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Such a long weekend, so little sleep. I think the beds in the cabins were designed for pre-teen campers...i.e. short, rubber mattresses arranged in the classic bunk-bed style. Just what an exhausted candidate wants: to sleep in a stuffy nook on an uncomfortable bed that's about three inches too short. Well, I suppose it's the common lot of all who have been ACPO'ed at Canterbury Hills. It shan't be the experience of those after, since complaints about the sleeping arrangements have finally induced the powers that be to move ACPO to another venue. There's something to be said for being the last in a long line of sore backs and sleepless nights...not much, but something. I do want to stress that, besides the bed, Canterbury Hills is delightful. Amy and I stayed there for a Diocese of Niagara candidate's conference last January and we had far more comfortable beds, in the main lodge rather than the cabins. The food is excellent (and abundant) and the setting absolutely gorgeous - it's tucked into a fold of the Niagara escarpment, with deep ravines and rugged rock walls all around. The forest was beautiful, all yellows and reds, and I even encountered a group of deer as I walked between the lodge and my cabin. So long as adults are kept out of those cabin beds, the place is wonderful. Oh, yeah. The result of my interviews. This applicant is recommended at this time for postulancy. For those not versed in church terms, that's good news...it's a "Yay". So the sleepless nights and sore shoulders, not to mention the anxiety that set in once the interviews were over and the waiting began...all of it is now receding into distant memory. Funny how good news can make a rough experience fade away. Many thanks to everyone who left kind words of encouragement in the comments section or in e-mail (I had internet access over the weekend and your words really did boost me) and for your prayers. If you're up for one more prayer, I'd now ask you to pray for those whose answer was less happy. No matter what truths we candidates were told about valid and important calls to lay ministry, or the need to further develop one's vocational understanding, not getting that coveted recommendation is a really difficult thing. Every candidate I met at ACPO had already undergone great personal expense (financial, emotional, and even physical) to offer themselves to the service of God in the church, which is not a cushy job. These are people of immense integrity and devotion and conviction. Of course, a lot of very fine priests got a "no" at their first ACPO. They either worked on what their assessors wanted to see and went back again to be approved, or had bishops who didn't pay much attention to the results and ordained them anyhow. There are active lay leaders who used an ACPO "no" to explore other venues for ministry. It's not death to hear "no" at ACPO...but it probably feels like it. So if you pray, pray for those who've been disappointed and are probably having a hard time hearing much of anything from God this evening. |
