Memories of an Ordination - Anglican convert and well known blogger Fr. Al Kimel

Open Book ^ | December 5, 2006 | Amy Wellborn

[NYer]

Congratulations - to Fr. Al Kimel, brilliant blogger, convert from Anglicanism, husband and father, ordained on Sunday by Bishop John Myers of Newark. Photos at the link. Author Dwight Longenecker has posted photos of his diaconate ordination, and will be ordained to the priesthood a week from Thursday by Bishop Baker of Charleston.

[NYer]

Father Al Kimel's Ordination

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PONTIFICATIONS - Fr. Kimel's blog.

[NYer]

Dwight Longenecker

About Me
Brought up in an American Evangelical home, I went to Bob Jones University--the jewel on the buckle of the Bible Belt. While there I came down with a severe case of Anglophilia from reading too much C.S.Lewis and Tolkien and T.S.Eliot. I went to study theology at Oxford, was ordained as an Anglican priest and stayed in England for twenty five years. After ten years wearing a dog collar I was received into the Catholic Church. I spent ten years as a layman writing articles and books no one reads. Then the call came to return to the USA. I am now chaplain at St Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville, South Carolina, and by God's grace will be ordained as a Catholic priest in December 2006.

[markomalley]

Al Kimel (aka “Pontificator”) was a parish priest in the Episcopal Church for twenty-five years. He has published articles in the Anglican Theological Review, Sewanee Theological Review, Interpretation, Scottish Journal of Theology, Worship, Faith & Philosophy, Pro Ecclesia, and First Things. He has also edited two books: Speaking the Christian God and This is My Name Forever. He began Pontifications in March 2004 as a way to reflect on the meaning of the Church and to invite others to share in these reflections. In June 2005 he entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. On 3 December 2006 he was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church. He is currently serving as the lay Catholic chaplain at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. All unsigned articles on Pontifications are written by Fr Kimel.

[markomalley]

[NYer]

no pix! Were these from a blog? Their format is not supported outside the blog.

[franky]

The Lord be with Fr. Al Kimel.

[markomalley]

Ah, Opera...cached the pix that were already downloaded. Ah, well.

[incredulous joe]

Very cool! Thanks. And God bless Fr. Kimmel.

[Kolokotronis]

You know, the Pontificator agonized over a conversion to Rome or Orthodoxy. I must say I am pleased to see that he took his choice so seriously. God Bless him!

[livius]

Wonderful! Bishop Baker used to be here in St. Augustine (as pastor of the Cathedral), but he is now bishop of Charleston, where my daughter lives. She says he's great and has taken what was a very heterodox diocese and set it back on course (including removing some very, very bad priests).

I'm so glad the soon-to-be Fr. Kimmel is on the right track and tied in with the right folks.

[NYer]

Ping!

[ELS]

Bishop John Myers of Newark

Dear Amy,

John J. Myers is the ordinary of an archdiocese which makes him an archbishop, not a bishop.

ELS

[ELS]

He has a sense of humor, too.

"Since I really can’t grow a decent beard, I had no choice but to become Catholic."

[Mike Fieschko]

Direct link to the particular blog post on openbook: Congratulations.

Where Welborn says 'Photos at the link', the link is to Memories of an Ordination.

Personal gripe: the photos show nothing of the interior of Our Lady of Sorrows, where the sacrament of Holy Orders was administered, nor of its lovely large stained glass windows. If anyone is near South Orange, New Jersey, don't miss visiting the church. For some inexplicable reason, there is no parish web site, and I've been unable to locate any images on the 'net of the interior or windows.

[Mike Fieschko]

Dwight Longenecker ... I went to Bob Jones University--the jewel on the buckle of the Bible Belt.

The Italian Gothic page at the University's Museum and Gallery site quotes Willa Cather (!), and the Museum has quite a nice selection of paintings from Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and other periods, many, of course, of the Mother of God.