Diocese of Carlisle

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    Meet our 2021 ordinands

    Category
    Latest News
    Date
    23 June 2021
    Author
    Communications
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    A service of celebration will see eight curates – a record number in recent years - ordained at Carlisle Cathedral this weekend.

    All will be ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Rev James Newcome. Covid restrictions mean each candidate will be limited to 10 family members and supporters attending on the day.

    The service at 2.30pm on Saturday 26 June will also be livestreamed on both the  Diocese of Carlisle and Carlisle Cathedral Facebook pages.

    The group includes four health care professionals, a data analyst expert, a BBC Radio Cumbria presenter, a church pioneer worker and a multi-linguist. Seven will be self-supporting ministers (unsalaried) whilst the eighth will serve as a stipendiary (salaried) curate.

    They are:

    All will serve in mission communities across Cumbria which are cross-denominational and mutually supportive groupings of churches with mission at their centre.

    Five of the group trained locally through Cumbria Christian Learning, whilst two studied through St Mellitus College in Liverpool and another at the Queen’s Foundation Theological College in Birmingham.

    The Rev Canon Peter Clement, Diocesan Director of Vocations, said: “This will be a wonderful day in which we can give thanks for each ordinand’s calling to serve God. It will be an extra special celebration for all concerned, bearing in mind the months of lockdown we have all experienced.

    “On that note we must pay particular tribute to the ordinands and their tutors for the dedicated way in which they have continued their studies throughout the pandemic, moving from face-to-face learning to digital and online lectures and group work. Please do continue to keep them and all their families in your prayers.”

    A Deacon is one of the orders of ministry, to which all clergy in the Church of England are admitted. Some remain Deacons all their lives but most are ordained priest usually a year after being ordained a Deacon.Deacons have a full ministry in the Church of England but unlike priests, cannot preside at the Eucharist, pronounce the absolution or pronounce the Trinitarian blessing. Deacons focus on a servant ministry, particularly to the poor and marginalized and more generally in the wider community.

    Meanwhile a series of special services for the ordination of Priests (those Deaconed last year), will be held in their respective home churches. The Bishop of Carlisle will officiate at each service.

    They are:

    Bishop James said: “I very much look forward to once again spending time with all of our ordinands as they step out on this hugely important personal journey of ministry and mission.

    “My prayer for them would be that through their dedicated service, the whole people of God are released for the whole mission of God for the transformation of Cumbria in the name of Jesus – as set out in our ecumenical God for All vision and strategy.”

    Ordinands’ Summary Profiles

    Andrew Burrell - East of Eden Mission Community
    Andrew, 53, was born in Milburn, near Appleby, to a farming family. He studied at Appleby Grammar and now lives in the Cumbrian market town with his two dogs. He went to church from the age of 10, joining the choir of St Lawrence’s Appleby. Aged 18 he represented the Diocese of Carlisle on a trip to Madras which was one of the link dioceses. After going to college in Teesside he joined the Midland Bank before being transferred to London. He became a Roman Catholic - spirituality and sacrament being central to his faith - and later trained as a Priest for two years before eventually returning to the Anglican Church. Andrew joined National Cash Registers as a project manager before becoming a consultant, travelling the world advising banks. He later became Operations Director of the firm’s Teradata division, working with international banking customers on data warehousing and analytics. Last July Andrew set up his own data, analytics and digital transformation business, whilst at the same time training for ordination with Cumbria Christian Learning. Following ordination Andrew will be a self-supporting minister and has a passion for working within an ecumenical mission community context.

    “You are the salt of the earth”(Matthew 5:13) is central to Andrew’s understanding of ministry - ministers are to work tirelessly to help the royal priesthood to realise it is the Salt of the earth. They bring God’s ‘taste’ to the world.

