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Three priests ordained
in recent services

Above: The Rev. Robert Harris (left) and the Rev. Kenny Miller (right) were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Dean Wolfe Jan. 21 in Grace cathedral, Topeka. Harris assists at St. Aidan's, Olathe. Miller is curate at St. James', Wichita. Below: The Rev. Maria Hoecker (left) was ordained a priest on Feb. 4 by Bishop G. Porter Taylor of Western North Carolina. She is assistant rector of St. Phhilip's, Brevard, N.C.

By Melodie Woerman

Editor, The Harvest

Harris, Miller ordained in Grace Cathedral, Topeka

In a festive service Jan. 21 at Grace Cathedral, Topeka, Bishop Dean Wolfe ordained the Rev. Robert Harris and the Rev. Kenny Miller to the priesthood.

Harris now assists at St. Aidan’s, Olathe and is searching for a stipendiary position. He is a 2005 graduate of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and was a member of St. Michael’s, Mission before his ordination.

Miller is curate at St. James’, Wichita and was ordained by Bishop Wolfe on behalf of Bishop Charles vonRosenberg of East Tennessee, Miller’s home diocese. He is a 2005 graduate of the University of the South’s School of Theology in Sewanee, Tenn.

In his sermon, Bishop Wolfe described the call to ministry as being like a thick, rainy mist that often coats the English countryside, leaving you soaked before you even realize you’re wet.

“God’s call is like that,” he said. “It is less like a decision and more like a growing understanding of who you are meant to be and what you are meant to do.”

But he cautioned the two men against thinking life in ordained ministry might be easy. “This work will break you,” he said, “and in truth, it must break some parts of you so God can make something of us that God is able to use.”

In the end, however, he said, “ordination is mostly a matter of heart. How do we know these two are called? Do they love easily, and are they easily loved in return? Will they love their people, enter into their lives, enter into their pain and joy?”

Bishop Wolfe recalled hearing of a man who said he would crawl through broken glass to receive communion. “As a priest,” he asked them, “what would you do for the privilege of providing it to him in Christ’s name? What sort of heart will that take?”

Quoting a chaperone at the recent Miqra youth weekend who told other adult leaders it was time to “Go big or go home,” he told the two men, “This is a time to go big. Dream big things. Dare to do great things. Pray for large things, not just small things.”

Maria Hoecker is ordained a priest in North Carolina

The Rev. Maria Hoecker from the Diocese of Kansas was ordained to the priesthood Feb. 4 by Bishop G. Porter Taylor of Western North Carolina, on behalf of Bishop Dean Wolfe.

The service took place at St. Philip’s Church in Brevard, N.C., where Hoecker serves as assistant to the rector with responsibility for Christian education, outreach and pastoral care.

The Rev. Ray Hartjen assisted in the service. He is rector of Trinity, Atchison, the parish from which Hoecker and her late husband Rick attended seminary.  Other members of the Atchison parish also made the trip to North Carolina to participate.

Hoecker is a 2005 graduate of the School of Theology of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn. Maria and Rick were ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Wolfe in June 2005 just before Rick’s death.