St Pauls Episcopal Church

Information may not be reliable

by Chuck Berry
St Pauls Messenger has been offering history information about our church about both the building and the people. We finished the review of the 27 priests who have led St Pauls. In the last 20 years, we have also been involved in one-way or another in raising up Deacons.
A deacon exercises “a special ministry of servant hood, especially serving those in need. In the early church, deacons were ordained “not to the priesthood but to the servant hood of the bishop” [diakonia means "ministry;" diakonos meant an intermediary who acted or spoke for a superior].
The liturgical functions of deacons have suggested the activity of angels. Deacons proclaim the gospel, lead intercessions, and wait at the Eucharistic table. In preparing the table for the Great Thanksgiving, the Deacon draws the congregations attention from the pulpit to the altar. In South Dakota, a Deacon is given permission to distribute the Sacrament.
Ordination of a Deacon begins with the process of discernment that is dominated by discussions with their congregation, clergy and friends, after which the congregation formally nominates the candidate. If the Bishop approves, the Deacon begins a candidacy period of study and training. The Standing Committee certifies that these steps have been taken and recommends the candidate to the Bishop for ordination.
Deacons can be ordained as a permanent vocation, or as a transitional deacon, a preliminary step toward priesthood. St Pauls has been the home of one vocational deacon and three transitional deacons.
Deacon Judy Peterson is our Vocational Deacon well, not our deacon because Deacons work for the Bishop. Judy and Pete arrived in Brookings in 1981, joined St Pauls, and Judy has served St Pauls in various capacities including Senior Warden. She was ordained at the Cathedral in Sioux Falls on Easter 2003.
Judy was assigned to help the Episcopal Church in Madison, but has also helped the United Church of Christ and one Lutheran Church (Estelline). Judy says that her job is to bring the needs of the world to the church. We see Judy most Sundays preparing the table, and we know that during the week she is doing a special ministry of servant hood.

Every time Judy opens her Prayer Book, she thinks of Bridget Moore because Bridget passed the book on to Judy. Bridget and Don were strong members of St Pauls in the 1990s. Bridget was a transitional deacon; ordained at the Cathedral in November 1992. She served Grace church in Madison and St Stephens in De Smet. She also helped St Pauls at a time when we did not have a Priest, and took a Deacons distribution service to nursing homes on Wednesdays and visited homebound folks in Brookings, Madison and De Smet.
Bridget lives in Sequim Washington where she has filled a number of positions at St Lukes in the Diocese of Olympia.
The Halls Steven and Karen also figure into St Pauls deacon history. Steven was a transitional Deacon when he came to St Pauls but was soon ordained as our fifth Rector, serving from 1982 – 1987.
Karen Hall was ordained Deacon in Brookings in April 1996 and ordained Priest (first female in SD) at St Johns Madison. Karen became Priest-in-charge at DeSmet, Flandreau, and Madison, and later was the Clergy Deployment Officer for the Diocese. She helped us with the search that found Fr. Ryan Hall in 2008, and is now retired and living in Montana.