Dear People of St. James’,
Join us in welcoming the Rev. Addison McMillan to our staff as Curate.
A curate is a clergy person who has just graduated from seminary and is assigned to a congregation and particular work as they grow into their priesthood. You might remember that Rev. Madeline Shelton Hawley did this at St. James’. Typically, a curate serves for 1.5-2 years, but sometimes the parish can afford to keep them on staff as an Associate. Rev. Addison’s curacy will be funded through a combination of funding from a Quin curacy grant, the diocesan Campus Ministries budget, and St. James’.
Along with his work with St. James’, Rev. Addison will focus on planting college ministries outside of the University of Texas, which already has its own Episcopal Student Center. That work will begin at Huston-Tillotson University, Austin’s HBCU, but will extend beyond it, using the Houston Canterbury model. Our vision is to build a diverse and embracing college ministry that meets students where they are and serves those who have often been overlooked by our traditional approaches to college ministry (e.g. HBCU students, commuter students whose lives revolve less around a campus and are more deeply planted in the communities where they live and work, community college students, young adults who are sometimes actively studenting and sometimes are not).
The focal point of Rev. Addison’s curacy at St. James’ will be planting this new ministry with the support of the St. James’ community and others in our Austin networks. This curacy will be heavy on evangelism and pastoral care through one-on-one’s, small group formation work, and teaching and preaching. Over the next year, he will be involved with St. James’ as we embark upon our diocese’s first (to our knowledge) foray into Strategic and Master Plan work that seeks to engage a multilingual, multicultural community. You can expect to see him in the pulpit and teaching in Founders Hall, in Coffee Hour and Vestry Meetings, and gathering our St. James’ young adults (20s & 30s).
Get to know the Rev. Addison! If you have connections to institutions of higher learning in the area, reach out and meet with him. When I planted Houston Canterbury, I found that the support of students, staff, and faculty who happened to be Episcopalians and were open to introducing me to others interested in student spiritual life and wellness was essential. Help him get his feet on the ground.
