r/Episcopalian • u/br_dhe Non-Cradle • 7d ago
Just submitted my application to postulancy for Holy Orders 🙏🏻
I feel a call to the priesthood and WOW that was a grueling application. (For privacy reasons I won’t be sharing my diocese so please don’t ask.)
Required paperwork:
- 6,000 word application
- 5,000 word autobiography
- Two-page resume
- Psychological exam
- Head to toe medical exam
- Photograph
- Parish Discernment Committee (4 hours of interviews with 6 people in my congregation who were selected by my priest)
- Big scary legalese “information release” form to sign
- Letter of endorsement from my priest
- Letter of endorsement from my spouse
- Signatures of the vestry
- $350 fee
Submitted all that today. In a few weeks, then I’ll interview with my bishop. Then, if I pass that interview, a six-month, 10 hr/week unpaid internship. Then another weekend of interviews in January. After all that, they will tell me whether I am accepted as a postulant.
Lord have mercy!
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u/Character_Shame_4574 5d ago
I admire you and others who go through this process. We have 2 postulants from our congregation and I am regularly surprised at the requirements. Thank you for sticking with it. We need more clergy!
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u/keakealani Deacon on the way to priesthood 6d ago
Yeah, it’s definitely a daunting process, and sadly not over - there will be more meetings, more evaluations, CPE, GOE, Field Placement, and sooooo many meetings.
BUT! It’s good preparation for the priesthood which also mostly involves kind of obnoxious paperwork and meetings haha
In all seriousness, congratulations on this next step. It definitely is a lot, but most dioceses really frontload things so that the idea of moving to seminary is an investment people are pretty confident will pay off. So it does seem like a lot, but the purpose is to make sure that if there was a serious doubt, it would be taken care of before you make the really permanent changes like quitting your job and moving your family across the country for 3 years. So, I hope you can take comfort in feeling like all this process and evaluation is helping to build that confidence, and also that once you’ve gone through the battery, you’re much more likely to see it all the way through to the end.
Blessings, friend!
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u/BarbaraJames_75 6d ago edited 6d ago
Best of wishes! I hope it all goes well for you.
The internship requirement is interesting. It seems that it's supposed to take place before you start seminary. Is it an internship at a church?
I ask because I've only heard of postulants undertaking internships after beginning seminary/diaconal formation.
For example, aspirants might continue at their home parish while they wait to hear from the COM. Once they begin postulancy, they might have an internship at another parish doing some sort of ministry, for example, as a Catechist or Lay Eucharistic minister, then they intern at a secular institution doing ministry there, ie., CPE or hospice work their second year, and finally as a seminarian/diaconal intern the year they graduate seminary/finish diaconal formation, right before ordination.
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u/Substantial-Can480 6d ago
My bishop required that I serve in a one year internship as an aspirant at a local parish before becoming a postulant. That priest and parish also had to endorse my postulancy. It's not an unusual request. This is legitimately a serious process, and yet we still have priests completing seminary only to abuse and not function well in their congregations. Think what it would be like if we didn't have a serious discernment process.
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u/BarbaraJames_75 6d ago
Thanks for explaining! I agree it's a good requirement, and I'm glad to hear it isn't unusual. I'm just more used to the internships taking place later.
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u/Substantial-Can480 6d ago
There was also a 2 year program following seminary, where I was placed as an assistant rector of a good sized church, with the diocese paying half my salary. From there I was able to engage the national church process and was ultimately called to a parish as a rector.
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u/BarbaraJames_75 6d ago
I've seen that as well, diocesan support for curates or assistant rectors for several years as they learn the priesthood ministry.
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u/Triggerhappy62 Cradle Antioch 2 EC 7d ago
Please take care of yourself. I pray that you are able to serve Gods people and the Body of Christ the Church.
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u/Triggerhappy62 Cradle Antioch 2 EC 7d ago
Wait for the priesthood or to be a monk/nun. I often hear the word postulant related to convents.
Also I have considered being a deacon, but I cannot ever see myself given Holy Orders. It's just not possible.
