On January 25-26, I am going to be going in for my psychological exams, required by all those who wish to continue on with the Ordination Process. I’ve heard horror stories, I’ve heard about experiences that go just fine. I mean, everyone has to go through them. But there are a TON of tests to complete (MMPI-2, Myers-Briggs & others) and bubble to fill-in. It’s a full two-day process. So I have to have all of these forms/tests completed before I go in, and then I’ll be there for 5 hours on Day 1 and another 3 hours on Day 2. To be honest, I’m not looking forward to it, but then again, I don’t know many who do. I ran across this article (thanks Millinerd) that was written by a recent PTS graduate who is currently serving as a Chaplain at Emory University Hospital. In it, she details her own experiences with the ordination process, specifically when it came to pscyhological exams and the emphasis placed on them, within the Episcopal church. I encourage you to read it; here is a short excerpt:
I figured that the Commission on Ministry, a body of clergy charged with the task of discerning suitability for future ministry, would naturally concur. Wrong again! After a 45-minute interview, two members of the commission, complete strangers, concluded that while it was possible that God was calling me to ordained ministry, I should first spend two years in therapy for unspecified “issues” and then come back again. By this time the message was clear: therapy, not spiritual discernment, was the ultimate litmus test of a call to ordained ministry.