What’s a Deanery Day?
A deanery day is a day for clerics to get together to consume food and quaff refreshing beverages. In the course of their conversation, they discover again that they are all flawed, all have their failures, and all do have some wins. We brag about our faithful folk who tirelessly support us even when we let them down. Those who inspire us with their remarkable courage and who enthral us with their sparkling sense of humour.
In the bubbling cauldron of conversation, an unseen but pertinent process is happening where our miserable failures are transformed into points of hilarity. Almost, but not quite, a competition as to who can muck up in the most comical and spectacular fashion.
We also learn about each other, we learn about ordained life, and we learn that if young, bright so-and-so, with all the wit, holiness and charm of the archangel Gabrielle, can make a few blunders, then perhaps there is hope for this little mite after all.
So you see how ‘Deanery Days’ are actually vital to the well-being and spiritual refreshment of your priest/minister/pastor/religious-guru. We come away inspired, happier, enriched and humbled. The bonds between us are strengthened, and the glow on our cheeks has more to do with the bonhomie we have enjoyed, rather than the red cordial we may have consumed.
So when your clergy aren’t necessarily right there at the end of the phone and answer at the first ring, it may be that they are doing something very important, like going to a ‘Deanery Day’. They are most likely raving about how wonderful you are to their fellow collar-wearing colleagues. They are probably getting to know others and themselves just a little better. Another toast to Deanery Day’s