The Rev. Daley will spend year with congregation.
By: Lea Kahn
Propped up in the corner of the Rev. Patricia Daley’s office at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville is a 4-foot-tall carved walking stick, topped with a leather strap.
The walking stick is not a sign of infirmity it is symbolic of the path that she and the congregation will walk during her year as interim pastor, the Rev. Daley said Tuesday afternoon.
"It helps to set yourself in the mind and heart of the congregation, to help them recognize the temporariness (of the position of interim pastor)," she said. "When the permanent pastor comes, I will journey on."
The Rev. Daley assumed the duties of interim pastor this week. She will serve as the spiritual leader of the congregation until it can find a permanent replacement for the Rev. H. Dana Fearon III. He retired last year after 42 years at the Main Street church.
This is not the Rev. Daley’s first experience as an interim pastor. The Princeton resident recently completed service as an interim pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Ewing Township. She is a trained and certified interim pastor.
"One of the most interesting challenges of being an interim pastor is not to be detached, but to know that we will celebrate our time and learn together," she said. "But all along, we acknowledge there will be another change down the road and that will be a good thing.
"I am excited about it, in the meanwhile," she said. "I feel very welcome. I am trying to get to know everyone. I have received notes, phone calls and invitations. I am just delighted to work with the staff. They are a great group of people."
The interim pastor has several specific tasks, the Rev. Daley said. The interim pastor helps the congregation look back on its history, celebrate its present and prepare itself to move into the future. While the Rev. Fearon prepared the congregation for his retirement, there is still some grieving, she said.
During the next few months, the congregation will undergo a formal process that will result in a mission study, she said. Through such methods as focus groups and questionnaires, the congregation will share its hopes and dreams for the future. The resultant mission study will help the pastor nominating committee choose a permanent minister, she said.
"It is a great opportunity for a church to have that time to get some perspective on where God is leading them in the future," the Rev. Daley said. "A church doesn’t often have that time. The transition period allows the congregation time for reflection."
And serving as an interim pastor has been a rewarding experience, as well, the Rev. Daley said. Until recently, she said, she was a pastor in a permanent situation. She led congregations in New Brunswick and Trenton, before moving to Boston with her husband. She led a congregation in Boston as a permanent pastor, also.
The Rev. Daley said she decided to explore the discipline of interim pastor when she moved back to Princeton with her husband. In the past, interim pastors were generally retired ministers or ministers who were easing into retirement, she said. But now, it is recognized as a specialty.
"I chose to become an interim pastor at this time in my life, because I was intrigued by the challenge," she said. "I know that every situation will be different. I get excited about helping people in a time of change. Change is difficult. To be a non-anxious presence in a time of change is something I intend to be.
"There is something so powerful about the congregation/minister relationship that to have it end it’s an experience of loss," the Rev. Daley said. "My goal is to guide the congregation through that time, to acknowledge its grief and celebrate the life that has been."