So… my twitter followers will know that I saw the DDO on Friday for the next step of my discernment jounrey. To be honest I had no idea what to expect. I knew my VC had completed her report on me but I didn’t know what it said. I almost half expected the DDO to send me away for a 6 month placement or similar, before going further. And I was all prepared for a bit of a battle.. but thankfully, grace abounded and that was not necessary!
So it was 3 hours… but we basically went through his previous report on me and what my VC had written step by step and filled in any gaps. There were a lot of questions and a few ‘ok, anything else…’ prompts in places. It was hard to know what to say as I couldn’t see what he had written in front of him and I think I missed a few key points because of it. For example when asked what I felt ordained ministry was, I didn’t give a list of roles of the Ordained Minister, I told him what my key aims were. So needless to say he told me the Bish will want to hear more on what ordained ministry is. Good heads up and I will gen up.
Also realised I must not ever, EVER, tell the Bish that I take communion without a minister present as it is against Church Law. Oops.. (note to self, shut mouth on this issue, do not debate whether this is right or not!) more on this in another post..
All in all though, it went well and he expects me to see the Examinig Chaplain in November and the Bish before Christmas, with BAP in the spring… Blimey..
So whilst I still stand by the fact that I will not jump through their hoops unnecessarily, or tell them things they want to hear if they are not true of me, I do feel a little bit of ‘genning up’ is required. It is probably 9 months since I read ‘Being a Priest Today’ and to be honest I did find it rather dull (to say the least), so perhaps now is the time to study it with more interest!
3 Comments
Alan Crawley
October 24, 2011 at 10:51 amIf you want to gen up I would suggest this page http://www.churchofengland.org/clergy-office-holders/ministry/selection/candidates.aspx rather than the books. The criteria have changed since I was selected. The books are great for encouragement and helping you discover what you feel about it all, but not for finding out about hoops!
Jules
October 25, 2011 at 7:09 pmthanks Alan, will check it out 🙂
nicolahulks
October 26, 2011 at 11:29 amYou may have already looked at these but have you read The Life and Work of a Priest by John Pritchard. Very helpful. Also Ministry in Three Dimensions by Steven Croft? The words of the ordinations service in Common Worship are also really useful for what the church sees the role as. I've got a Spring date too! xx