The Rev. Charles Wilson, Jr.

The Rev. Charles Wilson, Jr.
Our Rector

The Rev’d Charles E. Wilson, Jr. is a native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, known as the Paper City for its main industry, paper making. He is the oldest of six children and was raised as a Roman Catholic. Having a sense of vocation at an early age, he briefly considered going into seminary to train for the Catholic priesthood.

After having moved to Boston in his mid-twenties, Charles worked for a printing company. In Boston he discovered the Episcopal Church and also met his future wife. They were married in 1996. In 1998 they moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Charles worked for the Ohio Department of Aging. His main focus while there was working with grandparents who were raising their grandchildren. In Columbus they attended Trinity Church, Capitol Square.

In 2002 Charles entered Bexley Hall Seminary, which had entered into a partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Bexley, Ohio. The Trinity/Bexley Hall partnership gave these two seminaries the opportunity to live into the Call to Common Mission agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Episcopal Church, USA. While in seminary, Charles was the head sacristan, and finds that planning and leading liturgy is something he loves.

Charles was ordained transitional deacon in 2004. He graduated from Bexley Hall and was ordained priest in June of 2005 by the Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson, Jr. He was sent to St. Mary’s, Hillsboro, to serve as Priest-in-Charge in the diocesan intern program. He and his family moved to Hillsboro in July of 2005. While at Hillsboro, Charles was the only intern in the diocese to be assigned a seminary student to train in his parish. Charles is active in the Diocese of Southern Ohio serving on the Faith in Life Committee, Clergy Wellness Committee and as a board member of the Episcopal Community Services Foundation. This past Diocesan Convention, Charles was elected to serve as a judge on the Ecclesiastical Trial Court. He has his undergraduate degree in Business Administration/Organizational Leadership from Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio.

In his written responses to the calling committee Charles wrote: “I believe my greatest strengths as a priest are pastoral care, reconciliation, community building, and liturgy (I would also write preaching, but I am aware that all priests think they are good preachers). … Each area is closely related, with one beginning where the other left off. This is how I try to minister as a whole rather than separate skills or jobs.”