Our Rector
Fr Matthew C. Dallman, Obl.S.B., was called by God to our parish in September, 2021, and was instituted and inducted as our twelfth Rector on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 Sept).
His social media ministry (Twitter and Instagram), and his email address can be accessed via using the social media icons above. His preaching can be found on his Substack.
His Priesthood
He was ordained to the diaconate on St Barnabas (11 June) 2016 and to the priesthood on St Lucy (13 December) 2016 by the Rt Rev. Daniel H. Martins of Springfield. He then served as priest-in-charge for five years of the two churches of the Episcopal Parish of Tazewell County in Illinois: Saint Paul's, Pekin and All Saints', Morton. In 2017, he made his final act of oblation to the St Benet-Biscop chapter of St John's Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Fr Dallman firmly maintains an orthodox-catholic witness to historic, apostolic and patristic Christianity first revealed in the Upper Room in Jerusalem after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and which lives on through Anglican/Episcopal tradition growing out of ancient and medieval British/English expression. Affirming the dogmatic teachings of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, he upholds and practices the orthodox-catholic dogma and doctrine of the Seven Sacraments ordered and celebrated ecumenically (i.e., universally), especially that of the Sacraments of Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.
In his ministry, Fr Dallman is committed to holy and reverent celebration of the Liturgy, biblical preaching and teaching centered on Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our discipleship in Him, as well as offering spiritual direction to those seeking to deepen their relationship with Him. He has a strong devotion to holy Icons as well as a passion for Gregorian plainsong in the Anglican tradition which finds expression in daily sung prayer of Matins and Evensong with his family.
He is the founder of Akenside Institute for English Spirituality, which grew out of his expertise in the theology of Martin Thornton. He received a Master of Theological Studies degree in Anglican Studies (Ascetical Theology) from Wisconsin’s Nashotah House Seminary and a Master of Arts degree in Liturgical Ministry from Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union. He also studied adult catechesis and formation through three summer study conferences at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
He has led clergy retreats for the Diocese of North Dakota and the Diocese of Springfield, and a Vestry Retreat for a parish in greater Nashville. He organized and officiated a service of Anglican plainsong Evensong in the Lady Chapel of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (on the campus of the University of Notre Dame) as a presenter at a McGrath Institute of Church Life summer conference. He regularly teaches and leads classes for clergy in the study of the parochial theology of Fr Martin Thornton. Through all his ministry, he seeks to embody (and help to restore, build up, and foster) orthodox-catholic witness within the Episcopal Church as well as Anglicanism more broadly.
His Background
Fr Dallman grew up in the Lutheran tradition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a young man, Fr Dallman was all about athletics and came to focus on football. He was quarterback of his high school and college teams. At Washington University in St Louis, he majored in English literature, and minored in Creative Writing and Poetry, which led to a fourteen-year career as a copy editor in cities throughout the upper Midwest and Northeast. Parallel to that, he studied and performed music in a variety of contexts; this included a founding a rock band, a jazz band, and composing music for films and wedding ceremonies.
Upon beginning university studies at age 18, he moved away from Christianity into a "spiritual wilderness." Into his 30s he lightly explored other spiritual traditions and studied western Greek philosophy and literature. But at age thirty-five, after twelve years of marriage and four children, the stirrings of the Holy Spirit drew him again to seek robust Christianity, which he found in an Episcopal parish outside Chicago: Saint Paul's Parish, Riverside, Illinois. There, he became quickly engaged in many aspects of the parish and soon thereafter discerned a call from God to the priesthood. His mentor was Father Thomas A. Fraser, Rector of St Paul's, Riverside for 42 years.
Married in 1999, Fr Dallman and his wife Hannah lived in Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St Paul, Boston, and Brooklyn before settling in Chicago for thirteen years where they raised their four daughters. In Pekin, Illinois, their son was born, and since being our Rector, their fifth daughter was born. Fr Dallman enjoys hiking, cooking, making traditional sourdough bread and mead, helps in the homeschooling of their six children: Twyla, Isadora, Oona, Marla, Martin, and Hildegard, and looks forward hopefully to again raise chickens as his family did for two years in Pekin.
