Finally another Diaconate update.
We had the psych test done way back in February. Mrs. Fric finished it in 3 hours. Took me another hour on top of that. Some of it was really odd. Some of it was relatively obvious. Weird parts were the questions like “Would you like to be a florist?” and “If you were an artist, would you like to draw flowers?” Haven’t figured out what flowers signify, but I answered no to both.
There was an intelligence test and various types of evaluations and a personal interview with the psychologist. Mostly OK. I was still nervous, knowing that this one man could interpret the results in a negative way and I’m done.
Results were to take several weeks in the end. On the day we were to go for our results, the office called and rescheduled for the following week. Had to pause to keep myself from swearing, but I figured that God wanted me to practice patience. So I decided to take it all as no big thing. After all, what was another week?
When I got home, there was a letter waiting from the Office of the Diaconate. That was surprising. Figured it was about the psych profile, but I had thought the results weren’t sent to them until after we got to review them. I opened the envelope with some serious trepidation. I figured if any one stage would knock us out, it would be this one.
Lo and behold! We passed and would be meeting with the Archbishop! Whew! I have to say that at that point the weight of uncertainty lifted from my shoulders. It seemed like the whole thing was a weight I hadn’t realized yet. We still had to go over the results with the pysychologist which was a little disconcerting at the same time it was nothing to worry about. We knew we were in, but honestly, the results left me wondering how I passed. I see how Mrs. Fric passed, but me? I probably wouldn’t have let me in which is also illustrates the point about how I tend to be harder on myself than others.
So, we finally have our appointment with Archbishop Kurtz this Friday, April 11. This is the last step. While technically possible, it’s rare to get to see the Archbishop and not get into the program. After all they don’t want to waste his time. That’s why you go through this long process. So keep praying. I am sure I am creative enough to screw up. 🙂
God willing, I will start classes on July 19th, 2008 and be ordained some time in late August of 2012.