St. Mark's Citrus Park Rector Answers Second Calling

CITRUS PARK, FL -- As the new church season gets underway, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church parish in Citrus Park is welcoming its third rector.

The Rev. Robert C. Douglas and his wife, Elaine, joined the church this summer.

A second career priest, Douglas answered the spiritual call to become a priest after a successful business career, traveling throughout the world and raising a family. He even sold his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle to go into the seminary.

“I’m a big Harley Davidson fan,” he said. “At some point, we’ll get one of those again.”

His spiritual journey to the priesthood began slowly.

Raised a Catholic, he left the church at age 18 or 19 only to return when his children were ages 5 and 7. He was introduced to the Episcopal Church when friends took the couple to a church down the street from where they lived in Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County.

“We fell in love with the Episcopal Church,” he said. "The people were warm and welcoming."

For two years, the couple sat in the pews and slowly he became more involved, leading Bible studies and other groups and, most importantly, taking Holy Eucharist to home-bound parishioners.

“If I wasn’t obedient of the call of taking the Eucharist to the home-bound, I probably wouldn’t be in the position that I am today because it was such a changing event for me.”

He said he soon started feeling that God was calling him to the priesthood.

“I fought that (the calling) for a couple of years and didn’t say a word to anybody about it," he said. Finally, he got up the courage to tell his wife.

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” Elaine Douglas recalled telling him. “At church, we all kind of knew he was headed that way.”

They talked about the career change often but he hadn’t spoken to his priest or officially started the process.

“It was like a toothache that wouldn’t go away,” he said.

It was February 2009 when the couple attended a Cursillo weekend, a short course of living the Christian life.

“It was very obvious after that weekend that this was something that I was called to do," he said. He spoke to his priest and the six-year journey to ordination began.

Elaine was supportive and even moved to Wisconsin with him while he attended seminary. She said she was ready to start a new adventure in their life together.

“Who am I to stand in God’s way? I’m not going to do that,” she said.

After returning from the seminary, Father Douglas was named associate priest under the Rev. Michael Rowe at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Bonita Springs, where he stayed for three years.

During another Cursillo weekend in which he was an assistant spiritual leader, he got to know a number of St. Mark’s parishioners.

When he heard St. Mark's rector had decided to move on, he felt St. Mark’s would be a good fit for him. He applied for the position and went through the process.

There were several things that attracted him to St. Mark’s. First, he said, was a feeling of hospitality and welcome.

“And there’s an incredible inclusiveness. There are all kinds of age groups, all kinds of ethnic backgrounds that are melted together in the service of God. That to me was extraordinary," he said.

St. Mark’s parish was looking for someone who would preach and teach them in a way to foster action, he said. They wanted a missional focus so that the community that surrounds the church and the world in general would be made better by the presence of St. Mark’s.

“That is extraordinarily attractive to me because that’s the call of the Gospel, inclusiveness to all people and the ability to go and to actually put those things into action and really make a lasting effect on the world.," he said.

He said worship at St. Mark’s inspired him.

“You can really feel the Holy Spirit moving in this place and it is true worship going on here and not just lip service. It is vibrant. It’s healthy and it’s exciting.”

St. Mark’s senior warden Charles Towater said the Vestry members hired him because of his honesty in his approach to the ministry. The fact that he had experience in the business world and life was also a plus.

“He would more likely be able to talk with us and guide us based on personal experience as well as that of the Gospel,” Towater said. “We are pleased he had a former life that might be helpful in our life with him.”

As far as the future of St. Mark’s, Towater said, “It’s a work in progress.” And he believes Douglas will further that mission, helping them to do the work of the Lord.

“(We are) hoping he would continue to provide the guidance that we need in order to reach those lofty goals that we are all charged with in our religious life," he said.

Both Douglas and his wife were born and raised in Massachusetts. They were high school sweethearts.

“I asked HIM to the prom,” said Elaine, explaining how their 33-year relationship began.

In 1997, they decided they had enough of the cold weather and moved to Sarasota where they raised two children, Brittney and Shawn, who are now adults.

Douglas is a graduate of Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire where he earned bachelor’s degree Magna Cum Laude in business.

He received a master’s of divinity degree Cum Laude from the Nashotah House Theology Seminary in Wisconsin and was ordained an Episcopal priest in July 2016 by the Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith, bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida.

Image via St. Mark's

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)