Rev Rodolphe Blanchard-Kowal
Rodolphe was born in France with a French mother and his father son of Polish immigrants.
He has played music since primary school (violin, recorder). At 14, he decided to play the cello, then the viola da gamba. The latter instrument became his passion. In lycée and for his baccalaureate, he chose the scientific path. Rodolphe obtained his scientific baccalaureate in 1990. After a period of hesitation, he decided to study music, musicology and hymnology.
As a young adult, he asked to be baptised in the Reformed Church in Auxerre.
In 2001, he married Virginie. They have three boys: Paul (2002), Louis (2005) and Zacharie (2013).
l to r: Virginie Zacharie Rodolphe Louis Paul
They moved to Ardèche in 2006, where he was very involved in the local Reformed Church and received a call to become a minister. Rodolphe devoted himself with passion to five years of theological studies which allowed him to apply for a pastoral position in the Reformed Church of France. During his studies, he continued his performing career with professional musicians and with Virginie, who became a singer and graduated from the Conservatoire as a mezzo-soprano.
Rodolphe was ordained in 2013 and worked for six years in the local Church.
In 2017, he visited a number of Scottish parishes and one of them (Portlethen, Aberdeen) was called to be their minister. He got used to going into local schools and academies to talk to the pupils and to create events to bring the Church and the community together.
Outside of church life he is a level 1 triathlon coach and enjoys hiking in the mountains and bird watching.
Rodolphe is a United Reformed Church minister