Armchair Apologist

   Kristina Rake is a deacon of the United States Old Catholic Church. She received her Master’s Degree in Theology from the prestigious Andover Newton Theological Seminary near Boston and has been teaching scripture, theology, and apologetics to adults for over 15 years. In her own search for the Christianity taught by the Apostles, she found the Catholic Church and converted in 1999 after attending seminary for one year. She became Director of Adult Formation for a Suburban Chicago Parish of over 15,000 people. Deacon was in charge of all adult programming at the church, from adult education series to retreats and community events.       One of Deacon’s responsibilities was the R.C.I.A. program in which adults seek to convert to Catholicism. Here, Deacon Rake worked with people from all religious backgrounds: from Jewish converts to atheists to evangelicals to Mainline Protestantism to no religious background at all. Her experiences teaching Catholic Theology to people from such diverse religious backgrounds grounded her firmly in Catholic Apologetics. Deacon Rake was asked by groups all over her diocese to speak on a variety of apologetics topics and, for 15 years, she taught theology, scripture, and apologetics in area parishes.       In 2014, Deacon Rake entered the United States Old Catholic Church under Archbishop James Long. She was ordained a Deacon on November 8th, 2014, and continues her studies and formation for the Old Catholic Priesthood. She lives in Chicago with her husband of 15 years, Mark, her two human children and her two furry Chihuahua boys