Ministry Team Letter
July 2008
Dear Friends,
By the time you read this, our new curate Mary Jepp will have been with us officially for just a few days. It is such a joy to welcome Mary and her family to the family of St Mary’s, and a great privilege to be able to work with her as she begins her ordained ministry. I know we are all going to enjoy Mary’s company and benefit greatly from her many gifts. I am also very confident that St Mary’s and the wider Godmanchester community will take her and her family to their hearts and give her all the encouragement and support she needs. This will obviously be a new experience for Mary – and it should not be forgotten that it is a new experience for all her family, not least for her husband Mike, who never expected when he married her to end up as what he calls ‘a vicar’s wife’. It is also a new experience for me. I am fairly sure that we have been lucky enough to ‘get’ Mary not so much because of anything I can offer as because this parish is used to receiving curates and can give them a warm welcome and show them a vibrant slice of Church of England parish life ‘in the round’. So I hope no-one will mind too much if I remind you what a curate is, and is not.
The main thing to remember is that Mary is here to continue her training in ministry, not as an ‘extra pair of hands’ for me. All newly-ordained ministers must spend a few years as a curate before taking on the responsibility for a parish, or moving on to some other kind of ministry. Mary, in common with all beginning their ordained ministry, is first made a deacon, not a priest. A deacon is a member of the clergy, addressed formally as Reverend and wearing a dog collar, but is not able to celebrate Holy Communion, pronounce blessings or absolutions, or (normally) conduct weddings. He or she can lead any other kind of service, preach, take funerals and baptisms, and do all the other things that might be expected of any member of the clergy. Almost without exception, a deacon is ordained priest after a year. Mary will probably be with us for three full years. Sometime in her fourth year, we will have to release Mary to her next appointment, whatever that might be.
Mary comes to us with a great deal of experience, as a Christian, a teacher, and a Reader, besides all that has gone before in her life to bring her to this point. She is not starting with a blank slate, by any means, but it is an overwhelming and life-changing experience to receive ordination, and she will need the support and love of us all to help her become the minister God has called her to be. Mary, God bless you and Mike, Robin and Toby. We are delighted you are here, and look forward eagerly to sharing with you in the life of God in Godmanchester.
With Love,
David
We believe that the Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Godmanchester, exists to build up the individual and corporate spiritual life of our Church and to spread the love of Christ through word and deed, by enabling those who live and work within our town to come into contact with God’s love and come to faith in Christ.