Tuesday January 21 2025
The Rev Dr John Carswell
A Church of Scotland minister has become the director of a non-profit organisation working to integrate life and faith to improve society.
The Rev Dr John Carswell, former minister of Cadzow Parish Church in Hamilton, is the Craighead Institute of Life and Faith’s first paid director for 10 years. The Institute, grounded in Ignatian spirituality, works with individuals, groups, organisations and congregations concerned with social justice and committed to bring about a more humane world.
He said: “I am delighted to begin as the new Director of the Craighead Institute and I look forward to building on the legacy of the Institute’s creative work in the church and community. Integrating life and faith has long been the focus of my work as a parish minister and it pleases me no end that Providence has begun this new chapter in our lives together. Watch this space for our ongoing ministry!”.
John was born in Scotland but at the age of seven weeks emigrated with his parents to Texas. After initially studying advertising, he pursued his vocation to be a Presbyterian minister at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, graduating in 1996 and serving churches in La Plata, Missouri and Wichita Falls, Texas before returning to Scotland in 2008. He has a doctorate from the University of Glasgow. He has been married to Lisa for 35 years and they have six children and two grandchildren.
Former director of the Craighead Institute and a Trustee of the Board, the Rev Dr Lisa Curtice, a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, said: “I was tutored by John at the Scottish Episcopal Institute where he remains an Associate Tutor and I got to know his skills in discernment and his wish to pursue his interest in grounding discipleship not only in well-informed theology but also in the practice of daily living. He is an ideal fit for Craighead whose programmes follow this same path. The Board and associates look forward forward to working with John for the foreseeable future”.
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