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Come and Go ReceptionSunday, April 23, 2017St. Mary’s Episcopal Church201 East Clay StreetWest Columbia, Texas2:00 – 4:00 - St. Mary's Episcopal Church, West Columbia
- 117 E. Clay Street, West Columbia, TX 77486
- 979-345-3456
- Website [St. Mary's]
- Road map [Google]
- GPS: 29.1429984, -95.6467621
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______Father Peter Conaty____________
Born New York City 4/4/1948 and grew up in Hell's Kitchen, made famous by West Side Story. Once a bastion of poor and working class Irish Americans. His Father a Taylor worked two and three jobs to send Peter and his twin sister and brother to private catholic school. As a young boy, he served as an Acolyte at St Patrick's Cathedral, and St Paul The Apostle New York City. He captured the eye of Florence Henderson, of Brady Bunch Fame with his poise on the altar, and she offered Peter and his buddy free dance lessons if they would escort girls to their first Cotillion Dance. One of his dance partners was Lucie Arnez.
Ordained a Roman Catholic Priest May 1975. after Ordination Peter became a Paulist Father
trained in Radio and TV work
(Paulist Priest were founded in the US in1858 Active in the Arts and Campus ministries. The Paulist Press was established in 1865. First Campus Ministry established at The University of California, Berkley in 1907)
As a Paulist Father, he had quite an interesting life and ministry. After he went through 2 years of speech therapy to get rid of his New York accent he did the TV sign-offs in Washington D.C.
( Television used to go off the air and was signed off and on usually by some sort of devotion, or lesson to end the day and start the morning.)
He also worked with Sesame Street in California for a short internship proofing the scripts for moral content. He was paid in a set of practice muppets that he still has today. He served in a congregation in Portland Oregon He taught Comparative religion in a High School in Layton Utah.
Other ministries: He was a bails bondsman so he could post bail for Vietnam War protesters to get them out of jail. Peter marched with farm workers in California with Ceasar Chavez.
He wanted to become an Air Force Chaplain, but the order decided that was not the direction they wanted him to go so they sent him on sabbatical where he went to Notre Dame to study under an Anglican theologian which was the beginning of his transferring to be an Episcopal Priest
He was received in the Episcopal church May 1987 And served in Houston at St Mark's and Sealy at St John's and finally called St Mary's West Columbia Sept 1999
While an Episcopal Priest in Texas he also worked at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston Texas as a staff chaplain for 18 years doing 18-hour shifts once a week
He loves St Mary's and West Columbia and found his life's work here in the Congregation and the community and especially with involvement with The Nash Ranch and Prairie and The Nature Conservancy and Cradle of Texas Master Naturalist. His hope for St Mary's is that they will be able to preserve the ecologically sensitive Columbia Bottomlands of the Ranch from development.The one thing that he wanted to see happen before he retired, but did not. And, he hopes that St Mary's will be able to continue sending the 5th grade West Columbia Elementary students to the Discovery Program every year (A four-day environmental education and leadership program at Camp Allen, Navasota) into the future.