Br. James Koester, SSJE
Br. James Koester, SSJE was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He studied History and English Literature at Trent University (Peterborough, ON) and received a Master’s of Divinity from Trinity College (Toronto, ON). Before arriving at SSJE, he served as a parish priest in the Diocese of British Columbia. James was life-professed in our community in 1995 and has since served as Superior, the Senior Brother at Emery House, and Community Archivist. Br. James enjoys family history, reading mysteries, and vegetable gardening. He has combined his love of long-distance walking and early British History by walking both the St. Cuthbert’s Way and the Hadrian’s Wall Path. He is currently compiling a list of every man who has tested a vocation at SSJE and working on a history of the Society’s part in introducing the Holy Week rites in English to North American Anglicans and Episcopalians.
Learn more about Br. James' Catch the Life journey to monastic life >
Selection of Br. James' teachings from "Brother, Give Us a Word"
Touch
We are like God when we choose to stretch out our hands in loving service, touching the untouchable, and bringing to them the healing, health, wholeness, and life which God desires for all humanity. In choosing to reach out and touch, Jesus invites us to do the same. Br. James Koester, SSJE Read More and…
Read MoreLive
The call of God is not to a life of sentimentality. The call of God is to life through dying to self and living for others. That dying and living happens when our lives are marked as was Jesus’, by compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and love. Br. James Koester, SSJE Read More and…
Read MoreRisk
To be a follower of Jesus is to live a life full of risk. Like him, we must be willing to take the risk of speaking with those deemed unworthy, touching those considered untouchable, breaking bread with those who are despised by others, breaching the walls of respectability. As followers of Jesus, we must take…
Read MoreSelection of Br. James' writing
“The Lord’s Prayer unites us, makes us and shapes us into a communion, a community, a commonwealth, where none are left out, left behind, or left alone. In an age of self-interest, taking responsibility for the well-being of another, especially if they are not like us, is a radical act.”
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“These have indeed been challenging times for all of us, but when we review those challenges calmly, dispassionately, dutifully, we may discover that God’s invitation lies within.”
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“By inviting you to explore what it means to believe, it is our hope that you will be more “ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).”
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