Angela Brandt
Havre Daily News
abrandt@havredailynews.com
The Rev. Gail Wheatley of St. Mark's Episcopal Church will be ordained in a ceremony at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Right Rev. C. Franklin Brookhart Jr., bishop of the Diocese of Montana, will ordain Wheatley to the Sacred Order of Priests in Christ's One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of the Annunciation.
Wheatley, a Great Falls native, led her first service in the historic church at 539 Third Ave. in October. The church was without a resident pastor for the six years before she arrived.
She has a history with the congregation as her parents were married in the church in 1949. Both sides of her family were Havre natives.
“I really love to worship at St. Mark's,” she said Thursday. “I love the long ties to my family and staying connected to those roots that I have.”
Wheatley said her time in Havre so far has been good. She is very pleased with the congregation and said it has lovingly embraced her family.
“We're Hill County residents now. We're settling in and it feels very good,” she said.
Her husband, Doug, works at a local car dealership.
Their two sons - Brian, 21, and Andrew, 19 - will be in town for this weekend's ceremony.
Andrew is a student at the University of Evansville in Indiana majoring in sound design and Brian lives in Great Falls.
Wheatley said she enjoys learning more about the community, especially the resources it has available to those in need.
She said her ordination to the priesthood is a culmination of many years of training. In May, Wheatley graduated with a master's degree in divinity from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. She was ordained as a deacon in Miles City in September.
Wheatley said she has been working on preparing her heart and mind for the transformation.
“I am in awe and reverence and wonder that here I am,” she said. “I don't know if anyone feels worthy to do this work. I pray that I am worthy.
“I am grateful to have wonderful people here to join me in this journey.”
