Meet Father Tom Pellaton

Based on a brief autobiography which he forwarded, we have prepared the following sketch as an introduction to Father Pellaton and his colorful life experiences. We look forward to knowing him better. We welcome him as Rector of our church.

Father Pellaton, whose full name is Thomas Jean-Pierre Pellaton, is a native Long Islander, having been born and raised in Port Washington, New York. His early interests included church and school music groups and choir, art and community activities, sailing and soccer, and he and his family were very active in the Port Washington Lutheran church. He attended Wesleyan University, transferring to Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. At Oberlin he earned degrees in European Intellectual History and Voice Performance. While at Oberlin, he participated in tours and study abroad, including study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and he was a Metropolitan Opera District/Regional auditions winner. These achievements were for him the foundation of a career in music and related fields, which included lead roles in significant opera productions. Father Pellaton became an Episcopalian while at Oberlin, being confirmed by the Bishop of Ohio at Christ Church Oberlin in 1968.
Father Pellaton did graduate work at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and then was drafted into the US Army. Trained for and assigned to the intelligence department of the 101st Airborne Division, he wound up in Vietnam. From Vietnam, he wrote many letters, some of which were published in the book "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam". The book was made into an Emmy-Award winning HBO movie. Several of his letters are also engraved on New York City's Vietnam Memorial.
After the Army, Father's career moved in several directions. He continued to sing major opera roles; he was employed in New York at the Carlyle Hotel; and he advanced in the business of artist management.
During his New York residence, he helped found and worked with parish and community programs, but he documents a moment on Easter Sunday 1988 when he heard God's call to the ministry. Father Pellaton, in his words:

"As much as I loved my work and music, I had a continuing sense that God had other plans for me. I just did not know what they were. " But on Easter Sunday, 1988, God spoke rather clearly and directly to me during the reading of the Gospel as the incense billowed up around. Ordination and full-time service was God's call."

Father Pellaton entered Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, graduating in 1991 as Yale Divinity class president, with hands-on experience in both youth and urban ministries.
Father Pellaton was ordained Deacon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on June 8, 1991 (his birthday). His next six years in Holy Orders were at St. Michael's Church on the Upper West Side of New York, where he was heavily involved in community programs and pastoral support groups. Then, as it is now, parish outreach was vital to Father Pellaton's ministry.
Concluding this biographical sketch, Father Pellaton's words:

"I was called as Rector to The Church of The Ascension in Munich, Germany, in December, 1996. The church, which had been through a difficult period, began a period of renewal and growth that has continued over the last 11 years. We have tripled in size and ministry. We have added programs in adult formation, youth work and outreach, and we have added new space of our own ministry.... We have formed two new mission churches in Augsburg and Nurnberg, which are moving towards greater autonomy. During this period as well I have served on various Diocesan committees, being President of the Council on Advice, and I have served twice as Deputy to General Convention (2000, 2006). And now God seems to have been calling me home so to speak, being called as your new Rector at The Church of The Ascension in Rockville Centre. I cannot tell you what a joy it is anticipating our work together. May God continue to Bless me and you as we journey together in love and hope towards His Kingdom."

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