St. Mark's Staff
The Reverend Father Christopher McLaren
Fr. Christopher McLaren grew up in Medford, Oregon, and graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, in Humanities and Art History. He married the love of his life, Maren Christine Cole, on New Year’s Eve 1993 at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Salem, Oregon. Christopher and Maren enjoy the hilarious nature of family life with their three children Sofia age 11, Cole age 9, and Talia age 7. Upon graduating from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, Fr. Christopher served as Associate Rector, Priest-in-Charge, and eventually Rector of St. George’s New Orleans for a period of six years. After many joyful and interesting years in New Orleans, the McLaren family relocated Albuquerque from New Orleans after losing their home in Hurricane Katrina. Christopher served at St. Michael and All Angels as Associate Rector for five years.
Fr. Christopher is thrilled to have been called as Rector of St. Mark’s on-the-Mesa, Albuquerque where he feels his many gifts for ministry and energy for nurturing strong communities of worship and learning are well matched. He hopes to shape a community that is faithful to the Christian tradition, progressive and open to all people, passionate about children and youth ministry, deeply relational, intellectually curious, and deeply engaged in service to the larger community. In his leisure time, Fr. Christopher enjoys good coffee, coaching soccer, gardening, beekeeping, fly fishing, reading, cooking, being with his kids, and exploring the outdoors.
The Rev. Patricia (Patty) Soukup
Deacon Patty was born and raised in Albuquerque. She was both baptized and confirmed at St. Mark’s, and she served as an acolyte here for a number of years. She attended the Diocesan School for Ministry and was ordained to the diaconate in 2006. Shortly thereafter, she was assigned to the Cathedral of St. John.
Prior to her ordination, she served for more than 30 years in various liturgical ministries at different parishes in Albuquerque. She is a Fellow of the Vergers Guild of the Episcopal Church and has been involved in planning and coordinating numerous special services at the diocesan level. In 2011, she was appointed by Bishop Vono as Canon Liturgist for the diocese, and as such, she travels around the diocese one or two weekends per month training members of various congregations in different aspects of the liturgy. In addition to liturgy, Deacon Patty also has a passion for nursing home ministry, especially to the frail elderly.
She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of New Mexico and is the Executive Director of the state licensing board for certified public accountants. She and her husband of 25 years, Mike, extend their sincere appreciation to the people of St. Mark’s for the very warm welcome that they have received, and she looks forward to many years of fulfilling ministry in this incredible faith community.
Mary Beth Libbey
Mary Beth's job is backing up the office volunteers and property manager Paul Abeyta, managing the membership database, administering the Intercessory Prayer Community's e-mailings, scheduling use of church facilities, and doing many little jobs that assure parishioners that St. Mark's is alive and well. Mary Beth has master’s degrees in journalism and creative writing. Mary Beth has worked as a business reporter in Chicago and Albuquerque for 15 years, four years as a bank marketing director, and 18 years as an English teacher in secondary schools and at UNM Valencia, where she still teaches composition and communications part-time. She likes to read, write, ski, hike, walk her Rottweiler, Bruce, hang out with her daughter, Frances, listen to jazz, and get together with her friends and neighbors. She lives three blocks away and loves living so close to St. Mark's and other happening places in Nob Hill.
Beth Barnett
Communications Coordinator, 1-505-262-2484, ext. 110, communications@stmarksonthemesa.org
Beth was born in Miami, but moved to Albuquerque when she was three, so she considers herself “almost native.” During college at UNM and after graduating with a B.A. in Journalism, she worked as a local newspaper reporter and magazine editor, and then veered into technical writing as a contractor to Sandia National Laboratories. After some years, she left to head a publishing group at a global software company, where she wrote, edited and managed production of print and online sales and marketing materials. She feels blessed to have had a long work hiatus to support her children full time. Now, however, she is excited to be working again in publications, and looks forward to the joys and challenges of helping St. Mark’s community of faith get its own and God’s message out in the world.
Juanne Connors
Juanne manages St. Mark's finances, works closely with the congregation's treasurer and vestry, pays the bills, balances the books, tracks endowment income and manages human resources. She and her husband, Mike, have two grown children, Renee and Geoffrey who live on the west coast. Juanne is a seasoned bookkeeper and accountant with 25 years of experience and degrees in Accounting and Psychology. For St. Mark's, she has successfully converted the financial and membership databases to a new cloud-based system, Church Management Solutions, and has shepherded the church through a particularly difficult financial period in the past year. When Juanne is not working, she loves playing clarinet and saxophone with several community orchestras and concert groups.
Paul Abeyta
Paul maintains all the property and facilities of St. Mark’s, makes our morning coffee every Sunday, interacts with outside groups renting our facilities, works closely with the business manager and administrator to assure that St. Mark’s is secure and in good repair, whether that work is done by outside vendors or himself. Paul has 30 plus years of experience in the construction trades and is a santero, carving retablos and wooden images of the saints, which he sells locally. This latter skill has served St. Mark’s well since he repairs and maintains our altar images.