Neil Alan Willard
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neilwillard.bsky.social
Neil Alan Willard
@neilwillard.bsky.social
2.2K followers 2.2K following 2.4K posts
Presbyter, Episcopal Diocese of Texas,
Rector, Palmer Memorial Church, Houston,
Grandson of Old North State Tobacco Farmers,
Lover of Rescue Dogs, and Wearer of Seersucker.
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neilwillard.bsky.social
Meowdy, from Buc-ee and me!
November 7, 2025 at 10:01 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
🎶 “For all the saints,
who from their labors rest . . .” 🎶

Greetings from Houston. ⚓️
Photo of an Episcopal priest wearing a black cassock, a white surplice, a golden stole, and a golden cope inside a church on All Saints’ Sunday.
November 3, 2025 at 3:10 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
In the same way it is strange to say I first met my now-in-laws years ago in Fairbanks, Alaska (when none of us lived there), it is strange it say I first met former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams this week in Waco, Texas. I wish more Christians, including me, were like him. Grateful. ⚓️
Photo of former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, standing at a pulpit and giving a lecture.
October 31, 2025 at 3:22 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Inquiring minds want to know if you, @scottagunn.bsky.social, also met Buc-ee on the way to or from Camp Allen. ⚓️
October 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
I’m proud to call the Rev’d Alan Bentrup, who serves a congregation in Keller, one of my clergy colleagues here in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. ⚓️
Alan Bentrup I received death threats. The threat with the image below came just hours after the County Judge and a County Commissioner released a letter calling on people to "stand against entities" like me and the church I serve, because we were hosting Pride Kel-So. When I asked the County Judge about the incendiary language in his letter, he said maybe we should cancel the event. He picked the wrong priest to try and intimidate. When I asked the County Commissioner about the same language, he quoted Jesus to me...the part where Jesus says it would be better if I were dead than to cause others to sin. He picked the wrong priest to try and intimidate. Death threats will not make me back down. I want to be clear. I am not the caricature of a "woke priest" that some people want to imagine. I'm guessing everyone reading this would be surprised by at least one of my political positions. Or by the people l've voted for. I understand that people hold different theological and moral views around LGBTQ issues. I've wrestled with these questions and had hard conversations about them. And I have decided that I don't need to have the answers. I just need to share the deep and wide and growing love of Jesus Christ. We can have thoughtful, faithful, and serious theological discussions about this and other topics. But we cannot deny the basic humanity of our brothers, sisters, and siblings. And we cannot threaten violence against people we disagree with. Our community deserves better. I will continue to show up with love, courage, and conviction. And I will not be intimidated into silence. [photo of an Episcopal priest with a Pride flag draped around his shoulders, which someone has taken, adding an image of skull and bones beside the priest’s face, to post online with a threat]
October 16, 2025 at 7:03 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Twenty-two years ago today, my wife and I walked out the side doors of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, after our wedding to see a crowd of tourists cheering us on. Then we walked, hand in hand, right down the middle of Duke of Gloucester Street. ⚓️
Photo inside Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, showing a bride and groom kissing. Photo of the exterior of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia.
October 11, 2025 at 2:39 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Greetings from Houston. ⚓️

It was more difficult than usual to get to Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church this morning because the City of Houston is doing we-are-not-sure-what to the sidewalk on Main Street between the Texas Medical Center and Palmer’s front doors.
Photo of construction on a sidewalk in Houston that goes past an Episcopal church. The sidewalk is marked closed. Photo of an Episcopal priest (i.e., me) pointing to a sign that says, “SIDEWALK CLOSED.”
September 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Welcome to Houston!

Sam says hi!
Photo of an equestrian statue of Sam Houston, with three birds perched on his outstretched right arm and two others birds coming in for a landing.
September 20, 2025 at 11:25 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Greetings from Feast the Rectory cat.
Photo of a black cat with a white spot on her chest.
September 20, 2025 at 1:55 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Today is the 303rd anniversary of “The Great Apostasy,” when seven Congregational ministers in Connecticut, including the Rector (i.e., head) of Yale, Timothy Cutler, met with the Yale Corporation in the college’s library.
September 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
On this date 63 years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood in Rice Stadium on the campus of Rice University and, looking at words he hand-wrote into his speech about going to the moon, asked, "Why does Rice play Texas?"
But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may as well ask: why climb the highest mountain? Why 35 years ago fly the Atlantic? [Why does Rice play Texas?] We choose to go to the moon in this decade, not because that will be easy, but because it will be hard -- because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills -- because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.
September 13, 2025 at 3:25 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
I’m @bakerinstitute.bsky.social, listening to “Science Under Siege: A Conversation With @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & Dr. Michael Mann.” There was a small group of anti-science, anti-vaccine protesters outside. I’m grateful to be inside, sitting near an epidemiologist who’s a member of my church. ⚓️
September 9, 2025 at 6:32 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Camel cigarettes
September 5, 2025 at 3:21 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
I often think of what happened in Chatham County, North Carolina, where the Confederate monument was dedicated in front of the county courthouse on August 23, 1907, then promptly defaced with black shoe polish and grease less than two weeks later.
September 4, 2025 at 9:57 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Greetings from the Lone Star State.

