SOUTH BRUNSWICK: New deacon follows God’s calling

by Davy James, Staff Writer
   St. Barnabas Episcopal Church has welcomed a new deacon into its family.
   Cathy Brunson, of Franklin Township, will assist in the church’s worship services, be included in the preaching rotation and in pastoral care of the sick and shut-in and will be heavily involved in the church’s outreach ministries.
   ”Ever since I was really young, I felt pulled into the ministry,” Deacon Brunson said. “At the time, the only thing women could do was teach Sunday school or become a nun. Then as I got older, I got married and had kids so obviously the nun thing wasn’t going to happen.”
   After her divorce, Deacon Brunson said she felt pulled back to the ministry, and a priest at her church in New Brunswick suggested she had a calling to become a deacon. During her time in a ministry education program, Deacon Brunson was given the chance to preach at a church in South River.
   ”When it was my turn to stand up, something came over me,” she said. “It was like a switch went off, and I said ‘OK God, I see it now. I’m being called to become a deacon.’”
   Deacon Brunson was ordained in 2002 and served at churches in New Brunswick and Princeton before coming to St. Barnabas. She said her priorities in reaching out to the community are to offer assistance in the fight against addiction, domestic violence, hunger, homelessness and racism.
   She is the chairwoman of Recovery Ministries, which supports recovery from addiction, and is a charter member of the Domestic Violence Response Team of the City of New Brunswick.
   ”It’s our job to take the church out into the world and show people what the church is all about,” she said. “I go to the places Jesus said to go, like prisons and taking care of the lonely and the sick. That’s part of the rationale for the areas I’m involved in. These people are hurting and need some attention.”