Nine priests to be ordained in St Asaph Cathedral

The Bishop of St Asaph will ordain nine new priests in a closed service at St Asaph Cathedral.

The four women and five men will be ordained on Saturday 3 October after the service was postponed from the end of June due to Coronavirus and the closure of all places of worship.

Strict social distancing, face coverings and cleaning regimes will be in place. New local lockdown restrictions mean that each candidate will no longer be  permitted to bring three “supporters” with them, as previously planned.  In addition, the Bishop, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron and those being ordained will wear face visors for part of the service when maintaining a two-metre distance is not possible.

The service will follow a similar pattern to the ordination of nine deacons in St Asaph Cathedral in July.  No congregation was permitted then and the service was live streamed to family and friends.

Ahead of the service Bishop Gregory said: “I am very glad that we are able to proceed with ordinations to the priesthood even if we find ourselves under similar restrictions as earlier this year. I had been hoping for a more usual ordination service.

“Our nine priest candidates offer a range of gifts for the life of the church and we are very blessed as a community to be sharing in their ministry.”

The nine candidates are:

• Gareth Erlandson, 36, a former music teacher who is based in Hope Church (St Cynfarch’s) in the Borderlands Mission Area
• Sally Harper, a former senior lecturer in music at Bangor University, who is chaplain at St Asaph Cathedral
• Andy Kitchen, Senior leader of Hope Street in Wrexham.
• Rachel Kitchen, Senior leader of Hope Street in Wrexham. Andy and Rachel were deacons at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton Road, London and were due to be ordained as priests in London earlier this year.
• Simon Piercy, 45, a primary school teacher from Penyffordd and assistant curate in Holy Trinity Church, Gwersyllt in the Alyn Mission Area
• Chris Spencer is an assistant curate in the Aber-Morfa Mission Area rooted in St Ann’s Church and St Thomas’ Church, Rhyl
• Sue Storey, a former nurse and midwife who is an assistance curate in Aled Mission Area, which includes communities on the Denbighshire/Conwy border
• Carol Thomas is part of the Expressive Arts Service in Conwy, offering African Drumming, Samba and Creative Composition workshops. She is serving in Denbigh Mission Area.
• James Tout, 32, the former head of science at the Marcher School in Oswestry and now associate director of the Llan Project in Bangor Diocese. James is continuing to serve as assistant curate in the Wrexham Mission Area

Plans are in place to live stream this service to family and friends and a link will be available to anyone wishing to join in.

In July, Bishop Gregory ordained nine new deacons, the first stage to becoming a priest. The service was live streamed to family and friends as no congregation was permitted.

The Diocese of St Asaph is one of the six dioceses of the Church in Wales, an independent Province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.  St Asaph looks after 214 churches and 51 Church Schools.

ENDS

Quotes from candidates:

Revd Gareth Erlandson is an assistant curate, based in the southern group of churches in Borderlands Mission Area, close to Hope. He’s enjoying the vibrant life of the three local churches and communities in which he works and says: “I’m looking forward to discovering the “new normal” for churches, including new forms of worship and socially distanced socialising. As a priest, I’ll be able to celebrate the Eucharist for the first time and that will be so special for me.”

Revd Sally Harper is the chaplain of St Asaph Cathedral. She said: “The delay to our priesting and the difficult months of lockdown have taught me even more about the privilege of serving a community as a deacon, and I really hope that this model will continue to underpin my new ministry as a priest at the deepest level. The recent need to close our churches has also made me much more aware of the gift of being able to meet together as God’s people in person, especially to share the Eucharist. I really look forward to celebrating this for the first time with close family and friends within and beyond our congregations, and to share together even more deeply in God’s blessing.”

The Revd Simon Piercy, 45, a primary school teacher from Penyffordd said: “ I am looking forward to developing a priestly ministry within the Church, sharing the love of God both as an ordained priest and as a full-time teacher within a primary school. The delay to my ordination has given me more time to prepare through prayer and reflection.”

Revd Susan Storey is based in the communities of Colwyn Bay and Bryn y Maen.  She said: “Getting ordained is both the end and a new beginning of my vocation and faith journeys. The current situation with Coronavirus makes everything seen so unsure. I hope that God will reveal what he wants from my calling and that, in his strength, I will be capable and able to carry it out.”

Revd Chris Spencer is based in St Ann’s Church and St Thomas’ Church in Rhyl in the Aber-Morfa Mission Area.  He said: “For me, being ordained comes with excitement, anxiety and anticipation at this great milestone in my life, which will be an enormously significant and emotional moment. My family and I have gone through a process of great personal upheaval, moved from different contexts and taken very risky steps during the process of training to becoming the person I am today.

“We’re living under difficult circumstances and the greatest message that I as a priest can give to someone is the message that they are loved, they are not alone and someone is standing with them. That person is Jesus Christ and my role is to signpost people to Him because he never leaves them, He always joins them in their pain and difficulties and in the highs and lows of our messy lives.”

Carol Anne Thomas is a teacher from Betws yn Rhos.  She is part of the Expressive Arts Service in Conwy, offering African Drumming, Samba and Creative Composition workshops largely to primary schools.  She said: “I feel called to rural ministry and to use my teaching and music skills in the churches around Denbigh and surrounding area.”

Revd James Tout is based at St Giles’ Church in Wrexham. He said: For me, the sacramental nature of priestly ministry is foundational. To be able to celebrate the Holy Eucharist to nourish people, and myself, spiritually in order that we might be prepared to go out into the world and spread the good news and bring people into an encounter with God that is transformative is a huge privilege.  The delay to the ordination has brought a huge amount of mixed emotions, everything from grief and loss that it didn’t go ahead as planned, relief in having more time to reflect and pray about the enormity of what is about to happen, expectancy in the waiting of something awesome that is to come. It’s been a total rollercoaster.”