Reverend Andrew Nixon has been appointed as the inaugural Archdeacon to Veterans by the Anglican Church of Australia (ACA) during a ceremony at St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney today.
The ceremony was led by the Primate of the ACA and the Bishop to the Defence Force, and was attended by over 200 guests, including former Governor-General David Hurley AC CVO DSC, Rear-Admiral Chris Smith AM CSM RAN, Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Alison Frame, and other senior Defence, government and religious representatives.
‘This appointment is about bringing to the fore the importance of supporting our veterans and recognising that there are veterans right across the country in all our parishes, in our suburbs and in our neighbourhoods,’ Reverend Nixon says.
Reverend Nixon served as a Navy officer from 1989 until 2001, where he specialised in warfare and leadership training. He left the ADF to pursue a career in Anglican ministry, before returning as a reserve Chaplain in 2011.
‘It’s an incredible honour to support and represent Australia’s veteran community to the ACA as the inaugural Archdeacon to Veterans.’
Evidence brought before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide highlighted the important role that ADF Chaplains can play in suicide prevention and care and in supporting veterans with moral injury.
‘Chaplaincy is about caring for our human spirit. It’s not a religious thing; it’s a human thing. Everybody has a deep part of them which determines their identity and purpose,’ Reverend Nixon says.
‘We ask our ADF members to go and do really difficult things, which can both clarify and challenge this identity and purpose. We ask them to put their life on the line, to potentially take the life of another person, or even to lose a mate.
‘There’s a really deep dimension to that; a spiritual dimension. That’s why the ADF is really clear about the provision of chaplaincy, because of the work we ask of our service personnel.’
His belief in the importance of chaplaincy has led Reverend Nixon to take up his current role as Director of DVA’s Veterans’ Chaplaincy Pilot Program (VCPP), which offers chaplaincy services to transitioning ADF members, veterans and their families, ensuring continuity of spiritual and pastoral support when they leave the ADF.
The VCPP is currently being trialled in Perth, Brisbane and Townsville. All transitioning members of the ADF, as well as veterans and their families, can access these support services, regardless of their personal faith.
‘I feel very deeply that veterans are my people, so working in this role feels like I’m back home, which is an amazing privilege,’ Reverend Nixon says.
To learn more about the Veterans’ Chaplaincy Pilot Program, visit the DVA website.
Image 1 (from left): Former Governor-General David Hurley AC CVO DSC, Mrs Jenny Nixon, Mrs Linda Hurley, Archdeacon Andrew Nixon
Image 2: (front) DVA Secretary Alison Frame, Archdeacon Andrew Nixon (middle) Deputy President Mark Brewer AM, CSC and Bar, Deputy Secretary Alison McLaren (back) Helen Lyons, Deputy Commissioner Mahmoud El-Hussein, and Deputy Secretary Andrew Kefford
Image 3: Newly collated Archdeacon Andrew Nixon with leaders of the Anglican Church from across Australia at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney