Paul Schenck

For the U.S. Representative, see Paul F. Schenck.

Not to be confused with Paul Schenk.

Paul Chaim Schenck (born 1958) is an ordained clergyman, author, and lecturer.

Paul Schenck
Paul Chaim Schenck
Born	Paul Chaim Schenck 1958 (age 65–66) Glen Ridge, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Luther Rice University, Holy Apostles College and Seminary, St. Thomas University, Gratz College
Occupation	Certified clinical chaplain
Known for	Pastoral counseling, lectures, publications, anti-abortion activism
Spouse	Rebecca Wald

Early life and work

Schenck was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Henry P. Schenck and Marjorie M. Apgar. He has two sisters and an identical twin brother with whom he was raised in Grand Island, New York. His father was born Jewish and his mother converted to Judaism from the Catholic and Anglican (Episcopal) churches. He and his brother attended Hebrew School in nearby Niagara Falls until the sixth grade. He was married in 1977 in an interfaith ceremony in Niagara Falls, New York, presided by Paul Fodor, the Hungarian Holocaust survivor and author. At the time, Schenck was a student in the Institute of Jewish Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Schenck became director of the Empire State Teen Challenge center, a faith-based residential treatment program for persons with "life-controlling problems" such as substance use and abuse, antisocial behaviors, criminal conduct, and relational conflicts. He has been active as a religious professional for more than 40 years as a religious educator, counselor, and executive.

Education and experience

Schenck graduated from the Luther Rice University in 1984 with a B.A. in biblical studies with a focus on the Hebrew Old Testament. He stood his canonical examinations at the Philadelphia Theological Seminary in 1995. In 2005, he received a Master Certificate in executive leadership from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. He received a master's degree in health care ethics from the Bioethics Institute at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, and received certification in health care ethics. He completed coursework with the Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia, where he received a Master of Science degree in psychology, and holds doctorates in educational leadership and pastoral practice from the School of Arts and Education of St. Thomas University and the Graduate Theological Foundation. He received the Master of Jewish Professional Studies and was granted a certificate of Interfaith Leadership by the faculty of Gratz College Philadelphia and completed the seminar in Jewish philosophy at the yeshiva Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem. He studied Hebrew at Baltimore Hebrew University. He completed the Master Course in bioethics at the Kennedy Institute at Georgetown University. Schenck also holds a graduate degree in religion from the Catholic International University. A member of the Military Counseling Initiative of the American Association of Christian Counselors, he is board certified in clinical chaplaincy and pastoral counseling.

Professional life

Rev. Schenck entered the ministry in May, 1982 when he was ordained by the presbytery of the New York District of the Assemblies of God. He had previously held the license to preach with the Elim Fellowship, a revivalist missionary group affiliated with his alma mater, Elim Bible Institute (now, college). In 1995 Schenck was made a presbyter of the Reformed Episcopal Church, an evangelical Anglican Church that emerged shortly after the American Civil War. In 2005, Schenck united with the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg (PA) and is endorsed and holds faculties with the Archdiocese for the Military Services. He has been a pastor, seminary professor, and pastoral counselor. He defines himself as merely, "a disciple of Jesus."

Schenck has taught at the Elim Bible College, Lima, New York; the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Philadelphia; and Thomas More College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and The Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. He was a guest lecturer at Messiah University, Grantham, Pennsylvania, the State University of New York, Georgetown University, and American University. He is a frequent lecturer on religious, moral, and ethical topics, as well as the bible, Jewish-Christian, and interfaith studies. In 2019 ProQuest published his research in the experience and operation of sensual and emotional empathy using the seminal theoretical work of the pioneer phenomenologist, Edith Stein.

Schenck is currently a senior chaplain in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Works

• Spiritual Care for Schizophrenia: An examination of the Biology, Phenomenology, and Spirituality.
• Ten Words That Will Save A Nation, with Rob Schenck
• Constitutions of American Denominations, with Rob Schenck (3 volumes, Hein Law Publishing, 1983)
• Annotated Letter from the Birmingham Jail and Bonhoeffer on Nascent Human Life (National Clergy Council, 1989; 1990)
• A Tyranny of Consensus (Vital Issues Press, 1993)
• The Blackstone Commentaries on the Common Law (4 volumes, Hein Law Publishing, 1994)
• Empathy Towards Persons (ProQuest, 2019)
• Divorce After Conversion (Gratz College/Researchgate, 2020)
• Jeremiah: A Psycho-social Profile (Gratz College/Researchgate, 2020)
• Early American Jewish Personalities (Gratz College/Researchgate, 2021)
• Eastern European Jewish Culture (Gratz College/Researchgate, 2021)
• Who Converted the Great Synagogue into a Movie Theater? (2021, Gratz College/Researchgate)

External links

• aclj.org
• nationalprolifecenter.org
• paulschenck.com