A New Rector for Saint Mark’s Church

The Vestry of Saint Mark's Church is pleased to announce that the Rev. Blake Sawicky has been unanimously elected XV Rector. Father Sawicky will take up his new duties on January 26, 2026.

Father Sawicky is currently Rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley, California, where he has served since 2018, and where work is nearly complete from a major capital campaign supporting historic preservation and hospitality. He was ordained a priest in 2012, and before arriving in Berkeley served at the Church of St. Michael & St. George in St. Louis, Missouri; S. Stephen’s in Providence, Rhode Island; and Saint John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado. He is a graduate of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale (M.Div.), University College London (M.A., Maritime Archaeology), and Wheaton College (IL) (B.A., History, Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology). He grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and holds a lifelong love of music, maps, walking, and local histories. 

Since 2019, Father Sawicky has been married to David Owens, who currently works in product design. David grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, where his parents are Southern Baptist missionaries. Together, Father Sawicky and David have a four-year-old adopted son, Oliver, who currently loves everything to do with transit and red brick buildings.

The Vestry is grateful to the Rector Discernment Committee, which recommended Father Sawicky to the Vestry after an extensive search and discernment process that took nearly a year. The Right Rev. Daniel Gutiérrez, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, has approved the election of Father Sawicky and will formally install him later in 2026.

Messages of welcome and congratulations can be sent to vestry@saintmarksphiladelphia.org; the Vestry will forward them to Father Sawicky.