[Magdalen] M/C - verger - "praise and worship leader"

[Grace Cangialosi]

Well, I settled on Pastor awhile ago, and I still consider myself to be an Episcopalian! It’s gender-neutral, doesn’t have parental overtones, and describes my role, which is that of, well, a pastor—or shepherd.  It also works as a form of address, though I prefer being called simply by my first name.
Probably depends on context, too. In rural, small-church Virginia, folks understand the term, whereas saying “Episcopal priest” can cause some confusion. They get minister or pastor right away.

As an aside, I went to a meeting of our local ministerial association yesterday. We are a wonderfully motley crew with an assortment of titles. Eleven of us were there yesterday. Three of us from mainline denominations—Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, and Methodist—the rest from non-denominational or some kind of Baptist churches.  And the titles: Reverend, Pastor, Brother, Bishop (not the apostolic succession kind!). Three are African-American, including the president.
From there I went directly to a meeting of our local Clericus—15 Episcopal clergy around a long table. Which group had more energy and spent the entire time focused on ministry in the community?  Sad to say, it was the first one.
Just rambling...but I still consider myself to be Episcopalian, and tomorrow I will conduct a memorial service straight out of the BCP and the Hymnal 1982. And many of the parishioners will call me “Pastor Grace.”


> On Jan 12, 2018, at 7:27 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ann, in SC, we would say that is not 'Episcopal' to have a worship and
> praise leader.  Or for a church rector to be called 'pastor.'  I confess to
> being a stick in the mud about such things as that because we lost them
> temporarily.  That was not any fun.
> 
> For churches that choose to have worship and praise leaders and pastors, go
> for it.  Just don't call yourself 'Episcopal' with a straight face.
> 
> Ginga
> 
> On Fri, Jan 12, 2018 at 5:09 PM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Tap and hold on the text and little markers should show up. You can then
>> drag these to select more of the text. When the right text is selected, hit
>> Delete or Backspace It's tricky and often exasperating.
>> 
>> On Fri, Jan 12, 2018 at 3:03 PM, Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Oops. Anybody know how to trim blocks of text on an iPad?
>>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Scott R. Knitter
>> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>>