Vocations - Stories

Six new curates for the Diocese

On 3rd July 2011, six people will be ordained deacon in the Cathedral by Bishop Martin

They each have different stories to tell as to how they find themselves in this place. They introduce themselves here:

Dana Delap
I have lived in the North East for over half my life, and I love the wild coastlines, the warmth and honesty of the people, and the heritage of the saints who walked this land before us. As a lonely child I was very conscious of the presence of God, as I walked to school, when I played ‘church’ with my toys, and when I took myself off to our village church to watch the dust motes in the light of the stained glass windows. As a teenager I decided I wanted to be confirmed so that I could join in receiving communion. I put the parish priest through the most difficult confirmation classes ever, as I questioned everything he said. Soon after, I went on a mission weekend, and had an extraordinary experience of God; the text they used was Ezekiel 36:26, and my heart was moved, as Wesley would say, just as my head had been at confirmation.

By my late teens, my Sunday worship was an eclectic mixture of Quaker, Free Church, Anglican and Methodist. But at school we were studying ‘A Man for All Seasons’ by Robert Bolt about the life and death of Thomas More. This is a play about compromise and freedom, and led me to decide that God was calling me to the Anglican Church, largely because of its ability to compromise and hold within its walls every flavour of Christian belief and practice.

To the horror of my youth group leaders I came to Durham to study theology; they thought I would lose my faith, and I guess from their point of view I did, since I was hugely influenced by the then Bishop, David Jenkins. I stayed in Durham to marry Adrian, the first college fundraiser in the university. I returned to St John’s College to an MA in Social Work, and then again to do some of my Reader training modules. The last two years at Cranmer Hall in St John’s College have been another return in the guise of ordinand. I have never had, and probably never will have again, so much time to enjoy reading and studying.

I have served Durham Diocese in a number of capacities over the quarter century I have lived here, particularly as the Common Worship Development Officer and on General Synod. But I’m ready for a move, and I’m delighted to be coming to Newcastle Diocese as a curate, serving a title post at St James and St Basil in Fenham. I love my work to be diverse and I hope to find that working in the west of the city. As a mother of three children and a former lay prison chaplain it takes a lot to phaze me – even our annual camping trip to New Wine is a source of joy! I love high days and holidays, parties and people, but as a Godly Play practitioner, I know that green and growing time is important to, and I’m looking forward to both as I serve my curacy in Newcastle.

Alun Ford
Before training at Westcott House and St John's College in Cambridge, Alun worked as a librarian in the University of London for ten years. While he was there wrote a thesis on medieval manuscripts at the University of Manchester. Before that he worked for Oddbins, wrote screenplays that nobody bought, and read English at Exeter University. He enjoys running, jazz music, almost anything medieval, film, wine, hiking and country pubs. He is married to Carol, a native of Cork, and they are both looking forward very much to the adventure of moving to a new part of the country.

James Harvey
Currently I (or should I say we?) am on a journey which is taking me north! Originally I come from Nottingham, but moved to Durham to train at Cranmer Hall in 2009 and will be moving north again in July this year to take up a title post in Cramlington parish just north of Newcastle. The ‘we’ refers to my wonderful wife Ruth and my mostly wonderful two children Barnabas and Anna who are now 8 and 7. When we lived in Nottingham I could be found meeting people, finding out their hopes and dreams and working with them to make them a reality – well that’s the theory of community work anyway! I worked for a Housing Association and enjoyed the huge variety of the work and the chance to get alongside those less privileged. My formal training for community development work was in Jos, Nigeria where alongside Ruth we both did a two year attachment with a Tearfund partner organisation called CRUDAN. It was both the hardest and the best two years of my life, although ordination training rivals that claim!

When I met Ruth she was training to be a teacher and she has since worked in 3 ‘challenging’ schools and most of the time enjoyed it. Although recently education bureaucracy has rather dampened her enthusiasm for teaching. We were married in 1997 and now have two children: Barnabas whose claim to fame is that he rode 20 miles on a bike when he was 6 and wants to do progress to 35 miles this year and Anna whose claim to fame is that she has 2 Blue Peter badges! We love being a family together, exploring the outdoors and camping (preferably in the sun). We have thoroughly enjoyed coming to the north east, appreciating the beauty, the friendliness, the passion for football and being close to the sea. We look forward to being able to stay for a bit longer.
Training at Cranmer Hall has been a challenge as I have had to meet Durham’s University’s curriculum, the Church of England’s curriculum and God’s curriculum – all of which appear to have been different! All have been thoroughly valuable (and thoroughly exhausting?) and have shaped me and prepared me for the adventures ahead. The highlights have revolved around my practical placements and experiencing the breadth of the Anglican church and worship. My perfect way to worship God would involve praising God with thousands of other people preceded by an Ignation style retreat.
I am very much looking forward to being a curate in Cramlington and joining the team there as they seek to be Christ to the people of Cramlington. Working as a team is something I value and I look forward to working with and learning from the various members of the team there. After my dip into the world of academia I am looking forward to getting stuck in, being with people and learning how it really all works! My other hopes involve continuing to learn to pray, reading books not from a reading list, wet suits, the Northumberland coast and walking a dog!

