Paul Watkins joins the St. Ambrose faculty this year as a Latin I teacher after previously serving as a Latin tutor for the school. An avid student of language, Paul has studied Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, French, Spanish, and Portuguese in addition to Latin.

After attending West Point, he graduated from Grace College with a bachelor’s in biblical studies. While working part-time as a database programmer, Paul continued to pursue the study of theology in preparation for a ministerial vocation with the Baptists, studying at a variety of evangelical schools, including Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary, Duke Divinity School, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. From the latter, he received master’s degrees in both Biblical Studies and Theology. During this time, Paul served actively in teaching and preaching roles in his denomination. His theological journey eventually led him into Anglicanism, in which he served as director of religious education and lecturer at his parish, worked as a Latin translator for a volume by Intervarsity Press, and contributed to a revision of the Anglican catechism.

Increasingly open to the Catholic faith, Paul pursued further graduate studies at the University of St. Mary of the Lake at Mundelein where he studied aspects of Catholic theology and liturgy. His journey finally led him to embrace the Catholic Church, in which he was received in 2019.

Paul and his wife Viviani are parents of two St. Ambrose students, having moved to Wisconsin for the purpose of sending their children to St. Ambrose. In his free time, Paul enjoys reading the Church Fathers and working on homestead projects on his farmette in rural Green County.