Ted Clarkson to be ordained priest July 8, 2021

Ted Clarkson to be ordained priest July 8, 2021

The Rev. Ted Clarkson

The Right Reverend J. Scott Mayer, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in North Texas, will ordain Ted Hamby Clarkson, Jr. to the Sacred Order of Priests in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic Church on The Feast of Priscilla and Aquila on Thursday, July 8, 2021, at 7 pm at Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, 14115 Hillcrest Road Dallas, Texas, 75254.

Please register in advance at www.Transfiguration.net/rsvp

The Rev. R. Casey Shobe, D.Min., rector of Transfiguration, will preach. The service will be live streamed at https://youtu.be/AiKpFaPlHl8

A festive reception beneath the Bell Tower will follow the service. As is the custom at ordinations, the offering will be given to Clarkson’s discretionary fund.  If you wish to give online, you may do so here.

Clarkson will be joining the staff at Transfiguration on July 1, 2021, as curate. In addition to normal priestly functions, he will provide oversight to the parish’s pastoral care and outreach ministries, and will help the director of communications with bulletins and other worship materials.

Ted Hamby Clarkson, Jr., was born and reared in Augusta, Georgia. A life-long Episcopalian, he grew up in and around the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Episcopal Day School. Clarkson moved to Dallas, Texas for college and received a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in 2007.

After graduation, he stayed in Texas and worked in a variety of fields, including operations for an auction house and human resources for an international chain of restaurants. Clarkson was an active member of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas where he served as a choir member, eucharistic visitor, vestry person, and chaplain to the rector search committee.

In 2015, he began working at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Fort Worth as the rector’s assistant and was promoted to Director of Children and Youth Ministries in 2017. In 2018, Clarkson was made a postulant for holy orders in the Episcopal Church in North Texas and moved to Sewanee. He was ordained a deacon on December 18, 2020, at All Saints’ Chapel in Sewanee because of COVID-related travel restrictions

At the 2019 DuBose Lectures, he received the Freeman Award for Merit for demonstrating academic excellence in his junior year.  In 2021, he was awarded the prestigious School of Theology Prize in Practical Theology and received his Master of Divinity with honors from the University of the South.

Clarkson is married to Michael (Mikey) Whitman, who works as a senior manager for Pizza Hut’s marketing department. Clarkson enjoys cooking and entertaining. His favorite thing is being an uncle to his nieces and nephews in Texas.