Celebration and Service: ordinations in the Diocese of Newcastle 1 July 2012
29/06/2012
The Bishops of the Diocese of Newcastle will ordain six priests and three deacons to serve at parishes in the diocese in services on Sunday 1st July 2012.
L to R: Julie Robson, the Revd Anne Marr, the Revd Pat Rennison, the Revd James Harvey, the Rt Revd Martin Wharton, the Revd Dana Delap, Peter Dobson, the Revd George Proud, the Revd Alun Ford, Yvonne Greener, the Rt Revd Frank White. Click photo to open in Flickr and then right click for a choice of download sizes.
By ancient tradition the church ordains new ministers as close as possible to the Feast of St Peter which falls on the 29th June.
Those to be ordained priest have already served for a period as a deacon. A deacon’s ministry is one of service to the community and in worship; as a priest they continue these roles but are additionally permitted to administer all the church’s sacraments, including presiding at Holy Communion.
Those ordained this year include women and men, some of whom have come from established careers while others have trained for ordination straight after completing their higher education. Some of them will support their ordained ministry from their own resources, while others will work full-time in the church.
The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Martin Wharton, says, “God calls people out of so many different experiences and ways of life – each year I’m inspired by the richness of talents and gifts amongst the women and men being ordained. I pray for every one of them that they will keep their sense of excitement in discovering God’s plan for them, and go on to make a real difference in the places and communities they serve.”
The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Martin Wharton, will ordain the following as deacons during a service beginning at 10.00am on Sunday 1st July at the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Peter Dobson will serve in the Team Ministry of Christ the King, Newcastle (St Aidan Brunton Park, St Columba Wideopen, St Matthew Dinnington and St Cuthbert Brunswick Village). He grew up in Killingworth and High Heaton and studied theology at St Andrew’s and Westcott House, Cambridge. Peter says the highlights of his training have been placements with the Chaplain of Jesus College Cambridge, two Holy Weeks on Mission in parishes in South London, a full-time nine week placement in a team ministry in Salford and two terms working with the chaplain to the mental health community in Cambridge. He’s “incredibly excited by the prospect of coming to serve across the Christ the King Team Ministry.”
Yvonne Greener will serve in the North Shields Team at Christ Church and St Augustin after training at Cuddesdon Theological College in Oxford. Born and brought up in Fawdon, Newcastle, Yvonne worked in banking until she gained a degree in Youth and Community work at Durham University and did some detached youth work in the city before becoming Youth and Community Coordinator at a large and vibrant Community High School. She served as a Reader (a licenced lay minister) at Riding Mill until she was recommended for training for the priesthood. “This wasn't what I was expecting, but God had other plans.”
Julie Robson will serve at St Andrew’s, Corbridge. She grew up in Leeds and after leaving school to train as a dental nurse, pursued a career in music, travelling widely in Europe and then as a solo act, singing at cabaret clubs throughout the country. Dizzy from travelling she took a job at a Hexham builders’ merchant in 1987, and eventually became a director of the family building firm before taking early retirement in 2008. It was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land that Julie found that “God spoke to me in a way that left me in no doubt whatsoever that I was to give myself wholeheartedly to his service.”
The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Martin Wharton, will ordain the following as priests during a service beginning at 10.00am on Sunday 1st July at the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Revd Dana Delap serves as Curate at the Parish of St James and St Basil, Fenham (Newcastle). Finding her faith during her childhood and teens, Dana studied Theology and then Social Work at Durham University. She went on to work for the Durham Diocese and the Church of England in a number of lay capacities and posts, including in the development of liturgy and as a member of the General Synod. Married to Adrian with three children, she trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall in Durham, and relishes the diversity of her work in the west of the City of Newcastle.
The Revd Dr Alun Ford serves as Curate in the parishes of St George, Jesmond, and St Hilda, Jesmond (Newcastle). Alun’s career has included working for Oddbins, writing screenplays that he insists nobody bought, and studying English at Exeter University. He spent ten years as a Librarian at the University of London, during which time he wrote a thesis on mediaeval manuscripts at the University of Manchester. Married to Carol, a native of Cork, Alun trained for ordination at Westcott House and St John's College in Cambridge and enjoys running, jazz music, almost anything medieval, film, wine, hiking and country pubs.
The Revd James Harvey serves as Curate in Cramlington where he arrived last year with his wife Ruth and two children after training for ordination at Cranmer Hall in Durham. James worked for a Housing Association in Nottingham after training in community work with Ruth in Nigeria. “It was both the hardest and the best two years of my life, although ordination training rivals that claim!” Committed to working and worshipping as part of a team, James comments, “My perfect way to worship God would involve praising him with thousands of other people preceded by an Ignatian style retreat.”
The Revd Anne Marr has been a self-supporting deacon for 16 years during which she has served in a Mental Health Chaplaincy Team and also in her home parish of Holy Nativity in Chapel House (Newcastle). Together with her husband Derek she helped develop a local Christian Dance ministry. A former science teacher she trained through NEOC and has enjoyed exploring the diaconate in its many traditions through DACE (Diaconal Association of the Church of England) and DIAKONIA World Federation. She looks forward to continuing her service at Holy Nativity alongside Derek and friends in the parish.
The Assistant Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Frank White, will ordain the Revd George Proud as a priest during a service beginning at 6.00pm on Sunday 1st July at St James’ Church, Riding Mill where he serves as Curate. George came to ordination after a long career as a surgeon, and comments, “Anyone who undertakes a medical career of any kind will tell just how much one learns about people and their responses and fears to all kinds of situations.” Married to Janet, George served the church as a Reader (a licenced lay minister) for some years, which gradually reinforced his calling to ordained ministry in his home parish.
The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Martin Wharton, will ordain the Revd Patricia Rennison as a priest during a service beginning at 6.00pm on Sunday 1st July at St James’ Church, Shilbottle. Pat was baptised, confirmed and married in St James’ Church where she serves as Curate, and has been an active member there since 1985. A sermon in 1996 struck a chord with Pat and in 2001 she was Licensed as a Reader; in 2007, retired from full-time teaching, she realised that God was calling her to greater commitment in the church. “I could not put it out of my mind. I had not realized how much I was blocking out,” she explains. “My hopes for the future are that I can serve the Lord and the parish ‘being one body of many parts,’ and administer with the authority of the Church.”
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