To all in the parishes of Pagham and Aldwick,
It is very good to be able to introduce myself to you a little following the announcement that I am to join you as Curate-in-Charge of the parishes of Pagham and Aldwick.
My formal formation began at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, West Yorkshire. And I was ordained Deacon at Petertide in 2018 and Priest on Trinity Sunday 2019. I’ve enjoyed the last two years as Assistant Curate in Rottingdean, just East of Brighton. However, it’s likely you’ve got these details already, so here’s a little of what has led me to this point…
I grew up in Croydon, Surrey and first moved to Sussex when I did my first degree at the University of Chichester where I studied Sport and Exercise Sciences, BSc.
I stayed put in Chichester for a total of 7 years working in the field of exercise prescription with NHS programmes in Chichester, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. I was sponsored for ordination by St George’s, Whyke, not too far from Pagham and Aldwick.
In many ways moving back to this part of West Sussex has a feeling of returning home!
In the year before starting my theological training I joined the Church of England Ministerial Experience Scheme and moved to the Isle of Man to work as a pastoral assistant at the Cathedral on the West coast and also in the Parish of Laxey on the East coast. The best description of this year was to say that I was “trying on Vicaring for size”!
I’ve grown up in the church and since my teenage years known that I was being called by God to something, however, I was very slow to listen properly and to understand what this might be- fearful of what might come with ordination and therefore reluctant to take steps forward until the Isle of Man opportunity came up. This was without doubt one of the most transformational experiences of my life and through prayer and practice I was able to start seeing myself in priestly ministry.
I am so looking forward to joining these two distinct communities of Pagham and Aldwick. Of getting to know you all as best I can, to understand your own journeys to this point and, I hope, to being part of what happens next in whatever way seems appropriate.
We join together in such strange times: as a country as we start to slowly recover from the far reaching effects of the pandemic, of course with caution about what the next phase of this might look like.; and also in this time for the parishes of Pagham and Aldwick.
Please know that I come to be among you, to pray with and for you, and to listen to where God is leading this Christian community through the Holy Spirit.
Yours in Christ
Mthr Lucy