About The Rev. Andrew Foster

Born on Long Island in 1944, the eleventh Rector of the historic Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue in New York comes full circle to the metropolitan area. Raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., the Rev. Andrew Foster earned a B.S., magna cum laude, from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. He was graduated from the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea Square in 1970. After his ordination as a Deacon and to the Priesthood in his home Diocese of Washington, Foster was called to be the Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he served for fourteen years with the Episcopal Student Foundation, better known as Canterbury House. Then he moved to a very different kind of campus ministry as the Chaplain of Kenyon College, a small liberal arts college associated with the Episcopal Church. Making the shift to parish ministry, he accepted the position as Rector of St. Paul's Church in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in the fall of 1993 and spent five years in that challenging and fascinating resort community. Fr. Andrew, as he prefers to be addressed, brings a familiarity with the academic community and a lifelong love of music to the vibrant community of Ascension, set in one of the most exciting neighborhoods in New York. His well-trained baritone voice moves seamlessly from a cappella singing of the liturgy to anthems with Ascension’s renowned choir. Fr. Andrew's flair for inspiring, masterful sermons is known as well. His other interests include needlework, theater, and the crafting of traditional religious icons.