New deacons a blessing to church and community
by Ana Watts
The Feb. 1 service at Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton that celebrated the ordination of Debra Edmondson and Eleanor Dryden to the Vocational Diaconate belonged to these women. Their families, friends and the Anglican community rejoiced with them as they were consecrated by Bishop Claude Miller to the servant ministry of the deacon and its ministry of love in their parishes and communities. Debra and Eleanor demonstrated their ministry immediately by sharing their day with the Diocesan Diaconate Commission.
In her sermon at the ordination, the Rev. Deacon Fran Bedell, a founding member of the commission, thanked them for their inaugural participation in the discernment and educational program it recently developed.
Debra and Eleanor chose the servant ministry of a deacon as a vocation all its own, not as a stepping-stone to the priesthood. (The transitional diaconate is a step in the ordination of a priest.) Like priests, deacons are recognized and raised-up in their own parishes — the Parish of Bright in Debra’s case. Eleanor is from the Parish of the Nerepis and St. John.
Once a call to the diaconate is discerned, candidates undertake the commission’s educational component. It includes some credit courses from a seminary that can usually be done through distance education. The rest of the education portion is completed in-house with classes led by experts from within the diocese.
Deacons provide a connection and care for people in the parish and the community. Priests are appointed to several different parishes throughout their ministry, but deacons, by and large, remain in the parish in which they begin their discernment journey. They are a source of stability and pastoral care. Most are non-stipendiary (they receive no remuneration) and work in their home parishes with the priest. The Rev. Deacon Constance Whittaker-Soulikias of the Parish of Saint John (Trinity Church), and the Rev. Deacon Joyce Perry of the Parish of Fredericton (Christ Church Parish Church) fulfil that role.
Fran Bedell’s ministry looks different from the usual deacon's role. She is deacon-in-charge of the St. John the Baptist Anglican and St. Paul's United shared ministry in Edmundston (Parish of Madawaska) and is the only ordained person resident in the parish. Archdeacon Walter Williams, who is also the rector of the Parish of Woodstock, is actually the priest-in-charge. Her ministry, however, is faithful to her calling and a great blessing to the congregation and the community at large. She provides pastoral care and a visible connection to the larger church. She also ensures the work of the church in the community is done.
With their deep roots in the communities and church in which they live and serve, the Rev. Deacon Debra Edmondson and the Rev. Deacon Eleanor Dryden are blessings indeed.
