Day 6: The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina

When I was about 5 years old I was baptised at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina at the Great Vigil of Easter.  This was a fortuitous first step of the many I would take in the Diocese.  I could (and have) written at some length about my relationship with the Diocese of East Carolina, but I'm going to leave a good portion of that for another day, as I'm sure my thanks for the diocese can span well more than two or three days, but I will speak primarily about my thanks for what it has done over the last couple of years. 

As anyone who's taken the time to read the bio on the right side of the page knows, I'm a Postulant for Holy Orders (Priesthood) from the Diocese, which means that Dio. E. Carolina and it's Bishop Clifton Daniel III have approved sending me to seminary.  As you can imagine, the process to be entered as a postulant is not a short one and involves approval by several individuals and committees as well as physical and mental evaluations.  The full process to be made a postulant can take upwards of two years (as it did in my case) and once granted ties you to a Diocese through three years of Seminary and two years of ordained ministry in the Diocese, so being comfortable with where you are is extremely important. 

I actually began the discernment process in 2008 in the Diocese of North Carolina where I was working at the time.  While still spending my required year at a parish before the calling of a discernment committee I had to move for work reasons.  I had the great fortune of winding up back in the Diocese of East Carolina where I had been raised.  

After attending the 2009 Diocesan convention, I was able to meet up with many people I had not seen in years, all of whom were exceptionally supportive.  After joining St. Andrew's on the Sound, starting the process over and working my way through my rector, my parish, the commission on ministry, and the Bishop, I could not be happier to be a postulant through this diocese.  It has given me more than I could ever have expected or asked for, and I'm ecstatic that I will spend the next chapter of my life working with and for such an exceptional entity.