Public records show that in the early 2000s, he lived at an address corresponding to the rectory at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Salem, Oregon. When I asked him about this, he replied in an e-mail, "Helped at St. Joseph parish as a pastoral associate while discerning a different path of service to the Church. . . . I was non-stipendary, but lived in the rectory." However, he does not list this in his official bio, although since he mentions that it was part of another process of discernment, it may have involved determining his suitability for the secular priesthood, if not that of a religious.
In 2002, he received a speeding ticket in Jackson County, Oregon, and gave his name as "Rev Terrance Tutor", with an address at the St Joseph's rectory. This suggests an attempt, apparently not unique, to overstate or falsify his qualifications, since in 2002 he was not an ordained minister in any denomination. We must assume the process of discernment which he undertook as Terrance Tutor at St Joseph's stopped before any entry to postulancy or seminary, for whatever reason.
However, later in the same e-mail he said, "I petitioned Bishop Langberg to become a priest in his jurisdiction as it was far away from the West coast and I knew that the RCC would never relent in their blackballing of my suitability." This goes to the question of reference checks, which has been at the back of my mind since I attended Virtus training. As Terrance Tutor on the West Coast, he'd apparently become well enough known within Catholic circles, including experiences in two separate processes of discernment, for them to determine he was apparently not suitable for the religious life or the secular priesthood, to the point that further inquiries would result in his being relentlessly blackballed, at least for Catholic positions on the West Coast.
So he went to the East Coast and a different denomination, and he apparently resumed his monastic name of Christian, rather than his given name of Terrance. Does this ring any alarm bells here? The actual details are revealing as well:
03 Aug 2007--Trinity Anglican Church will host visiting bishops and clergy as they gather from all parts of the Northeast. They will gather in Rochester to take part in the ancient ceremonies of the church for the ordination of a man to the sacred order of priest. The Rev. Terrance Tutor, a deacon in the Anglican Church in America, will be ordained by the Right Rev. George Langberg at 11 a.m. on Saturday.The statement that he "is an Augustinian monk" is absolutely false, based on e-mails from the Western provincial of the Augustinian order and the prior of his former Brigittine community. I was able to determine this via e-mail in less than a day. This would, or should, have been part of any standard pre-employment reference check, and if the falsehood had been revealed, would have been an absolute disqualifier in any normal pre-employment evaluation, leaving aside any inquiry into one's suitability for the priesthood.Deacon Tutor is a Augustinian monk and is known to many in the community and church as Brother Christian. He maintains the traditional garb of a "Religious" – cassock, scapular and cowl. He holds degrees from Southern Oregon University and Marylhurst University where he earned his Master's Degree in Pastoral Theology. His long time friend, the Rev. Owen Williams, invited him to come to New England and speak to Bishop Langberg about serving in this diocese.
Was any background or reference check ever made prior to Tutor's ordination as a deacon, much less a priest? Presumably not -- Tutor himself suggests that in New Hampshire, under Bishop Langberg, he was safe. But wait -- from the account we have, his long time friend, the Rev Owen Williams, apparently vouched for him. I have no idea what this suggests. What did Williams, Tutor's long time friend, know of his history in Oregon and the results of his various discernment processes as a Catholic? What does this say about Williams?
