Meet the Priest THE REV. EDDIE GIBBONS, EPIPHANY
Get to know Eddie Gibbons, the new Priest-in-Charge at Church of the Epiphany in Cape Coral. Q: What is your experience as part of The Episcopal Church, having been ordained first as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church?
Father Eddie Gibbons is the Priest-in-Charge at Church of the Epiphany, Cape Coral. Father Gibbons was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church on October 18, 1997. He joined The Episcopal Church in February 2015 and was receieved as a priest in The Episcopal Church on September 28, 2019. He most recently completed a Certificate in Anglican Studies at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, Wisconsin. Fr. Gibbons' wife, Alicia, is a trained Stephen Minister. Fr. Gibbons holds a Master in Social Work and prior to ministry as a priest in The Episcopal Church he served as a facility team chaplain at Hope Hospice. Within the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, Fr. Gibbons is currently a member of the Commission on Ministry (COM) and the Diocesan Council. Q: What was your church experience growing up in Ireland? A: From an early age, my church experience growing up in Ireland was very much one of a loving community. At age seven, I became an acolyte. I have vivid memories of liturgies being well attended with lots of participation by members within varied ministries such as altar guild, lectors, eucharistic ministers and visitors. We had a wonderful music program with an adult choir and a folk group. In terms of outreach and pastoral care; both parishioners and clergy ministered well together and provided strong community support. There was a lot of fun, food and fellowship which was important in terms of building relationships and supporting the wider community. There were also lots of opportunities provided for Christian formation, spiritual growth and development of one’s prayer life. 8
A: I left active ministry as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church with no immediate plan or intention of entering into active ministry as a priest in another denomination. Rather, I chose to be in a relationship with a view to marrying. My decision to leave active ministry as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church is one that spanned over many years. It’s easy to know this in retrospect but when going through such a lengthy time of discernment and wrestling with issues, I would say that one is not always so aware. For me, this was definitely a journey of ‘..more will be revealed.’ For about a year after leaving active ministry, I continued to attend weekly liturgies and sat in the pews of Roman Catholic churches. While I very much missed celebrating the eucharist, I also had within me a deep sense of peace in terms of being in a relationship with my now wife. In many respects, I had been formed to believe that one could not be called to both the ordained priesthood and marriage. However, I had come to believe and know that this was just not true. One morning I awoke and had this, what I can only describe as, a ‘deep burning desire within me’ to not disregard my calling to ministerial priesthood. I had come to know and believe that one calling does not eradicate the other. If anything, they add so much more! This experience opened up conversations with some episcopal clergy and the beginning of my journey in The Episcopal Church. From the beginning, the sense of inclusion that I had in The Episcopal Church was real. My first experience was one of hospitality that embodied authentic acceptance, welcome and invitation to fully participate as a member. Initially, I was pleasantly surprised by the many similarities between The Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic church that I had been formed in. However, I also witnessed ‘inclusion, transparency and openness’ within the church in relation to LGBTQ members, married clergy and the ordination of women as deacons, priests and bishops. This had not been my previous experience within the Roman Catholic tradition and so I began to experience a more wholistic and open faith community. From my earliest experience of forming a parish discernment group, as I began to explore my calling to be received into the Priesthood in The Episcopal Church, I discovered that members of the church had more to say in terms of polity and policies involving vestry as well as diocesan and national convention.
