Smith, Townsend ordained to diaconate

By Sharon Rasmussen
Communication Director

Two recent seminary graduates were ordained to the diaconate of the Episcopal Church on May 31 at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Knoxville.

The Rev. Bowman Townsend received a master of divinity degree this spring from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. “I have loved growing up in the Episcopal Church and am looking forward to making it my main work in the years to come,” he said.

The Rev. Dr. Bradford Smith also graduated from seminary this spring. He received a master of divinity degree from the School of Theology, University of the South, in Sewanee, Tenn.

“I look to joyfully participate in God’s fascinating creation with everyone with whom I’m blessed to share time,” he said. “Every moment is an adventure; every life is a window upon the Holy One.”

The Rt. Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg officiated at the service, and the Rev. Peter Keese, priest-in-charge at Christ Church, Rugby, delivered the sermon.

Smith, 33, is serving as a transitional deacon at St. Andrew, Maryville, and he will become an assistant when he is ordained priest. He has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and a doctorate in philosophy and bioethics from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He is the son of Don and Faith Smith of Woodlake United Methodist Church in Richmond, Va., and is married to Deborah Ann Gold Smith of Alexandria, Va.

Townsend, 47, holds a bachelor’s of science degree in ornamental horticulture and landscape design from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Townsend and his wife, Beth Adair Townsend of Richlands, Va., and their children, Adair, 14, and Bowman, 13, are staying in the Austin, Texas, area where he is a transitional deacon at St. Richard’s Church in Round Rock, Texas.

“We are excited to be in Texas but hope to be back in East Tennessee in the near future,” Townsend said.

He is the son of Betsy Townsend and the late Rodman Townsend Sr. of St. John’s Cathedral in Knoxville. Before attending seminary, he was executive director for 10 years of Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville.

In addition, James Sharp and Carolyn Isley, both sponsored by the Diocese of East Tennessee, earned degrees from Sewanee.

Sharp, from All Saints Church in Morristown, earned a master of divinity degree this spring. He has an associate of science from Columbia State Community College and a bachelor’s of science in engineering technology from the University of Memphis College of Engineering.

Isley earned a degree in Anglican studies. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Kentucky Southern College at the University of Louisville and a master of divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Recent transitions of clergy in the diocese include:

• The Rev. Patrick Bone has been received as an Episcopal priest and is serving as associate at St. Paul, Kingsport.
• The Rev. Allan Cole, formerly assistant at St. Andrew, Maryville, has become rector of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, S.C.
• The Rev. Allen Cooke is priest-in-charge of St. Barnabas, the Episcopal-Lutheran Worshiping Community in Jefferson City.
• The Rev. Joel Huffstetler has been called to be rector of St. Luke, Cleveland.
• The Rev. Phil Purser has been called to be Canon for Christian Formation in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.
• The Rev. John Rafter, Church of the Good Samaritan, Knoxville, has been called to be rector of St. Matthew, Horseheads, New York. The Rev. Jay Mills will serve as interim rector of Good Samaritan.
• The Rev. Suzanne Smitherman is interim rector of Christ Church, South Pittsburg.

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