Ordination!

This past Saturday was my ordination to the priesthood! Unlike my ordination to be a deacon, this was an Anglo-Catholic ceremony, which means it was very formal and very reminiscent of what might have been seen in a pre-Vatican II Church (for those Roman Catholic readers among us). I'm enclosing some photos of the day with captions. Hope you enjoy!



At the beginning of the service, there is a set of long prayers chanted by someone called a litanist (he or she chants the litany, a long list of petitions to God for just about everything). The litanist is who you see front and center in this photo. Behind her, lying prostrate on the ground, are the two folks getting ordained--I'm on the right and Robert is on the left. We're in a position of radical humility at the moment. Ahead of us, kneeling, is the bishop who consecrated us--if she looks familiar, it's because she also performed our wedding in September!


Closeup of us lying prostrate.

In the actual moment of consecration, all the already-ordained priests gather around the new priest and lay hands on her, thus conveying the spiritual authority they have onto her. This is done for every priest back to the earliest church leaders, who it is believed were touched by Jesus.

Here I am on the right, co-consecrating with the bishop. That means that we're consecrating the bread and wine together, even though she was really doing all the work! In front of us are a thurifer (who swings incense) and to her right, a boat girl. The boat girl (or boy) is usually a very young child and is often the youngest participant in a liturgy. (When I was about five, I was a boat girl, and I loved it!)

The boat girl's job is to carry the a container full of incense (called a boat) that gets put into the thurible (pot heated with charcoal) that the thurifer burns. Right before this photo was taken, I went to put the incense from the boat into the thurible, and one of the MCs for the service said, "Wait, only a priest can do that!"

There was an awkward pause while I held the spoon with the raw incense midway between the boat and the thurible, and then he said, "Oh wait! You are a priest! I'm so sorry, Mother!"


My first communion as a priest! The man standing next to me is the priest who sponsored me through ordination and rector of the church where the service was held. I'm serving Jane and Eric, who are also both ordained Episcopal clergy.

The procession out--a veritable trinity of crosses lead by the thurifer and boat girl!

After getting ordained, it is customary for the new priest to offer blessings. Our bishop was the first one who asked to be blessed.

And after all the blessings were complete....cupcakes! I actually never got to have any (due to lots of conversation and what I thought was nerves but was actually a stomach bug) but I hear from our resident cupcake expert, three-year-old Emma, that they were amazing!

Portrait of the new priests!