Clergy
Fr. Stuart began his cure as rector of Grace in early January 2014, after serving as Senior Associate at St. Benedict’s in Smyrna, Georgia, for over five years. Working with the entire leadership team at Grace, Fr. Stuart has a particular passion for the intersection of poetry, spiritual imagination, and contemplative practice within congregational development.
His broader work as a priest, retreat leader, and author is grounded in the Christian contemplative tradition. He has shared in ongoing conversations with friends and colleagues from around the world who seek to nurture deep practices of prayer that can transform the heart in challenging times. Fr. Stuart contributed to and co-edited the volume Contemplation and Community: A Gathering of Fresh Voices for a Living Tradition (Crossroad, 2019) and is the author of The Heart of a Calling: Practicing Christian Mindfulness in Congregational Ministry (Crossroad, 2021) as well as a collection of poetry, Bones of Light: Poems of Spiritual Imagination (Crossroad, 2024).
He studied in the pre-med program at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas (B.S. in Biology, summa cum laude) and did his initial theological studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia (M.Div, honors in spiritual formation). He subsequently completed a certificate in Anglican Studies and the Doctor of Ministry degree from the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee Tennessee.
His current study and teaching weaves together the insights of poetry, dreams, archetypes, symbols, imagination and inter-religious dialogue. With the global community, Fr. Stuart has worked with the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, the World Community for Christian Meditation, Contemplative Outreach, the Candler School of Theology, Mepkin Abbey, and others.
He and his wife, Lisa, have one daughter, Evelyn. They grew up in Southeastern Arkansas, in the Mississippi Delta, with fried catfish, sweet tea, and mosquitoes the size of small birds.