Nickerson Gets Convention Post, Other Offices Filled
Episcopal News Service. July 24, 1986 [86157]
NEW YORK (DPS, July 24) -- The Rev. Donald A. Nickerson, a veteran General Convention deputy and Executive Council member, has been named Executive Officer of the General Convention.
Under Church law, the executive officer oversees the offices of the Convention secretariats, the registrar and the manager's office. The office is responsible for coordinating all the Convention interim bodies, producing the journals of Convention and records of consecrations and for management of major national Church meetings.
The executive officer is a joint appointment of Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning and the Very Rev. David B. Collins, president of the House of Deputies.
"I am delighted to Join David Collins in the appointment of Donald Nickerson as General Convention Executive Officer," Browning said. "It has been my privilege to work closely with Don for the past four years on the Executive Council. His knowledge of the Church, together with many other skills, will greatly enhance the effectiveness of this important office. The Executive Office has tremendous responsibility in linking the various constituencies that make up our life together. Unquestionably, Don is both gifted and qualified to meet this task."
Collins added "His practical experience of the Convention, and especially of the House of Deputies, is wide indeed. Deputy to five General Conventions and alternate to one other (representing two dioceses), he has served on important legislative committees and as chairman of the committee on World Mission. His experience with interim bodies, including the Executive Council, gives him first hand knowledge of the need of communication and coordination. A fine pastor, he will bring those caring qualities to the whole church... I know that we can look to Fr. Nickerson to continue the tradition of even-handed, fair service to the General Convention and to all of its bodies."
Nickerson, 47, has been rector of St. Paul's Church, Brunswick, Maine, since 1974. After graduation from Springfield College and Berkeley Divinity School, he began his ordained ministry in 1964 as curate of Trinity Church, Newton Centre, Mass. In 1966, he was called as rector of Christ Church, North Conway, N.H. and served there until his call to the Maine parish.
In all of his parishes, he has been active in civic and community affairs and has held leadership positions in New Hampshire and Maine. He was a deputy to General Convention in 1970, 1973, 1979, 1982 and 1985 and an alternate in 1976. At Convention, he has served on the House of Deputies liturgical committee, chaired the committee on world mission and served on the president's council of advice.
He was elected to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in 1982 and has served on both world mission and national mission committees. He currently chairs the sub-committee on Social Responsibility in Investments and is liaison from the Council to the Triennial. He and his wife, Susan Martin Nickerson, have three children.
Browning continues to work through the summer assembling his leadership team and, as a further step, has named New York State Judge Hugh Jones as his chancellor.
As chancellor, Jones is the personal advisor to the Presiding Bishop on both secular and canonical legal matters, and Browning noted Jones' broad background in announcing the appointment.
"Hugh Jones is one of those great giants of this Church. He has served with such distinction over the years, giving guidance to both Bishop John E. Hines and Bishop John M. Allin, that I feel especially privileged to have him serve as my chancellor. I believe that Hugh brings to this position the unique qualities of a deep faith in the Lord, a tremendous knowledge and working experience with the Constitution and Canons of our Church and a commitment to the mission of the Church that is lived out in loyal support to her future."
Jones, a New York native and graduate of Hamilton College and Harvard Law School, is a senior associate judge of the New York State Court of Appeals. He has been chancellor of the diocese of Central New York for 30 years.
Jones served as a deputy to Convention in 1952 and from 1958 through 1979. He chaired the Deputies' dispatch of business committee in 1969, 1970 and 1973. He was elected to the Executive Council in 1985.
Browning has also appointed to his staff Dr. Carol Hampton of the Caddo Tribe as field officer for Native American ministry. She replaces Sherman Wright of South Dakota, who has resigned for health reasons.
In announcing the appointment, Browning indicated that he looks to the Native American field office to establish a model of decentralized national Church program.
Hampton has recently served as coordinator for Consortium of Graduate Opportunities for American Indians, Berkeley, Calif. A history major, she holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma. She is author of several works relating to the American Indian and Native American religions. Her teaching experiences have been at the University of Arts and Sciences of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma native served on Tribal Council of the Caddo Tribe for seven years and was chairman of her tribe's Health Authority, in addition to serving on the Caddo Constitutional Committee.
Hampton is the Episcopal Commissioner of the Programme to Combat Racism of the World Council of Churches. Her other work in the Episcopal Church includes that of the National Committee on Indian Work, for which she served as chairman of the Leadership Development Committee. This committee played a key role in the development of a new collaborative program to begin this autumn with Seabury-Western Seminary for theological education of Native Americans. She has been active with the Oklahoma Committee on Indian Work and has held several positions with St. Paul's Cathedral of Oklahoma City, including that of Episcopal Church Women President, 1984-85.
Hampton will begin work as Indian ministry field officer on Sept. 1. The field office will be located in Oklahoma City.