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.
“She is the first woman clergy at St. Mary’s.”
She’s probably also the first lesbian. I know Deb Bullock from seminary. We often made great sport when the psalter read something about offering a young bullock on the altar.
[blockquote] Bullock worked at the Church of the Transfiguration in Palos Park, Illinois, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago. [/blockquote]
Church stats page:
http://12.0.101.88/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_81200770226PM.pdf
Seen much worse — but it looks like a church in slow decline rather than rapid collapse.
The two churches working together sounds like a sensible solution. I hope it works out for them and their new vicar/assistant rector.