Anglican Deans
In the Anglican Church, the rural dean is an officer of the bishop and, together with an elected layperson, chairs the deanery synod. In this capacity, the rural dean also participates in decisions affecting a benefice within the deanery. The Rural Dean's key roles include the care of parishes (within his/her Deanery) which are in interregnum, calling and chairing meetings of the Deanery Chapter (assembly of all licensed priests and deacons within the Deanery), co-chairing meetings of the Deanery Synod (elected representatives of every parish in the Deanery), caring for the clergy of the Deanery, providing a means of communication between the parishes and the Bishop of the Diocese, and carrying out a Visitation of any parish within the Deanery on behalf of the Archdeacon, when commissioned to do so. As the 'rural' prefix has appeared incongruous in some more urban zones, the term 'Area Dean' has officially replaced 'Rural Dean' in certain Dioceses.
In many areas rural deanery names preserve those of historic divisions (e.g. commotes or cantrefi in much of Wales).
Read more about this topic: Rural Dean
Famous quotes containing the words anglican and/or deans:
“I was the rector’s son, born to the anglican order,
Banned for ever from the candles of the Irish poor;
The Chichesters knelt in marble at the end of a transept
With ruffs about their necks, their portion sure.”
—Louis MacNeice (1907–1963)
“In a large university, there are as many deans and executive heads as there are schools and departments. Their relations to one another are intricate and periodic; in fact, “galaxy” is too loose a term: it is a planetarium of deans with the President of the University as a central sun. One can see eclipses, inner systems, and oppositions.”
—Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)