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"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our colleague and
friend the Rev. Canon Charles Robinson as he retires after many years of
loyal and valiant service to The Episcopal Church and to the Diocese of
Southern Virginia," said Bishop Magness. "At the same time we joyfully
greet the Rev. Roy Hoffman who will become the next Canon to the Bishop
Diocesan. With his exceptional qualifications, Roy will be a significant
and positive addition to our excellent diocesan staff."
A native Virginian, Hoffman is in his twenty-fifth year of ordained
ministry. As an Episcopal priest serving in the Navy Chaplain Corps,
he has coordinated broad-based religious ministries programs on ships
and ashore in the U.S. and the United Kingdom and mentored chaplains
from a range of backgrounds and creeds. During his most recent tenure as
senior chaplain at Naval Base San Diego, he has overseen a team of
ordained clergy and support personnel providing pastoral and spiritual
support to 38,000 people and the crews of 54 homeported ships while
delivering worship services spanning seven faith traditions.
Hoffman holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Auburn University,
where he studied forestry, and a law degree from the University of
Georgia. He practiced law for several years in Tennessee and
subsequently taught law at the University of Cincinnati and Loyola
University Chicago.
Before earning his Master of Divinity at Seabury-Western
Theological Seminary, he devoted six years to urban ministry as a
Franciscan friar. Once ordained, he served Episcopal congregations in
Knoxville, Tennessee and Chicago, Illinois.
While living in the United Kingdom, Hoffman earned a Doctor of
Ministry degree from the Graduate Theological Foundation and studied at
Oxford. To hone strategic planning skills he earned a Master of Arts
degree in 2012 and holds certificates in Spiritual Care in Crisis
Intervention from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response from the United
Nations. He is a certified trainer in the Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People and a Guardian Quest Diversity Champion committed to
bridging racial and cultural divides.
Hoffman is a Cherokee citizen and a member of the worldwide
Community of the Cross of Nails. A devoted father to his delightful
daughter Ruby, age 15, he and Ruby enjoy the outdoors, music, theater,
biking, playing with their four-year-old dog Wendy, and setting out on
new adventures.
Hoffman said, "I am humbled and delighted to be called to
serve the Diocese of Southern Virginia, which has been my home as an
Episcopal priest since 2004 though I have spent virtually all of my
ministry since then in places as far flung as the United Kingdom, the
Middle East, the D.C. area, New England, and California. God has been
faithful through it all, and I hope and pray that the experience has
enabled me to grow day by day in my faithfulness to God."
