Ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1969, the Very Reverend J. Pittman McGehee served, for 11 years, as Dean of Christ Church cathedral, located in the center of downtown Houston. Since moving to Houston in 1980, Mr. McGehee has been in demand as a lecturer and speaker in the fields of psychology and religion. He lectures regularly at the C. G. Jung Center and has published two papers through that Center: “Water as a Symbol of Transformation” (1985), and “The Healing Wound and the Wounded Healer” (1986). He is a regular book reviewer for The Living Church.

Mr. McGehee has held many distinguished lectureships, including the 1987 Harvey Lecture at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, where he received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity; the 1988 Perkins Lecture in Wichita Falls; the 1990 Woodhull Lectures in Dayton, Ohio, and the 1991 St. Luke’s Lectures in Birmingham. He was the 1994 Rockwell visiting Theologian at the University of Houston and 1996 Carolyn Fay Lecturer in Analytical Psychology also at the University of Houston.

In addition to his teaching and prose writing, Mr. McGehee is known for his poetry. His work has been chosen for the juried Houston Poetry Fest (1985, 1987, 1988), and his poems “Ash Wednesday,” “Pegasus,” and “Semination” were published in the Poetry Fest Anthology. His poems also have appeared in the Cimarron Review, the Anglican Theological Review, the St. Luke’s Journal, In Art magazine, Cite magazine, Windhover, and New Texas magazine.

During his tenure at Christ Church Cathedral, he completed a seven million dollar capital campaign for property acquisition, a new educational building, and expansion of the parish hall. At that time he was described by The Houston Business Journal as “the spiritual leader of the downtown district;” he was founder and first president of the Downtown Houston Association (1982). Houston Metropolitan Magazine named Mr. McGehee one of “89 Houstonians to Watch in 1989.” He continues to be active in civic affairs and serves on the board of directors of several community organizations.

In 1991, Mr. McGehee resigned from Christ Church Cathedral to become the director of The Institute for the Advancement of Psychology and Spirituality. The Institute joins the disciplines of psychology and religion by exploring the concept that mental health comes with the integration of the biological, psychological, and spiritual elements of the human condition. In addition, he is currently in private practice as a priest/psychoanalyst and teacher/lecturer.