With great joy, we announce that Bishop Prior has assigned Barbara del Caro-Scaia as Deacon to Saint Paul’s Church on Lake of the Isles.
About Deacon del Caro-Scaia
A warm welcome to the Rev. Barbara del Caro Scaia, who officially begins her tenure as our deacon this week. Please join us at a celebratory coffee hour after worship and introduce yourself. So glad you’ve come to Saint Paul’s!
My name is Barbara del Caro-Scaia. I’ve been an ordained Deacon with the ECMN for over three years.
I am very much looking forward to being a part of Saint Paul’s faith community and journeying with you as we look forward to a new priest to come to this community.
Upon first meeting with Reverend Lydia, I was awed at the work and dedicatio she has shown this community while acting from a transitional standpoint. She addressed with me the gifts of this community and also the needs of this community — and I found myself drawn to accept the Bishop’s request to meet you all.
My diaconate ministry has always been one of developing relationships, noticing gifts and naming them. I feel faith in action is one way of sharing God with anyone we meet. My sense of “call” has arisen from my childhood days living across from, what was known then as, a “half-way” house. My heart cried as I witnessed the ostracism and negative comments that those persons dealt with as they worked just to make it through the day. God called me then, to care and love and open my heart and bear witness even in my childish ways as God calls me now to be with you and meet new brothers and sisters in Christ.
Again, I am very happy to join you all with Reverend Lydia to see what together, God calls us to do.
What is a deacon?
Deacons are one of the orders of ministry recognized by the Episcopal Church. The orders are: lay people, bishops, priests, and deacons (BCP p. 855). Each order is a particular calling, according to the various gifts given by the Holy Spirit. The role of a deacon is summarized in what the bishop says the service of ordination for a deacon, just before the laying on of hands:
My brother/sister, every Christian is called to follow Jesus Christ, serving God the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. God now calls you to a special ministry of servanthood directly under your bishop. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.
As a deacon in the Church, you are to study the Holy Scriptures, to seek nourishment from them, and to model your life upon them. You are to make Christ and his redemption love known, by your word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship. You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world. You are to assist the bishop and priests in public worship and in the ministration of God’s Word and Sacraments, and you are to carry out other duties assigned to you from me to me. At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.
— Book of Common Prayer (BCP) p. 543