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(www.dotwardphotography.com)
Rev. Richard L. Tolliver, Ph.D., D.D. Rector
The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Tolliver has been an ordained Episcopal priest since December 1971. He has served parishes in New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C. He became Rector (pastor) of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, Chicago, Illinois in June 1989. In November 1990, He founded the St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corporation (SERC), a not-for-profit community development corporation devoted to revitalizing the housing stock of Washington Park, the neighborhood in which the church is located.
St. Edmund's Redevelopment Corporation (SERC) has constructed/rehabbed 690 units of housing and one commercial space located in 31 buildings at a cost of $104,000,000. To learn more about the work of St. Edmund's Redevelopment Corporation please view this video.
St. Edmund’s also houses the Chicago International Charter School, Washington Park Campus, which has 450 students enrolled in grades K-8. Rev. Tolliver has served on numerous diocesan, civic and national church boards and commissions. Currently he is a member of the Board of Directors, Beverly Bank and Trust Company; The Board of Trustees, The Ravinia Festival (The Summer Residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). He is a member of the Board of Trustees, St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville, Virginia. He is currently a member of The Visiting Committee, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago. In June 2008, the City Council of Chicago appointed him a member of the Chicago Development Fund Advisory Board. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Episcopal Church’s Economic Justice Loan Fund. In March 2011, Chicago Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel, appointed him a member of his Transition Team assigned to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In February 2012 Mr. Rahm Emanuel appointed him to the Board of Directors of the Low Income Housing Trust Fund. He has earned five university degrees, including a Ph.D. in Political Science from Howard University and two honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees. He is a graduate of the Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Rev. Tolliver is the recipient of numerous awards and has received international recognition for his efforts to revitalize Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood. He is also a former Associate Country Director of the United States Peace Corps to the East African Country of Kenya and Country Director, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. His private club memberships include the Union League and Quadrangle Clubs of Chicago and The Harvard Club of New York City. He is fluent in French and is a world traveler.
Rev. Errol Narain Assistant Priest
A naturalized American of South African Khoisan ( aboriginal native), European and Indian (India) ethnicity. Baptized into the Southern African Anglican Communion at the age of thirteen. Self-exiled in 1987, during the height of the apartheid regime’s clampdown on social active, anti- apartheid organizations in the 80s. Participated in the production of the famous Kairos Document- a critique of both State and Church, of their silence and complicity in oppressing people on racial grounds. In apartheid South Africa, the State kept the people hungry and the church kept the people humble. For speaking truth to power, endured alienation and sidelining in the wider apartheid church, and hostility and threats to life for turning his last church in South Africa, into a dorm for squatters seeking employment in the city. Present passion is helping all:
experience and appropriate God present in this universe
be transformed into new beings that follow in the way of Jesus, the way of love
Pursue truth, notwithstanding the New Science and critical thinking
Fighting the toxic phenomenon of Fundamentalism in Church and State
WORK EXPERIENCE
1971-1975. Taught in the public schools system in South Africa
1981- 1987. Served in churches and Para- church organizations in apartheid South Africa. Was appointed the first Black to be appointed to the most prestigious white church in South Africa
1985-1987. Lecturer at the largest inter-denominational Seminary serving the Anglican, Presbyterian, Congregational and Methodist churches in South Africa. Desmon Tutu also taught at this Seminary.
1987- Present. Served in USA churches- St. Paul’s, St. Margaret’s in Baltimore. Chaplain to St. Paul’s School in Baltimore. Rectory of Trinity, Chicago, Dean of South Deanery and presently assistant at St. Edmund’s
EDUCATION Diploma in Education, Bachelor cum laude in Biblical Studies and Theology, Associate of Federal Theological Seminary in Southern Africa, Masters in Religious Studies at University of Chicago ACHIEVEMENTS Fulbright Scholar 1985 Published sermons in various publications, papers in theological journals and books. Presented papers on several occasions at various universities in South Africa.