New Appointment at Ellon and Cruden Bay

We are pleased to announce the imminent arrival of a new Rector for St Mary’s, Ellon, and St James, Cruden Bay, The Revd Dr Dennis B. A. Berk.

Dennis was born in the United States. Growing up in Pennsylvania, he later went to Illinois where he graduated with a degree in psychology from Wheaton College. After university he moved to Canada where he took a degree in theology from Trinity College in Toronto. Ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1990, he served his curacy in the Diocese of Ontario.

Returning to his natal land in the United States, he engaged in parish ministry in Pennsylvania whilst pursuing a doctorate at Lancaster Theological Seminary.  In 2003 he was selected by the Episcopal Church in the USA for a three-year missionary appointment in Zambia, Africa.

Nine years ago he came to the UK to join the Community of the Resurrection, an Anglican monastic community in West Yorkshire. Drawn to their life of prayer, he resided in their monastery from 2009 until the call to come to Aberdeenshire.

Naturalised as a British citizen in 2016, Dennis now holds dual nationality.  Have one foot planted in the UK and another in the USA, he straddles both cultures and enjoys each of them. Desiring a return to ministering in a congregation, the context in which he found much fulfilment throughout his nearly twenty years of pastoral service, he will be relocating here in April and installed by Bishop Anne on Thursday 3^rd May at 7.30pm at St Mary’s Ellon.