training leaders

St. Stephen’s as a parish is part of The Episcopal Church, our national denomination. Leaders of the church – priests and deacons – are determined and trained through a very thorough and years-long process that is established by The Episcopal Church. This process includes discernment with other trained leaders to determine a career calling, years of education at a seminary and intentional time learning in parishes.

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Each diocese (region of the national church) in The Episcopal Church oversees this process for potential candidates and candidates for leadership in its area. For St. Stephen's, that is the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

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If you are interested in what is involved in the process (even if you yourself aren’t interested in going through the process), visit the section on the ordination process on the website of our diocese. The page on the process of becoming a priest includes a video from the bishop of the diocese, Mariann Edgar Budde.