The Rev. Deacon Jason Burns

 

Jason grew up in Turners Falls, MA and is a graduate of Turners Falls High School. He attended college at UMass Amherst where he received both a Bachelors in History and a Masters of Education. It is also where he met his wife Erica. They have been married for nearly 19 years and have two boys, Evan and Liam.

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His home parish was St. Andrew’s in Turners Falls, which has since merged with St. James in Greenfield to become Saints James and Andrew. Jason discerned a call to ordained ministry around 2002, but had no idea what to do with the call so he pushed it aside. Now, he has finished his preparation and we are happy he serve as our Deacon here at St. Philip’s.

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Jason’s is a high school history teacher in Hadley and his diaconal ministry focuses on supporting teens and young adults, in their growth and learning and in preventing suicide. Jason says that, “For several reasons, I am passionate about removing the stigma which surrounds mental illness, which is directly linked to suicide. The first is my own struggle with Social Anxiety, which often keeps me from engaging with people right away, but with a little bit of time you won’t be able to get me to stop talking. The second reason is that people I have known have taken their lives because they did not receive the treatment they needed that probably would have saved their lives. I do not hide my own struggle because I want to model how important it is to be open about who God made us to be.”