Clergy

Rev. Dr. Dawna Wall

Dawna is the 25^th Rector of St. John’s. A spiritual director, priest, liturgist and pragmatic poet she was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1991 and served churches in Nova Scotia, Kentucky and Ohio. In 2002, marriage took her to Canada where she was subsequently ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada as a deacon in 2006, and a priest in 2007, serving parishes in Ottawa, ON and Victoria, BC. She is an Associate of the Order of St. Anne in Arlington, Massachusetts, and serves as their Chapel Curator. She is a member of the Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission and on the editorial board for their publications, Open and The Collect.

Dawna seeks to be a prayerful, engaged presence in conversation with God’s mystics – ancient and contemporary. Her doctoral work, completed at Virginia Theological Seminary in 2013, was titled, Unconventional Prayer Practices and explored ways of integrating praying the hours into modern contexts, for those within and outside the church. Dawna is passionate about facilitating intergenerational worship, programs and conversations which help people embrace the mystery and hope of faith in variegated and affirming ways. She finds these holy conversations happen in a myriad of places: at church, reading, in the coffee shop, hiking, walking around town, in queues, at home, whilst travelling, and in crafting liturgy and sacred space.

She leads workshops, conferences, and retreats on spiritual direction, worship, congregational development, preaching and inter-faith dialogue across North America, and has been a mentor for new clergy. She and her husband, Ron, are parents of two daughters and enjoy the companionship of their playful whippet, Pony.