New priests and deacons ordained
07/07/2009
Among the candidates for ordination at St. Nicholas' cathedral at Petertide were a former policeman, a head teacher, and a retired GP.
They formed part of a team of 13 new priests and deacons selected to serve the Church of England in the Newcastle diocese, and 12 were ordained at the Cathedral on Sunday morning while the remaining candidate for the priesthood – the Revd. Fiona Sample - was ordained at Hartburn parish church in the evening.
“They bring a wide variety of gifts and talents to their ministry,” says Canon Audrey Elkington, chaplain to the Bishop of Newcastle and Director of Ordinands for the Diocese, “We in the diocese feel very blessed to have them.”
Among those becoming priests on Sunday morning were L uke O sbaldston, a former policeman who is curate at St. Mark’s, Shiremoor, and Sue Joyner, head teacher of Harbottle Church of England First School, who is a non-stipendiary minister in Upper Coquetdale. Frances Dower, who was ordained deacon and recently retired from her job as a GP, will serve at Kirkwhelpington in Northumberland.
Sue Joyner says: “As a priest, my faith will become very public, but I won’t lose the human, personal aspect of it. I hope God and the Church can use my whole life to point out Christ in our world, and in the lives of individuals.”
Bishop Martin presided at both ordination services, and the preacher at the Cathedral service was Dr. Simon Jones, chaplain of Merton College, Oxford, who also led the pre-ordination retreat.
Our picture shows the new priests and deacons on the lawn at Bishop’s House: Left to right (front row): Bishop Paul Richardson, Revd. Clare Van den Bos, Revd. Fiona Sample, Revd. Patricia Craighead, Revd. David Bowler, Dr. Simon Jones, preacher at the ordination service, Bishop Martin, Revd. Audrey Atkinson, Revd. Frances Dower, Revd. Allison Fenton, Revd. Sue Joyner. Back row: Revd. Rachel Cross, Revd. Tim Sanderson, Revd. Alan Maxwell, Revd. Alex Faludy, and Revd. L uke O sbaldston.
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