Rest in Peace, Rise in Glory
The Rt. Rev. Andrew M.L. Dietsche, Bishop of New York, conveys news of the Rev. Mitties McDonald DeChamplain’s death:
With profound sorrow, I write of the passing into God’s greater glory of the Rev. Dr. Mitties McDonald DeChamplain, who for many years served as a beloved professor of homiletics at The General Theological Seminary. Mitties died earlier today, after a brief hospitalization.
Born in 1948 in Pasadena, California, Mitties earned her doctorate in communications from the University of Southern California. Drawn to the Episcopal priesthood, she received Holy Orders from Bishop Frederick Borsch in the Diocese of Los Angeles in 1996 and taught homiletics at Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical seminary in Pasadena. Her love for the Episcopal Church, however, led her in 1998 to leave California and Fuller to join the faculty of General Seminary. There, through Commencement 2016, she helped to educate, and prepare for the solemn responsibilities of the pulpit, generations of future Episcopal clergy, including many who now serve in our diocese.
As a professor of homiletics, Mitties understood the need and benefit of being a regular preacher herself, so throughout her academic career at General, she also served congregations of New York City. She is perhaps best know for her ministry at St. Clement’s in the Theatre District of Manhattan, a Spirit-led setting for her since she was an avid enthusiast of Broadway musicals. Nevertheless, other congregations knew her well and cherished her ministry, including most recently the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, also in the Theatre District, and Trinity Church in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx, where Mitties had been a regular supply priest.
Funeral arrangements are still being made, and I will write to you again once we know them. For now, please remember our sister Mitties in your prayers and at your altars, and pray for her brother Scott; Jeff, Laurel, and Chontel, the children of her late husband Ron with whom she remained close; her former colleagues and students within the General Seminary community; the people of the churches of the diocese she served; and all who mourn.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
