Holcomb Ordains 5 New Priests in 4 August ServicesSeptember 6, 2024 • Shawn A. Akers  • DIOCESAN FAMILY • EVENTS • LEADERSHIP

The month of August saw five ordinations to the Sacred Order of Priests in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, each one holding a unique significance for the newly ordained priests. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb had previously ordained four of the five to the diaconate in a Jan. 11 service at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando.

This is the most ordinations to either the diaconate or the priesthood that the bishop has conducted in a single month since his consecration in June 2023:

The Revs. David and Stephanie Whitman

The Rev. Stephanie Whitman said the ordination service brought her to tears. As if sharing the ceremony with her husband weren’t enough, the Whitmans’ son, Will, also participated by reading scripture and vesting his parents with their stoles.

“It was a very special and humbling experience,” the Rev. Stephanie said. “Bishop Holcomb preached on the compassion of Jesus, and how we are called to accept and then share that compassion with others. He shared how this is especially true for my husband and me, and it was a very personal message. When Bishop Holcomb laid hands on my head, the power of the Holy Spirit was overwhelming, and then having my hands anointed with oil was incredible.”

She teaches at St. Barnabas Episcopal School in DeLand, but says as an ordained priest, she will also participate in the school’s chapel services as celebrant and preacher, along with the Rev. Audrey Sutton, rector, and the Rev. G. Comforted Keen, retired assistant, both of St. Barnabas, DeLand.

Bishop Holcomb and the Whitmans following vesting by their son, Will | Photo Credit: Becky Riley

The Rev. David says Holcomb’s sermon during their ordination service resonated with the couple’s ministerial focus and touched his heart in relation to his wife’s “often unbearable suffering” of living with cancer.

“I loved that the focus of the message was all about Jesus’ compassion for and solidarity with suffering,” he said. “I really loved that I was ordained with my wife in our home church – it was the culmination of our sense of calling that began over 27 years ago. We love our church family, and I loved the privilege of sharing our journey together as a community. I also over-the-moon-loved that our son, Will, vested us as part of the service.”

The Rev. David serves as chaplain with Geneva Hospice and will continue service in that capacity for now, he said.

The Whitmans’ ordination service included a reading of Matthew 9:36a, which says, “When he saw the crowds, he [Jesus] felt compassion for them.” Holcomb, who said he has known the Whitmans for years, told those assembled for the ordinations that this verse stood out for him concerning their character.

“You both seem unselfconsciously joyful to receive Jesus’ compassion,” the bishop said. “Some people don’t like being needy because they feel like it makes you look weak. But they [the Whitmans] have shown to me that they are unselfconscious in being joyful recipients of the compassion of God. And they both seem eager to extend that compassion to other people.”

The Rev. Garrett Puccetti

The Rev. Garrett Puccetti lies prostrate during his ordination at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando. | | Photo courtesy the Rev. Garrett Puccetti

Puccetti has begun his priestly ministry through the residency program at St. Luke’s, where he says he will continue to receive mentorship from the Cathedral leadership: preaching, teaching, administering the sacraments and serving the parish community day to day.

“My journey to the priesthood included years of discernment and growth – first sensing a call to the priesthood during my years of college ministry, and growing in my understanding of vocation through internship opportunities and study throughout seminary,” he said. “I have been guided and shaped by so many excellent mentors throughout this process, including the clergy and lay leaders from my sending parish, St. Francis in the Fields [Louisville, Kentucky]; Zion Episcopal Church [Oconomowoc, Wisconsin] (my parish home throughout seminary); and my professors at Nashotah House.”

During his ordination service, Puccetti said he “felt the gravity of the vocation to which he was offering himself up.”

“I knelt down prostrate, facing the altar, while my family and the congregation prayed for my ministry, the church and the world,” he said. “I felt the support of Bishop Holcomb and the diocese, my loved ones and my church community, who have affirmed and strengthened my sense of call throughout the process.”

The Rev. Becky Chapman

Following her ordination as a priest, Chapman has remained at St. Francis as the church’s associate priest and is excited about continuing under the tutelage of the Rev. Larry Recla, a 52-year veteran of the priesthood who serves The Episcopal Church through its full communion partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In fact, she said, “My ordination was a beautiful example of ecumenical cooperation and support.”

The Rev. Becky Chapman’s entire diaconate ordination class attended her ordination to the priesthood, including Deacon Johnny Clark, who flew all the way from a mission trip in Belize for this service. L-R: Deacon Bob Johnson, All Saints’, Lakeland; Deacon Dorothy Hunter-Spencer, St. Luke and St. Peter, St. Cloud; Deacon Kay Ruhle, St. Paul’s, Winter Haven; Bishop Justin Holcomb; the Rev. Becky Chapman, St. Francis, Bushnell; Deacon Christine Croskey, nonparochial; Deacon Rose Sapp-Bax, St. Francis of Assisi, Lake Placid; Deacon John Clark, No One Hungry FL, Titusville. | Photo Credit: Alexandra Graham

“I am very much looking forward to continuing to learn priestcraft from Father Recla,” she said. “It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to learn how to serve a congregation with him. As the Villages continues to have a larger footprint in the Sumter County area, one of the things I am hoping to focus my efforts on is bringing the gospel to Villages areas closer to St. Francis and Bushnell.”

During her ordination ceremony, Chapman said she chose to lie prostrate during the litany as a symbol of her obedience to God’s will. “Lying there listening to the words and responses of the litany definitely brought home to me the prayers ascending,” she said. “The moment where I knelt and Bishop Holcomb and all the other clergy gathered to lay hands on me was powerful in a different way because I felt both the support of not only the clergy there, but also the long and ancient line of priests I was joining. Giving the concluding blessing for the first time was also meaningful as I looked out on the full church of my family, friends and colleagues.”

She also said her journey to the priesthood has been “atypical.”

“I was originally ordained as a vocational deacon and then later felt that I was being called to the priesthood,” Chapman explained. “I think the biggest thing my journey has taught me is to have faith in God’s timing and in God’s plan.”

The Rev. Zoe Cordes Selbin

Cordes Selbin was ordained to the priesthood at St. Mark’s, Austin, Texas, where she has accepted a position as curate. “I grew up right outside of Austin, so I am grateful to be back near my family, and grateful to get to learn from my rector, Father Zac Koons,” she said.

Bishop Holcomb and the Rev. Zoe Cordes Selbin at St. Mark’s, Austin, Texas | Photo courtesy the Rev. Zoe Cordes Selbin

After discerning her call to ministry, Cordes Selbin began studies at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, where “I fell in love with the Book of Common Prayer and joined the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies,” she said. “I was lucky to study with Dr. Christopher Beeley and Rev. Joe Carnes-Ananais, who connected me with [then Canon for Vocations] Bishop Justin, and I began my discernment process. The incredible clergy and laypeople at All Saints, Winter Park, journeyed through discernment with me, supporting me, listening to God with me and graciously allowing me to preach and practice liturgy.”

Holcomb traveled to Austin to conduct her ordination, which Cordes Selbin called “an especially poignant gift.”

“I started my discernment process with Bishop Justin as my vocations director, and now to have been ordained by him and get to serve him as my bishop is a true gift and an honor,” she said. “He has seen me through every step of this process, leading with his signature blend of empathy, intellect, wisdom and gospel-centered servant leadership. Ministry can be lonely and difficult at times, so I feel deeply thankful for the community of clergy in [the Dioceses of] Central Florida, Texas, Dallas and beyond who have supported me, encouraged me and pointed me back to the cross, again and again.”