativity and the labor.
Kane calls the strong and vibrant people in the community to satisfy the church’s primary purpose: “To support the poor and the needy,” he says, “and to offer services that meet the fundamental needs of the congregation,” whether they are physical, financial, emotional or spiritual.
Kane was born in Chicago, the fifth of seven children. His parents were high school sweethearts and devout Catholics who moved to Miami when he was 9.
In Catholic families, it’s an honor to raise a son to become a priest. Kane earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from La Salle University in Philadelphia in 1987, and he worked in sales management for Amscan Inc. and Berwick Industries until he entered the seminary.
In 1995, he earned his master’s in systematic theology, followed by a master of divinity in 1996, both from St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach.
He began his career as a Catholic priest in South Florida at Little Flower Catholic Church in Hollywood, then at St. Timothy’s in Kendall and finally at St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Pompano Beach.
But in 2010, after 14 years, he decided to leave the priesthood. He had become unable to support some of the church’s views — two in particular: that priests cannot marry and its refusal to ordain women.
It wasn’t only the intellectual theologian in him that was questioning his choices. In his heart, there was “a loneliness that led me to the conclusion that God was calling me to join the married life,” he says.
After leaving the priesthood, he accepted a job with Food for the Poor, among the largest international nonprofits based in the United States. He continued to worship as a Catholic until Easter 2011, when he found his “theological convictions” aligned better with the Episcopal Church. It was an environment where marriage and priesthood were not mutually exclusive.
Kane had found a new home for his faith, but a piece was still missing.
Kane left the Catholic church in part because its priests cannot marry. He met his wife, Irene, shortly after.
Photo provided
Then he met his wife, Irene, a health care administrator, at a dinner party. The two became friends and eventually started dating. They fell in love and were married on Jan. 7, 2012, at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs.
“In marrying Irene, I became stepfather to her daughter Ingrid, who is now 21 years old,” Kane said.
A month later, after much prayer and preparation, Kane and his wife were both received into the Episcopal Church. Kane says that being called to marry and to know, personally, the love of a woman and a family have helped him grow.
His “journey from Rome to Canterbury was a process of personal and professional conversion,” Kane said, “but I never stopping feeling the need to serve God as a priest.”
Shortly after joining the church, Kane began the process of being received as an Episcopal priest. “I longed for preaching,” Kane said.
It took just over a year for the former Father Paul the Catholic to become Father Paul the Episcopalian, in June 2013.
He was put in charge of St. James-of-the-Hills Episcopal Church in Hollywood. Kane was happy. Friends who heard about the opening at St. Paul’s began to encourage him to apply. When the job went unfilled and the church announced it was still accepting applications, at more urging of his friends, he reconsidered.
Kane talked it over with Irene. He wanted to be sure she wanted to take on the responsibilities of a rector’s wife. Her 18-year career at Tenet Healthcare was important to her.
Ultimately they decided he should apply. Kane threw his hat in the ring, as had almost 50 others. He was one of four finalists brought in for a three-day visit to preach and meet the staff and vestry in person.
Kane says the fact that the search committee and vestry took a long time to decide made him feel confident about the church. It was the sign, he says, of a healthy congregation.
When the Right Rev. Peter Eaton, bishop of the Diocese of South Florida, invited Kane to take the position, it was an easy decision.
Now, when Kane goes home to Boca Raton at the end of the day, he’s got a loving wife, a lovely stepdaughter and even a dog — a feisty 14-year-old Maltese/shih tzu mix named Yango — waiting for him.
Even the priest seems awed by his good fortune. “The well doesn’t go dry,” Kane said. “It grows.”
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