Ordination Process
Persons who feel called to ordained ministry as a deacon or a priest pursue the following steps:
(1) Meet with their priest, who, if able to recommend the person as a nominee in the ordination process, must write a letter to the Bishop setting forth the reason why the recommendation is being made. Only in rare cases will the Bishop consider aspirants who would be ordained at age forty or older. Those considering ordination must hold a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent, and be fluent in a contemporary language (including American Sign Language) other than their own native tongue.
(2) Upon receipt of the priest’s letter, the Bishop initiates a conversation with the priest for further information about the nominee.
(3) If the Bishop decides to proceed, he invites the nominee to interviews first with members of the Diocesan staff to assess the aspirant’s capacities for pastoral and congregational worship.
(4) Based on the interviews, the Bishop may invite the aspirant to go forward with psychological testing at the Northeast Career Center (NECC) in Princeton, New Jersey.
(5) Based on the report from the NECC, the Bishop may ask the aspirant to meet with a Parish Advisory Committee on Ministry (PACOM) or another residential community of vocational discernment.
(6) Based on the report from the nominee’s residential community of vocational discernment, the Bishop may invite the nominee to attend a weekend prepostulancy conference.
(7) Based on the recommendation of the members of the Commission on Ministry and Standing Committee, who constitute the pre-postulancy conference staff, the Bishop may make the nominee a postulant and set forth the course of theological education in preparation for becoming first a candidate, and then an ordinand.
