Three priests ordained in Cologne


In All Saints Church, Cologne, on Saturday 28 June, three persons were ordained to the sacred priesthood: the Revd Richard Gardiner, the Revd Matthias Grebe and the Revd Doreen Cage.

Richard and Matthias are both assistant curates at St Boniface Bonn and All Saints Cologne and Doreen is assistant curate at St George's, Málaga. Along with assisting clergy and Readers, they entered the Church in procession still as deacons, and took their place ready to take their solemn vows as priests.



The preacher for the service was the Revd Canon William Gulliford, the Director of Ordinands, who had worked with each of the candidates for several years, as their vocation was discerned and they were trained and prepared for this day. Canon Gulliford also also led their pre-ordination retreat.


At the heart of the ordination rite, just prior to the ordination prayer and laying on of hands, is the solemn invocation of the Holy Spirit. Richard, Matthias and Doreen chose to lie prostrate for this part of the liturgy, to be reminded that they are completely dependent upon God for their ministry, as the ordinal says “you cannot bear the weight of this calling in your own strength, but only by the grace and power of God”. During the prostration the ancient hymn Veni Creator Spiritus and the litany are sung, in which the community prays for the ordinands to be filled with the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit.



All photos courtesy of Reiner Knudsen

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