Tulsa City Councilor, G.T. Bynum, Joins Augustinian Advancement Council

G.T. Bynum, Tulsa City Councilor, was recently appointed to serve a two-year term on the Augustinian Advancement Advisory Council.  The Very Rev. Bernard C. Scianna, O.S.A., Ph.D., who is the Augustinians’ Prior Provincial and former Headmaster of Cascia Hall, appointed Bynum to serve on the council.

“I was very fortunate in growing up, because the Augustinians were really very much part of our family here in Tulsa, going back to my great-grandparents, Joe and Gertrude LaFortune,” says Councilor Bynum.  “We’ve been very close with the Augustinian community in Tulsa and particularly at Cascia Hall. Regularly at family events throughout my life, annually at Thanksgiving, it was not unusual to have a number of Augustinian priests there celebrating with us.”

Councilor Bynum is a proud graduate of two institutions operated by the Augustinian Order of the Catholic Church:  Cascia Hall Preparatory School and Villanova University, where he served as Student Body President.  He is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma and Leadership Tulsa.  Councilor Bynum is a member of the local Christ the King Parish in Tulsa.  G.T. was elected to the Tulsa City Council in 2008.  In 2011, he was selected by his colleagues to serve as the youngest City Council Chairman in Tulsa history. 

“I consider the Augustinian Order more relevant today than potentially any time in our history,” says Councilor Bynum.  “The reason is that message from St. Augustine that has been passed down for 1,500 years now through the Order: an emphasis on service to God through community. Today what I encounter in my role working in government, in elected public service, is a great cynicism toward politics, toward government, and toward a lot of institutions.  But there is a craving for community – for authentic connectivity – and the Augustinian message can help people toward a greater realization of that ideal.”

The Midwest Augustinians are a Catholic religious order that follow the teachings of St. Augustine.  The local Augustinians have served in parishes and schools in the Midwestern United States since 1905, as well as missions in Peru since 1963.

For more information about joining the Augustinian Advancement Advisory Council, please email Chief Advancement Officer Michael Gerrity.  Learn more about, or directly contact, G.T. Bynum on his website at www.gtbynum.com.

Thank you, G.T., for joining the Augustinian Advancement Advisory Council!