Studying for Holy Orders

A friend was considering applying to the priesthood for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, but his rector has dissuaded him, at least for the short term. I think that this is probably a good thing. Personally, I hope that he comes over to a continuing church. He is theologically orthodox and so will not have much of a place in this diocese, which is very liberal. But one of the other reasons why I would hope that he would consider us is that most continuing jurisdictions are very anglo-catholic, which is what he is. Most episcopal parishes here in Maryland are really low, so I don't know how much he would enjoy it if he were stuck at one that was very low and staffed by some metapausal old lady "priest" still harping about the 60's, Martin Luther King, and social justice. The discernment process here in Maryland involves attending a parish other than your own home parish in order to see what other parishes in the diocese are like, so he'd be told to go somewhere other than his parish during the process. The continuing churches offer lots of possibilities for people who want to serve the Lord. It may not always be financially lucrative, but that is not the point of going into fulltime ministry. And there is plenty of new work to be done - missions need to be started, older parishes need to be reinvigorated, and ecumenical work needs to be done. Yes indeed, there is still a lot of work out there for orthdox anglican clerics! Thanks be to God.