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Shawan Gillians Ordained to the Transitional Diaconate

Ordination of Shawan Gillians to the Sacred Order of Deacons - with clergy and presenters

Bernadette Shawan Gillians was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons by the Right Reverend Ruth Woodliff-Stanley on Tuesday, June 9, at Grace Church Cathedral in Charleston. The service may be viewed on YouTube at this link. View the service bulletin at this link.

Shawan Gillians stands before Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley during her ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons in The Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Deacon Shawan Gillians stands with her parents and Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley after being ordained to the diaconate

Her chosen date of ordination had special significance as June 9 marks the anniversary of two important events in the history of our diocese and The Episcopal Church. The Right Reverend William Alexander Guerry, eighth bishop of The Diocese of South Carolina, was martyred on that date in 1928, shot by a priest in his office who disagreed with the bishop’s position on advancing racial equality in our state, particularly his desire to install a Black suffragan bishop in the diocese. In the wider church, it was on June 9, 1976 that the Rev. Pauli Murray (the first Black, woman priest in The Episcopal Church) was ordained as a deacon.

A native of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, and daughter of Thomas Gillians and Susan Baron, Shawan has spent the majority of her professional life as a lawyer, currently serving as chief strategy and communications officer at Santee Cooper. As she sensed the call to the priesthood, she began the discernment process and is enthusiastically sponsored by her church, St. Mark’s, Charleston. She was presented for ordination by the Rev. Michael Shaffer (St. Mark’s, Charleston); the Rev. Adam Shoemaker (St. Stephen’s, Charleston); the Rev. Ricardo Bailey (Calvary, Charleston); Kitty Robinson, Canon Lonnie Hamilton III, and Vicki Davis Williams. 

She is currently serving an internship with Grace Church Cathedral. At the same time, she is finishing her final year of seminary, on a path to earn a Master of Divinity through the three-year hybrid program offered by the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where she has been participating in the Episcopal and Anglican Studies program. Prior to the internship at Grace, she served an 18-month internship with St. Stephen’s, Charleston. She will be ordained to the priesthood on January 8, 2027, the 50th anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of the Rev. Pauli Murray.