Clergy

The Rev. Dr. Matthew Thomas Seddon
The Reverend Dr. Matthew Thomas Seddon joined St. John’s Episcopal Church as Priest-in-Charge in August, 2014. He was appointed Rector in November of that same year. He has served as Deacon Administrator and then as Vicar of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in West Valley, Utah. He worked closely with La Iglesia Episcopal San Esteban, a community of immigrants who also worshiped in the same building. He has training in multicultural ministry, including work in and with the Anglican Church in Mexico. He currently serves on several Church-wide committees, including serving as the Assistant Director of the Commission on Hispanic Ministry, the World Mission Board, the Province 7 Anti-Racism Committee, and as a teacher at First-Time-in-Charge.

Fr. Matt has B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Chicago in Anthropology. He had a 20-year career as an archaeologist working in Peru, Bolivia and the American West before receiving a M.Div. degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. He speaks, preaches and presides in both English and Spanish.

In his “down” time, Fr. Matt is an avid reader (archaeology, geology, history, art and mystery novels in the style of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett). He labors hard to get to the mountains and desert when possible, and enjoys camping and fishing.  He was a DJ for his campus radio station in college and still has an addiction to obscure alternative music. He also enjoys playing guitar with his daughter (everything from Taylor Swift to Green Day to local favorite Robert Earl Keen).

Fr. Matt is married to Dr. Heather Stettler, who is an archaeologist and environmental consultant; their daughter is 16.
     The Rev. Dr. David Frank Beer was raised in Devonshire, England, and came to this country when he was eighteen. After working in a bank for two years he attended the University of Arizona and earned a BA in English. He then attended Arizona State University and received his MA in English and linguistics. After teaching on the Navaho reservation for a year he taught for three years at the University of Colorado and then spent three years at the University of New Mexico getting a PhD in English. He and his wife then spent three years in Addis Ababa where David was a professor at Haile Sellassie I University and Ruth taught at the American School. Their daughter Natasha was born there in 1972.

Returning to the US after a Fulbright professorship in Benin, West Africa, David became both a teacher at the University of Texas and a student at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest as a postulant of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. He was ordained in 1980 by Bishop Scott Field Bailey and transferred to the Diocese of Texas by Bishop Benitez. He has always been a bi-vocational priest, teaching for 31 years at UT and serving, supplying, and assisting in over 33 churches in Austin and central Texas. He and Ruth are happily retired teachers now, and their daughter is a speech pathologist, married, and with two children. David still serves as an assisting priest at St John’s and is also the literary editor for the website WorldWar1.com. He and Ruth have been associated with St John’s for a long time and are happy to call it their home church now.

The Rev. Dr. David Frank Beer

Rev. Victoria Mason, Deacon
     Deacon Victoria Mason was born in Seattle, Washington, but she claims Austin as the closest to being her home town. She earned her B.A. in History and English from the University of Texas at Austin and her M.S. in Vocational Rehabilitation from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. Her first career was as a vocational rehabilitation specialist. Her second career was in the Child Support Division of the Office of the Attorney General where she served as a trainer, policy developer and software development manager.  Victoria completed the Iona School for Ministry of the Diocese of Texas in preparation for ordination as a Deacon in February 2007.  “I was drawn to the ordained ministry for all my adult life, but I never felt I should ‘leave the world,’ she explained. “I was first attracted to the diaconate because of its being simultaneously in the world and in the church.” She is married to Roy Larsen; has three grown children and two adorable granddaughters.

Victoria is bilingual, having learned Spanish while living in Lima, Peru during her childhood.  She served as Deacon at San Francisco de Asís Episcopal Church and El Buen Samaritano in Austin for four years. She served at St. David’s Episcopal Church prior to this. She is constantly amazed at God’s economy, finding that the work skills and experiences from her first two careers are assets in her ministries as a deacon. Deacon Mason’s current diocesan level ministries include serving on the Committee for the Diaconate and the Discernment Process Task Force for the Commission on Ministry.
Minerva Camarena Skeith is a native of Laredo, Texas and is fluent in both English and Spanish.  She moved back to Austin in 1998 and married her husband Paul Skeith in 1999.  They have two sons.  Their oldest, Samuel just turned 14 years old and will attend high school next school year.  Augustin is 11 years old and will attend middle school next school year.  Her husband was ordained a priest in 2017 and has been leading the SoCo Episcopal Community for the last three years.
 
Minerva is a postulant of the Diocese of Texas and her sending parish is St. David’s Episcopal Church in Austin.  Prior to becoming a postulant and attending the Seminary of the Southwest, she was active in her children’s elementary school and at St. David’s.  She served on the board of the PTA and the Campus Advisory Committee.  She also served on the vestry of St. David’s, co-chaired the Hispanic Outreach Ministry and Education (HOME), and co-chaired the Amos Guild, St. David’s leadership and social justice ministry.  Minerva was a member of the Austin Interfaith strategy team for over 10 years.  

Minerva Skeith, Seminarian