    Richard Corrie - Carlisle Rural Mission Community
    Richard presents the Saturday and Sunday morning shows on BBC Radio Cumbria, and is the station’s lead presenter for faith and worship. He grew up in the village of Grinsdale and began attending St Barnabas Church in Carlisle as a child, joining the choir, being confirmed, becoming a server and playing the organ. He moved to Currock Methodist as organist before later moving to St Herbert’s Carlisle and eventually St Michael’s Stanwix. Richard studied for a Media Degree at Cumbria Institute of the Arts, whilst also working at CFM, a commercial radio station in the city. In 1998 he moved to Radio Cumbria to present the Sunday breakfast programme, which he continues to do now. Richard, 47, had been through the selection process for ordination twice before. His third and final selection process was successful and he will serve as a self-supporting minister, continuing to work for the BBC. This mix of work and ministry will, he hopes, help people understand more of the Church. He feels his ordination – married with his work on the radio station – brings various strands of his life together. Richard studied locally through Cumbria Christian Learning. He also runs a chip shop in Wigton and says that once ordained he will be frying in a dog collar!

    Richard says that Isaiah 40:31 has spoken to him during his time training for ordination: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

    Lucy Foster to serve Helm Mission Community
    Lucy, 47, was born and raised in a village in northwest Kent, the youngest of five children. She joined the parish church choir aged 10. She later studied Film and Drama at Reading University. In her second year of studies Lucy’s mum died suddenly, an experience which Lucy says has helped her understand the importance of the need for pastoral care and support of those grieving. After university Lucy lived in London, working as a film archivist for the British Film Institute. On a trip to the Lake District to visit her brother Lucy met her husband, Jonathan, and she moved to Kendal in 2000. She spent 14 years working for English Nature (now Natural England), the Government’s advisory body on nature conservation and landscape. Lucy had moved away from church and her faith for a while but felt a call to return when in Cumbria, eventually joining Kendal Parish Church (KPC) and later training as a Reader in 2014. She has also worked as a copywriter and for a while oversaw volunteers at KPC before being appointed Pioneer and Development Worker for Kendal United Reformed Church. The URC is in the same mission community that Lucy will also serve her curacy as a self-supporting minister. She has studied with Cumbria Christian Learning for two years. During her curacy she will split her time between her roles with Kendal URC and the Helm Mission Community

    “Behold I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5) resonates for Lucy particularly around the need to care for the natural world and environment, whilst understanding that God never gives up on us.

    Deborah Hoddinott - Grasmoor Mission Community
    Deborah grew up in Kent, enjoying a Baptist Sunday School upbringing before moving to the Congregational Church (later United Reformed), where she entered membership. She studied languages at university, becoming a translator from French, German, Spanish and Dutch whilst working at the Department of Trade and Industry. She then moved into policy work at the Department until 2001. Deborah later worked as a volunteer in schools and became an invigilator, before being appointed a headteacher’s PA and HR manager. She had met her husband, Stuart, at the URC where they both trained as lay preachers, becoming accredited nationally. The couple - who have four grown-up children - moved to an Anglican church in Bromley, Kent, when they chose to explore confirmation. They moved to Cumbria in 2012 and worshipped and served at All Saints in Cockermouth as well as leading worship at the URC in the town. The couple also runs their own company – Wildfire Lighting – which specializes in lighting, sound, projection and livestreaming for schools, churches and am-dram groups. In 2015 Deborah and Stuart also began to lead worship at All Saints before Deborah then went through the discernment process for ordination. She has studied at St Mellitus Theological College in Liverpool.

    Proverbs 3:5-6 has held particular resonance for Deborah since she was given her first Bible at the age of seven: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”.

    Sarah Jones - Eden Wild Goose Mission Community
    Sarah, 47, grew up in Porthmadog in North Wales, before moving to Kendal 25 years ago. She is married to Neville and the couple has two children: Gemma, 12, and Michael, 7 (he will celebrate his eighth birthday on the same day that Sarah is ordained). Having moved to Cumbria Sarah initially worked at Farrers – a tea and coffee merchants in Kendal – before retraining and joining the Kendal Lymphology Centre where she worked as a lymphedema practitioner for more than 12 years. Serving and helping people has been a calling throughout her life with Sarah having also been a churchwarden at Kendal Parish Church (KPC) and then in 2019 she began to explore the pathway to ordination. Sarah completed her training at St Mellitus College in Liverpool over the past two years. Before lockdown she would travel down to Liverpool every Monday for a day of lectures, but during the pandemic these were taken online. As part of her training Sarah has also worked for KPC in a parish context. Sarah will be a stipendiary (salaried) curate with her and her family set to move to Irthington near Carlisle.

