Hello Ocala: Meet Fr. Frans van Santen

Fr. Frans van Santen [Supplied]

From across the world—the Netherlands—Fr. Frans van Santen has planted roots in Ocala.

Van Santen has been the priest in charge of the historic Grace Episcopal Church at 510 SE Broadway St. in downtown Ocala since December 2023. He replaced Fr. Jonathan French, who took the congregation from 88 members to about 350 during his 15-year tenure.

Born in the Netherlands where the national language is Dutch, van Santen speaks Dutch, English and German, although he said he is “not as fluent” in the latter. 

Van Santen’s family is Anglican and his father is a pastor in the Netherlands. He has two younger brothers in the Netherlands.

The Episcopal Church is an independent church that is a constituent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its origin is in the planting of the Church of England in the colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today the Episcopal Church has members in the United States, as well as in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Haiti, Honduras, Micronesia, Taiwan, Venezuela and the Virgin Islands (US and British), according to its history online. 

After high school, unsure of what career path he should choose, van Santen attended L’Abri, a Christian study center in the mountains of Switzerland. Individuals can go there for a day, a week or a month. Van Santen said he went there “a couple of times,” and would recommend it for those who have questions about life, faith and discernment. He said there is a L’Abri center in Boston. 

“I never wanted to become a priest,” he said. “I was in business. That background has helped in the church. I laugh about it now.”

Van Santen attended the wedding of a friend in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2011. The bride introduced him to her friend, Erin, from Florida, who also had attended L’Abri at a different time. They had different cultures and nationalities, but continued their relationship online until they married in 2012. They lived in an apartment in Amsterdam. 

Erin van Santen remembered that her husband had at one time said he could see himself “probably being a pastor.” 

He took a theology class at Tyndale Theological Seminary in the Netherlands, “then another, and another,” he continued. After seven years, he graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 2020.

During the time he was in seminary, the couple traveled in 2019 to Altoona, Florida, to visit Erin’s parents. Her father is a Christian counselor. She has a brother who lives in Jupiter.

When they returned to Amsterdam, Erin, who is a writer of creative non-fiction and is currently writing a book, said she thought it was time they should relocate to the United States to be near her family. After his seminary graduation, they moved to Florida with their children, Estelle, who is now 10 years old, and Moses, who is 7. 

“The airplane was nearly empty,” van Santen remembers, “and we had the best service ever!”

Van Santen had no job lined up at the time, but had contacted the Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida, who told him about a church residency program, which is tied to a local church. The resident performs all various programs at the church, including business, counseling, preaching, “a sampling of everything.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if there were a senior pastor who could give me help becoming a good priest,” he remembers thinking. 

Van Santen talked with French in Ocala and was told there was no vacancy here for a priest but, just six weeks later, French said he had a church vacancy for a resident priest in Ocala. Van Santen was hired for that position in November 2020. He said there were cultural differences for him to learn, in addition to the normal church functions. 

Fr. Frans van Santen and his family [Supplied]

“The residency was a great experience,” he stated.

“We love Ocala, and we want to stay,” van Santen said he told French. 

Coincidentally, near the same time, French received a call to a position in Chicago and accepted that new job and van Saten was named priest in charge in Ocala.

Van Santen said he enjoys watching and playing soccer and would like to find a local team to join. He also enjoys playing classical music on the piano and spending time with friends and his family.

“I love our church community, and to share the love of Jesus with them gives me so much joy. I think people sense that. We have had about 25% growth in these last four months. People think ‘something special is happening here.’ There is a feeling of unity, respect and a desire to serve,” he said.

“The transition has been smooth; it has been very good. The church was already growing, and it has continued,” van Santen added. “In this church, the congregation is orthodox in their beliefs. We are ‘allowed,’ under the Episcopal structure, to be ourselves. The most important thing to remember is that Jesus unites us,” he explained.

In worship services, the Bible and the “Book of Common Prayer” are used in the Episcopal tradition, he. “The prayers are beautiful and scripturally sound. We need to keep them. Some of them come from the third and fourth century.”

“I would love for people, because of the resurrection, to reach across the aisle to someone they disagree with and say, ‘I’m your brother, or sister, in Christ,’ because that is what ultimately defines us,” he added.

“We are happy in Ocala,” he said. “We like living here.” 

To learn more about the Grace Episcopal Church, go to graceocala.org