The Very Reverend Canon Dr Walter Brownridge was installed as Dean of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Nicosia at a joyous service on Saturday that included his collation as a Canon of the Cathedral. Bishop Sean and the congregation warmly welcomed Dean Walter, who will soon be joined in Cyprus by his wife, Tina.
Dean Walter will also serve as Canon to the Ordinary, having previously served as Canon to the Ordinary for Cultural Transformation in the Diocese of Vermont in the US, where he led diocesan initiatives in Christian Formation, Racial Justice, Stewardship and Creation Care.
The congregation included ecumenical and diplomatic representatives, along with clergy and lay members from churches across the island. Dean Walter was placed in his stall by Archdeacon Paul and vested with a cathedral tippet by canon theologian the Reverend Dr John Holdsworth.
Basing his sermon on the opening Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, Bishop Sean expanded on the images of salt, light and glory, outlining a vision for St Paul’s as a centre of engaging and caring Christianity; excellence and hospitality as the Mother Church of the Anglican parishes in Cyprus; rooted in being a Cathedral of a Middle Eastern Anglican Diocese.
Canon Walter has served as a Cathedral Dean and as Associate Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of the South, and as a Canon of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa.
A graduate of General Theological Seminary with further degrees from the University of San Diego Graduate School of International Relations and Georgetown University Law Center, Canon Walter is a distinguished writer. His published work has appeared in the Anglican Theological Review, including an exploration of law, theology and reproductive choice in the Episcopal Church. He co-edited and contributed to a special volume of the Review dedicated to the late Desmond Tutu, and contributed to the volume Preaching Black Lives Matter. Most recently, he authored a chapter in Conversations in Global Anglican Theology: Culture.
Canon Walter is a United States Marine Corps veteran, having served with the rank of Lieutenant. He and his wife of thirty-eight years, Christina Nader, are the parents of two adult sons: Alec Thurgood, married to Kimberley Quong Charles and residing in Austin, Texas; and Martin Desmond of Los Angeles, California.
