Ministering to the
NeXt Generation

by David Smart

“You must be an Episcopal priest.” The Rev. Matilda Dunn is greeted by these words occasionally as she is walking across the campus of the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (UTC). Dunn is Campus Minister to UTC and Chattanooga State.

After serving as interim campus minister since Nov. 1998, she was recently called to fill the position.

“I have been busy during August making contact with as many incoming students, and their parents, as possible,” she said. The schools have several orientation sessions where she has an opportunity to meet many of them. She wants them to know that she is there and eager to help them during this transition period in their lives. “Loneliness is a problem for some students.” Dunn said. “Even on a campus with thousands of other students, people sometimes feel alone. Many of the freshmen on campus are living away from home for the first time,” she said. “We need to be available to nurture them during this period of their lives.”

The Episcopal Campus Ministry offers a place for students to gather for fellowship and worship. Holy Eucharist is offered each Wednesday evening during the school year. One Wednesday each month, a home cooked dinner is also offered.

In addition to the weekly Episcopal services, Dunn also joins with other members of the UTC Campus Ministry Association for various events throughout the school year.

One such event occurred last February, she and her Catholic counterpart at UTC offered an Ash Wednesday service with imposition of ashes. More than 70 students, faculty, and staff members attended the service that was conducted in the chapel of the Catholic Campus Ministry house.

Dunn is looking forward to moving to a larger office soon. The Campus Ministry office will be moving to the second floor of a building at 661 Douglas. Her single room office is presently located on the first floor of the building that also houses the Episcopal Metropolitan Ministry offices. The space is rented from Christ Church, Chattanooga which owns the building.

The larger space will make it easier to accommodate larger groups and will also allow for more privacy for counseling.

Campus ministry is not new to Dunn. She served as a Lay Chaplain at All Sanits’ Chapel at the University of the South for several years before becoming a student of the School of Theology.

Dunn was the first black woman to receive a Master of Divinity degree from the university to be ordained to the priesthood. Dunn is only the fourth Liberian woman ordained to Holy orders in the Anglican/Episcopal Communion.

Following her ordination, she served as a Deacon and Priest Associate at St. Peter’s, Chattanooga. Dunn then served as Assistant Rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Chattanooga before being called to serve as interim University Chaplain at UTC.

How is Dunn so readily identified as an Episcopalian as she moves about the campus? Many students, staff, and faculty members are aware that in the Chattanooga area, it is mostly Catholic and Episcopal priest who wear clerical collars. Since the Catholic Church doesn’t ordain women they correctly assume that Dunn must be an Episcopalian. She said it pleases her that, “Simply by being on campus at the schools I am helping to establish a presence of the Episcopal Church.”