By Jan Howard

A Newtown clergyman has been named as the new pastor of St John’s Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook.

Recently appointed by the Bishop, the Rev Daniel E. Mattila preached his introductory sermon at the church on October 21. He will serve the church on a part-time basis, dividing his time between St John’s, his job as a therapist in New York City, and studying for his PhD.

Father Mattila, 32, has been a resident of Newtown since November 1998. Unmarried, he was born in California, grew up in northern Minnesota, and moved to Connecticut to attend Yale Divinity School.

“Since I was 14, I planned to go into the ministry,” Father Mattila said this week, though he also enjoys his career as a therapist. “I like both things. I always want to do both.”

Though he grew up as a Lutheran, “I like the traditional worship of the Episcopal Church. I love the Book of Common Prayer,” he said. “I love to hear the hymns that have been sung for hundreds of years.

“Saying the mass is the greatest privilege. It is most satisfying, being ordained and designated by the church to do that. Second to that, I love preaching,” Father Mattila said.

The newly appointed pastor said he would be setting aside one day a week for ministerial matters, such as visitations to parishioners in their homes and in the hospital, bringing the Eucharist to the homebound, and for counseling. He will be spending three days a week in New York City.

His Sunday duties will occupy another block of time during the week. “Sermon preparation takes a lot of time,” he noted.

In addition to the Sunday morning service at 9:30 am, Father Mattila is considering offering a mid-week Eucharist. The church offers Bible study for adults and a church school program for children.

Noting he has only met with church vestry members regarding his appointment, Father Mattila said his goals for the church are “pretty much what every parish hopes to do. Capitalize on what’s particular about it, and use it to its advantage.

“At this point, my main goal is to get everybody as a community to get together to decide on the goals and directions in which the parish is to move,” Father Mattila said. “My main job is facilitating that.”

He said people who attend St John’s do so because they want a smaller parish where there is plenty of room for lay ministry in different capacities. About 40 people worship at St John’s on an average Sunday, he noted.

“It’s for people who want a church where they know everybody to the degree they want to be involved,” he said. “It’s for people who want a traditional Episcopal Church.”

Despite a downturn in national church membership years ago, Father Mattila said there has been some growth since the 1990s. “We’re seeing renewal in the church, with increasing membership. There is renewed respect for the treasure of traditions.”

The recent tragedies at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania have led to increased attendance as people seek a place of comfort.

Because a parish the size of St John’s is unable to call full-time clergy, Father Mattila’s ability to pursue dual careers fits its needs as well as his.

When he is not preparing sermons or counseling people in New York City, Father Mattila is studying for his PhD in social work at Fordham University. The program is primarily research oriented, he explained.

“I may want to go into teaching and/or research in mental health and public policy,” he said.

Currently he provides cognitive therapy and schema-focused therapy as a supervising therapist at the Cognitive Therapy Center of New York. “I work mainly with adults, treating people with depression,” he said.

In addition to all his work-related activities, Father Mattila is very interested in older American cars and collects memorabilia about them. “I like to read about antique cars,” he said.

His other interests are traditional country music and his dog, seven-year-old Jacob.

Father Mattila has been with the Cognitive Therapy Center of New York since 1997. From 1999 to the present, he served as adjunct associate priest at St James Episcopal Church in Danbury, where he conducted worship services, preached occasionally, and provided pastoral care to parishioners on a part-time basis.

As priest-in-charge at St George’s Episcopal Church in Bridgeport from 1996 to 1999, Father Mattila had administrative, liturgical, and preaching duties as well as provided pastoral care to parishioners, short-term crisis intervention, and developed educational programs for children and adults. While there, he implemented a weekly soup kitchen. He was chaplain resident at Bridgeport Hospital from 1994 to 1995, providing pastoral support for patients and their families.

As a social work intern from 1995 to 1996 at Catholic Family Services in Bridgeport, Father Mattila provided individual, couples, and family therapy to clients in an outpatient setting and developed and led group therapy for adolescents. From 1996 to 1997, he interned at Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, N.Y., where he provided individual psychotherapy, family therapy, developed treatment plans, conducted psychosocial assessments, and led group therapy for adolescent in-patients.

He has been honored with several professional and academic awards and is a member of professional organizations. He has made several presentations and is the author of an article on schema-focused therapy for depression that will appear in an upcoming book, Comparative Treatments of Depression.

Father Mattila received a bachelor’s of arts in psychology and history, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Hamline University, his master’s in divinity from Yale University, and master’s in social work from the University of Connecticut. He received an advanced certificate in schema therapy from Cognitive Therapy Center of New York.

He received his diploma in Anglican studies from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and advanced certificate in clinical pastoral education from Bridgeport Hospital.