Fr. Michael Theodore “Tad” Parks (he/him/his) was born and grew up in the small Dutch upstate community of Muitzeskill, New York, and was raised in the Old Dutch Reformed tradition. He graduated from the Ichabod Crane School District in 1963 and attended the University at Albany (SUNYA), earning a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and related fields.
He came out to Wisconsin in the fall of 1967 to attend Nashotah House Theological Seminary, in Delafield, WI. During his time there, took time off do to a year of clinical training in New York City in the MUSTF program. He returned to the Nashotah House and finished his Master of Divinity degree in May 1971. Fr. Michael spent four years as a lay-brother under vows at Blessed Sacrament Church in Green Bay, WI. He was ordained a deacon by the late Bishop Roger White in January 2003, and ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Keith Whitmore in July 2003, both taking place at the Cathedral.
Between seminary and ordination, his varied career included being a business manager for a small construction company in DePere and a high school substitute teacher. He eventually relocated to Milwaukee, taking several accounting positions. For the last 20 years of his career, he served as the Paymaster of Milwaukee County. During this time he earned a degree in accounting and became an accredited Certified Public Account (CPA).
Fr. Michael has served several parishes in the Diocese of Wisconsin, first as the Priest-in-Charge at Resurrection-Mukwonago; and then as the long-term supply priest as St. Peter’s- West Allis from 2011 – 2021.
Following his retirement from Milwaukee County, he worked for a few years with a small CPA firm startup. He now has limited his practice to a few existing clients. In his spare time, he is very active in genealogy, model railroading, and Amateur Radio (W9NOT), and tries to be a halfway decent gardener.
Fr. Parks has been in an almost 50-year long-term relationship with Jack Kallman, who is also a member of the Cathedral Parish. They reside in a spacious 1901 American Four-Square on the East Side.