Inestimable Worth with Andrew Miller

Welcome to episode 98, the count-down to episode 100 continues! In this episode, I have the honor of interviewing Father Andrew Miller.

Andrew Miller is an ordained priest in the Celtic-Rite Old Catholic Church

He came to organized religion as a teenager when he converted to Mormonism at age 16 where he discovered a love for Theology. While Studying Theology and philosophy in college, he felt himself called to a more orthodox expression of Christianity. For a time, he became an Evangelical Protestant and began seminary in 2009, attending Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky with the goal of becoming a Minister in the Christian Church - Disciples of Christ. It was at this time that he felt himself called to a more sacramental and traditional expression of the Christian faith and so became a Greek Orthodox Catechumen.

He eventually decided not to be baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church as he was told that he could not receive Holy Communion unless his wife consented to allow his marriage to be blessed in the Orthodox Church, which she was not willing to do.  It was at this point that he became Old Catholic, receiving Baptism and Confirmation in the Ecumenical Catholic Church - USA.  He received a call to ordained priesthood because of a mystical experience at a time of deep depression and returned to Seminary, first at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, and finally at Graceland University's Community of Christ Seminary from which I finally graduated with a Master of Arts in 2017.  He joined the Celtic-Rite Old Catholic Church because of a long-time personal relationship with then Presiding Bishop Thomas McKenna but has also served in the United States Old Catholic Church and is in formation with the interjurisdictional Society of Christ the King. He is an Associate of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, and a practitioner of Vincentian Spirituality.

He was ordained to the Priesthood of the Celtic-Rite Old Catholic Church in 2014 while serving as a Chaplain Resident at KU Hospital.  He spent two years in Clinical Pastoral Education at KU Hospital, both in Residency and in Fellowship. 

Andrew enjoys stories, particularly movies and television and much of his writing has been about the theological implications of fictional stories, particularly movies and television.  Through his love of the cinema, he came to know Rev. Michelle Byerly of the United Methodist Church with whom he went to seminary at St. Paul's in Kansas City Missouri. The two remained close friends and together started and co-host the Podcast "A Pastor and a Priest Walk into a Movie Theater."

Together with Rev. Byerly, he is one of the four founders of "New Faith New Media" which is a Progressive inter-religious Podcast Platform, currently hosting two Podcasts: "A Pastor and a Priest Walk into a Movie Theater" and "Faith and What Resonates," with a third in development.

Currently, besides co-hosting his and Rev. Michelle's podcast, he serves on the Core Team of Christ the King Independent Catholic Church in Kansas City, Missouri, is a Volunteer Prison Minister with the Bethany Catholic Callout Group at Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, KS.  He is also actively involved in Politics according to his understanding of Social Justice, having served as a Precinct Committee Chair for the Leavenworth County Democratic Party and as a Volunteer Election Researcher with the Democratic Socialists of America.

He has been married for 13 years and has a seven-year-old daughter named Scarlett.

Links:

Convergent Streams: The Premier ISM Magazine.

The ISM Database.

Book: Sacramental Whine: Chronicling the Independent Sacramental Movement Vol. 1.

Book: Sacramental Whine: Chronicling the Independent Sacramental Movement Vol. 2.

This podcast is hosted by Bishop David Oliver Kling and produced by The Community of Saint George (a Young Rite jurisdiction).