In celebration of Black History Month, Trinity Cathedral invites you to the Black History Month Guest Preachers at 12:10 p.m. each Wednesday of February in the Cathedral.

Wednesday, February 6
The. Rev. Canon Veronica Ritson (retired archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona):
celebrating Anna Julia Cooper

As the daughter of an airman in the US Air Force, Veronica came to Arizona via Luke Air Force Base over forty-five years ago, and stayed. Being ordained to the Diaconate in 1993 would overlap an Arizona State employee profession of project management in computer programming, and part-time teaching for the Maricopa Community College system for the Computer Science curriculum.

For Veronica, the Diaconate role would begin by encompassing the world of HIV/AIDS in its cultural height during the 1990’s. She sat on the board of “AIDS Project Arizona”, and was chairperson for the “AZ Diocese AIDS Task Force.”  At the beginning of the “2000” decades, Veronica’s role shifted to “Liturgy Coordinator” for Trinity Cathedral, director for the Diocesan “Deacon Formation Academy” (DFA), and in 2004 was appointed Archdeacon by Bishop Smith. Having stepped down from an active deacon’s role in 2015, Veronica remains a faculty member and advisor for DFA.

Whether being an advocate for persons living with AIDS or helping to form deacons, Veronica’s message is the same: “we should embody the love that is about justice, peace, and the dignity of every human being”.