Thin mountain air and a warm welcome at St. Patrick's, Incline Village

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8126265405543966533.post-13062158427615774702007-09-19T07:04:00.000-07:002007-09-22T20:56:58.709-07:00Thin mountain air and a warm welcome at St. Patrick's, Incline Village<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_bJP7KzXUZMs/RvXj8h4K1mI/AAAAAAAAAGs/x0UMDcypR1Q/s1600-h/stpats_window.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113243580974683746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_bJP7KzXUZMs/RvXj8h4K1mI/AAAAAAAAAGs/x0UMDcypR1Q/s200/stpats_window.jpg" border="0" /></a> After leaving Galilee the Magical Ministry Tour bus drove on to St.Pat's through a forest of Jeffrey pines. The road hugs Lake Tahoe along the way and we had a lovely view the water and the towering Sierra Nevadas on the California side. This is a view that The Reverend Reporter never tires of seeing, and it was clear that our out-of-town visitors were equally awed. Finally we pulled up to the church, a lovely wood-and-glass structure and were greeted by rector Jim Beebe, the associate clergy, and members of the congregation. After a lovely lunch on their deck we moved into the church for questions and answers. The question I'll highlight is one that hadn't yet come up: what would you do to support the permanent diaconate? Dan Edwards is fully committed to the ministry of vocational deacons. He sees their ministry as leading the people of God "to an outward-looking place." He emphasized that while it is often expected that priests be paid, deacons are expected to do enormous amounts of work without any kind of compensation and thinks that this needs to be changed as much as possible. Cathy Deats is serving in a diocese which didn't have vocational deacons for a long time, and as a member of the Commission on Ministry was asked to develop guidelines for calling and training vocational deacons once her new bishop indicated his support. From this experience she believes that congregations need to be educated about what the ministry of the deacon actually is, and pointed to the deacon's role in our liturgy as a good way to learn about the deacon's call to proclaiming the Gospel, to servanthood, and to send us out "to love and serve the Lord." Eric Funston believes in the unique role of the vocational diaconate and suggested that perhaps those called to the priesthood be ordained to that role directly instead of serving the customary 6 months as a transitional deacon. This would allow the uniqueness of the vocational diaconate to be stand on its own. Susan Burns believes that deacons not only model the servant ministries of the Church, but they teach the rest of us how to serve. She disagreed with Eric (gasp! a milestone!) about the elimination of the transitional diaconate because it reminds all priests about the servant aspect of their own ministries. Jeff Paul, the chair of the Commission on Ministry in Nevada, is supportive of the role of the vocational deacon and suggested that they keep the rest of us mindful of how to transform the world through our baptismal vows. Al Keeney believes that the vocational diaconate is an "incredible sign" of sacramental ministry. Deacons are "the nags of the Church," constantly reminding us of the people who live beyond our vision. Blessings, RR+ The Reverend Reporterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18438555134904428082noreply@blogger.com