New clerics receive First Tonsure and ordination to the Minor Orders

MOBILE 30 June 2012 (ACNS) – Two new clerics received the First Tonsure and were ordained to the Minor Orders on the Commemoration of Saint Paul the Apostle. Mr. Shane VanMeveren of South Dakota recieved the orders of Porter, Lector, Exorcist, Acolyte, and Sub-Deacon. Mr. Brett Merlina of Florida received the orders of Porter and Lector. Both are seminarians currently in formation for the priesthood. The officiant was Cardinal Johnson, Patriarch of the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church. His Eminence was assisted by Archbishop Harris Rowzie, Archbishop of the Southeast. The ordination rite took place at the Church of the Redeemer in Mobile, Alabama.

The rites used derive from ancient traditions, and their specific form is special to the usage of this communion. It is through the First Tonsure that men are admitted as clerics and thus become part of the Church hierarchy. The newly-tonsured clerics are invested with the surplice with the words “May the Lord clothe thee with the new man, who is created according to God in justice and true holiness.”

Both new clerics were then ordained as Porters. During this rite, the ordinand touches the keys of the church, symbolic of the traditional duty of Porters to help take care of the physical property and security of the church grounds. After the ordination, Archbishop Rowzie led the new Porters to open and close the church doors and then ring the church bell.

Next followed the ordination to the order of Lector, during which the two ordinands touched a book containing the Lessons. This symbolizes the duty of a Lector to read the lessons in public worship. During the ordination to exorcist, the ordinand touched a book containing the rites of exorcism. Next, during his ordination as Acolyte, the candidate held an unlit candle and an empty cruet as symbols of his office.

Prior to the ordination to the Sub-Diaconate, the surplice was removed from Mr. VanMeveren and he was invested with the amice as a symbol of moderation in speech. He then retired to the sacristy to vest in the alb. After his presentation to the Patriarch as a candidate for the Sub-Diaconate by Archbishop Rowzie and the subsequent interrogation, Mr. VanMeveren prostrated before the altar during the singing of the Litany of the Saints. He was then ordained Sub-Deacon by the laying on of hands and invested with the maniple and tunicle, the vestments proper to his office. Lastly, he was presented with the Book of Epistles, symbolizing his authority and duty to sing the Epistles during high mass. After the benediction and the charge to the new clerics, the new Sub-Deacon touched the chalice and the paten, which were held by the Patriarch, as a symbol of the new ministry entrusted to him. Archbishop Rowzie then held in turn two cruets, one filled with wine and one with water, and then the lavabo basin and towel, for the new Sub-Deacon to touch as further symbols of his new ministry.









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