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Two-diocese Deacons’ School

The Diocese of Virginia reports that on April 16 the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, Bishop of Southern Virginia, and the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, Bishop of Virginia, “will ordain Jan Brown, David Curtis, Sally Gunn, Brian Hutcherson, Joe Klenzmann, Grace Eun Soo Lee, Theresa Lewallen, Genevieve Nelson and Linda Ricker to the Sacred Order of Deacons.”

The report adds:

The nine ordinands are the first graduates of The Deacons’ School, a collaboration between the Dioceses of Virginia and Southern Virginia. The Deacons’ School is a 2-year, academically rigorous program designed to form men and women for the vocational diaconate: a unique order of servant leaders who are called to move the Church beyond its walls to meet the needs of a hurting world.”

The website for the school lists these faculty members and topics through October 2015:

The Rev. Augusta Anne Anderson
Professor, Scripture, April 4-6, 2014
Augusta Anderson is rector of Church of the Transfiguration, Saluda, NC. Since 2007, Augusta has co-facilitated the Diocese of Western North Carolina’s Fresh Start program for clergy in transition. In the summer of 2013, she co-published Lessons From The Red Thread, a faith formation resource for families. Augusta is a member of the Diocese of Western North Carolina’s Standing Committee. She serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for a regional state charter school.

The Rev. Dr. Paul Nancarrow
Professor, “Connecting Theology,” July 11-13, 2014,
and “Moral Theology,” July 17-19, 2015
Paul Nancarrow grew up in Michigan, where he was ordained in 1986. He has served churches in the dioceses of Michigan, Tennessee, Minnesota and Southwestern Virginia, where he is currently the rector of Trinity, Staunton, VA. He went to seminary at Seabury-Western, and holds a doctorate in theology from Vanderbilt University.

The Rev. Dr. David J. Schlafer
Professor, Homiletics, October 24-26, 2014
David Schlafer is an Episcopal priest who has taught theology and homiletics at four Episcopal seminaries, and in several seminaries of other denominational traditions.

He has served on the staff of the College of Preachers, and the faculty of the Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program of Chicago area divinity schools.

David has led preaching conferences across the United States, England, and in Canada. He is the author or editor of eighteen books on preaching; he serves as a consultant on preaching for individual preachers, and preaches regularly in his home parish, Church of the Redeemer, Bethesda, Maryland.

The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe
Professor, “Our Story and Tradition,” January 9-11, 2015
The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe was ordained and consecrated as the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania in September of 2007. He also serves the Diocese of Bethlehem, where he was elected the Bishop Provisional in 2014.

In Northwestern Pennsylvania, Bishop Sean leads thirty-three congregations in the thirteen counties that make up northwestern Pennsylvania. He has instituted a new mission statement and strategy, which center on transformational leadership and ministry, and fosters a unified identity within the diocese.

The Rev. Patricia “Patty” Phaneuf Alexander
Professor, Human Awareness and Understanding, April 17-19, 2015
Patty Alexander was ordained in 2001 and since that time has served as both a parish priest in the Diocese of New York and a school chaplain in the Diocese of Washington. She ministers to middle and upper school students, parents, and faculty at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, where she also chairs the philosophy and religion department and teaches sophomore English.

Patty holds an undergraduate degree in English language and literature from Yale University; an Master of Arts degree in English Literature from the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College; and a Master of Divinity from the Virginia Theological Seminary. In the fall of 2014, she will begin part-time study toward an M.A. in Pastoral and Spiritual Care at Marymount University.

John F. Dold
Professor, Human Awareness and Understanding, April 17-19, 2015
John Dold has practiced organization development consulting for more than twenty years. Most recently, John worked as an internal consultant for Lockheed Martin from 2000-2013. During this time, he led and participated in numerous large-scale change initiatives. His work focused on organizational design and restructuring, strategic change, performance management systems, high performance team development and leadership development.

The Rev. Deacon Marguerite Alley
Professor, Liturgics and Capstone Projects, October 23-25, 2015
Marguerite Alley was ordained a vocational deacon in 1998. Following 10 years in HIV/AIDS ministry, she accepted a position as coordinator of Christian formation at Emmanuel, Virginia Beach, where she serves.

Her undergraduate degree in Music Education is from James Madison University. She has a master’s degree in education from the College of William and Mary and one in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, New Orleans. Her diaconal training was in the Diocese of North Carolina at Duke University. In 2013 she earned a Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in liturgy from the Graduate Theological Foundation.

The Rev. Catherine “Kaki” Swann
The Deacons’ School Chaplain
Kaki Swann, before her retirement in 2013, served as associate rector of St. Andrew’s, Norfolk, and as rector of Cople Parish, Hague, in Virginia’s Northern Neck. Kaki is a facilitator for Fresh Start in the Diocese of Virginia. She was a member of the transition committee for the election that brought the Rt. Rev. Shannon Johnston, diocesan bishop, to the Diocese of Virginia.

Kaki attended Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1999. Before ordination, Kaki taught high school mathematics, served as a Christian education coordinator at Good Shepherd, Norfolk, and led many Cursillo teams in Southern Virginia, which she continued after ordination.

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