Dear Calvary Family and Friends,
During the coffee time on my first Sunday with you, several people asked me about my title of
Archdeacon, what was it? I realize we use many titles in the Episcopal and Anglican churches and they can be confusing, so I will try to take some of the mystery out of them. What I am going to say is not uniform in all locations and sectors of the church, and what I am giving is my understanding of them and their uses and certainly may be contradicted by some. In all cases, there is a formal written title and then a less formal spoken title or some might say address.
Ordained Clergy- Bishops, Priests, Deacons
Title – Written Title – Spoken Title
Presiding Bishop – The Most Reverend – Bishop
Bishop – The Right Reverend/The Rt. Rev. – Bishop
Dean – The Very Reverend/The Very Rev. – Dean
Priest – The Reverend/The Rev. – Mother/Father
Canon – The Reverend Canon/The Rev. Cn. – Canon
Archdeacon – The Venerable/The Ven. – Archdeacon
Deacon – The Rev. Deacon//The Rev. Dcn. – Deacon
The diocesan Bishop is referred to as the “Ordinary” In our case, this is Bishop Mark Van Koevering. His principal assistant is Canon Amy Chambers- Cortright who is referred to as the Canon to the Ordinary. A Dean is the head of a Cathedral (Dean Wade), or a Seminary or School, or also in the Case of the Diocese of Lexington, our Cathedral Domain Camp, while not officially a cathedral, has a priest who is designated as the Dean of the Cathedral Domain. ACanon is typically someone who is on the staff of the bishop. Since the bishop’s chair, throne(Cathedra) is located at the Cathedral church, often clergy and sometimes lay persons at the Cathedral also hold the title of Canon as dos our camp director at the Cathedral Domain. The title of Archdeacon is probably the most confusing. While originally it was relegated to the senior Deacon in a diocese. In England, since 1662, an archdeacon must be a priest and not a deacon. While not strictly practiced, they generally have authority or a supervisory role over a specific geographical region, as is the case in Lexington, or over a specific set of congregations as was the case when I was first appointed as the Archdeacon for Missions and Small Congregations in 1992. There are two types of deacons in the church. A perpetual deacon is a person who is ordained with the intention that they will remain a deacon their entire ministry. The second is the“transitional deacon” who is ordained as a deacon with the intention that they will then go on to be ordained a priest at a later point, often after six months or a year. Other terms you may hear concerning ordained persons concerning bishops are Bishop Coadjutor, who is elected with the intention that when the Ordinary leaves office, they will succeed them and become the ordinary. A Suffragan Bishop is ordained a bishop but does not succeed the Ordinary unless later elected to that role. The last are Assisting Bishops, who most frequently are retired and asked to help within a larger diocese. At a later time, we will explore titles such as Rector, Interim Rector, Vicar, Priest-in-Charge, and others. The titles are just that, titles for roles. As such, while not practiced much today, no cleric should be addressed as “reverend”, but instead as “the Reverend” since it is not a comment on their sanctity or reverence, but a title. I do need to end with a short story that has much to say for those of us holding titles. The wife of a new priest appointed at Christ Church Cathedral came to visit for the first time. She looked at the directory in the entrance and read: The Rt. Rev. Don Wimberly, Bishop, The Very Rev.James Burns, Dean and Rector, The Rev. Canon Christopher Platt, Canon to the Ordinary, the Venerable Bryant Kibler, Archdeacon, and then her husband’s name, the Canon Pastor. She then asked a telling question. “Isn’t anybody around here the humble?”
Peace,
Bryant+
Note:
Please welcome Canon Amy Chambers-Cortright for this Sunday’s Holy Eucharist .