His social media ministry (Twitter and Instagram), and his email address can be accessed via using the social media icons above. His preaching can be found on his Substack.
His Priesthood
He was ordained to the diaconate on St Barnabas (11 June) 2016 and to the priesthood on St Lucy (13 December) 2016 by the Rt Rev. Daniel H. Martins of Springfield. He then served as priest-in-charge for five years of the two churches of the Episcopal Parish of Tazewell County in Illinois: Saint Paul's, Pekin and All Saints', Morton. In 2017, he made his final act of oblation to the St Benet-Biscop chapter of St John's Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Fr Dallman firmly maintains an orthodox-catholic witness to historic, apostolic and patristic Christianity first revealed in the Upper Room in Jerusalem after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and which lives on through Anglican/Episcopal tradition growing out of ancient and medieval British/English expression. Affirming the dogmatic teachings of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, he upholds and practices the orthodox-catholic dogma and doctrine of the Seven Sacraments ordered and celebrated ecumenically (i.e., universally), especially that of the Sacraments of Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.
In his ministry, Fr Dallman is committed to holy and reverent celebration of the Liturgy, biblical preaching and teaching centered on Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our discipleship in Him, as well as offering spiritual direction to those seeking to deepen their relationship with Him. He has a strong devotion to holy Icons as well as a passion for Gregorian plainsong in the Anglican tradition which finds expression in daily sung prayer of Matins and Evensong with his family.
He is the founder of Akenside Institute for English Spirituality, which grew out of his expertise in the theology of Martin Thornton. He received a Master of Theological Studies degree in Anglican Studies (Ascetical Theology) from Wisconsin’s Nashotah House Seminary and a Master of Arts degree in Liturgical Ministry from Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union. He also studied adult catechesis and formation through three summer study conferences at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
He has led clergy retreats for the Diocese of North Dakota and the Diocese of Springfield, and a Vestry Retreat for a parish in greater Nashville. He organized and officiated a service of Anglican plainsong Evensong in the Lady Chapel of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (on the campus of the University of Notre Dame) as a presenter at a McGrath Institute of Church Life summer conference. He regularly teaches and leads classes for clergy in the study of the parochial theology of Fr Martin Thornton. Through all his ministry, he seeks to embody (and help to restore, build up, and foster) orthodox-catholic witness within the Episcopal Church as well as Anglicanism more broadly.
His Background
Fr Dallman grew up in the Lutheran tradition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a young man, Fr Dallman was all about athletics and came to focus on football. He was quarterback of his high school and college teams. At Washington University in St Louis, he majored in English literature, and minored in Creative Writing and Poetry, which led to a fourteen-year career as a copy editor in cities throughout the upper Midwest and Northeast. Parallel to that, he studied and performed music in a variety of contexts; this included a founding a rock band, a jazz band, and composing music for films and wedding ceremonies.
Upon beginning university studies at age 18, he moved away from Christianity into a "spiritual wilderness." Into his 30s he lightly explored other spiritual traditions and studied western Greek philosophy and literature. But at age thirty-five, after twelve years of marriage and four children, the stirrings of the Holy Spirit drew him again to seek robust Christianity, which he found in an Episcopal parish outside Chicago: Saint Paul's Parish, Riverside, Illinois. There, he became quickly engaged in many aspects of the parish and soon thereafter discerned a call from God to the priesthood. His mentor was Father Thomas A. Fraser, Rector of St Paul's, Riverside for 42 years.
Married in 1999, Fr Dallman and his wife Hannah lived in Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St Paul, Boston, and Brooklyn before settling in Chicago for thirteen years where they raised their four daughters. In Pekin, Illinois, their son was born, and since being our Rector, their fifth daughter was born. Fr Dallman enjoys hiking, cooking, making traditional sourdough bread and mead, helps in the homeschooling of their six children: Twyla, Isadora, Oona, Marla, Martin, and Hildegard, and looks forward hopefully to again raise chickens as his family did for two years in Pekin.