Paul Dickinson of Sharpsburg will be ordained to the office and ministry of deacon in the Charismatic Episcopal Church on Sunday, April 27, at 6 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the King. He received his bachelor of science in physics from San Diego State University and his master of ministry from St. Michael’s Seminary. Dickinson began his graduate studies at the Cathedral of St. Michael in San Clemente, Calf. and finished his requirements in Georgia.
In Anglican/Episcopal churches, deacons often work directly in ministry to the marginalized inside and outside the church: the poor, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned. Unlike Orthodox and Catholic deacons who may be married only before ordination, Charismatic Episcopal (CEC) deacons are permitted to marry freely before or after ordination, as are CEC priests. Many deacons are preparing for priesthood and are usually ordained as priests sometime in the future after their diaconal ordination. However, there are many deacons who do not go on to receive priestly ordination but serve the church as permanent deacons.
Deacons may baptize and in some dioceses are granted licenses to solemnize matrimony, usually under the instruction of their parish priest and bishop. Deacons are not able to preside at the Eucharist (communion) but can lead worship with the distribution of already-consecrated communion elements where this is permitted, nor can they pronounce God’s absolution of sin or pronounce the Trinitarian blessing. In most cases, deacons minister alongside other clergy.
At Christ the King, Dickinson serves as a licensed liturgical minister, a teacher in the children’s ministry, as sexton, and as a reader and acolyte. He and his wife, Susanne, have seven children. He will be ordained by Bishop David Epps of the Diocese of the Mid-South.