Ann McGivern
Hi, I’m Ann and my claim to fame is that I’ve spent the whole of my life (apart from holidays) within 20 miles of Newcastle! A ‘cradle Christian’ I was baptised and confirmed at Christ Church Walker and spent many happy years there involved in Sunday School, PCC and running a Girl’s Brigade Company at Walker Methodist Church. I moved to St Bartholomew Long Benton in 1979 vowing not to become so involved and to concentrate on my career as teacher – it didn’t work! I was persuaded to join the choir and to indulge my thespian aspirations in the drama group which was great fun. Shortly after our marriage my husband, Paul, became church treasurer and I added assistant treasurer (a very grand title for doing the banking each week) to my other activities. Through my involvement in a house group, the Foundations in Faith course and many years in a prayer triplet, I felt that God was calling me to make a greater commitment to serving Him. I was selected for Reader Training in 2000 and was licensed in 2003, fitting in my work as Reader alongside my full time job. God had other ideas. I took early retirement to do more work in His service, my Reader Ministry expanded and became more Diaconal and finally, after much prayer, encouragement and support I came to own a call to the Ordained Ministry. I was selected for training as NSM Permanent Deacon and began my training with Lindisfarne RTP. The course has given me the opportunity to brush the rust from my brain and indulge in some serious academic work. Yes, the schedule of evening classes, residentials and a summer school alongside my usual church work has been heavy going at times but the staff are excellent and, along with the other students, very supportive. My placement at Holy Trinity Jesmond/ St Barnabas and St Jude’s, chosen specifically because it’s ‘the other end of the candle’, found me well out of my comfort zone but I’ve learned to do things differently and am thoroughly enjoying my time there. There are so many exciting things going on – especially the Fresh Expressions Café-church being established at St Barnabas and St Jude’s. I will be sad to leave, while at the same time I can’t wait to get back to St Bartholomew’s and the fresh challenges which await me there. It’s never a good idea to try to guess what God has in store for one – He has the most wonderful sense of humour at times! Having given up teaching the last thing I wanted to do was work with teenagers – guess who’s running the Youth Study group? So my plan is to wait prayerfully on Him and His Word – and respond in faith and obedience to Him.

George Proud
I have come to ordination relatively late in life – yet at a time which I think is appropriate. I have enjoyed a career in surgery. I was a general surgeon, someone who could “turn” his hands to most things. By and large such appointments are now no longer made, for every doctor and nurse is now expected to be a specialist in a relatively small area of expertise. I did have special interests of vascular and kidney transplant surgery, as well as in thyroid surgery.
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.
Moving towards ordination has, for me, been one of organic change and growth. There was no sudden transformation. Undertaking Reader Ministry training reinforced my calling to ordained ministry which will be in the context of working in my own parish as Ordained Local Minister.
The road of discernment and selection is one that is not easy – yet it was always affirming and served also to give me the sense that what I was being called to do was right.
Training has provided me the opportunity to work alongside others also engaged in training for ordination. Getting to know everyone, especially on the “Residentials”, has been a highlight. Sharing experiences with others, in an ecclesial context, has been a privilege.
Training has also highlighted just how similar the working of a minister and a medical person really is. The detail of the responsibilities may be different, yet each is trying to look after a person in the widest of pastoral senses. The similarities between each vocation are remarkable. Whilst this is something I have always felt was the case, it is only when the two are experienced directly that one realises just how much overlap there is.
Looking forward to ordination gives me a real sense of excitement – yet at the same time a real feeling of trepidation. This is a strange mixture of emotions – but a very real one.
How I will work in the parish will depend very much on how the parish, and the parish priest, perceive its needs from time to time. I hope that I will be a full and active minister in the Local Ministry Team. Involvement in the pastoral care of people in the parish, and not just from the church, would be, in my view, part of the role. Helping to maintain the church’s high profile in the parish is another role I hope I can fulfil. I am looking forward to working under the guidance of our parish priest, Rev. Canon Alison White, and supporting her, and to working with my Reader colleagues and all in the Local Ministry Group and the church who work so hard on behalf of the parish – it will be a challenging, but I believe happy, ministry.

Pat Rennison
I was baptised, confirmed and married in St James Church Shilbottle. As I grew so did my faith and beliefs. I was in the choir, a Sunday School teacher and a member of the PCC. I moved away from the village after I married and my Church life ceased for 10 years until we returned to Shilbottle. My daughter came home from school and asked if we would take her to church. That was all that was needed to get me back into a routine. Since 1985 I have been an active member of St James.
During the Interregnum in 1996 one of the visiting clergy’s sermon was about ‘Working for God’, I remember him saying, ‘When you are quiet ask the Lord if he wants you to work for him – be patient he will answer.’ This struck a chord and I found myself repeatedly asking the question; immediately I was answering, ‘No.’ About 12 months later it registered that the gap between the question and me answering was becoming greater. What was going on here? I had to do something.
I’ve often thought about Matthew’s statement, ‘Knock and the door will open.’ Was this me knocking on God’s door and did he have to knock on my door to make me realize that he wanted me to work for him? I applied for reader training in 1998 and was licensed as a Reader in Newcastle diocese in 2001. I continued doing modules and in 2009 I gained my diploma in Higher Education in Ministry and Theology.
2007 saw us in interregnum again and I became more and more involved with outreach in the village. At the time I was doing supply teaching (I was retired) and I found I could not give 100% of my time to both. I gave up school teaching to be there for the parish in its time of need. This is something I have never regretted.
The ‘Knocking on my door’ started again, I was being pulled/called to serve God and the community and I could not put it out of my mind. I had not realized how much I was blocking out until I talked with my Discernment Officer.
As a Christian and a servant of the Lord I hope I can be there for others and help them, remembering the example set by Jesus, as a humble servant, to his disciples, when he washed their feet. My hopes for the future are that I can fulfil Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 12, and serve the Lord and the parish ‘being one body of many parts,’ and administer with the authority of the Church.
I liken my journey to that of a tree. The seed was sown when I was a child and slowly nurtured for 25 years. Then through lack of attention the ground around the roots became compacted, and very little nourishment was taken in and the tree came to a standstill. I slowly slackened the soil around the roots, fertilized it, gave it food and water and it started to thrive and flourish. I would like to think that new seed from the fruit of the tree will be planted and grow.