Searching Questions

After a very early start (4.30am alarm) to deliver child #1 to school for her trip to Holland and Belgium I had my own trip to Swindon today - I was allowed out of college for a pre-ordination meeting with Bishop Lee, at which I met the other 6 ordinands that he'll be ordaining at the same time as me.



Of the seven of us:

• 5 are men, 2 women,
  3 trained full time (like me) and 4 trained 'part time' through regional courses whilst working at the same time (hats off to them!)
  3 will be stipendiary (paid a stipend so we don't have to work) / 4 will be 'self supporting' and giving differing amounts of time depending on their circumstances.

After a couple of hours of getting to know each other and chatting about our training experience and backgrounds we each filed dutifully from the lounge into the Bishop's office to answer a few questions. He assured us that these are standard questions that have to be asked of each ordinand, and there was no agenda behind them!

1. Is there any scandal in your life that would cause a problem for the Church in the future? Err, don't think so.

2. Will you adhere to the church's teaching on sexuality? (That's a bit easier, and I'm not planning to wreck the Anglican church on this one) Yes!

3. Is there anything else I need to know about? (Blimey, what does he know?) No!!

And after a short chat and a prayer it was time to leg it to the station to get back home in time to babysit Isaac.

Deacon Blue

Deacon: It was the turn of 'C' staircase's to organise the weekly College Communion service this week. Whilst others took on the roles of music, prayer, readings and techie stuff, I chose to be deacon. Which means that I stuck on a cassock and angel wings, stood at the front and led the service, apart from the bits that I'm not yet qualified to do. All went swimmingly, it all knitted together really well, and I was floating on air for 24 hours

Blue: Then the Saturday morning post arrived, and in it was a letter from my Bishop, informing me that I have been 'Released'. This means that Salisbury Diocese (from whence I was sent) have been unable to match me and my training needs with a curacy post in a suitable Salisbury parish. So now I'm free to explore other options in any one of 43 other English dioceses. But I won't be coming back to Salisbury as a curate next year. That doesn't rule a return out after that, nor does it mean I can't go back in the meantime (for example, were any of my former youth group to want me to marry them that would be possible). But it does mean that next year might be shaped quite differently from how we had expected. And that's just completely thrown us.

Firstly, Saturday was a bit wierd. We both spent a lot of time on the phone and texting. For me it was a case of getting in touch with people who have been through the process recently or who know how this all works or who might know somebody who knows somebody who knows a friendly bishop. For Tash it was a case of leaning on her support network. It was just a constant barrage of phones, ringtones and text beeps!

Secondly, until something like this happens you don't realise how much you had been building your future on certain assumptions. I had assumed my ordination would be in Salisbury, which would have made it at the end of September, meaning we have a relatively leisurely move, set up house, start job, dawdle through the summer, get ordained. But most dioceses ordain in early July, so we could now be facing a really hectic June....

Now I start the next part of the process, but I’m not alone. I’ve just set up a photo map at college where we can see who has a job confirmed, and who hasn’t yet. At the moment there are only 5 people out of 30 who know for definite what is happening. I’m in good company with the other 25.

What happens next? I could sit back and wait, looking occasionally in the folder at college where all the vacancies are advertised – something which I have been doing casually over the last few weeks, just for practice so I can get a feel of reading about different churches and working out which ones appeal. Now I have to do that for real, and actually decide which ones do appeal, and if they still appeal when I realise where they are! Or I can be a bit more pro-active, and use my network of contacts to find out about things before they get to that folder. I’ve already done a bit of that and I’m waiting for some phone calls.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to be a bit cagey about places and churches now until I’ve got something sorted. We will have to visit places and decide whether or not we like them. It wouldn’t be fair to name somewhere and then tell you we’ve rejected it. So you’ll not know where I’ve looked, but you will know where I’ve finally settled on. Eventually.

Where are you going to be working?

...is a question that I'm being asked increasingly.

And the honest answer to that - at the moment - is "I don't know". But I might know soon.

The Church of England has a process for allocating the outgoing ordinands to suitable training posts - curacies - and this process is just starting to kick into effect.

Just before the end of term I had to fill in a form stating my preferences (type of church, location, personal requirements etc). It was tempting to put my standard post-gig demands here - a crateful of chilled Carlsberg and a flock of nuns mopping my fevered brow in the vestry - but unfortunately I think it was after more practical stuff such as housing needs. At the same time the staff and Principal were writing a report on me that by now has gone to my Bishop.

The default position for all candidates is that our 'sending' diocese has first call on our services, and until they say that they have no position for us ('releasing' us) we have to work on that assumption. So around about now the cogs are turning in Salisbury to try to match my preferences with curacy opportunities that Bishops David, Stephen and Graham have in mind, taking into consideration anything flagged up in my college report as a specific development need. Shortly I'll hear from the Diocesan Director of Ordinands, and will be asked to visit the parish that they have in mind. Which could be almost anywhere in Dorset or Wiltshire.

Then we'll arrange a visit, probably over the course of a weekend, and will have to assess whether we think it will work or not. Both sides can say 'yes' or 'no'. If both are positive, we have a result. If either are negative we see if the diocese has anything else in mind. If they do, we try somewhere else. If not, I'm released and we go national, and there's a whole other bit of process for that.

Of course, I might not be able to tell you anything more for ages - we've got a busy summer ahead of us so it's going to be a while before we can visit anywhere - and even if it does all work out first time there are going to be formalities to go through before I can write about it....