Meet Rob Montgomery: half-time parish priest, half-time school chaplain

Much has changed in the life of the Rev. Rob Montgomery in the past eight years. 

“I never imagined I’d be an Anglican, a Maritimer, a chaplain,” he said. “It didn’t cross my mind. Yet God put me somewhere where I feel right at home.

“I’ve been planted in good soil. I keep seeing his hand in it, and I am exactly where I want to be.”

And where is he? Rob is the half-time chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School and the half-time priest at St. Luke’s in Gondola Point, enjoying family, parish and campus life and all the outdoors can offer in southern New Brunswick.

The New Brunswick Anglican visited Rob at RNS recently to learn more about Rob, the school and its Anglican roots.

BEGINNINGS
Rob was raised a Free Methodist in the O’Connor Township outside Thunder Bay, Ont. In Grade 11, he experienced a call from God, and, unlike many in similar situations, he did not try to ignore it.

Rob earned a Bachelor of Theology in 2010 from Providence University College in Manitoba. Then he married Bethany and moved back to Thunder Bay.

For three years he worked as a youth minister there, and he and Bethany welcomed their daughter, Addie, to the family.

But Rob knew there was more to do, more to learn, if he wanted to go further in ministry.

“I got the idea that I needed more training,” he said. “I needed more depth to my theology training for the long haul.

“What led me to Wycliffe were some of the Anglican professors I’d had at Providence: Tim Perry, Chris Holmes, Louise Cornell. They encouraged me to be curious about the Anglican Church.”

And so Rob, Bethany and Addie packed up and moved to Toronto in 2013, where Rob pursued a Masters of Divinity degree in the Pioneer stream — a degree focused on new and emerging types of churches.

GRADUATION
“I was still a Free Methodist at this point,” he said. “I was going there not as an Anglican, though it was an Anglican school.”

Rob found a community there that resonated with him: Taizé, choral evensong and more.

“The beauty of it really sunk into my heart,” he said, adding the deep roots of John Wesley’s Methodist church were evident to him in the Book of Common Prayer.

“I found myself at home in both worlds.”

When he graduated, it was as a Free Methodist, but he was regularly worshipping at St. Paul’s Bloor Street, where he had done an internship.

With graduation looming, the one thing he and Bethany did not want to do was stay in Toronto. Their desire to flee the city was galvanized when Addie looked at a small grove of city trees and asked, ‘Is that a forest?’

But wherever it was they were going was a mystery. The opportunities for Rob within the Free Methodist church were just not there. That led to a lot of prayer and discernment, and a walk one day, where he ran into classmate Dan McMullen (now the Rev. Dan, rector of Trinity in Sussex).

‘You should just become an Anglican and come to New Brunswick,’ was Dan’s pragmatic advice.

Rob talked to his professors, and the principal, all reluctant to poach him, but agreeing he would make a fine Anglican.

Then Rob sought advice from a Free Methodist leader, who told him, ‘If you’re casting your net on one side of the boat and not getting anything, maybe God is telling you to cast your net on the other side.’

That prompted Rob to send his resumé to Archbishop David Edwards. He got a call from the Rev. Canon Albert Snelgrove, who was seeking a youth minister at St. Paul’s in Rothesay. 

In the meantime, he met Archbishop David and Archdeacon Rob Marsh at the 2016 General Synod in Toronto. Then he flew to Saint John for an interview.

Seeing trees — for Addie — in every direction was a good first impression, he said — that, and the people.

“The welcome I received, the community I was being introduced to — it was beautiful, wonderful.”

One of the first people he met was the Rev. Jim Golding, longtime chaplain at Rothesay-Netherwood School and honorary assistant at St. Paul’s.

A job offer from St. Paul’s meant the family moved to a place they knew next to nothing about, but quickly embraced.

“It was quite a blessing to discover this whole new part of the world,” said Rob.

ORDINATION
While Rob worked at St. Paul’s as their family and youth minister, he also entered the discernment process. Jim Golding was the chair of the discernment committee.

“I felt really mentored by him,” said Rob. “He spoke a lot about his experiences at [RNS.]”

Rob was ordained a deacon in 2018, and a priest in 2019.

He began as RNS chaplain in the fall of 2018, and half-time priest-in-charge in the Parish of Gondola Point in 2019.

Being a new Anglican and a new parish priest were major adjustments. Throw in a world-wide pandemic and Rob was understandably nervous.

“I was just getting my feet under me,” said Rob. “I can’t thank the people of St. Luke’s enough. We held it together!”

LIFE AT RNS
Rob’s days at RNS begin the same way.

“There’s Chapel every school day of the year, first thing in the morning,” he said. “It’s for the whole community.”

Students from grades 6 to 12, plus faculty attend, and they begin with a hymn. Then there’s scripture and a prayer. Sometimes Rob offers a reflection on the scripture, and sometimes there’s a presentation from a guest or a student.

One tradition at Chapel is that each Grade 12 student gives a five-minute talk on ‘what they believe to be true.’ With more than 60 seniors, that’s two or three a week through the year. 

“I help them through the writing, the preparing for it,” he said. 

