This summer Eric Partridge retired from his role as the diocesan executive archdeacon, a role he stepped into at the beginning of 2023. The executive archdeacon is charged with oversight of all the regional archdeacons. Eric also advised and assisted the bishop in the oversight of the diocese, provided clergy with pastoral support, served on committees as the bishop’s appointee and assisted in the worship and work of the cathedral.
Prior to being appointed executive archdeacon Eric had served as the incumbent at St Andrew’s, Sidney since 2017. In 2022, he was installed as a canon of the cathedral.
Eric grew up in Baltimore, where he was involved in The Episcopal Church and felt called to be ordained. Eric resisted this call for years and instead worked as a teacher, a lawyer, a small business owner and a government bureaucrat. None of these careers felt quite right, but over the years he had distanced himself from the church.
It was a Remembrance Day service at St Matthias in Victoria that prompted Eric to heed God’s call to ordination. Eric eventually completed a doctorate in ministry at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon. For his doctoral research Eric looked at how a daily practice of gratitude could help combat loneliness.
The synod office will be hosting a farewell party for Eric on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 3 p.m. to which all are invited. There will be drinks and snacks.
