At 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 14 at Trinity & St. Philip's Cathedral in Newark, Joyce McGirr was ordained to the Transitional Diaconate (a step in the process toward ordination to the Priesthood). Her journey to this day has been diverse and spirit-filled.
Born in New Jersey and currently residing in Norwood, Joyce spent her formative years in Trinidad where she attended an Anglican school for girls. At the age of 16 she moved back to the Garden State and became a student at the boarding school that was once a part of the Community of St. John Baptist in Mendham. Many of her classmates from that time were in attendance at her ordination.
After graduating college, Joyce embarked on a career in vocal performance and teaching music. She has performed in operas, theatrical productions and on the concert stage, and has worked as a vocal coach, NYC public school teacher, and for many years taught at the Elisabeth Morrow School, in Englewood NJ. She is proud of how their music department grew into a nationally-recognized program incorporating students from 30 different cultures, describing it as “like a little United Nations.”
Joyce left her teaching career to enter General Theological Seminary where she earned a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and a Master of Divinity.
Joyce is a member of Church of the Holy Communion in Norwood, and it is this parish that has sponsored her in the ordination process. St Paul’s Church in Montvale has also played an important role, as members from that community served on her discernment committee. (The discernment committee which is a group of lay people charged with helping an Aspirant discern the nature of his/her call to ministry.) Her seminarian field placement for the past two years has been at Church of the Atonement in Tenafly. Under the direction of the Rev. Lynne Weber, she has been involved in numerous ministries, and says she particularly enjoyed working with the Tenafly Inter-Faith Association.
Joyce has been married to her husband John for 35 years. He was present for her ordination, as were their children, Kate, David, Darren and daughter-in-law Delica, Joyce’s sister Marie (a convert Episcopalian!), brother David (a Methodist minister) and many friends. Joyce was “terribly excited to share this moment with the diocese.”
