New Josephinum Professor: Fr Dylan James

I've just been appointed to the Josephinum Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.  I'll be a professor of moral theology and a formator, arriving in July.  I'll be teaching UTHE 105 (Life in Christ), MO701 (Sexual Morality) and MO702 (Medical Moral).

Two of my great passions in priestly life are teaching and working with youth & young adults, and part of what I've loved about parish life is that involves me in both of these, with a variety of much more. I hope seminary work will bring these together while taking them in a new direction.

I'm an American citizen via my Mom (from Waukegan, Illinois) and British via my Dad (from Cardigan, Wales).  I was raised in Devon, England but we spent all our summers in the USA and I greatly treasure my American roots.  My new home in Columbus is 16 minutes from the frozen custard in Culver's, and 11 minutes from my favourite chilli in Wendy's (which was founded in Columbus).

The intellectual vision I seek to impart comes from my licentiate at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC -two years which truly transformed me.  St Thomas, and his virtue-based approach to ethics, is my guiding light.  I subsequently got a doctorate in Rome and it was there that I got to know the new Josephinum Rector, and a couple others now on the Josephinum board.

I'm a priest of the Diocese of Plymouth, ordained 2nd December 1998.   I've spent 14 years as a pastor (what the British call a 'parish priest') with 13 years of that teaching part-time at Wonersh Seminary, while also giving moral theology formation for the Ordinariate 2014-19.  I've spent the last 4 years in West Moors parish, the previous 9 in Shaftesbury, and shorter periods in Dartmouth, Poole, Exeter, and Barnstaple.

I'm chaplain to 'Beyond the Wild' (see here), offering formation in Christian manhood.
Here we are at Mass on one of the residentials:

One of the great privileges of my life was 4 years of being chaplain to the summer training programme of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), 2003-6, back when they were much smaller.  Here are some of us at the March for Life in DC:

I have a degree in Mathematical Physics and since I was 19 I've been an active member of the Faith Movement -a youth movement dedicated to offering a science-based apologetic in our secular world.
Here's a shot of one of our conferences:

Running is my main form of exercise.  Here I am on a 17-mile sponsored run to Salisbury Cathedral, with a member of the parish youth group:

I'm a big fan of mind-mapping lectures.  Most of my lectures start with a single-board summary of the day's topic:

At the parish Blessed Sacrament procession:

With some of the Shaftesbury men's circle, in the pub after the meeting:

With the parish pilgrimage to Glastonbury Abbey:

With the family at Christmas: My parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephews and niece:

With some of the Iowa family, including my Great Uncle Karl who is a priest of Dubuque Archdiocese:

What will I miss most while I'm Ohio?  Other than people, I'll miss the sea.  Here's a beach near my parents' house in Torquay, 'The English Riviera':