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Monday 24 August 2009

Canon's installation

Philip Ritchie

A collection of clergy at the after-service reception - Paul Trathen, Brigid Main, Graham Hamborg & Gordon Tarry

Today I was at Chelmsford Cathedral for a service at which Philip Ritchie was installed as a Non-Residentiary Canon of the Cathedral.

Philip is responsible for the provision of adult education and training resources in the Diocese of Chelmsford including the Course in Christian Studies, Lent and Eastertide Schools and Reader Training. He is also on the staff of the North Thames Ministerial Training Course (now part of St Mellitus College).

A Canon is an honour given to distinguished people who have made a significant contribution to the life of the Church across the Diocese and beyond. Philip fully deserves this honour for the work he has done in developing training within the Diocese. I have greatly enjoyed working with him on The Big Picture courses that we have run together with Paul Trathen for several years as part of the Lent and Eastertide Schools and in the development of the Christians in the Workplace resource pack.
Bishop Laurie wrote in tonight's Order of Service that "On an occasion like this, when our priests or deacons are made Canons, clergy who have served the Diocese in particular ways and from every quarter can be honoured by us all as we give thanks to God for their ministry. They represent so much that is splendid in the Christian Church as it goes diligently about its business of worshipping Almighty God and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ in word and deed."
Another example of of a priest doing just that was given as a result of meeting up with Paul Trathen, who was also at the service and who gave me a whole pack of materials that he has recently collected about the ministry of Bernard Walke.
At about the same time that I came across Annie & Bernard Walke through seeing some of Annie's work in an exhibition catalogue while in Cornwall, Paul had bought a copy of Bernard's autobiography Twenty Years at St. Hilary in secondhand bookshop in St Davids Pembrokeshire.
A few days after seeing my post on the Walke's and commenting on the synchronicity of our both discovering this couple's work and ministry simultaneously, Paul was in Cornwall himself, a short distance from St Hilary's, and able to visit and collect the materials that he gave me tonight.
As a result, I now have postcards of some of the artworks commissioned by Bernard for St Hilary's, a biography of Bernard by Donald Allchin, Bernard's autobiography to borrow, and a CD of the 1934 recording of Bernard's radio play Bethlehem as performed by members of the congregation of St Hilary's.
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The Innocence Mission - I Never Knew You From The Sun.

1 comment:

Philip Ritchie said...

Many thanks for your post and comments Jonathan, though the picture reminds me that I need to go on a diet!