Andrew Carpenter is a man of deep faith. He shares from the pulpit his own spiritual failures, his moral struggles, and his theological doubts. In this way, he is a modern man - a man of the cloth for the next millennium. Bright and engaging, he is adored by his parishioners, who are always bringing him their problems to solve. In his role of pastor, counselor, psychologist and confessor, Andrew offers a generosity of spirit and strength to Llanview residents in need.

Andrew has been rector of Llanview's St. James Church since 1991. His father, General Sloan Carpenter, came to Llanview in 1992. General Carpenter, who had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, wanted to mend fences with his estranged son. Andrew used this time alone with Sloan to try to make him face the truth about his other son; Andrew's gay brother William, who died of AIDS several years earlier.

Andrew befriended Megan Gordon, whose husband Jake was being unjustly held in a middle East prison. Megan, who suffered from a deadly case of lupus, instantly appreciated Andrew's wisdom and advice, and they shared a deep friendship. He did not try to disguise those feelings from Megan, and told her so on her deathbed in 1992, after braving his own life to bring Jake home to his dying wife.

Andrew became an innocent victim of homophobia when he befriended a troubled teenage boy, Billy Douglas, who came to Andrew for counseling. Troublemaker Marty Saybrooke started a rumor that Andrew was a homosexual -- and was making advances on Billy. As the ugly rumor spread throughout the town, Andrew was urged to quell the growing hatred by proclaiming his heterosexuality. Proudly defiant, Andrew refused, arguing that one's sexual preference was not a matter of public knowledge. Eventually, Marty's charges were refuted. When Andrew arranged for the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt to come to Llanview, he met with resistance from some angry parish members and his father, Sloan, who objected to Andrew's desire to add his brother William's name to the quilt. Through impassioned reasoning, Andrew was able to win over his father, and he helped to turn Llanview from a community of fear and hatred into one of tolerance and acceptance.

Cassie Callison stood by her boyfriend, Andrew throughout the homophobia ordeal and they were married in January, 1993. After Cassie suffered a miscarriage, the Carpenters adopted a child, William "River," who was abandoned on Christmas Eve, 1993 by his natural mother. Beth Garvey. When Beth changed her mind and claimed the child, a distraught Cassie suffered a nervous breakdown and bitterly rejected Andrew. For comfort, he turned to Marty Saybrooke and soon was overwhelmed by sexual feelings for her. Andrew nearly betrayed his marriage vows, but Marty's strength and reasoning prevented the couple from acting upon their feelings. When Beth Garvey died of a killer virus in the summer of 1994, River was returned to Cassie and Andrew. Andrew was dealt a sad blow when his father, Sloan, died of Hodgkin's Disease early in 1995.

In the spring of 1997, Cassie and Andrew's marriage broke up after Cassie confirmed her husband's suspicions that she was having an affair with her fellow newspaper reporter, Kevin Buchanan. Even though Cassie and Andrew divorced, they tried to remain friends for the sake of their son River.

Andrew came to Cassie's aid when, after a tragic accident, Cassie began to lose touch with reality and had to be sent to a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland.

Andrew plays the saxophone and loves rock and roll music. He maintains his residence in the St. James Church rectory, located at 44 High Street in Llanview, PA.