The Rev. Ed Bird, Managing director, summer in the city
Ed Bird is a transitional deacon presently serving as assisting clergy at the Cathedral. This summer Ed will serve as the managing director of the Cathedral's Summer in the City program, where some 25 young people ages 7-12 enjoy a variety of enriching experiences, including dance, art, theater, music and enriching junkets to beaches, the zoo, the Hancock observatory, and more.
Ed comes to us from All Saints' Chicago where he had been a parishioner since 2000. While there, Ed and his fiance Beth met while cooking meals for the elderly, hungry, and homeless in the pantry for Ravenswood Community Services. Ed and Beth will be married at All Saints' in April of this year.
Ed is a Chicago transplant since 2000, having grown up in Memphis, TN. He is the youngest of 4; Ed and his family all originally hail from Pittsburgh, PA. His ordained ministry is his third career, having originally been a professional cook. Ed spent 16 years in service as a social worker, working with a variety of populations in homeless services and in mental healthcare, in Tennessee, Mississippi, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.
Ed brings this wealth of experience to bear in his ministry. Ed received his Bachelor's in Liberal Studies from the University of Memphis; his Master of Social Work from State University of New York at Albany; and will receive is a candidate for a Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary and the Diploma of Anglican Studies from Seabury Western (anticipated May of this year). Ed has served at the Cathedral since 2009 as a seminary intern, assisting as a verger at worship, preaching, teaching classes on the Bible and on Islam. Ed founded and helps maintain the Just Meals program, where 30-40 guests dine on excellent food and visit with between 10-20 regular volunteers, here at St James every first Tuesday of the month.
