SYLVA — Deacon Daniel Pyles has received faculties and been assigned by Bishop Peter Jugis to serve St. Mary, Mother of God Church in Sylva, effective Aug. 11.
He was ordained June 9, 2014, for the Diocese of Nashville by the late Bishop David Choby.
He was first assigned to serve as a chaplain to Vanderbilt University and the Veterans Affairs Hospital, both in Nashville. After completing five units of Clinical Pastoral Education, he then earned a master’s degree in theology from St. Joseph’s College of Maine. In 2017, he was assigned to St. Matthew Church in Franklin, Tenn., where he served as pastoral associate.
A Georgia native, he was born into a military family and lived around the Southeast United States. He attended the University of Georgia, where he earned a teaching degree as well served in campus law enforcement for several years. Deacon Pyles met his wife, Beth Woodard, in Nashville, where she was on the faculty of Belmont University. A native of Charleston, S.C., and graduate of Bishop England High School, she attended Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina, and earned a doctorate from the University of Alabama. They have been married since 2002.
Over the past few years, Deacon Pyles and his wife entertained thoughts of retiring to the North Carolina mountains. After the pandemic began, thoughts turned into reality as they bought a home in Cullowhee. Deacon Pyles now works for Jackson County government in Emergency Management 9-1-1, and Mrs. Pyles has accepted an appointment to the faculty at Western Carolina University.
Now in his seventh year of diaconate ministry, Deacon Pyles is looking forward to serving St. Mary, Mother of God Parish.
— Deacon John Martino