Roshi's ramblings

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11 I had a chat with my ADDO last Sunday and we decided together that this year I wouldn't be ready to go forward for candidacy.  I haven't yet had enough time for formation.  Granted this is a little disappointing as we as a society are so used to quick gratification, however, I do believe it's for the best and I am very excited about the year to come! Bishop Philip and Rev Cindy have said I am to continue my placement at the Benefice until Advent so I will have had a full year of working alongside my ADDO, developing my calling and gaining further insight into what it means to be a priest.   As I am married and have commitments I cannot take part in one of the 'Years with Christ' that the CofE have      created so this is as close to that as I can get, so I  am going to throw myself into it ...

Hello everyone, in this weeks post I'm going to be talking about the basics of my placement.  What it is, where it is, why I'm doing it and what it involves..  What is a placement? A placement is a church you attend at the behest of your diocesan director of ordinands that has been agreed upon by them and the Bishop.  How long it lasts is different depending on your previous experience.  For me it is going to be 3 months, taking me through one of the busiest times of the Christian year - Christmas. Where is it? I am attending and helping out at a benefice of rural churches.  St Mark's Dolphinholme, St Peter's Quernmore and Christ Church Over Wyresdale.  These are the churches run by my ADDO and they are roughly 15 minutes away from one another. Why do it?   When you are exploring your vocation in the Diocese of Blackburn they like for you to have a placement in a church outside of your own tradition/circumsta...

I've had my 2nd meeting with the ADDO and it went well. We discussed the time line I have created as well as my ideas about the vocations criteria. The main 2 aspects the ADDO wanted to explore in depth were my being priestly and my stickability. First we went over the being priestly part.   I'm doing a lot at the moment towards becoming a priest, reading lots of books, attending various churches, becoming heavily involved in my parish church, but doing is not the same as being so she wanted examples of how I'm changing due to my vocation. We talked about how I now tend to pray a lot more, if a hearse drives past I say a prayer for the departed, if I see something horrific on the news I pray for the victims and the perpetrators. I also relate things to God's presence more often. I've quit a job I hated to follow my call more clearly and I am much happier for it. I feel it's accepting my calling that has made me happier, especially because the stres...

Shortly after my meeting with the DDO I received an email from his team member arranging to meet with me in 2 weeks time. It would just be an informal chat so I didn't need to prepare anything in advance. 2 weeks passed by and I managed to get to the meeting after copious twists and turns to get to the rural parish she is based at, only getting lost once! The conversation was indeed an informal one, more to get to know one another than delve into my vocation at this point.   Initially she was concerned that I had only recently started attending church regularly again after quite a long hiatus but as the conversation developed and I explained more about myself she became more confident in me being able to go forward for selection next year, provided I had the drive to do so. Obviously the speed of selection shall all depend upon how our meetings go.   If all goes well I shall have my meetings with her till Christmas then move to meeting Bishop Phillip after that. We also fo...

Having completed my 4 meetings with the vocations team member my information was passed onto Blackburn diocese's diocesan director of ordinands (DDO) who then contacted me and arranged a meeting at my house so he could talk to my wife and myself. He came around on a Monday night and after my pet cat Bonnie had decided his paperwork was the perfect seat we got down to business. He explained to me exactly what the next steps are.   First I will meet with a member of the DDO team and explore the selection criteria in depth with them.   Then, when  that team member was happy to do so I'd be sent to the Bishop Phillip, the bishop of Burnley to undergo further examination. At the moment it is unclear what that will involve as he has only recently become bishop and has yet to set in stone decisions around ordination, though chances are I am going to be the guinea pig for them. In the past the diocese has run its own mini Bishops advisory panel (BAP) before sending ...

Following on from my previous post let's talk about the third and the fourth vocations team member meetings. The third meeting was all about my perception of what the job and life of a priest really was, mostly to ensure I'm not deluding myself.   I read John Pritchard's The Life And Work Of A  Priest to give myself some inspiration, as well as reading some blog posts about it online. I then had a crack at it and ran it past my father - who had looked into it himself previously - and my parish priest - who obviously lives it!   My initial thoughts were a bit too prescriptive and I was quite naive about timings but I did seem to have the general gist correct.   I ensured I made it a busy week so I could show as many activities as possible.   I also added a column on the end of alternative activities as well as a disclaimer at the start stating that this was an especially busy week and as I have a family to consider I would not be able to k...

So continuing my Delving into Discernment I thought I would go through the meetings that I have had and the steps I've taken along the way.  Bear in mind that each Diocese approaches this differently and not all of them have the initial meetings with vocations team members.  All the activities I have done will help focus your mind on your calling and vocation. So the first stop as far as the Diocese of Blackburn is concerned is for you to have 4 meetings with a member of the vocations team.  These take place over as long a time period as you wish, for myself I chose to have them as frequently as possible and got through them in 3 months.  The reason for the time between is to give you chance to reflect and to do the tasks that are set for you. The first meeting is just a general get to know you session.  You talk about yourself and about your calling as well as how you are addressing it.  The team member makes notes throughout the chat which they will t...

Following on from my initial Delving into Discernment posts I thought I'd analyse everything in a little more depth so people can see the steps I have been through as well as some critiques of any books I have read on the topic. So here goes! Do you feel you're being called by God to His/Her ministry? Where do you go to explore this? What are the first steps? What if you don't currently attend church? All these questions and more assailed me when I first started taking my calling seriously.   I had no idea what to do or even how to check and see if my feelings were genuine. Luckily for me, my father had been looking into vocation for himself a short while ago and was an active member of his church and an avid reader of the church times.   He'd come across the website call waiting . This website has been designed specifically for 'young'  people who are interested in exploring their vocations.  I say 'young' as to the church of England that is anyo...