AUBURN — The Right Rev. Dr. DeDe Duncan-Probe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, will ordain Meredith Kadet Sanderson to the priesthood at 10 a.m. Easter Saturday, April 23, at the Episcopal Church of Saints Peter & John, 169 Genesee St. in downtown Auburn.
The community is invited to attend the service in-person or online; please visit cnyepiscopal.org/ordination-sanderson for details. COVID-19 precautions will be in place.
Sanderson is chief of staff and director of communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. Prior to joining the Diocese in 2015, she served as director of programs for Episcopal Charities of New York and as a fundraiser and data analyst with UNICEF USA in New York City. With husband Christopher Carter Sanderson, she is the parent of a preschooler and resides in Liverpool.
Sanderson holds a master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a bachelor of arts degree from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. She will begin her ministry as a priest with the people of Christ Episcopal Church, 25 N. Main St., Jordan, celebrating Holy Eucharist for the second Sunday of Easter at 10 a.m. April 24. She will also continue her role with the Diocese of Central New York.
Sanderson will be the first person under the age of 40 to be ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Central New York in several years — in a time when religious institutions are facing significant transitions due to the ongoing pandemic and changing attitudes toward religion.
“I anticipate a lot of change in the years ahead! One of my favorite lines in scripture is Ephesians 3:20-21, which reminds us that the power of God within and among us can do ‘far more than all we can ask or imagine,’” Sanderson said when asked about her hopes for ministry. “God will always work through the Church and through Christian community — though the form that work takes now and in the future may be outside the bounds of what we can presently ‘ask or imagine.’”
Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe, who oversees all the clergy in the 82 congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, commented on Sanderson’s journey ahead of her ordination.
“Through her faithful commitment to Jesus’ Way of Love, inclusivity, and joyful optimism, Meredith has already touched the hearts of people throughout our diocesan community. With grateful hearts for our shared ministry, we joyously celebrate God’s call for her, and our church, as we continue this journey of faith together,” Duncan-Probe said.
In the Episcopal Church, all individuals, regardless of gender expression or sexual orientation, may be ordained as deacons, priests or bishops, the three ordained orders in the church; celibacy is not required of the clergy. The church’s General Convention approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate in 1976.