    Sarah says she regularly reads the Psalmsand in particular the first two verses of Psalm 91 are really important to her: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust”.

    Amanda Quinn - Two Rivers Mission Community
    Amanda was born in Northern Rhodesia in Africa before moving with her family to west Cumbria aged 16. She had come to faith seven years earlier. After schooling she went to Leeds to train as a nurse before returning to Cumbria and training as a midwife – she eventually specialised in neo-natal care. Tragically her first husband, David – with whom she had a son, Matthew - was killed in a car crash; Amanda says her faith was instrumental in helping her cope. She later remarried and she and her husband, Frank, moved to Manchester where they set up a private ambulance company. Whilst in Manchester, Amanda was encouraged to preach at her local church and later completed a Reader course, being licensed in 2012. The couple eventually returned to Cumbria; they now live in Houghton near Carlisle. Amanda, 62, continued her Readership at St Michael’s Stanwix and St Mark’s Belah where she will serve her curacy as a self-supporting minister. She will then stay on as Associate Minister. Amanda completed her ordination training with Cumbria Christian Learning.

    Amanda says that because her opportunity came in later life she was encouraged to know that God will still use her and as ever he is her rock. She points to Psalm 92:13-15 “They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him”.

    Dr Sarah Richardson - Barrow Mission Community
    Sarah is originally from Burscough, near Ormskirk, in Lancashire. She became a Christian in childhood, attending a Methodist church and further developed her personal faith when she went to Liverpool University to study medicine. Sarah, 34, became a doctor in 2009, completing a year-long placement at Furness General Hospital in Barrow. During that time she joined St Paul’s Barrow, where her journey to ordination began. She later chose to apply for a job in Barrow so that she could remain a member of that church. Sarah will be a self-supporting minister meaning she will continue in her role as a partner GP at a practice in Dalton-in-Furness for three days a week, whilst also completing her curacy at St Paul’s. She says she can see many parallels between the two roles in terms of caring for and nurturing people. She completed her training with Cumbria Christian Learning and says she is thankful that she has been able to train in context.

    “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (Thessalonians 5:24) is particularly important for Sarah and helps her remember that God has initiated her call to ordination.

    Dr Belinda Stanley – Heart of the City Mission Community
    Belinda describes herself as a ‘cradle Anglican’ who can’t remember a time when she did not go to church with her family. Born in Malaya – where her father was posted in the army – as a child, she lived in Germany, Cyprus and Gibraltar as well as in the UK. After meeting Tim, her husband, an elder in Penrith United Reformed Church, she moved to work in Cumbria in 1989. Belinda and Tim live in the Eden Valley and have two adult children. Belinda qualified in medicine from Southampton University and felt called, in the mid-to-late 1980s, to specialise in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection. She undertook specialist training in London. She moved to Cumbria to continue in that field. In 2010 Belinda was appointed to work in a tertiary HIV unit in the Midlands, training others in the specialty. In 2016 she felt called to re-explore a call to ordination, having considered it intermittently for about 30 years. More recently Belinda worked as a doctor for the charity Freedom from Torture in Birmingham, studying for ordination in the city at the Queen’s Foundation Theological College. She will serve her curacy at Carlisle Cathedral.

    Belinda points to Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” as having particular meaning for her faith journey.

    Notes to editors

    Click on the respective Mission Communities links for further parish details.

    ENDS

    For further information please contact Dave Roberts, Diocesan Head of Communications, on 07469 153658, 01768 807764 or atcommunications@carlislediocese.org.uk.