New priest ordained

For more than 10 years, St. John's Episcopal Church in Green River has been without a resident priest.

Like many Protestant churches, dwindling membership meant that it became impossible to support a full-time priest.

Since that time, the congregation has been served by several priests provided by the Diocese of Wyoming. This situation is about to come to an end with the ordination of a local priest.

Under a program sponsored by the Diocese, the congregation has raised a new priest from its own membership. Ruth Lauritzen has been a member of St. John's for over a decade and has served in various capacities of church service and leadership for most of that time. About five years ago Lauritzen began to feel the call to ministry.

"I have always had a strong service ethic and seeing the church struggle with the lack of a priest created in me a desire to help," Lauritzen said. "This soon developed into a full-fledged call to ministry."

Lauritzen has been prepared for priesthood through the Iona School of Wyoming. This program is part of the Iona Collaborative, which is sponsored by the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. The program offers a three-year course of Bible studies, church history and theology taught via pre-recorded lectures by seminary faculty.

"I traveled to Casper once a month September through May for three years for studies. We had a challenging amount of reading to do between sessions, not to mention exams," Lauritzen said, "It has been a difficult but rewarding three years."

Lauritzen will be ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John S. Smylie on Friday, June 16, 2017 at 6 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church located at 350 Mansface St. in Green River.

Following her ordination Lauritzen will continue to serve her home congregation as sacramentalist and by providing pastoral care to its members.