Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Ordination of a Priest


So I've come across several different places in blogs and e-groups where people have complained that a priest who was ordained a priest shouldn't leave The Episcopal Church and remain a priest. Their reasoning for this argument is from one line in the ordination of a priest from the book of common prayer 1979. I think you'll might remember that line from an earlier musing of mine, "and worship of The Episcopal Church." I find it humorous that they ignore the rest of the vows taken. For instance, "Will you be loyal to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them?" and "And will you, in accordance with the canons of this Church, obey your bishop and other ministers who may have authority over you and your work?" are asked of the ordinand. Not only does the ordinand say yes, but he goes into detail. "I am willing and ready to do so; and I solemnly declare that I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church." Normally, when you read, you go from left to right, top to bottom. These vows are structure in order for a reason. It's not about sounding ornate or elaborate. So I will break it down.


The Presentation
Presenters
(Name), Bishop in the Church of God, on behalf of the clergy and people of the Diocese of (Diocese's Name), we present to you (Ordinand's Name) to be ordained a priest in Christ's holy catholic Church.

Bishop
Has he been selected in accordance with the canons of this
Church? And do you believe his manner of life to be suitable
to the exercise of this ministry?

Presenters
We certify to you that he has satisfied the requirements of the
canons, and we believe him to be qualified for this order.

That's fairly simple. Presenters present the ordinand to the bishop for ordination in Christ's holy catholic Church. Take note that he is ordained in Christ's holy catholic Church not The Episcopal Church. The Bishop basically asks if he follows the canons and would make a good priest. The presenters before God and Christ's Church certify that meets the requirements and is qualified. So say if someone is in violation of the canons, the presenters would be lying. If the bishop knows they are lying and accepts there answer, it would most disappointing.


Bishop
Will you be loyal to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of
Christ as this Church has received them? And will you, in
accordance with the canons of this Church, obey your bishop
and other ministers who may have authority over you and
your work?

Ordinand
I am willing and ready to do so; and I solemnly declare that I
do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to
salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine,
discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church.

Doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church as received them? How often do we receive them? I don't think that often. Once again, saying yes to them before changing the doctrine seems wrong to me. The next line doesn't really support leaving The Episcopal Church, which I wonder why it isn't used more often. There is that qualifier in there, "in accordance with the canons of this Church," before obeying your bishop. The response is what speaks strongly to me. It is sort of like saying, I will but also I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation. The ordinand is stating that the Scriptures are Holy, and that they believe in both Old and New Testaments. They also state that they are the Word of God. They are not some historical document you can take the parts you want and throw out the other parts.

The thing that makes seem alright to me is that the piece of being apart of The Episcopal Church are qualifiers. The qualifiers seem to be the weaker part of the vow while the meat is more important, things like believing in the Holy Scriptures. When the two are in conflict, which they are undoubtedly, I would hope that the priest would go with the stronger part of the vow.

This is only touching on the presentation. I could go deeper, but I think my burden of proof is met here. You'll find the book of common prayer here, or you can turn to page 526 in your own copy. If you looked back, you would find that the first homosexual bishop was approved before the canon was changed. Most of these ground-breaking ordinations were done out of order. In parts of The Episcopal Church, you will find that it's not even required for priests to agree with all of the Nicene Creed or that the Bible is the Word of God. Now explain to me why you could think that someone who meant what they said and tries to follows their vows to the best of their abilities is less worthy than someone who only meant part of their vows?