The Rev. Robert Clements, the newest rector of Christ Church in Roxbury, is a real holy roller. Better yet, he’s a real holy rocker.
The pastor is a sincerely devout man, one who serves as the chaplain at Rumsey Hall School, and for his parish is the kind of guiding figure that will readily spend his Sundays, after church of course, visiting hospitals and rehabilitation centers. As is his calling, Dr. Clements is a caring minister who thoughtfully tends to his and other flocks, more than happy to raise money for earthquake-ravaged Haiti or any other worthy cause.
Yet there is another side to the 25-year Episcopal priest, a seemingly clean-cut and well-spoken husband and father of one adult son. The rector, who has been in Roxbury for a little more than a year, harbors a defiant quality with a slew of hobbies that don’t match the conventional standards of the cloth, hobbies more applicable to standards of a rebellious teenager.
It’s a streak of youthful vigor, his love of rock music and the bass guitar. And he’s parlayed his passion into a positive force for those in need, people like the Nashville musicians whose instruments and livelihoods this year were devastated by flooding waters.