This highlights a trend in pecusa; we see this in the DCNY and elsewhere. Small and declining churches cannot support a full-time seminary-trained priest. The alternative are locally trained (read generally poorly trained) nonstipendiary priests. I have noted in earlier posts how poor the training is in the DCNY. Expect to see more of this as churches continue to decline in the DCNY and pecusa. ed.
By Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: May 02, 2010, 6:43 am / 0 comments
Published: May 02, 2010, 12:30 am
With just a dozen regular Sunday worshippers, the people of Holy Apostles Episcopal Church in Perry were in no position to afford a full-time priest.
But they didn’t intend to shut down their 170-year-old rural parish, either.
So the congregation looked within its own pews and found a willing candidate for the priesthood.
And he comes cheap, too.
In a traditional ceremony this afternoon, Deacon Kirk V. Katner, a longtime parishioner of Holy Apostles, will be ordained to the Episcopal priesthood by Bishop J. Michael Garrison of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.
What makes the ordination even more unusual is that Katner has agreed to serve as a “nonstipendiary” priest for Holy Apostles: He will keep his secular job as a traveling optical lab sales representative and receive no compensation for his priestly work in the church.
Garrison said he approved of the plan because it allows Holy Apostles to stay viable.
The parish is tiny, but its people are committed and faithful, the bishop said.
“Our places are increasingly smaller, but we want our churches in rural areas to survive,” he said.
The arrangement at Holy Apostles also will involve three other people serving as part of a “commended ministry team” that will share the duties typically handled by a priest alone.
It is the second time Garrison has performed an ordination for nonstipendiary priests in the Western New York Diocese.
In November, the Rev. Yvonne Curtis and the Rev. Helen Sam were ordained priests and now serve together as part of a commended ministry team at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Dunkirk.
The Episcopal Church’s canons allow for noncompensated priests in situations where congregations can’t afford them, said Garrison.
Katner, who is married and has two children, was not trained in seminary like most Episcopal priests, but he did study theology and other subjects for six years under other priests.
He will have the same privileges as any priest within the Episcopal Church — including being able to bless the congregation, perform baptisms, absolve parishioners of their sins and consecrate bread and wine for communion.
Katner acknowledged that some seminary-educated priests might be wary of his path to ordination, which came through the diocese’s Bishop Brent School for Ministry, an umbrella program of ministry training.
Nonstipendiary priests, though, are no threat to seminary- trained priests who rely on congregations for their compensation, said Katner and Garrison.
“There has been some concern and hesitation [from other priests]. All I can say to them is this is not something I think everybody is going to want to do,” said Katner.
The arrangement at Holy Apostles and St. John the Baptist churches could work well in other small rural parishes, but it doesn’t diminish the need for paid clergy, Garrison added.
“The reality is that if a congregation is able to afford full-or part-time, seminary-trained clergy, that’s the route they’re going to want to go,” the bishop said. “Other priests’ jobs are not threatened by this system.”
Katner’s path to the priesthood shouldn’t be viewed as a shortcut to paid ministry, either, he said.
Katner would be eligible to be called for a full-time paid pastorate of a large parish, but that’s highly unlikely.
At age 61, Katner said he has no desire to move away from Perry, which he has called home for nearly 30 years. Besides, he also said he wasn’t interested in performing the administrative duties that usually come along with being a full-time priest.
Those tasks will be up to his wife, Anne Katner, who will serve as administrator on the commended ministry team. Betty Rice will serve as catechist and Norma Billings will be the parish’s Eucharistic visitor and minister.
“With this ordination, we’re insisting the priest be seen as part of a team,” said Garrison.
That’s certainly how Katner views it.
“In all honesty, the whole congregation is involved in this ministry team,” he said.
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