James Grant

Fr James Grant Maicd BA BTh GDip IS GDip Comp ST
GDip Trauma Counselling
Born in Adelaide,
and schooled in Essendon, Victoria. Fr
James joined the Commonwealth Police in 1977 with an initial posting in
Canberra. He has qualified as a martial arts instructor in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,
scuba diving and played first grade cricket for Northcote.
Fr James
undertook theological studies at Melbourne University, graduating in 1984.
Appointed to the UK as an associate priest, He became one of London’s first
white vicars to minister to the expanding West Indian community Fr James
initiated his first interfaith gatherings in west London following the Brixton
riots, after which he was appointed on short term placement to Berlin (west
Germany) in 1988 and Budapest in 1989.
Fr James returned
to Australia in 1989 where he was Senior Chaplain at Geelong Grammar School for
seven years, followed by two years at St Michael’s grammar and six years at The
Peninsula School. He was noted for his
pastoral care with a focus on martial arts, football and cricket as methods for
building confidence in students.
In 2004 he was
appointed a parish priest at St Stephens Richmond , then in 2005 Melbourne’s
first team vicar for the new parish of Jika Jika in Melbourne’s north with
responsibility for a large Sudanese refugee community. As Parish priest for the Preston area, he was
a strong advocate for the Nuba people, of Sudan, who are experiencing genocide. He has built two schools in Northern India.
Fr James founded
Chaplains Without Borders in 2004 to initiate new ventures into corporate and
community organisations, and CWB grew to be Australia’s largest chaplaincy
service within 2 years. He went on to be appointed as the world’s first
chaplain to the casino industry in 2006 (Crown Enterprises Australia) a
position he still retains.
As a leading
traditionalist within the Australian church, Fr James supported the development
to the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia and served on the national committee
as secretary 2010-2011. Fr James was
received into the Catholic Church and ordained as a Catholic Priest in
September 2012 as a foundational priest for the Australian Ordinariate. In 2012
he was appointed National director for Ordinariate schools and to the
Ordinariate governing council.
Fr James has
continued to develop missions including Catholics in Business 2012 and
Catholics in Mission and renewal in 2013. His CYA (Catholic Youth Academy)
youth program works through Crown casino to develop confidence in de-motivated
young Australians and find work placements within Crown. In 2013 he co-established the Renewal Centre.
He is the first
Chaplain appointed to an A league soccer club in Australia at the largest
Australian club, Melbourne Victory. He is involved with 9MM and 45ACP pistol
competition and is completing PPL training for Helicopters
In 2015 Fr James
established the Father James Grant foundation, implementing programs for de-motivated
young Australians. The “mission Engage“ program has now helped
around 100 young Australians find their first Job. The Resurgence Group is a team designed to
help parishes re-energize their community life.
Web:
www.chaplainswithoutborders.org
www.thefatherjamesgrantfoundation.org