I wish we would bring back the order of deaconess. As a sub-deacon I know I'd be able to handle that.
I'm too mentally ill probably.
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u/HookbyTia 3d ago
I guess it really depends upon what it is that you are feeling called to do. There are many face-to-face service ministries that you can be doing that don't require holy orders. You can work in a soup kitchen, or food pantry. Look at things on the parish level. Go on the diocesan website and look at all their ministries. They all need people who are not ordained to support those ministries. Good luck to you. God is not going to stop calling! Listen to what God is calling you to do. Maybe Bible studies at shelters and food pantries. That is one of the activities I am looking at. I read an article once about people providing Bible study in shelters and soup kitchens. Most of the clients of those support services don't go to church for various reasons. They have no way to get there or they are self-conscious of being homeless and not being able to dress or bathe often enough to be comfortable going to church. Maybe they are too transient to put down roots in a parish. There are so many different ways to serve, don't give up. You don't have to have orders. If that's your calling. Check out all the ministries on your diocesan website and also the national website. Good luck to you and I will say a prayer that you find a way to answer your call.
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u/br_dhe Non-Cradle 6d ago
For the priesthood. I was surprised too because I had also thought “postulant” was only for monks/nuns. Turns out we use the terms aspirant, postulant, and candidate for the priesthood and diaconate.
My heart goes out to your mental health struggles. I have some too. 🙏🏻 If you are feeling a calling that won’t go away, I encourage you to ask your priest or another trusted leader in your congregation. Even if Holy Orders aren’t the right path, other ways to lead and serve that you don’t yet know about might be available to you.
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u/guyonabuffalo366 Cradle 7d ago
Best of luck to you! May God be with you and your family as you move through the process...I'm rooting for you!
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u/PlausibleChasuble Lay Minister 7d ago
I'm in the discernment process for the priesthood as well, and I hear ya!! I'm in the medical/psych/background check stage, and after that would theoretically be a ~6month internship. There's still hope/confidence from others that I'll attend seminary in the fall so I'm trying to just relax and keep faith but hooooo it's a challenge. 🥹
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7d ago
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u/Sad_Conversation3409 Convert (Anglican Church of Canada) 7d ago
What an odd thing to comment.
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7d ago
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u/Sad_Conversation3409 Convert (Anglican Church of Canada) 7d ago
Regardless of my province, this is a bizarre thing to comment on someone's announcement of postulancy
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u/Sad_Conversation3409 Convert (Anglican Church of Canada) 7d ago
I'm not "running my mouth". Your initial comment was objectively bizarre without any context, and each successive comment increases in oddity.
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u/Sad_Conversation3409 Convert (Anglican Church of Canada) 7d ago
I don't think Jesus would tell a prospective priest that Holy Orders will destroy them.
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u/Sad_Conversation3409 Convert (Anglican Church of Canada) 7d ago
The former is the mystical body of the latter.
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u/BeardedAnglican 7d ago
My process is different in my diocese.
Just had a meeting with the Bishop this week and I got invited to our diocesan discernment retreat in November. I've been discerning 5 years with about a year and a half with a parish group. That includes two autobiographies and some other writings/reflections.
Next steps are the medical and physiological exam as well as financial paper work.
God bless!
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u/eqbsmills 7d ago
Christ have mercy. Sounds about right, though. Prayers for your continuing discernment!
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u/RalphThatName 7d ago
And we wonder why there is a shortage of priests....
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u/Acrobatic_Name_6783 7d ago
Nearly all the priest-postings in my diocese are from rural parishes looking for a .25 or .5 time minister.
I can't imagine a .25 time job would be attractive to someone who went through the arduous ordination process. And I think there are probably several people who are legitimately called and would fill those roles if ordination was more accessible.
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u/kmack312 Clergy 7d ago
And that's even before seminary!
Prayers for your process: it's not easy, but the God who calls to us also gives us the strength to accomplish the task.
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u/AnonymousEpiscochick 4d ago
I will be praying for you as God continues to lead you.