Our Priest...

Father Robert K. McMeekin was born in New York City on March 2, 1960. He graduated from Bronxville High School in Bronxville, New York in 1978. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State Univerity of New York at Geneseo in 1982 and a Master of Divinity degree in 1986 from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. A Lutheran Minister for 11 years, he left the ministry and the Lutheran Church in 1997 and, with his wife Julie and their three children, was received into the Orthodox Church. That same year, he completed the Late Vocations Program of the Orthodox Church in America and was ordained a deacon and priest.  Also in 1997, with a handful of converts, Fr. Robert established the Holy Cross Orthodox Mission Community which now meets in Chisago City, Minnesota.

From 1994-2005 Father Robert served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserve. He has served on active-duty deployments to Germany (1999-2000) and, most recently, to Afghanistan (2002) as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He has twice been awarded both the Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal, and has received both the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Outstanding Unit Commendation Ribbon for his work with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan.  His service in the Army has afforded him the opportunity to serve in Orthodox Churches in Pusan South Korea, Nuremburg and Bischöfsheim Germany, and Rome Italy.

Father Robert also works as a chaplain at Osceola Medical Center in Osceola, Wisconsin. He is a member of the Unity & Relationships Committee of the Minnesota Council of Churches and is an on-going participant of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Dialogue series in the Twin Cities.  Together with his daughter, Jennifer, Fr. Robert has traveled to Guatemala as part of an mission team to the Hogar Rafael Ayau Orphanage in Guatemala City (pictured above).

Father Robert specializes in Pre-marriage and Marriage Enrichment ministries for couples and groups. He also has delievered lectures on the theology of Icons and their meaning in the Orthodox Church to area churches and groups. Over the past five semesters he has given lectures on Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformation to Religious Studies classes at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Fr. Robert has also delivered lectures on the Orthodox Church with his colleague Fr. Jonathan Proctor at Bethel College in New Brighton, Minnesota and North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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