Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
This June marks the 4th anniversary of Pauline and my arrival in the Anglesey Group of Parishes. I always remember the trepidation I felt four years ago about the challenge and responsibility of looking after five parishes, and I would be fooling myself if I said that it has been easy. It has been very hard work, and has necessitated long hours spent in administration, pastoral care and in coping with the demands of the weekly routine of all the regular Sunday services, the schools, the residential homes, and the many weddings, baptisms and funerals that have inevitably come my way.
That is why I am so delighted to be able to announce the impending arrival of a Curate in the Anglesey Group. I must say that I never expected to get a Curate, but I guess the experience that I gained in training Curates in my last parish have influenced the decision by the Diocese to place one with us now. His name is Jonathan Dowman. He is the son of a Clergyman, Peter Dowman, who is Rector of a group of Parishes centred on Warboys in the fens. Jonathan is 30 and is currently studying for the ministry at Trinity Theological College, Bristol. He is married to Emma and they have a four-month old baby girl - Amber.
Ely Diocese are currently purchasing a house for Jonathan and Emma and Amber in Bottisham, and I am expecting them to move in towards the end of June. It will be a hectic time for them all when they arrive, because almost immediately after they have moved in Jonathan will be whisked away on retreat to prepare for his ordination in Ely Cathedral on June 30th.
Inevitably Jonathan's ordination will be a special time for his family and friends to share with him in that very important milestone in his life; but we too will have an opportunity to celebrate his ordination with him, and to welcome him and Emma and Amber to our group of villages at a special service of welcome at Holy Trinity Church in Bottisham on the 1st July at 10.30am, to which folk from all five villages are welcome.
Jonathan's first year with us will be a time of settling in and getting to know the five villages, and my task will be to help him get to grips with the responsibilities and demands of ministry. A curacy is the like an apprenticeship, and it lasts for four years. It is a time when a Minister's sense of calling is honed, shaped, guided and affirmed in preparation for the moment when he or she is ready to take on their own parochial responsibility. My task, therefore, is to be a colleague, friend, guide and mentor to help Jonathan refine and develop his ministry, to the point when his personal gifts and skills are sufficiently developed and realised for him to 'fly the nest'and go it alone.
Inevitably, it is a huge responsibility for me to help him in this journey of discovery, but a great privilege and joy as well. In the first year Jonathan will be 'learning the ropes'and during this period he will be described as a Deacon. Then in 12 months time he will return to Ely Cathedral for the second stage of his ordination, when he will be ordained as a Priest. From then on I expect Jonathan to be a real asset and important resource for the five Churches. The very fact that he is young, with a young family, will in itself be a real boost for the Angelsey Benefice, and I am sure he and Emma will have a special ministry amongst children and young families.
I am sure that he next four years will be an exciting and stimulating time for Pauline and myself and our five parishes, and I hope and pray that during that period you will all get to know and love them.
May God bless you all.