Bulard Declared 'Perfect Match' at St. Matthew's

by Emily McDonald
The Rev. Carol Ann Bullard believes part of what she is trying to accomplish at St. Matthew's, Dayton parallels the start of a new church.

Bullard wants to initiate new Christian education efforts, create more community awareness of St. Matthew's and grow membership and attendance.

St. Matthew's had been without a vicar for almost three years when Bullard officially assumed her duties on Sept. 1, 2001.

Church attendance had fallen off and activities slowed down during the interim between vicars.

"Carol Ann is a real blessing to us," said Carol Mallalieu, who works with the church's youth group that includes Bullard's 16-year-old daughter Holly. "It's obvious that God knows what we need even before we ask for it. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect match."

"Carol Ann is wonderful and we all really like her," said Danny Attle, St. Matthew's senior warden. "She makes a good priest and spiritual advisor. Full-time spiritual guidance is something we've really missed."

Education is part of a person's baptismal formation as a Christian, Bullard believes, and she wants to revitalize St. Matthew's offering. She has started an intergenerational study that looks at the seasons of the church and wants to have weekday programming on a regular basis. "I want to slowly work in that direction," she said.

"I think that outreach is part of being the church in the world," she said. She is getting involved in the Dayton-Rhea County community to make St. Matthew's more visible and also to look at options for outreach.

"I am getting to know a lot of people and that's been exciting to me," she said. The vicar is participating in the chamber of commerce's leadership program and getting involved in "the small but growing arts community." She has started a community class based on "The Artist's Way," which talks about enriching spirituality through creativity, and is on the ministerial association's hospital visitation rota.

St. Matthew's was started as a mission by St. Paul's, Chattanooga but became a diocesan mission in July of 2001. A financial package was put together consisting of contributions from St. Paul's, the diocese and St. Matthew's. At the end of three years St. Matthew's is expected to pick up St. Paul's portion. In addition, Bullard said, "we will reassess the diocesan commitment and see where we are and we will discuss a new building."

St. Matthew's owns three adjacent houses located on a hill above Highway 27. One house serves as the church and a second as the parish hall. "I hope in the next few years, with help from the diocese, we can build a church which looks more like a church," she said.

Bullard finds the fact her first assignment as a priest is in the Diocese of East Tennessee was evidence of God's sense of humor. She was born in Chattanooga but left at the age of four.

While a student at the School of Theology in Sewanee, she did her field education at Grace Church and was "one-and-a-half miles from where I came home as a child."

The priesthood is actually Bullard's third career. She previously worked as a social worker and a nurse practitioner specializing in women's health but had felt a call to ministry at the age of 19 or 20. After drifting away from the church as a young woman in Libby, Mont., she became involved with a Lutheran Church and then found her spiritual home in St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

After the death of her husband, Bullard decided to pursue the call to ministry and entered the discernment process for the priesthood in 1993. She has also served as a deacon at Thankful Memorial Church in Chattanooga.

In 1999 Bullard received a master of divinity degree from Sewanee and was ordained deacon at St. Luke's.

In a special arrangement with the bishop of Montana, she was ordained into the priesthood by Bishop Charles vonRosenberg on Nov. seventh at St. Matthew's in what she described as "a wonderful, festive, spirit-filled occasion."

Emily McDonald is the South East Correspondent for The East Tennessee Episcopalian.