Fr. Scott’s Vocation Story Continued…

Hobbies

Fr. Scott loves to bike, in the mountains and on the road, and to climb mountains. With the advent of winter fat biking, he is able to bike year round in Anchorage. One of his “big adventures” was training for and completing the Fireweed 200 in July of 2010, a one day, two-hundred-mile road bike race from Sheep Mountain Lodge to Valdez.

Fr. Scott was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. He was raised in the United Methodist Church. Fr. Scott, who grew up on a lake, swam competitively from an early age. His claim to fame is breaking a Florida state record in the 25-yard back stroke as an eight-year old! As a teenager he also raced 16′ Hobie Cat sail boats. Scouting was a big part of Fr. Scott’s youth. He is an Eagle scout who served as a scoutmaster as a young adult.

Vocation Story

While attending the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate (1973-77), Fr. Scott met his wife, Maria Elena. Maria Elena is a life-long devout Catholic. Fr. Scott began attending mass with his roommates and with Maria Elena as an undergraduate. His primary area of study was the classics in a Great Books program. Fr. Scott and Maria Elena received the Sacrament of Marriage on June 12, 1978 at Notre Dame’s Sacred Heart Basilica.

After working for three years as an account executive at Merrill Lynch in Orlando, Fr. Scott returned to Notre Dame to study law. He graduated with a J.D. in 1983. Although he is a member of the Maryland Bar and did some limited pro bono work representing the homeless, he never practiced law full time.

During law school, Fr. Scott began to discern God calling him to become an ordained minister. Immediately after graduating from law school, he entered seminary in the Duke Divinity School. He graduated with a Master of Divinity in 1986. He served as a United Methodist pastor for nine years.

Fr. Scott has always attended mass on a weekly basis with Maria Elena. His love for the Catholic faith, especially for the Eucharist, deepened over the years. In 1992, Archbishop Francis Hurley of Anchorage received Fr. Scott into the Church. Fr. Scott and Maria Elena moved their family to Anchorage that same summer. Saint John Paul II gave Archbishop Hurley permission to ordain Fr. Scott to the priesthood in 1996.

Fr. Scott and Maria Elena have three children and five grandchildren, all of whom live in Denver. His oldest son, Aaron, and his wife, Maureen, have twins, Sean and Grace. They were born in August of 2014. His second son, Matthew, and his wife, Amy, have two girls, Emma and Lyla. They are in elementary school. His daughter, Angela, and her husband, Mike Resman, have a daughter, Lauren. Fr. Scott had the wonderful joy of witnessing the marriages of all three of his children.