From New Hampshire-
As the granddaughter of one of the first female priests in the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Kate Atkinson says the ministry "is in my blood." But it's a path the new rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church didn't choose until after she had begun a successful business career overseas.
Atkinson's grandmother, the Rev. Jane Bloodgood, was ordained in 1978 at age 78. Nineteen years later, Atkinson herself joined the priesthood.
"It just felt like the culmination of something I had been preparing for for most of my life, even without realizing it," Atkinson said. "That was what I was here for, the reason for being here. And to know that you are stepping into a new chapter of your life which God has chosen you for is a tremendous feeling."
Atkinson, who is married and has a daughter, will join St. Paul's next month. The church has been without a rector since the Rev. David Jones left three years ago.
A psychology and education major at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., Atkinson moved to England after graduation. There she became active in her local church.
"The priest there kept asking me to do all sorts of things: Sunday school, mission work, serve on the vestry, lead prayer and do readings in church services, and then he invited me to preach," she said by phone from her current parish, St. Andrew's in Saratoga, Calif. "He had a very strong sense that I was destined for ordained ministry and was inviting me to take part so that I would discover it for myself . . . but it took about three years."
More here-
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090704/FRONTPAGE/907040388
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