Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102110243
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Stan Breakell, a longtime member of Christ Episcopal Church, gave his new rector the label near the end of a harmonious parish meeting recently.
The description drew a standing ovation for the person many in the congregation describe as something of a miracle worker in transforming a dispirited, split parish into a vibrant, growing one.
Breakell said he had never seen anyone take on anything "so discouraging and come up smelling like roses."
Hunley's history with the parish goes back some 18 years, when the congregation took her in and supported her when she was a student at Hollins College.
Her journey to fulfill the vocational calling she felt then reached another height with her installation as the parish's rector Tuesday night. It was the culmination of what has been in recent years a difficult and sometimes painful ministry.
It "was obviously not just me" who was responsible for overcoming the divisions in the congregation that developed during the tenure of her predecessor, Hunley said in a recent interview.
Although there are still wounds, members attest to the emotional healing that has been widespread in the year since Hunley has been in charge. They credit her deliberate efforts to reach out to those who had been hurt and her obviously caring nature.
Hunley, 38, insists much of the credit belongs to the congregation, which had the will to return to its history of maintaining a harmonious sense of community despite the diverse theological and political views of its parishioners.
"I have an image in my mind's eye of Christ Church when I came here" in the early '70s, Hunley said. It was then, she said, a caring, nurturing community that "was very forward looking . . . [where] people were interested in new ideas, new directions."
She visited the church to witness its first service at which a woman - Elizabeth Dobbins - participated in the celebration of the Eucharist by administering the wine chalice to communicants.
That forward-looking atmosphere drew her to the church and still exists, she said, but it was subsumed in the internal conflict over leadership during the late 1980s.
Her own interest in ministry was fueled by concerns with issues of justice and compassion, she said, partially reflecting the era in which she grew up.
As a teen-ager in the 1960s, she said, she became active in the peace movement. She was struck by the presence of a classmate's father - a priest - at demonstrations opposing the Vietnam War.
That led her to begin to see the church as something "present in the world."
Although she grew up a Methodist, she said her real conversion to Christianity didn't come until her adoption of the Anglican tradition as a student at Hollins College.
The Episcopal chaplain was an influence, as was a professor - the Rev. Alvord Beardslee. He was a former chaplain, an ordained United Church of Christ minister, and a teacher of philosophy and religion.
"Courses in philosophy forced me to think through the implications" of her faith and actions, Hunley said. She "began looking outward" and understanding "how the church speaks" to the social issues she was already concerned about.
She also found in Beardslee and the congregation at Christ Church support for her decision in 1973 to pursue a career in the ministry, even though the denomination was not ordaining women to the priesthood then.
Although she still feels strongly about social action, Hunley said, she now believes "issues are important, but people are more important."
A turning point in her understanding came while she was a social worker in Botetourt County. Out of her working-class family background, she said she had developed a special affinity for the poor.
What she discovered is that "nothing is as clear as you think it is. Heros and villains are not always what they seem to be.
"I saw middle-class child abusers, fathers who were better parents than mothers, and found that poor people are not necessarily any more pleasant or nicer than rich people."
Getting rid of preconceptions about people proved important as she had to deal with the crisis in her parish, said Hunley, who is married and the mother of a 2-year-old girl. Disagreements over issues could be put aside in the interest of rebuilding the community of faith.
"I really feel God has been present in this whole process for me. I have really felt the hand of God guiding me.
Discerning the will of God demands an openness to "new vision, new insight" that often comes unexpectedly.
"This community was so broken in some ways," she said, but that led to an "openness to a new movement of the Spirit, to God's guidance. That openness was not just an accident.
"People with totally opposite points of view have been reconciled. This is not just our will. Something else is going on."
Hunley would label that something "grace." She and the congregation have been "given the grace to do what we needed to do, and I believe that was the action of God."
\ DEBORAH HUNLEY
BACKGROUND
Early 1970s: While enrolled at Hollins College, attends Christ Church for first time to witness woman assisting in administration of Eucharist.
1973: Confirmed as member of the Episcopal Church through the Hollins College chaplaincy program.
1974: Graduates from Hollins. Enters Yale Divinity School with support of Christ Church congregation, though women are not allowed to be ordained to the priesthood in the denomination.
1977: Episcopal church allows ordination of women to the priesthood; Hunley graduates from divinity school in June and is ordained a deacon under sponsorship of Christ Church. She is named associate rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Northwest Roanoke. Also begins working as social worker in Botetourt County Department of Social Services. In December, becomes the first woman in the diocese to be ordained into the priesthood.
1979: Ends term as interim priest at St. James when new rector called. Continues campus ministry at Hollins College and social services work.
1985: Hired as full-time associate rector at Christ Church by the Rev. Bob Thacker.
1991: Installed as the 13th rector of the 99-year-old Christ Church parish.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB