“Penelope Duckworth’s many-facet meditation on Mary, the mother of Jesus, gave me, as even the few  sentences in the New Testament, could not, an understanding of Mary’s influences throughout history, and even more important, perhaps, a vibrant tenderness for her experience, for her life.  The text is fascinating, careful, yet lyrical.  This book is pure gift.”

                   Mary Oliver, Pulitzer prize-winning poet and author of Why I Wake Early, Owls and other Fantasies and other books.

“Where poetic sensibility and personal experience meet scripture and tradition, as in Penelope Duckworth’s lovely book, Mary comes off the pedestal, and the treasures of her faith unfold.”

                   Phyllis Trible, author of God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality and other books

“..her evident affection for the subject and her even-handed approach to some of the more controversial aspects of Marian devotion will appeal to those seeking a well-rounded portrait of one of the major figures in Christian history and worship.”

                   PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

This book is available through     www.rowmanlittlefield.com

This cover art and for Mary’s Hours on the next page are by Alejandra Vernon, www.avernon.com

        I am an Episcopal priest and am currently Artist-in-Residence at Trinity Cathedral in San Jose.  I have spent most of my ministry in campus chaplaincy.  I served for seventeen years as Episcopal Chaplain to Stanford University, as well as at the University of Santa Clara, and the University of Nevada.  I have also served parish churches in California including St. Paul’s, Burlingame; Calvary, Santa Cruz; St. Ambrose, Foster City; and Christ Church, Sei Ko Kai (the traditionally Japanese-American congregation), San Francisco.  In addition I facilitate retreats and quiet days for The Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg, and for numerous parish churches.

       I am also a writer and a teacher.  I have a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. My books appear below and on this website.  I am currently teaching in the Departments of Theater and Dance, and Religious Studies at Santa Clara University (the Jesuit University of Silicon Valley.) I have also taught for the English Department at SCU and West Valley College in Saratoga, CA, as well at Fuller Seminary in Menlo Park , CA.

      Other interests include a recent venture into sacred music, a long-standing practice of painting (which includes the cover of my new book) and beginning a new project in travel writing.