The Reverend Thomas H. Harbold

The Rev’d Thomas H. Harbold, or “Father Tom” for short,considers it a great honor and privilege, responsibility and blessing, to have been called to Christ Church Anglican, Southern Pines, to be our first full-time Rector.

The grandson of a Methodist minister, Fr. Tom considers his journey to Anglicanism to be very much in line with what John Wesley – a life-long Anglican – had originally intended! Active and involved in a variety of lay ministries at the Church of the Ascension, Episcopal, in Westminster, MD, from 1989-2013, he left the Episcopal Church for traditional Anglicanism, and was ordained to the priesthood in 2017 by Archbishop Peter Robinson, Presiding Bishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America.

Prior to being called to Christ Church Anglican, he served as Vicar of St. Bede’s Anglican Mission (UECNA), in Carroll County, Maryland, and assisted part-time at Emmanuel Anglican Church, a parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church in Pipersville, Pennsylvania. He is now canonically resident in the Diocese of the Holy Cross (ACC), under the episcopal authority of the Rt. Rev’d Paul C. Hewett, Bishop Ordinary.

A Maryland native, Fr. Tom is a graduate of Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD, with a B.A. in medieval studies. He has spent time in Hawaii as a child; in Galway, Ireland, for a semester abroad during his undergraduate studies; in Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended Vanderbilt Divinity School for his Master of Theological Studies; and periods of about a year each in Pennsylvania and on Maine’s Mount Desert Island – which is mountainous, but neither a desert nor deserted!

In addition to his academic degrees, Fr. Tom also holds a certificate in park management, with a concentration in environmental education. His secular employment has focused primarily on natural and cultural history interpretation, outdoor and environmental education, conservation education, and sustainable agriculture education, as well as working in several museums and living history sites. He also wrote a weekly op-ed column from 2004-2014. Interests include nature and the outdoors, the British Isles, medieval history, reading, cooking, and gardening.

Sharing his passions with others is an important part of who he is, and nowhere is this more true than with regard to his Anglican Christian faith!