Birth of New Priest: An Interview with Marc Delannoy

On March 15th, 2026 The North American priest circle welcomed Marc Delannoy as a new colleague.  With the celebration of his ordination, the Movement for Religious Renewal now receives its first French Canadian priest.  Marc took a few moments to share his experience and news of his sending in an interview with Wendy Matus, a “Knowing Christ” student.

What was it like to be ordained?

There was a moment during the ordination, when Rev Oliver Steinrueck walked all the way around the priests with the chalice.  It felt like the drawing of a membrane, like a creation of a womb from which a new human being would be born. The sacrament of the Consecration of the Human Being allows one to be changed ever so slowly over time, and now, during the priestly ordination, I felt like I was being drawn into a womb. The next day, I felt like I was walking into the world having been born and also having been borne by the other priests, and I could serve from that same cup and serve the bread. That first day, it was my colleagues handling the substances, but I was the one who gave the peace. 

Giving peace feels like the raying out of the sun into the world. Giving the peace the next day felt like the culmination of the ordination. It feels like coming down from the mountain, coming down from the altar, and offering peace to anyone who comes to meet the blessing. 

You seemed calm during the Ordination. Why?

I had seen many ordinations and knew Oliver Steinrueck. I felt calm and collected. When I walked up the steps to the altar, turned around, and started reading the bible passages, I felt that my words were on the wings of eagles. I felt grace; it didn't feel like just me reading the Prologue of John. I could feel the words being taken in by the congregation, and this moment was important for everyone who was there in the room and in wider circles. 

As the oil is consecrated for the ordination, the words that are used describe the essence of the oil, which is that it helps incline one towards love. How does being ordained with the oil make a priest inclined to love?

It is the work of lifetimes and for the most part, it is why anyone walks the Christian path: to learn the highways and byways of love. We often fail to offer love at the right time. Not long after I was ordained, someone asked me for a Sacrament of Consultation*, and it was similar to other stories from priests: you can be doing something and have other plans, but if someone needs help, then you help. I felt that something of the oil, the warmth of the oil, was available to me through the consecration, through the ordination.

The first time Jonah Evans met you, he asked if you had thought about going to the Seminary. Why?

Jonah knew I had studied a lot of Anthroposophy, and we spoke after I had seen my first Consecration of the Human Being service. After the service Jonah and I started talking about it, and pretty soon we were into the metaphysics of the service.  Then Jonah asked me if I had thought about attending the seminary. My inner voice said, “The Seminary of the Christian Community is in Toronto, in Canada?!”  I knew in the back of my mind that this was an amazing opportunity (because I lived relatively close-by in Canada). I began coming regularly to the services (in Ottawa). Then COVID happened, so all of our worlds went topsy-turvy, and I had more time on my hands. I enrolled in the Distance Learning Program in 2020, and by the fall of 2021, I was at the Seminary.  I did an internship in France in the Autumn of 2022. Then, I took a year off to be with my family.  I started back in the seminary in the fall of 2024, and then this past year completed the Ordination Preparation year. 

What do you consider your “Top Three” books in the Seminary? 

The first is Friedrich Rittelmeyer's Meditations book; I read it almost every day. Second is Sacramental Theology by Michael Debus. And third, the Bible Project podcast, specifically, the Royal Priesthood series. This way of looking at the Bible as a unified story has been so important for me.

After witnessing your ordination and speaking with you, it seems as if the Sacrament of Ordination is like a marriage, a baptism, and a Last Anointing all at the same time. What is next? 

In May, I will be in Toronto, and in June I will travel to the International Synod in Stuttgart. This summer, I plan to go to Colmar in France for at least two months to serve as a priest. I was a student in Colmar and will now serve as a priest. This is the largest French-speaking Christian Community congregation in the world. I will work with two other priests, shadowing them and assisting with baptisms and marriages. Once I return to Canada, I can serve twice a month in Montreal and start something that was not there before. We can offer a French service and Bible study, as well as an English service and Bible study. In Ottawa, I will offer services in English. 

Anything else?

I would encourage anyone interested in the Christian Community to explore Christianity in the world, see how different forms of Christianity live and how the Christian Community, Movement for Religious Renewal plays its role in our time. Why? I think it is holding in its hands the beginning of a renewal that has only just begun to grow, and this leads into the future.

*The Sacrament of Consultation in the Christian Community is a renewed form of the Confession Sacrament that lives in other church traditions.  It is an opportunity to carry individual questions into a private conversation with a priest, and receive new insight and reorientation of will to one’s life.

Just ordained, Marc is enjoying celebrating, often in Toronto. He is currently getting ready with story and songs for a Christian Community summer camp in France. He is looking forward to Advent when the new congregation of Montreal-Ottawa will be born which he will serve. Marc is married and has four adult children.

- This is a blog entry by The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America.  These are posted weekly by the student blog team of Athena Masilungan, Nicole Reinhart, and Lincoln Earle-Centers.  For more information about our seminary, see the website: www.christiancommunityseminary.ca and for more video/audio content check out the Seminary’s Patreon page: www.patreon.com/ccseminary/posts.  

The views expressed in this blog entry are the views of its author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Seminary, its directors, or the Christian Community.