Latest Diocesan News
Share this page
Social and Environmental Justice a Shared Responsibility
Lydia Perris has joined the Diocese of Exeter as its new Social Justice and Creation Care Officer at a time when the focus is on her brief like never before. The Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow is just over a month away and aspects of social justice around universal credit and fuel poverty are also hitting the headlines. The impact of the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing is another huge issue. “I felt…
Read More »
School Leaders and Parish Vicar ‘Proud’ and ‘Thrilled’ as New CofE Academy Opens in Paignton
A brand-new Church of England school in Paignton opened its doors to its first pupils on Wednesday 8 September. After many years of meticulous planning, the children in Reception and Nursery joined Julie Edwards, Head of Academy, Vicky Grant, Teacher, and Mandy May, Administrator, for their first day at St Michael’s Church of England Academy. The early years provision (Reception and Nursery) is designed to promote confidence and independence with a focus on developing the…
Read More »
Starting Somewhere New This Autumn
The new Archdeacon of Barnstaple, the Venerable Verena Breed, has just started in her new role working with churches across North Devon. Verena is originally from Germany and shares this reflection about the traditional German way children are welcomed to a new school – a tradition that has been adopted by the churches where she has served in England: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive…
Read More »
Archbishop of Canterbury Visits Devon on First Public Trip Since Pandemic
The Archbishop of Canterbury has visited Devon to open a new pilgrimage route on his first public engagement outside London in 18 months. Justin Welby was launching the Patteson’s Way, an 8-mile circular walking route in honour of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson who grew up in Feniton, near Ottery St Mary and was killed while on a mission to share his faith in the Pacific islands of Melanesia. Monday 20 September marks the 150th anniversary…
Read More »
Devon’s New Deacons Looking Forward To “Getting Stuck In”!
Exeter Cathedral was packed on Saturday 11 September as 16 new deacons (Church of England ministers) were ordained by the Bishop of Exeter. The new reverends come from across Devon and beyond and will now start work as curates (newly qualified ministers) in churches across the county. One of them, Rev’d Patricia Brenton, will be working as a chaplain at Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital. Rev’d Gareth Harper, who will be joining the new Bay Church in…
Read More »
Archbishop to Open New Pilgrimage Route in Honour of Devon’s Melanesian Martyr
The Archbishop of Canterbury is to open a new pilgrimage route in Devon this weekend in honour of a “missionary bishop” from the county who was killed for his faith 150 years ago. The Patteson’s Way commemorates John Coleridge Patteson, the first Bishop of Melanesia. He grew up in Feniton, near Ottery St Mary, and was killed on the Pacific island of Nukapu on 20 September 1871. Today Melanesian Christians revere Patteson as a martyr…
Read More »