A licensing at Evensong

Fr Rhys celebrated the Parish Churches we attended at St Catherine's this morning. I had to rush off to the wound clinic in St David's Hospital straight after, as I had an earlier than usual appointment. It meant I was back home for lunch punctually, and had an afternoon to finish watching the last three episodes of 'Killer by the Lake',

How it all worked out was interesting, as suspicions fell on several people close to the investigators in turn, before an unlikely perpetrator emerged, who was even closer, with a hidden tragic family history and a deadly schizoid condition. It was only thanks to several seemingly unrelated incidents impacting upon the case that the killer was discovered at all, despite the best appliance of crime science to the case. Luck and coincidence played their part, not an uncommon story, I imagine, in real life too. Alongside this, the portrayal, with some fine acting, of a lead detective's mother with early onset Alzheimer's, effectively woven into the storyline - more then, than just a crime thriller. 

I watched on my tablet, stretched out in bed, by far the most comfortable thing to do at the moment. My gluteous maximus muscles have lost bulk with my overall weight loss, so I'm less well padded than I used to be. It means the Seton's sutures dig into me more than earlier so sitting still without getting up for any length of time is hard.

We walked to St John's for Evensong at six. After the sermon, Fr Rhys was licensed to the Parish  by Archdeacon Peggy as a NSM Associate Priest - that's new catch-all designation jargon for whoever isn't Team Rector or Incumbent. It's meant to cover Curates, Team Vicars, and non-stipendiary clergy in a ministry area team, but not those with Permission to Officiate, whether as retirees or salaried priests not on the diocesan payroll, (as I was when a University Chaplain, and when I was a USPG Area Secretary), offering voluntary ministry in Parishes on request without a formal role. It's all a bit odd to the uninitiated.

There were three dozen in the congregation, including Fr Peter Sedgwick, whom I haven't seen for more than a year. We used to meet out in the Fields when he and Jan were walking their dog, but the dog died unexpectedly last year and hasn't yet been replaced so their habitual pattern is in suspense. Peter is active working in a local food bank, with refugees and with homeless people, when he's not taking part in high level ARCIC consultations. And, he's recently published a magisterial tome on a subject close to his own heart, Anglican moral and pastoral theology. It's been well received I'm glad to say. It was very good to catch up with him again.
  

Evolving patterns of diaspora ministry

There were four of us for the midweek Eucharist at St George's this morning. We celebrated the feast of Saints Peter and Paul a day early, giving thanks especially for the third anniversary of St George's Voluntary Curate Doreen Cage's priesting at this season. Given the changing demographics of expatriate Anglicans in many places around Europe, I think the future is likely to be somewhat different from the past. Reduced numbers in some places make it harder to reach the critical mass of financial support that the traditional Chaplaincy model of hiring a full time priest requires. 

Recruiting a paid part timer is an option, but there may not be sufficient suitable candidates to meet the need. There has been healthy development in lay reader ministry over recent decades, and that's a positive sign, but over my lifetime, change in the shared spirituality of worshipping communities has led to churches becoming far more dependent on clergy for Eucharistic celebrations. Not all lay readers may feel called to offer themselves for ordination to perform sacramental functions, though some do. But the truth is, more ordained ministers and now needed for the exercise of leadership in worship at a local level, especially where the area covered by a chaplaincy team grows larger. 

The priest ordained and commissioned just for local ministry usually in later life, doesn't expect to make a career of it or move on. They serve under authority and with local community support, meet chiefly the pastoral needs of a community and locality which is home to them, as part of its team of ordained and lay people leading worship and offering pastoral care. It cannot amount to a grand strategic plan. It's a variable response to developing circumstances. Importantly, this is Voluntary ministry, like that of the Licensed Lay Reader. It costs far less to sustain than a full time priest, or a paid administrative co-ordinator. 

An expatriate chaplaincy enterprise still needs someone to represent it in the larger community of churches, to state authorities and in civil society, but this doesn't have to be a professional priest any more, especially in a modern Catholic country where many such functions are delegated by church authorities to lay men and women. This may take Anglicans more time to get used to than other church groups, as we've become so accustomed to being led, taught, represented and care for by a professional class of clergy. So this is a time for learning new ways organisation as church, that address the problems of dispersion and the continuing need for pastoral care and oversight, with a little lateral thinking. The role exercised by the professional cleric has already changed a lot over my working life. I've changed too, and have now spent a seventh of my ministerial career as a Voluntary Priest. How different my life might have been if I'd had the confidence and taken the initiative to pursue this path much earlier!