About Our Rector

The Reverend William MacDonald Murray was born in Buffalo, NY in 1952, the son of a chemical engineer (Father, Georgia Tech '39) and an aspiring actress (Mother). He has two brothers and one sister.

Mac grew up in Williamsville, NY, and attended Calvary Episcopal Church where he participated in the choir, youth group, and was an acolyte.

Merline and Mac met on a blind date in 1968 before Mac went to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. They married on June 12, 1976 and then moved from Williamsville to San Diego, where Mac started work at General Dynamics as a Software Engineer. He remained at GD for 25 years.

Their daughter Becca (Rebecca Elizabeth Murray) was born in San Diego in 1982. Later that year, they moved to St. Louis, where the corporate headquarters of General Dynamics was located. Their second child Geoff (Geoffrey MacDonald Murray) was born in St. Charles, MO in 1984.

Mac re-entered the church and joined Trinity Episcopal Church in St. Charles. His family then moved on to Reston, Virginia in 1987 to open a new Engineering Business Unit for GD. It was there that Mac became an active Lay member of St. Anne's Episcopal Church.

In 1999, Mac left full time employment (maintaining "consultant" status for 2 years) to attend Virginia Theological Seminary. During his Seminary career, he was chaplain at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC, seminarian for two years at Trinity Episcopal Church in Manassas, VA, and a summer intern at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Old Town Alexandria, VA.

He graduated from Seminary in May 2002 and was ordained a Deacon in June 2002. Mac then joined the staff of Grace Church, The Plains, VA in July 2002 as Assistant Rector. In December 2002, Mac was ordained a Priest.

In the summer of 2006, Mac was called to be the Rector of Trinity Milford, and started with us in October.

A few more facts about Father Mac:

How do the members of his last church describe him?

Some say he is impossible to describe in only one word and others answer with adjectives describing joy and energy. The source of his joy and energy seems to be fueled by an almost nuclear chain reaction of activity he sets off when he interacts with other people.

What was his first heavenly adventure?

His career as an aeronautical engineer.

What was his second heavenly adventure?

Episcopal priest, ordained May 2002

How does Mac describe himself?

He is a life adventurer. His adventurous road to this pew in The Plains and his calling to the ministry took many turns, some steered by his conscious choice to "meet people where they are" and some guided by his belief that God gives all of us permission to be adventurers in life.

What does being a Christian mean to him?

"Being a Christian for me is simply a matter of loving God with all my heart, loving my neighbor and loving myself. If you can be present and living in the knowledge that you are part of a created order and you are beloved, you will know happiness."

How does Mac interact with a community?

Building community isn't the work of repentance, or even an act of charity, rather it is an irrepressible response to being part of a community. The response to love is to reach out and help those in need.

Mac likes to throw his mind open to many new thoughts and experiences and occasionally throws his body over one too many edges. He broke his back once participating in the "sport" of sand dune jumping.

What does Mac plan on doing when he meets our praying community?

"I'll meet them on their terms."

Excerpted from "The Adventuring Priest" by David Roos, Times Community Newspapers Inc.