Meet Spencer Reece
Rev. Spencer Reece, is the former canon to the ordinary and national secretary for the Bishop of Spain, a post he held for nearly a decade. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he was educated at Wesleyan, Harvard and Yale Berkeley.
Ordained in 2011, he served as the chaplain at Our Little Roses, the only all-girl orphanage in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The last two years he served as the interim priest-in-charge at St. Mark's in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. In New York City, the former rector died of Covid-19 early in the pandemic and Reece was tasked with re-opening the parish and revitalizing the church.
He is delighted to serve as a priest in The Chapel of the Transfiguration and is particularly grateful to the Jackson community for their support of the documentary film Voices Beyond the Wall: 12 Love Poems from The Murder Capitol of the World and now their exuberant support of meditation poetry series, The Red Door Series, begun in New York City, now under the leadership of Rev. Brian Nystrom.
Reece will give a poetry reading along with Dan Alter, a young debut poet from Berkeley, California, a certified electrician and the son of renowned Old Testament scholar, Robert Alter. Dan is the author of My Little Book of Exiles. On September 17th in the little chapel on the grounds of St. John's they will give a LOGOS-inspired reading led by Rev. Travis Helms, and on Sunday afternoon the two will have a talk and interview in the same location curated by Helms.
Reece serves as a Board Member for EcoTheo Collective, an arts-based nonprofit directed by Travis that celebrates wonder, enlivens conversations, and inspires commitments to ecology, spirituality, and art.
In 2003, Reece authored The Clerk´s Tale, selected by Louise Glück, awarded the Bakeless Prize, recognized with an award from the Library of Congress. In 2014, The Road to Emmaus was published, long-listed for the National Book Award, short-listed for the Griffin Prize. In 2017, Reece edited a bilingual anthology of poems by the abandoned girls of Our Little Roses, Counting Time Like People Count Stars. The work was featured in an award-winning documentary film, Voices Beyond the Wall. In 2021, two new works appeared, nonfiction and watercolors —The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Poet’s Memoir and All The Beauty Still Left: A Poet’s Painted Book of Hours. A decade in the making, Acts is his long-awaited third collection of poems. Acts will be published in 2024 with Random House/FSG. He'll debut the collection here in Jackson Hole.
