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I am Fr. Todd Bell and I am the Rector of Saint Matthias Catholic Church. I am married to a wonderful woman, Valerie, and we have two beautiful children, Chase who is 10 and Taylor who is 1. My family is the joy of my life and they allow me to see first hand the love that God has for each and every one of us as His children and the church as His bride.
I am what some would call a "cradle episcopalian". I was raised in the sacramental church from birth and have been in love with this form of worship for as long as I can remember. With that said, I do believe that there is only one church in town and that is the one where God makes His presence known. In other words, all christians belong to the same church (the bride of Christ).
I felt at the age of 16 that Christ had called me to the priesthood and although it took a while (another 16 years) He did hold true to His promise. The truth be known it was I who had to come into submission to His will. The Lord has blessed me greatly in my life and I hope to share those blessings with you as we anxiously await the coming of our Lord.
We at Saint Matthias look to the early church, the first 300 years, as out guide to how we should be structured. This was before the great schisms took place, when the church was in effect still one church. THe concept of denominations, which means to divide, did not start taking place until the late 4th century. Therefore we choose to be open to all walks of faith in Christ. I often use the analogy of two people going to the ice cream store and one choosing chocolate and the other vanilla. They are both lovers of ice cream, they just prefer different flavors. That is how I see the church, we all love and accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, it is just that we may prefer different types of worship environments.
I would welcome the opportunity to visit with you if you would give me that honor. Just give me a call and we can set it up.
May the blessing of our Lord God be upon you and remain with you always.
Amen.
In the service of our Lord,
Fr. Todd Bell |
