Who are UEW Clergy?
Clergy in UEW are divided among several lines, but each and every one of them has taken the Oath of Practice (see Clergy Association for more info.)

Clergy are essentially divided into two groups: Elected Clergy and Ministerial Clergy:
ELECTED clergy are those persons that have been elected into a position of coven leadership, they are called priest(esse)s and More information on elected clergy is located HERE

MINISTERIAL clergy are those persons, solitary or coven based, who are clergy by virtue of their experience or positions in the UEW tradition.

Ministerial clergy are divided into two groups,lay ministers and Full ministers, also called MONASTIC ministers.

Lay ministers are those who have completed a minimum of 20 weeks in the Second Circle, taken the standards exam and become a member of AUEWC. They are allowed to do all the things we associate with clergy EXCEPT initiate people into the Third Circle or ordain Ministers.

Monastic Ministers are members of the Third Circle who are required to have a minimum of One year in the Third Circle, preferably 2. In addition, these Ordained clergy are required to have a level of college education. Monastic clergy can be ordained with a minimum of 18 credit hours in human service, Psychology, religion, social work or related fields, PROVIDED that the clergy person expresses an intent to complete a four-year degree in social service, religion, philosophy, divinity, psychology, Social Work, Human Service, or related field or an advanced degree in one of those fields, medicine, law or natural sciences. Each of these degrees represents a different specialization within the ministry. Persons have 10 years from initial ordination to complete such course work.

Monastic Ministers are called "sister" or "brother" in formal situations, although women in power are often refered to as "Lady" and men in power (more rarely) as "Lord". In dealing with the non-Wiccan populace, titles of "lord and Lady" are best left alone, as this often confuses the undereducated, since "Lord and Lady" is how we refer to the divine.

10 years after ordination, a monastic minister may use the title "high priest(ess)" and the designations "father" and "mother."

In contact with the general public, clergy are denoted in the following way, it is not required, but conformity to this protocol is helpful:

LAY MINISTERS:
Rev. Name of Person, UEW

MINISTERS:
Sis.(Bro./Mth./Fth.) Name of person, UEW
We do not use the Fr. designation for simplicity's sake (fr. means Friar, Father, and Frere)
NOTE: Historically, UEW has not used titles at all save when dealing with the outside world. Go about introducing yourself to other UEWies as "Reverend so-and-so" and you're likely to be told you're dealing with POPE so-and-so, or grand high poohbah so and so.

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