After his philosophy studies, Cassidy spent a brief formative time in Kingston, Jamaica, as a pastoral assistant.

Carrie Melbourne now works as a lay pastoral assistant in the church.

He was disappointed that the church could not give him a pastoral assistant or a director of religious education.

"This was collaborative ministry," said Thomas Sanger, a pastoral assistant at the church who resigned in November.

In 1931 he accepted an invitation from Clarence E. Macartney to become a pastoral assistant at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh.

"I think they are very beautiful," says Martin Carr, a pastoral assistant who visits his congregation on the bikes.

Angelo Serrano, a raspy-voiced pastoral assistant, fielded phone calls, promising one woman he would help her find her lease so she could avoid eviction.

His last official assignment was as at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia, as a pastoral assistant in 1983.

In 1992 he was appointed pastoral assistant to the tenth Catholic Bishop of Auckland Denis Browne.

Bachelor's degrees are offered in pastoral theology, pastoral assistant, missions, Christian ministries, music education, Christian education (elementary and secondary), and secretarial science.