Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 10-11, 2005

2 of their own

Trained at their own church, two women to become Episcopal priests Sunday.

By Rae Kruger 
rkruger@marshallindependent.com


Church-schooled. 


St. James Episcopal Church members Marilyn Leach and Coleen Tully will be ordained as priests this Sunday afternoon in a special service at the Marshall church.
 The pair started studying seven years ago as part of a new program called Total Ministry Team.
 A third member, Kate Hennessey, will be ordained this summer.


Leach and Tully didn’t attend seminary but, instead, worked within the church and diocese to become priests.
 “This is no different than other priests,” said the Rev. Ken Toven, a priest at St. James. “They will both be priests.” 
 Although both women have embraced their new roles, they have had their reluctance.
 “It wasn’t that they had a calling to be priests but rather that the congregation named these people they could see functioning in that role,” Toven said.


God was speaking to the two women, but God was also speaking to the congregation in its suggestion of the two women.
 The suggestion for the roles came through the Total Ministry Team, which has congregation members identify needs and roles in the church and name those who they believe can fill the roles and help with.

Tully and Leach had joined the Total Ministry Team for reasons other than to study to be priests.


“Actually the people in our congregation asked me four times,” Tully said. “I said no three times.”
The congregation and well, God, were persistent and when asked a fourth time Tully asked herself, ‘why am I against this.’


While Tully had her reluctance early on, Leach experienced a particular bout about two years ago while writing her call-to-ministry paper for the diocese.
 She was about 62 and wondered how she’d be able to handle the role. 
“I was thinking about calling a member of the congregation to talk when I picked up the church directory,” Leach said. 
She dropped the directory and her attention was drawn to the words on the directory’s front cover, “You did not choose me (God) but I chose you,” are the words.
 Leach said it was clear God was speaking to her and her doubt eased.
 Leach had joined Total Ministry because she wanted to learn more about sacraments. She believed it would help her be a better music director at the church. 
“I didn’t want the doors of the church to close,” Leach also said of her interest. “Whatever role I would play not only in keeping it alive but a growing congregation.”


During the seven years, St. James had different priests and experienced some lows and transitions, Leach said.
 Ironically, the time they put in is similar to time that many priests spend in undergraduate work and then seminary.
 They studied, questioned, wrote papers. 
“We had to write for the bishop and mine were always late,” Tully said.
 “Seven years is a long process,” Tully said. “But it did let me know that once I made the decision to become a priest, I was committed.”


The Episcopal church emphasizes three training foundations — tradition, scripture and reason, Tully said.
 “It’s a three-legged stool and you need all three legs to find a balance,” Tully said. “You can always go back to scripture. You have to know there is meaning behind all the tradition. You have to also be able to reason.” 
Tully’s learned more of that three-legged stool during the past seven years. 
“If you keep all three on the ground, your life is full,” Tully said.
 Toven said the congregation of St. James has embraced the ideal of community in Christ and that each has a role to play in the church and the community at large.


“I think this is more like the original disciples,” Leach said. “Those people were essentially a team in a relationship with Christ.” 
“One of the things I really like about the Episcopal Church is it is a bottom-up philosophy rather than a top-down,” Tully said. “People are encouraged to discern their gifts...”


The two new priests will share duties with Toven.
 “My role in the church will change dramatically,” Toven said.
 He will continue to share more of the preaching, sacraments and other responsibilities with the new priests.
 Eventually, Toven expects to begin working with another church in a Total Ministry team.
 Also, members of St. James will continue to work in the Total Ministry team to make sure there are others like Tully, Leach and eventually Hennessey to fill roles in the church.