Ordination

Due to the high calibre of Rev Gerry’s life and service to the Church, he was raised to the office of Ordained Minister in Clergy Support Memorial Church on August 15, 2018 after serving the denomination as a Appointed Designated Minister since May 2nd, 2011. Prior to that, he was an Ordained Priest in the Roman Catholic Church (from 1976).

Academic Achievements

• Graduate of the University of Waterloo B.A. Religious Studies and Psychology (BA)
• Graduate of the Toronto School of Theology, St. Augustine’s Seminary (STB)

Ministry

Currently, Rev Gerry provides pulpit supply for United Church of Canada Congregations in the Manitou Conference. This involves Sunday worship services, preaching and Pastoral Care.

Gerry officiate 2-3 funerals weekly in Sudbury area funeral homes.

Ministerial Achievements

• Ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church 1976
• Served at Secretary to the Bishop and Assistant Chancellor of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
• Pastoral (parish) ministry 1978-2002
• Executive Director of the Pastoral Institute of Northern Ontario
• Director of Mission St. Joseph Health Centre
• Director of Spiritual Services at the University of Sudbury at Laurentian University

Notable Facts

• Past member of the National Council of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace
• Past president of the National Federation of Councils of Priests
• Past member of the Canadian Bishops’ Committee on Child Sexual Abuse
• Past president of the Bishops Committee on Responsibility in Ministry

Community

• Past-President of the Sudbury Theatre Centre
• Past-President of Reseau ACCESS Network (HIV-AIDS and Hep C agency)

Awards

Recipient of the Dr Edward J Conroy award for Community Leadership from Huntington University

A Word from Rev Copeman

“Though supposedly retired, many weekends find me providing leadership in congregations, offering leadership in worship, offering contemporary insights into scripture. I’m heavily influenced by the writings of Rev Bishop John Shelby Spong and I recently completed his Eternal Life: A New Vision and Tom Harpurs’s Living Waters.

My greatest satisfaction in ministry is the opportunity provided at funerals to help expand peoples’ understanding of the divine, and the experience of finding that divinity within oneself.”