Fr. Dwight’s thirty-one years in service to the church was completed on his last Sunday at St. John’s, Norman, on All Saints’ Sunday, November 1, 2019.
Fr. Dwight’s thirty-one years in service to the church was completed on his last Sunday at St. John’s, Norman, on All Saints’ Sunday, November 1, 2019.
Dwight began this service when he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church on June 18, 1988. He was subsequently ordained a priest on April 22, 1989. Fr. Dwight served his curacy at St. John’s, Tulsa from the years 1988 to 1989. From there, he served as Chaplain at St. Stephen’s School in Austin, Texas from 1989 to 1992. Called as Rector of All Saints’, Duncan, Fr. Helt led that congregation from 1992 to 2003. His final congregation, where he served from 2003 to the present, was St. John’s, Norman.
In addition to his service as Chaplain, then Rector of two Diocese of Oklahoma churches, Fr. Dwight founded and served as Abbot of the Oakerhater Community. This community takes its name in honor of David Pendleton Oakerhater, a Cheyenne leader and deacon in the Episcopal Church. The community, comprised of ordained and lay, married and single persons, works to “discern, enable, and support individuals and communities in their vocations of reconciliation.”
Fr. Dwight is a well-known figure among clergy and laity of the Diocese and will be missed by many. The Diocese of Oklahoma thanks him for his service and ministry.