Gift for ordination?

  • Thread starter Thread starter acat
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

acat

Guest
(I don’t know if this is the appropriate forum for this question but it didn’t seem like it would fit elsewhere.)

What would be an appropriate ordination gift? One of my dearest friends will be ordained a deacon soon (and ultimately a priest) and I’m not sure what to give him.

We don’t have much in the way of financial resources right now (unemployment) but I want to give something meaningful & appropriate to the significance of the occasion.
 
Well, you could give him a little gift, but I think the coolest things I have seen are spiritual bouquets. At our little adoration chapel, we have little cards you can send people saying that you prayed one hour for them with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. My friends and I have done one where a bunch of people get together and pray a whole bunch for a certain priest (he was going back to Rome to study). A little gift is really nice, but what our future priests really need is prayer! And luckily, it doesn’t cost very much either. A little bit of time and effort, but nothing too grudgingly difficult. And…it really shows your friend that you are thinking of him and praying for him as he continues on his journey to becoming a priest.
 
acat said:
(I don’t know if this is the appropriate forum for this question but it didn’t seem like it would fit elsewhere.)

What would be an appropriate ordination gift? One of my dearest friends will be ordained a deacon soon (and ultimately a priest) and I’m not sure what to give him.

We don’t have much in the way of financial resources right now (unemployment) but I want to give something meaningful & appropriate to the significance of the occasion.
Click to expand...
A gift that offers spiritual direction and comfort is a good idea. There is a small book that many Priests and Bishops have read, refer to, and speak very well of. Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Fr. Jacques Philippe. My wife and I gave a copy to a Priest at his ordination in June. I say get two copies. It can change your life. Really.
 
Thank you for the ideas!! I am going to order that book, sounds perfect… and of course he will receive our prayers and I’ll see if we can find a creative way to present that.

I would still like one or two more small gifts… This is a huge deal for him & I want to fully acknowledge that. Or should we do just the book & prayers now, and a bigger gift when he’s ordained a priest? (I think that will be about 6mos down the line.) More ideas are welcome, thank you!! 🙂
 
bumping this up to see if anyone else has ideas… the book looks like a good read but it’s small and just seems like kind of a pathetic gift on its own!
 
I would like to suggest that you ask your friend, perhaps there is something he needs. Several years a go my friend was ordained a priest and we spent a lot of time thinking about what to get him (joint gift with several of our friends). We came up with a lot of ideas for things we thought that would be useful for a priest and finally one of us asked him. He said that while he has many of the things we were thinking about, he really needed a large capacity memory stick. I would have never thought of a gift like tha for ordination, but he was really happy with it. I guess he got a lot of religious books from other people, so at least this was something different.
 
Well he is the type to immediately say, “Oh, don’t get me anything.”
 
acat said:
Well he is the type to immediately say, “Oh, don’t get me anything.”
Click to expand...
Do you know his family - parents or siblings or another friend? Perhaps they might be able to tell you if he needs something.
 
I do but they don’t speak English so I can hardly even say “hi” let alone ask them! lol

Everything I think of just seems trivial… like a gift card to his favorite restaurant, or a bottle of wine… and giving money would be awkward for him & us. So. Maybe I should just try to find another book or something?? There is also a small Catholic store down the street from me, maybe I could find something there but I’m not holding out much hope.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top