Fr. Vaughn Treco

I was raised among the Plymouth Brethren, a small, intensely missional, Evangelical Protestant tradition with a deep contemplative and affective spirituality, and a strong, understated, anti-intellectualism and an even stronger anti-Anglicanism. In college, my suspicions about the intellectual life dissolved, and I became convinced of the intimate inter-play between the moral life and the desire for truth that lies at the heart of the human person. My encounter with Eastern Orthodoxy compelled me to reckon with the centrality of the Church in the life of faith and the significance of the sacraments as a sharing in the Divine Life. Through John Paul II, I came to recognize the greatness of the human person and the all-embracing call that Jesus extends to every person. After graduating with a M.Div. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1988, I co-founded New Providence Community Church, Nassau, Bahamas. NPCC successfully captured the hearts and minds of many college-educated, Bahamian young professionals who were leaving the church in droves. My longing for Apostolic Christianity deepened while at NPCC, and I later entered the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Within the CEC, I served as the Director and Lecturer at St. Michael's Seminary in Overland Park, KS. I taught graduate theological courses to candidates for Holy Orders. I also prepared a historical analysis of the CEC's apostolic line. This study led to the re-ordination of the entire clergy of the CEC in 1997, and I was appointed Canon Theologian of the Eastern and Central Province. However, my close examination of the CEC's apostolic line also led to my conversion to Catholicism. Received into the Catholic Church in 2000, I served as Program Director for Marriage Preparation & Enrichment for the Ark Arlington Diocese. I helped revise the marriage prep program in light of Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and developed a similar program for couples preparing for second unions. From 2002-2005 & 2008-2012, I was the Director of Youth Ministry for Our Lady of Angels in Woodbridge, VA. But, from September 2005 to May 2008, I did further graduate theological study in preparation for ordination as a Catholic priest. Currently, I am serving as the director of parishREACH, an apostolate that assists Catholic pastors, parishes & laypeople to effectively evangelize the people who live within their parish boundaries.