Maria Gwyn McDowell was raised in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and is now a priest at St. Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church, a teacher, and a scholar. She is committed to helping create compassionate and just communities of practice called to work with God in the world. She loves nothing more than standing with people at the crossroads of understanding and practice. She received her PhD in Theological Ethics from Boston College and writes on gender, sexuality, and women in the church. She is now, and will forever remain, a fervent heckler of all teams that oppose the Portland Thorns Football Club.