Our Dean and Rector
The Very Rev. G. Thomas Luck has been Dean and Rector of St. Paul's Cathedral since February 2004. Thomas has a father who is a priest, a mother who is a deacon, a wife who is deacon, and a sister who is a priest whose husband is a priest whose father is a priest. Nevertheless, he is not as boring as you might think!
Baptized in Philadelphia, Confirmed in the Diocese of Ft. Worth, Ordained in the Diocese of Dallas, and a former member of the Standing Committee and General Convention Deputy in New Hampshire, Thomas has experienced first-hand the breadth of life in the Episcopal Church. Thomas has been in full-time parish ministry since 1981, including a large suburban parish in Texas, a struggling mill city in New Hampshire, and an affluent coastal suburb in Maine. In each of these congregations Thomas has overseen significant transitions in parish identity and culture.
Thomas has twenty years of experience serving as a spiritual director for individual clergy. He has led numerous retreats for Vestries. He has served on the Standing Committee, the Committee on the Continuing Education of the Clergy, the Finance Committee, the Global Mission Committee and the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee of the Diocese of Central New York. He was a Deputy to General Convention from the Diocese in 2006 and 2009. He has also served the wider Church by being a Chaplain to the Clergy Leadership Project, a program of Trinity Church in New York City at the Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, CT.
In Syracuse Thomas serves on the Boards of the Samaritan Center and the Cathedral Square Development Corporation and Neighborhood Association. He is also a member of the Onondaga Citizens League and the Thursday Morning Roundtable.
Thomas received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Austin College in British Studies and Philosophy, which included a semester in London where he served as a volunteer Social Worker at the Social Services Unit of St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square. His mentor at Austin College was Professor Roy Melugin. While in England he met Michael Ramsey, 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, under whom he subsequently studied for the priesthood at Nashotah House. He undertook Clinical Pastoral Education at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. In 1995 he participated in the Church Development Institute at the School of Theology at the University of the South. He is licensed by the Association for Psychological Type to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
In 2008 Thomas was awarded the Master of Liberal Arts degree in Religion from Harvard with a thesis entitled, "Breaking Bread: The Gospels and the End of Poverty”, a Biblical Mandate for the Millennium Development Goals. His thesis advisor at Harvard was Professor Paul Hanson. Among his courses at Harvard was a doctoral seminar on the Trinity taught by Professor Sarah Coakley, now at Cambridge University. Thomas is currently using some of his sabbatical time in the Doctor of Ministry program in Congregational Development offered jointly by Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, seminaries of The Episcopal Church.
For recreation Thomas enjoys music, golf, hiking, camping, and cooking. He and his wife, the Reverend Canon Deacon Jane Luck, have three adult children and one granddaughter.
Baptized in Philadelphia, Confirmed in the Diocese of Ft. Worth, Ordained in the Diocese of Dallas, and a former member of the Standing Committee and General Convention Deputy in New Hampshire, Thomas has experienced first-hand the breadth of life in the Episcopal Church. Thomas has been in full-time parish ministry since 1981, including a large suburban parish in Texas, a struggling mill city in New Hampshire, and an affluent coastal suburb in Maine. In each of these congregations Thomas has overseen significant transitions in parish identity and culture.
Thomas has twenty years of experience serving as a spiritual director for individual clergy. He has led numerous retreats for Vestries. He has served on the Standing Committee, the Committee on the Continuing Education of the Clergy, the Finance Committee, the Global Mission Committee and the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee of the Diocese of Central New York. He was a Deputy to General Convention from the Diocese in 2006 and 2009. He has also served the wider Church by being a Chaplain to the Clergy Leadership Project, a program of Trinity Church in New York City at the Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, CT.
In Syracuse Thomas serves on the Boards of the Samaritan Center and the Cathedral Square Development Corporation and Neighborhood Association. He is also a member of the Onondaga Citizens League and the Thursday Morning Roundtable.
Thomas received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Austin College in British Studies and Philosophy, which included a semester in London where he served as a volunteer Social Worker at the Social Services Unit of St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square. His mentor at Austin College was Professor Roy Melugin. While in England he met Michael Ramsey, 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, under whom he subsequently studied for the priesthood at Nashotah House. He undertook Clinical Pastoral Education at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. In 1995 he participated in the Church Development Institute at the School of Theology at the University of the South. He is licensed by the Association for Psychological Type to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
In 2008 Thomas was awarded the Master of Liberal Arts degree in Religion from Harvard with a thesis entitled, "Breaking Bread: The Gospels and the End of Poverty”, a Biblical Mandate for the Millennium Development Goals. His thesis advisor at Harvard was Professor Paul Hanson. Among his courses at Harvard was a doctoral seminar on the Trinity taught by Professor Sarah Coakley, now at Cambridge University. Thomas is currently using some of his sabbatical time in the Doctor of Ministry program in Congregational Development offered jointly by Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, seminaries of The Episcopal Church.
For recreation Thomas enjoys music, golf, hiking, camping, and cooking. He and his wife, the Reverend Canon Deacon Jane Luck, have three adult children and one granddaughter.