Some recent topics were ‘facing life’s challenges head-on’ and ‘the importance of peace of mind.’

“After they speak, I do a prayer and a blessing on them,” said Rob.

Rob is involved in many different events at the school, like the Lessons & Carols service and Remembrance Day. He also does weddings and funerals for alumni. Occasionally he is a guest speaker at a class, like a talk on spirituality he gave recently.

He’s also part of the wellness team at the school, and works using restorative circles to resolve conflict.

All of this is done with more than 330 students, about half of whom are boarders, many of them from other countries. The student body is a mix of ethnic backgrounds and religions: Christian, including Anglicans and Roman Catholics; Jewish; Muslim; Buddhist, and even atheist.

While Rob’s role is often low-key, he is pleased to see that God uses him even in the most unexpected circumstances. He had a student, an atheist, from a country where Christianity was not valued. After graduation, he got a letter telling him how he had helped the student “to see the faith in a different light.” 

The openness and grace he’d shown, the welcoming approach regardless of faith or no faith, the example of Christian life and love, the lifting up of God’s love for the world — all had been seeds sewn in a young life.

“I’m encouraged by that,” said Rob. “I didn’t know I had that impact until he gave me that letter. I keep trying.”

CHAPEL RENOVATIONS
Last year, Memorial Chapel on the RNS campus marked 100 years. Two centenary projects have added seating and accessibility to the building, and were completed in memory of the late Rev. Jim Golding, who served as chaplain for 21 years.

One project was the expansion of the chapel balcony, which had been large enough to hold only two rows of chairs.

The impetus for the expansion was the growing student population and the lack of a place to hold them all at one time. 

“Now we have the capacity we need,” said Rob, noting the new space is well used, since the chapel and balcony are filled with students every morning.

The second project was the building of a tower onto the building. It holds a modern stairwell and an industrial lift.

The lift is particularly meaningful since the building had been inaccessible to wheelchairs, including the one Jim used in his later years as chaplain. 

Back then, every morning upon Jim's arrival, Grade 12 boys would lift him and his wheelchair up the stairs to the chapel, bring him down at lunch, take him back up, and repeat the process at the end of the day. It’s no wonder the tower is dedicated to his memory.

CONCLUSION
Rob certainly has no regrets about adopting a new denomination and a new province.

“I’ve loved it,” he said of Anglicanism. “It’s an adventure of discovery. I love the space it makes for people and its deep roots of faith. We soak ourselves and our services in scripture.”

He’s especially grateful for the grace shown to him by his parishioners at St. Luke’s, his colleagues in the diocese and at RNS, and his bishop.

“The ministry of the archbishop is incredibly encouraging,” he said. “It feels like I’ve been planted in good ground. 
“There’s so much we’ve been given, so much to treasure here.”

He, Bethany and Addie, who is now a Grade 6 student at RNS, have discovered a few favourite places: for ice cream, it’s Kredl’s in Hampton. For refreshments, they like to visit Catapult Coffee, housed in the bishop’s former office on Princess Street in Saint John. And for the seashore, their destination is St. Martin’s.

As for RNS, he could never have seen himself working at a school, but the experience has been enriching.

“It’s a busy place with lots of life here, lots of student involvement,” he said. “It’s a huge privilege to be here and to learn from everyone.”

Some RNS History
Rothesay Netherwood School began in 1877 as Thompson's School, a small, one-room classroom for boys and girls, founded by Professor Ezekiel Stone Wiggins. 

In the 1880s, the school was purchased by the Rev. George Exton Lloyd, who renamed it Rothesay College for Boys.

In 1891, the school was put on firm financial footing by a prominent local citizen Mr. James F. Robertson of Rothesay. Renaming the school Rothesay Collegiate School (RCS), Mr. Robertson moved it to its present location on College Hill Road and added boarding facilities. The Rev. Lloyd remained as Headmaster until 1896.

In 1907, RCS was formally taken over by the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton, and the Rev. W.R. Hibbard was appointed Headmaster in 1908.

Built in 1923, to honour fallen students and teachers in the First World War, the RNS Memorial Chapel is the heart of our school; it connects our past with the present. It is where we begin every day together as a school community.

The recent renovation to expand the space to accommodate our growing school population and make the building accessible, is a living tribute to Chaplain the Rev. Canon James “Jim” W. Golding ‘56, who was a student here first and who also gave more than 20 years of his life to the school, in turn having a positive, long-lasting impact on generations of our students. The renovation was undertaken during the centennial anniversary year.
Courtesy of the RNS Marketing & Communications Dept.

Photo captions:
1.  The Rev. Rob Montgomery gestures to the rafters in Memorial Chapel at Rothesay
Netherwood School. The recent renovations included expanding the small balcony so that the entire student body can fit in the chapel.
2.  The plaque in memory of the Rev. Jim Golding, a long-time chaplain at RNS.
3.  The Rev. Rob Montgomery.
4.  The tower built in memory of the Rev. Jim Golding, longtime chaplain at RNS. It holds an industrial lift and modern stairwell, which were lacking in the chapel until last year. It was built as part of the 100th anniversary of the chapel.
McKnight photos