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John Patrick Seyler stood at the altar at Advent Lutheran Church in Westtown before Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania Bishop Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison and Southeastern Pennsylvania Evangelical Lutheran Synod Bishop Roy Almquist on Saturday vowing to bear faithful witness to God's love, scriptures and service.
As Almquist placed the stole on Seyler's shoulders and acclaimed him to be an ordained pastor of the Church of Christ, the assembled clergy and lay people broke out into applause, shouting, "Amen. Thanks be to God!" Jubilantly, they shared hugs and handshakes of peace.
Seyler, 50, has been working for several months as a mission partner with the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Kennett Square to develop an Episcopal-Lutheran congregation. In his new capacity as a pastor, he will be based at and involved in the congregational life of Church of the Advent, occasionally leading worship, preaching and teaching.
But his primary purpose is to minister to and establish a mission for the nearby Hispanic population: Mexican migrant workers as well as a diverse population that would feel comfortable in a multicultural church experience.
Chester County Commissioner Andrew Dinniman, who attended the Saturday morning service declared the joint ordination as "a day to celebrate." He said most Latinos who come to the area are either Catholic or Pentecostal Protestants. But this new Protestant mission is another force in Kennett Square to assist in integration of the community. "The church is reaching out, and churches that reach out are the ones that people join," he said.
Seyler was born Catholic in Argentina and has lived in Chile, the U.S. and Mexico. During his early 20s, he joined a Benedictine monastery and later worked as a lay minister in two parishes in Mexico. A furniture maker by trade, he said he struggled for several years before deciding to become a Protestant.
Now that he has embraced the Lutheran Church and has been ordained a pastor of that religion, he said he will maintain his devotion to the creeds of the apostles and sacraments of the church while incorporating his belief in the priesthood of all believers. "I view the church as an institution where freedom of conscience is respected and also a place where people who have taken a wrong turn can turn their lives around," he said.
Seyler said he has no intention of abandoning the Catholic festival that celebrates Our Lady of Guadeloupe every December. He said the story of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a poor Indian boy rather than to priests or political leaders indicates what is written repeatedly in the scriptures: that the poor are the chosen people.
While recognizing that many Mexicans are used to liturgies and rituals, he said he wants to honor those traditions. "The notion of the Lord's Supper as a fiesta for Mexicans -- it is a fiesta," he said.
Seyler said he will be working out of the Church of the Advent on North Union Street just north of the Kennett Square line, but he hopes someday to develop a separate location. Still, he does not believe that future home will resemble a traditional church with steeple and spire. "A church is a place for mission -- more of a community center for worshipping space. I think the days of building churches are over. We have to think what holy space is: a space for sharing, joy, work, etc.," he said.
Seyler said he is assembling an advisory panel of local multicultural leaders to guide the work of the mission. He also intends to create a visioning group.
Although the joint ordination and mission appears new and unique for the Kennett Square area, Seyler said the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been working out the detailing of partnerships with other faiths for more than 25 years.
He said summed up the process with a paragraph that was given at his ordination. "Both the Lutheran Synod and the Episcopal Diocese have as high priorities starting new congregations, transforming existing congregations, increasing our ethnic, racial and linguistic diversity, initiating outreach to and with youth, and developing leadership, lay and clergy. This ministry helps us accomplish many of these goals."
