A Joyful Ordination for Groton's Chaplain in St. John's Chapel

For the first time since the 1950s, a faculty member has been ordained as an Episcopal priest in St. John’s Chapel, right on the Groton School campus.

The chapel was filled with both people and palpable joy on Sunday, January 22, as Groton School’s chaplain, the Reverend Christopher Whiteman, was presented to the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts by nine people from different parts of his life, including his parents and Groton Headmaster Temba Maqubela.

About thirty members of the clergy, including the bishop—the Right Reverend Alan Gates—joined the Groton community and other supporters to welcome the Reverend Whiteman into the priesthood.

It was a ceremony filled with pageantry. Dean of Faculty John Conner, acting as verger, led the procession into the chapel, followed by Jonathan Lamson ’18, who carried the cross. Near the end of the ninety-person procession, Mims Reynolds ’17 waved a white dove kite, representing the Holy Spirit, which seemed to cascade magically from side to side, high above the procession. Many held candles as they walked down the central aisle of the chapel, creating an aura with their flickering lights.

Groton’s chaplain is carrying on the tradition of his father and grandfather, both ministers. Sunday’s service culminated about four years of preparation, during which Mr. Whiteman earned a master’s of divinity at the Harvard Divinity School. Last June, he was ordained to the diaconate, his first official step toward the priesthood.

At Sunday’s service, the Right Reverend Gates spoke about the word “pontiff,” which means bridge, and discussed Mr. Whiteman’s position as a bridge between the Episcopal Church and a pluralistic society, including the diverse community that he serves at Groton School.

In one of the most sacred moments, the many clergy present laid hands on Mr. Whiteman—a traditional act in which God is called on to pass the Holy Spirit to the newly ordained priest. The ceremony ended with a celebration of the Eucharist.

“I was sitting up next to the altar, so I got to sit next to the Reverend right after he said his first prayer as a priest,” Mims said. “Reverend Whiteman was absolutely beaming when he sat down, and you could tell that something really special had just happened.”

Academic Dean Kathy Leggat described an atmosphere of “palpable excitement ... you couldn’t help but walk out feeling great.”

Several Groton students, besides Jonathan and Mims, participated in the ordination: they served as lay Eucharistic ministers, acolytes, and ushers, and they sang in the choir (along with choristers from two Massachusetts churches, St. Michael’s in Milton and Trinity in Melrose). Chorister and Latin teacher Kate Dennison, who read during the service, said that part of the joy came from welcoming the clergy and friends from other communities.

“I felt so unbelievably lucky to be a part of the service,” said Mims. “It was a very joyous occasion, and I felt my eyes well up with tears because it was full of such pure happiness.” She was not the only one moved to tears.

Particularly affecting was the sermon delivered by the Reverend Cathy George, associate dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University. “Priests are not called to ordination by some singular lightning bolt from on high,” she said. “They are called by their human experiences, they are called in communities, they are called by and in the midst of the people of God.”

For Mr. Whiteman, the calling to priesthood was as much about people as religion. “It’s not so much about working with the church, but working with people,” he said. “When I see the pain and suffering that is all around us and inside ourselves, I feel compelled to action, to help in some way. Being ordained is my response to this call to make the world a better place, a more loving place, and a more compassionate place.”

See photos from the ordination on Groton's Flickr page.

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