On Sunday at 10:30 a.m., Tom VandenBosch will cap nearly two years of intensive preparation with his ordination as a transitional deacon at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Guadalajara.
“A transitional deacon is one that is on his way to becoming a priest, after another year of study,” said VandenBosch, adding that his instructor and pastor is the Rev. Dr. Jim Priddy, who is also a faculty member at the small Spanish language Centro de Estudios Teológicos de San Andrés (St. Andrew’s Center for Theological Studies) in the Guadalajara area.
“It’s been intense,” said VandenBosch, reflecting on his recent spate of six essay exams that lasted two full days. “Father Priddy has been giving me the same curriculum he had when he went to a very good seminary in Texas. He orders my books from the States, because they’re in English, and he picks them up when he visits Texas.”
VandenBosch noted that classes and books at CETSA are normally in Spanish for the seminary’s approximately 12 students and that Priddy, who has taught in Spanish there, now gives him classes in English individually.
“We all have to apply and be accepted. I even had to take physical and psychological exams.” He added that there is no tuition for any of the seminary’s students. “Otherwise, nobody could afford it. All we have to pay for is our books and they can be costly.”
He noted that his year as a deacon will be like a practicum. “I’ll read the gospel at Mass and give the final benediction and some sermons,” he said, adding that there are a few duties he won’t be permitted to perform until after his final ordination, such as consecrating bread and wine.
VandenBosch said that the idea of being a priest came as something of a surprise to him, even though he considered the ministry as an adolescent, but never pursued it. “My father, who is now 93, is a Christian Reformed minister and I grew up in a parsonage,” he explained.
“Then, many years later, as St. Mark’s senior warden and treasurer, I was meeting weekly with Father Priddy about church matters and he noticed my involvement and interest. ‘You should pursue ordination,’ he told me, and after some time, he brought it up again, and I agreed.
“The warm and nurturing community at St. Mark’s was an important factor in my decision,” VandenBosch went on. “I liked St. Mark’s immediately. It was a good fit.”
He explained that the series of events drawing him to St. Mark’s were remarkable. “After two master’s degrees and 18 years in K-12 education as a teacher and guidance counselor, I left education and went into fundraising for faith-based organizations. After that, I was inevitably asked to be involved in stewardship at churches I attended. When I moved to Mexico a few years ago, I planned to retire and leave all that behind. But as it happened the first Sunday I attended St. Mark’s, they were kicking off their stewardship campaign. I told the priest at that time about my background and he asked me to chair the stewardship committee!”
At Sunday’s ordination, some of VandenBosch’s relatives, who live in Jalisco, will be present.
“I’m about halfway done now,” he noted.