My current ministry is a blessing but it sure is NOT where I though I would be! I minister in an Episcopal Church in a small city and coordinate the ministries of students, faculty and staff at a Roman Catholic College. Yet, as I look back in wonder, where I am is a blessing, more than I could ever ask or imagine!
My call story is basic, no bells or whistles! I am a 6th generation Black Anglican of Caribbean heritage. Early on in life I accepted God’s invitation to serve as a priest in the Episcopal Church. One Saturday, during my regular escape from Junior Choir rehearsal, I heard God inviting me to serve in the Church as a priest. At the time I didn’t know anything about the Episcopal Church’s struggles with women’s ordination. All I knew was that I was spooked! Hearing our Rector say the same thing that my mother said that night before, “You can be anything you want to be,” led me to say yes to God. That acceptance at age eleven has led me along a number of roads and experiences in the Church, most of them good, all of them educational.
My average week goes like this: on Sundays I take part in the liturgy as a Deacon, then, after fellowship time, I teach an Adult Forum class. In the evening, I hang out with students (I live in the freshmen residence on campus as a Minister in Residence). During the week I oversee a variety of ministries in the greater Olean community, such as a mentoring program that links college students with area children and an outreach program with senior citizens. I also connect volunteers with opportunities, represent the school to various church and community groups and try to connect non-Roman Catholic students to faith communities off campus. I minister socially to faculty and staff by arranging various activities and meandering around the campus, listening to people. Four of my evenings are busy: I lead a base bible study and attend another, host a “nail night” for the women in my building and have open hours for people to stop by and chat. During the week I visit two to three people who are active parishioners or who are on our sick list and make hospital visits. My current ministry is a rich and full experience of service, diakonia, the Greek word from which my title “deacon” derives.
Olean, New York is six hours and a life style away from the Bronx, where I grew up! In the Diocese of Western New York an ordained Black woman is a bit of an oddity, but in NYC while no one would say Black clergy abound, there are enough Black men and women clergy in various facets of ministry that one can find mentors and models. In New York City, many people travel past Episcopal churches to the one that’s right for them. My family found a church home in St. Andrew’s Church, a predominately Black church in Harlem. There are three other Episcopal congregations within a 20 block radius of St. Andrew’s, all serving different facets of the Black community.
Nurtured in a distinctly Black high-church setting, I set my own course. Not a trouble-maker exactly (even though I read comic books during Sunday School), I was known nonetheless as someone who asked a lot of questions—so many questions, in fact, that my mother and Sunday School teacher agreed to let me ask the Rector one (and only one) question per Sunday! As a child it was that nurturing that allowed me to be open to hearing God’s invitation. Simple things like my Rector answering and encouraging my questions, taking part in junior choir, being an acolyte and watching my mother pray the Psalms each morning prepared me to say “Yes” at eleven and to continue saying “Yes,” even now at 35.
Unlike some, I happily stayed in church during college, doing youth work and exploring what we think as Episcopalians through ecumenical work. When I was ready to present myself officially to begin the ordination process, I received mixed signals from the Priest-in-Charge, who did not support women’s ordination. One of the lowest points for me spiritually was having to leave St. Andrew’s over this issue. After some time I found another church home and a spiritual director. While working at Xerox, I had a Spirit-led opportunity to attend graduate school at New York University, which led to a career in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling. Now, as a Deacon, I am able to use the skills I learned running a vocational program in East Harlem to help people in Western New York who are struggling to make sense of their own vocations and their experiences.
My search for the right seminary for me was undertaken over the course of several years, with many of my visits being a by-product of Episcopal Youth Events and various other trips. I was attracted to Bexley Hall Seminary because of its reputation as a high church seminary, the ecumenism that came from three seminaries sharing the same facilities, and the fact that the Black students on the Hill during my initial visit challenged me to explain to them why I, a young, Black woman, was in the Episcopal Church in the first place. From that first visit I knew that I would be spiritually fed and challenged.
It is amazing to look back. I write this just one month after being ordained to the Diaconate. If you feel that God is inviting you to an ordained ministry, my best advice is to be open and obedient and willing to stretch outside of your normal limits. For me it has taken me from the Bronx to Olean, NY. For you, God knows.
Cheryl Parris; Deacon, Associate Minister, Director of Social Ministries, Minister-in-Residence, St. Bonaventure University, Assistant, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Olean, New York
