One New Priest, Two Episcopal Parishes

STONE HARBOR — Rev. Debra Bullock with share her time between St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Stone Harbor and St. Barnabas Episcopal Mission, Villas.
St Mary’s, located on 95th Street and Third Ave., wanted to hire an assistant priest part-time and St. Barnabas, located at 13 W. Bates Ave., could not afford a full-time clergy person.
Discussions began last January as to how the two could cooperate to find a priest to meet both needs, Reverend John Sosnowski of St. Mary’s told the Herald.
“Our needs are similar: church development and Christian formation,” he said.
The parishes met a few times, decided to explore a joint venture. They first searched the Diocese of New Jersey, but didn’t find anyone they liked.
They then searched the Church Deployment office of New Jersey, yielding several candidates.
Bullock was one of them.
“In terms of what we were looking for, she was a stellar candidate,” Sosnowski said.
Bullock came from the Diocese of Chicago. She obtained a Master of Divinity degree, Summa cum Laude from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and a Master of Theological Studies, Magna cum Laude from Boston University School of Theology.
In St. Mary’s newsletter, “St. Mary’s Messenger,” it was stated, “More important than these superb credentials is the fact that Pastor Debra is a deeply spiritual person who loves parish ministry. She will be a wonderful pastor to both churches.”
St. Barnabas Senior Warden Dawn Donahue said of the new vicar, “We are looking forward to the act of us (churches) getting together as a new ministry in Cape May County. It is also important that the people in Lower Township area know that the Episcopal Church is right there for them, serving the community from Villas as it has done since 1954.”
St. Mary Senior War-den William Haines said of the new assistant rector, “This is important for both Episcopal Churches in Cape May County to help expand the ministry of the church. We are excited to have Pastor Debra here. She is the first woman clergy at St. Mary’s. That is a significant milestone for this church, which will mark its 100th year in 2010.”
Bullock worked at the Church of the Transfiguration in Palos Park, Illinois, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago.
“She was doing the kind of work we were looked for,” Sosnowski said.
Bullock was working under a grant from the Lilly Endowment; a private foundation founded by family of the founders of Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceuticals.
New to the ministry, Bullock was ordained in 2006.
She was interviewed at St. Mary’s and St. Barnabas.
“We are convinced she is the right person for the job and so we hired her together,” Sosnowski said.
Bishop George Councell, who heads the Diocese of New Jersey in Trenton, interviewed Bullock and she was approved for the job in dual locations.
Bullock will reside in Court House in a home she purchased.
She will hold the title of Assistant to the Rec-tor at St. Mary’s. Rector is the Anglican Church’s term referring to a priest in charge of a church.
At St. Barnabas Bullock will be the Vicar; the Anglican Church’s term referring to a Bishop’s representative at a mission.
“This holds great possibility to grow two churches and to collaborate on ministry in the county,” Sosnowski said.
“It is a great use of our combined re-sources.”
St. Mary’s is a year round church, averaging 128 parishioners every Sunday.
St. Barnabas averages 60-75 on Sunday.
Bullock will hold her first celebration of Holy Eucharist at St. Barnabas Aug. 5 at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Her first Sunday at St. Mary’s will be Aug. 12.
Contact Gillin-Schwartz at (609) 886-8600 Ext 24 or at: mschwartz@cmcherald.com.