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HOT SPRINGS — George Sanders is taking a long and curious route to become a priest.
On Sunday, March 3 one of the last steps was taken toward his priestly ordination when he was ordained a transitional deacon by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor in his home parish, St. John the Baptist in Hot Springs.
Joining him on the front row during Mass were his wife Brenda, adult sons, Eric and Gregg, and their girlfriends.
“Knowing so long ago that Christ asked me to do this, it’s a great joy to now be able to walk in what he had promised,” Sanders said. “God doesn’t call you for no reason. I have a great love and appreciation for the Church that the Church would recognize that men not born in the Catholic faith have made a commitment to the Lord, and the Church in her great mercy recognizes these callings. When a man through obedience to the Holy Spirit comes into the Catholic Church, the Church recognizes the value that that calling does not go away. God never takes away his vocations.”
After growing up in the Episcopal Church and attending an Assembly of God church, Sanders, 57, joined the Charismatic Episcopal Church in 1994 and served as a Charismatic Episcopal priest for three years. After studying the Church fathers, he decided to become Catholic with his wife in 2003. (Their sons became Catholic in 2001.)
In 2004 he asked Bishop J. Peter Sartain if he could study for the priesthood and inquiries were made to the Vatican. From 2007 to 2012 Sanders took courses on the weekends at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana and completed testing at Seton Hall University in New Jersey to ensure his training was complete.
Many Catholics are familiar with the provision that is made to allow former Episcopal priests to become Catholic priests. The Vatican made an additional provision to allow certain former Christian ministers to become priests.
Bishop Taylor addressed St. John parishioners Feb. 2 when Sanders was admitted to candidacy.
“As you may know, George is a married man who qualifies for a special provision in Church law that provides a path to the priesthood for the married clergy of non-Catholic Churches who convert to Catholicism … On Dec. 6, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI approved my petition to ordain George and last Monday I received the letter granting me permission to proceed.”
During the bilingual ordination Mass, Sanders made promises of celibacy, to live a life of prayer and to respect and obey Bishop Taylor and his successors. Among the concelebrants was St. John pastor Father James West, who was influential in the Sanders family becoming Catholic and brought the couple into the Church during a private ceremony in 2003.
“Today was a culmination for me after all the years of dedication,” said Brenda Sanders, who recently completed her college degree and hopes to become a Catholic school teacher. “My whole life has been to serve Christ and today is a fulfillment of all the years of serving God through all the ups and downs. Wherever you go you know you are going to follow Christ … God has created me for a specific purpose and I just want to follow him, wherever he leads me, whatever he asks me to do.”
Sanders, who has been assigned as a deacon to minister at St. Mary Church in North Little Rock, is scheduled to become a priest Aug. 3 at Christ the King Church in Little Rock. He is currently studying hospital chaplaincy at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock.
Click here to read Bishop Anthony B. Taylor’s complete homily from the ordination Mass.