CAPTION: The Bishop of Exeter joined this year's ordinands for part of their retreat at Lee Abbey in North Devon
Three Members of the Same Family Among 16 New Clergy Being Ordained at Exeter Cathedral
A mother, her son and daughter-in-law say they are looking forward to being ordained together at Exeter Cathedral on Saturday 1 July.
Julie Wheeler, Charles Wheeler and Miriam Brandon-Wheeler are amongst 16 men and women from across Devon who will be ordained deacons during the service.
It is unusual for three members of the same family to enter the priesthood at the same time.
Charles, who took part the Church of England’s Ministry Experience scheme, before joining a monastic community where he met his wife, said “It is a unique joy to prepare for ordination with members of my family.
Julie, Miriam and Charles had different paths to becoming clergy but say they value being ordained alongside each other
“To be preparing with Miriam my wife and to have the opportunity to serve the people of Tiverton together as part of the same Church community is particularly special.
“I am glad too that I am preparing with Julie, my mother, who has encouraged me as I have encouraged her.
“All of this, I sense, is a sign that God doesn’t just call individuals to serve him, but families and households.”
It is the first time in two decades that the ordination service in Devon has taken place in July rather than September.
Last Ordination Service for Bishop of Exeter
Saturday’s service also marks the end of an era as it will be the last time new clergy are ordained by the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt. Rev’d Robert Atwell, as he is due to retire in September.
Julie, from Sidmouth, trained at the South-West Ministry Training Course (SWMTC), and said “I have had an active lay ministry in the church over the last twenty years and throughout that time have carried a sense of call to ordination.
“That the ordination itself should now coincide with Charles and Miriam, for me, has an extraordinary sense of the providence of God. It intertwines varying vocations: to serve the church, to be a parent and to be a trusting child of God.
Miriam, who is expecting a baby, said “Before training for ordination I was a GP.
The ordination service takes place at Exeter Cathedral
“Now, more than ever, we need people to walk the path Jesus walked of integrity, love and self-offering, being living signs of God’s presence amongst us.” Rev’d Ian Bussell, Director of Mission and Ministry
“For many years I had felt called to attending to patients’ spiritual health as well as physical health and saw the great need for this in my practice.
“It has been a long journey for me over many years, but I know it has been the right decision. It has been great to walk this journey with members of the family. I have appreciated being able to pray together as we take this step to ordination. “
Once they are ordained, Miriam and Charles will be serving as curates in the Tiverton St George and St Paul Mission Community. Julie will be serving at St Mark’s Church in Exeter.
Ordination Journeys
Oliver Long will be working in Modbury, Bigbury, Ringmore, Kingston and Aveton Gifford once he is ordained.
He worked as a bricklayer on housing developments before the began his training and said “I sensed a calling to church ministry quite soon after my decision to follow Christ but it wasn’t until my vicar and others in my church community started to encourage me to pursue ordained ministry which is a life that is quite a contrast to bricklaying!
“Now I am moments away from beginning this new chapter I am so excited to see how I can be used by God to serve his Church and help see people mobilised for his Kingdom.
“At the same time, I am fairly intimidated by the sense of responsibility that I am accepting as a pastor for the precious people of God. I am agitated with excitement and also a sense of peace that the Lord God is beginning to equip this ‘weak’ me for such a calling.”
Ally Hope, who worked on a young offenders team as a family support advisor with vulnerable teenagers and their families, said she took a while to know that ordination was right for her “My journey to ordination was similar to Samuel’s experience of being called by God in the night,” she explained.
“It took three big prods from God, over the course of about four years, for me to realise that it really was God calling me to this particular vocation.” Ally Hope, Ordinand
“I had been an active member of my local church and was content with doing that alongside work, but God had other ideas for me.
“It has felt like a long journey getting to this point, and I have put my heart and soul into it, the fact that it is actually going to happen on Saturday feels quite overwhelming and unreal.
“It is such a privilege that I have been supported to this point and that I am being entrusted with the role of Deacon, that it is hard to put into words all of the emotions involved.”
The Rev’d Ian Bussell, the new Director of Mission and Ministry for Exeter Diocese, said “I thank God for courageous, inspiring, ordinary, yet extraordinary, men and women who continue to hear and respond to God’s call to follow Christ, to serve the community and to live ordinary, yet extraordinary, lives.
“This includes some, like those being ordained this week, who offer to serve the wider community as deacons and priests.
“Now, more than ever, we need people to walk the path Jesus walked of integrity, love and self-offering, being living signs of God’s presence amongst us.”
Click here for the full list of those being ordained and their new parishes