No “trespasses” for you! No papal short version! With respect to the Decalogue, not sure if we’re supposed to use the Jewish way of counting them or the Orthodox/Reformed/Anglican way or the Roman Catholic/Lutheran way. Counting to ten can be a head-scratcher. ⚓️
AUSTIN - Attorney General Ken Paxton encourages all Texas schools to implement dedicated time for prayer and the reading of scripture, following the enactment of Senate Bill 11 on September 1, 2025. "In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up," said Attorney General Paxton. "Twisted, radical liberals want to erase Truth, dismantle the solid foundation that America's success and strength were built upon, and erode the moral fabric of our society. Our nation was founded on the rock of Biblical Truth, and I will not stand by while the far-left attempts to push our country into the sinking sand." Senate Bill 11, passed by the Texas Legislature this past regular session, allows school boards to adopt policies setting aside time for voluntary prayer and the reading of the Bible or other religious texts. The law requires that the board of trustees for each ISD in Texas take a record vote on whether to adopt a policy to implement these periods no later than six months after September 1, 2025. Student participation in these periods requires parental consent. The bill directs the Office of the Attorney General to defend any school district or charter school that adopts such a policy. In addition, the Attorney General is empowered to recommend best practices for implementation. For Texas students considering how to best utilize this time, Attorney General Paxton encourages children to begin with the Lord's Prayer, as taught by Jesus Christ: The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13, KJV) Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
September 3, 2025 at 1:23 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
“There is no place in Texas more healthy . . . enjoying the sea breeze in all its freshness.” 🧐
August 31, 2025 at 4:06 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Today is the Feast of the Presidential Tan Suit. ⚓
President Ronald Reagan wearing a tan suit President Barack Obama wearing a tan suit
August 28, 2025 at 1:47 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
My 6th great-grandfather Semore York was associated with the Regulator Movement, then served as a Loyalist Captain in 1776.

He donated land in present-day Randolph County, NC, for Sandy Creek Baptist Church, where he is buried. This episode refers to that area and lots of untidy history. #genealogy
Headstone in a cemetery that says: SEMORE YORK BORN ABOUT 1727, CHESTER CO. PA DIED FEB 8, 1783, RANDOLPH CO. NC DONATED LAND FOR SANDY CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1756 LOYALIST CAPTAIN CAPTURED IN ROUTE TO BATTLE OF MOORE'S CREEK FEB 1776 JAILED IN HALIFAX, NC
August 28, 2025 at 3:58 AM
neilwillard.bsky.social
I pity the fool who thinks AI is an authority on . . . most things.
Google "jamestown high school" nc 1939 AI Overview There was no Jamestown High School in Jamestown, NC, in 1939, as the current Jamestown Public Schools are in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, not North Carolina. The search results provided context about other North Carolina schools, but none showed any records of a Jamestown High School in North Carolina in 1939. Digital Public Library of America Graduation Exercises of Jamestown High School [1939] Jamestown High School (Jamestown, N.C.). Graduation Exercises of Jamestown High School [1939]. 1939-05-08. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America . . .
August 24, 2025 at 11:00 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
If these are the fancy peas to which you’re referring, I used to love these as a kid. And now I kind of want some!
August 23, 2025 at 7:51 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
This is a post-Reconstruction example from North Carolina, which I referenced in my sermon last Sunday here: neilwillard.com/2025/08/20/r...
August 23, 2025 at 4:04 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
My aunt Laura Willard Clinard died yesterday at the age of 95. She was raised on a tobacco farm in Guilford County, North Carolina, in a family with 11 children. This is her senior photo from the Jamestown High School yearbook in 1947.

May light perpetual shine upon her.
Photo of a woman wearing a dress a d a pearl necklace, with these words to the right of it: LAURA WILLARD Marshall 3; Home Ec. Club 2; Beta Club 2,3,4; Class Officer 1; Basketball 2,3,4; Student Council 4; Newspaper Staff 3,4; Girls' Athletics 4;
August 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
This is an example from North Carolina, which I referenced in my sermon last Sunday here: neilwillard.com/2025/08/20/r...
August 21, 2025 at 7:41 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
For those who are curious about this style of recumbent white marble headstones, here is my father’s headstone in God’s Acre at Union Cross Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
August 10, 2025 at 7:24 PM
neilwillard.bsky.social
Feast the Rectory cat
loves to pray using her
Book of Common Prayer:

“O ye felines and rodents,
praise ye the Lord . . .” ⚓️
Photo of a black cat with a white spot on her chest, sitting at the edge of a round table, looking into the distance.
August 6, 2025 at 12:47 AM