Ordination of Mandy Harvey Ministry of Deacon

by Lorraine Schroder

The Presbytery of Southern South Australia had the wonderful pleasure of Ordaining Mandy Harvey into the ministry of Deacon at Blackwood Uniting Church on April 29th 2022. The Chairperson of the Presbytery of Southern SA, Rev Peter McDonald officiated and Rev Michael Dowling preached the word. A gathering of a group of wonderful musicians led all in worship. In Mandy’s response, she showed how her passion and calling to ordained ministry has come into being. She first sensed a call to Ordination back in the early 1990s while at University in the United Kingdom, however, after making some early tentative steps into discerning the call, she decided that the time was not right. It was after immigrating to Australia in 2005 and a deep spiritual experience in 2008 that Mandy began the road to ordination in earnest, starting a Period of Discernment. Having discerned her call as primarily focussed on those who would likely never walk into our churches, Mandy was accepted as a Candidate for the Ministry of Deacon in 2009. Prior to this, in 2008, she was introduced to the Christian Contemplative Tradition and particularly monasticism, the spirituality of monasteries, through Stillpoint, the Uniting Church’s contemplative Spirituality Centre. It would be monastic spirituality that would become the spiritual foundation to her ministry. After three years of studying as a candidate, Mandy withdrew her candidature in 2014 to pursue further studies within the contemplative tradition, ultimately leading her to become a professed sister of the Community of the Transfiguration, a monastic community based in Victoria. She also studied at Tabor College in Adelaide to become a Spiritual Director. In early 2019 Mandy returned as a candidate for the Ministry of Deacon and to study for a Master of Theological Studies at Flinders University. In March 2021 she began the role of Spiritual Care Chaplain at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide. The Presbytery of Southern SAS welcomes Rev Mandy Harvey to her on-going role now as an Ordained Deacon, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.