St. Michael’s Rector Announces Retirement
St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church announced on its website today that rector Rev. Dr. Bob Dannals will be retiring this September with a letter from Dannals to the congregation.
“As I consider this news with you, my primary emotion is one of profound gratitude,” he said in his letter. “I’m thankful to God and you for making our life together so much more than just institutional church.”
Dannals joined the church in 2007 succeeding rector Rev. Mark Anschutz.
“I am increasingly aware of what an extraordinary privilege it is to lead this wonderful parish and, at the same time, how important it is for the congregation to have new and fresh and younger leadership as it moves into the next phase of its life and mission,” he said.
In May, the 59-year-old Dannals will begin his 35th year as an ordained priest, 25 of which years were spent leading large congregations.
“I will continue to serve in and for the church in a variety of capacities, but my days of permanent, full-time leadership of large congregations has come to an end,” he said. “Valerie [his wife] and I also have aging parents, and our places of service have kept us away from them physically. We want to bridge that gap.”
His last day will be Sept. 27, the church’s 70th anniversary and eight years to the day that he began working at the church.
Senior warden Matthew Waller and junior warden Kathy Jenevein issued a statement in response that said Diana Newton and Van Sheets had been elected to chair a rector search committee.
My husband and I attended a class at St. Michael’s a few years ago for new members of the congregation. Rev. Dannals led the class and we found him to be incredibly warm and welcoming. We learned so much in those few weeks and he set such a great tone for our overall experience at St. Michael’s. He will certainly be missed.