Wednesday, July 21, 2010

GOE's

Posted by Reverend Ref + at 6:30 PM

The General Ordination Exams (GOE's) are sort of like the Bar Exam for soon-to-be clergy. While publicly not touted as a litmus test for ordination, we all know that you had best score at least "adequate."

I took the GOE's in January of 2004. Mrs. Ref and The Kid moved to a hotel that week. All in all, it was not that bad of an experience. Stressful on some levels (just who the hell were the Caroline Divines, and why were they important to my ministry??), surprisingly calm on others (it helped to format my papers ahead of time so I didn't have to worry about the little things during the test), they were a way to show that, yes, I had learned something in 2-1/2 years of seminary. And I was glad they were over.

Or so I thought.

I am currently in the search process for several parishes (see below). And one of them had the decency to send me their own version of the GOE's to be completed and returned "no later than July 25."

So I am doing my best to come across as "adequate." Then I will wait to see how I scored. If I did well, I will get to participate in a phone interview. If not, well then, thanks for playing.

The GOE's never really die . . . they just morph into parish discernment committees.

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6 comments:

Anonymous | 7:46 PM, July 21, 2010  

Yuck. I hated the schools that essentially asked me to sit for boards at their interviews... that's what my board scores were for, to show I was competent on those items. Hopefully no parishes in my diocese sent you GOEs or I might be screwed in the future.

Unknown | 8:58 PM, July 21, 2010  

In three paragraphs or less, please copare and contrast hypoallergenic and hypostasis according to the Klingon Book of Ritual. Please limit your use of the word "phlegm."

Reverend Ref + | 10:22 PM, July 21, 2010  

8-Sac: Not screwed so much as just being able to articulate who you are; which can be a little stressful.

Fr. John: Don't know if I can do hypoallergenic and hypostasis, but I can do HYPER-allergenic and hypostasis.

Hyper-allergenic: think tribbles. Klingons do NOT like tribbles.

Hypostasis: Honor.

Padre Mickey | 3:47 PM, July 25, 2010  

The GOE's were the only time in my life I was fine with being told I was "adequate."

Lady Anne | 10:43 AM, July 29, 2010  

My dad attended Sewanee, and years later he still shuddered when he mentioned his GOE tests. Fortunately, the parish where he served most of his career (other than a six-month TAPE in Chichester) never asked for a retesting!

Reverend Ref + | 12:31 PM, July 29, 2010  

Lady Anne,

Actually, the GOE's weren't all that bad; part of that came from some very wise advice -- "Just answer the question." Which might sound odd, but they were a lot like a mathematical story problem -- you needed to find the question in the fluff and answer that.

So, yeah . . . rough going at times, but not bad (well, except for that whole Caroline Divine thing).

Thanks for dropping by.

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