At its December meeting, the ESTHER Leadership Board elected Gary Creview as incoming president for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2020. Gary is a devoted, thoughtful leader whose wide-ranging experiences and interests offer great promise for his leadership of ESTHER. We are pleased to share the following profile with the ESTHER community:
I was born and raised in Green Bay with six siblings where I was inspired to become a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Green Bay. I entered a seminary there and finished my education at a Benedictine Monastery, completing my theology studies and receiving a Bachelor of Science degree. I worked in migrant ministry for the diocese and served as director of a spiritual retreat house. In the ten years I was in the Dominican Republic I was exposed to a spirituality of the poor. That was followed by creation spirituality given me by the Menominee Nation while pastor at St. Anthony Parish, Neopit.
In 1991, I left active ministry as priest and have been now happily married to my lovely wife Helen for 29 years. I retired from Oshkosh Correctional Institution as a social worker, where I helped to provide drug programming and counseling. After retiring I became part the founding of the Fox Valley Warming Shelter and served on its board until it became part of Pillars. During this time I also joined ESTHER and have been a member of its Immigration Task Force for the past ten years.
My acceptance of the position as president for ESTHER comes from two of my convictions. The first is my strong belief that as long as the dignity and well-being of any human being or any part of creation is being jeopardized or put at risk, so is mine. And secondly, no matter how well intentioned my efforts may be as an individual to address some of the causes of this suffering, alone I can do very little. But together with others, such as through ESTHER, anything is possible.
—Gary Crevier
