Scp vocations weekend

This past weekend has been incredibly hectic but incredibly fun as well.   I attended a vocations weekend run by the Society for Catholic Priests in Manchester at St Chrysostoms church.

I met some wonderful like minded people and it was lovely to have people in a similar position to myself to talk to and to help me know I'm not mad for considering this life path!

The Friday night was a nice introduction with an ice breaking activity to get to know everyone followed by going into the chapel for evening vespers and then some tasty pizza for tea!

Later on in the evening after having eaten enough to make me need to roll rather than walk we headed back into the chapel for our first two sessions.

The initial session was by Canon Alma Servant who told us about her journey to priesthood. Initially she felt her calling before women were allowed to be ordained and she didn't want to be a deaconess as it wasn't the whole job. Her story showed that if you really do feel the calling to serve God then eventually (s)he will find a way for you to do so.  She also showed that the calling can come at an early age, a theme that would be recurring throughout the weekend.
It was a very interesting talk and Canon Alma is a fascinating person. If you ever read this thankyou for taking the time for us.

The second session was run by Father Ian and was focused on what forms the calling can take utilising the poem The Call by Charlotte Mew.  I won't post it here, I'll make a separate one another time but it is a fascinating poem.   It led to a good group discussion about the meanings of the stanzas and how a calling comes like a bolt from the blue but once it has been there is no way to shut it out. You must follow it, you don't have a choice.   You just need to decide whether it is a true calling or if you are deluding yourself somehow.

We ended the sessions by praying Compline.  Then myself and a few others wandered upto the pub and had a very good chat about our personal callings and how we have gone about the discernment process thus far.

The next day after a big continental breakfast we drove down the the church of Resurrection and St Barnabas.  It is a newly built church to replace the others that were in the diocese and is next to Manchester City's stadium.

We were led in morning prayer by  Revd Andrea and Revd Liz. I found it very interesting as the church was modern, all white walls and clear glass windows - clearly built for practicality in an age of multifunctional buildings, but still undeniably a church and a holy space. It was also nice to take mass in a more evangelical way rather than the typical Anglo-Catholic form of singing and psalms.

After mass both reverends told us of their journey to priesthood. They both trained together on a part time local ministry course which was interesting to hear about. This is one where they worked in their day jobs at the same time as doing their course and it was a multidenominational course as well so they had insight into Methodist, evangelical, baptist and a whole host of other methods of church-hood.
One comment by Revd Andrea stood out in particular. She felt like her job was the wrong coat. If you pick up someone else's coat by mistake you know it's not yours by instinct and you feel uncomfortable, that's how her calling made her feel about her then job.   This resonated quite deeply with how I feel at the moment.
They talked about the challenges of including a varied and diverse community within their church as their parish was quite a large area of land.  They had ensured the community spirit by running many events, a local allotment for a men in the shed group, a café that was part of the church and in going around local schools.   It didn't matter if people particularly came to the service, they could find different ways of worship through community activities.

It was then back into the car and off to the church of William Temple. This is an absolutely stunning church. Built in the 1950s as an expression of the architect's view of christendom in a new garden town, yet capturing the feel of the buildings and industry that allowed the town to thrive. Suffice to say walking through the door was enough to make my jaw hit the floor.

We had a long chat with Father Stephen about what it means to be a team minister and how team ministries work. Also about the challenges of engaging the community in an age where christendom is more on the fringe of society. The church covers a parish of almost 63000, has room to seat 500 comfortably, yet only has 50 regular attenders. It was so bad that over winter they had to make the decision to turn the heating off every other week to save costs.  He told us about the strategies they were putting in place and again it all boiled down to how the church can be used for the community and to unite the community.   He also talked about his path to ordainment and how as a child he made altars out of lego (a recurring theme is happening here). This session  was the best for me personally as it showed me truly what mission is. It's not about going out  with a placard crying jesus' name, it's about trying to become integral to the community, helping to bring  people together and provide them with an area they feel safe and like they are part of something that matters. If you manage that then you have effectively won the battle.

Back into the cars again and off to Warburton church where we were met by Father Michael and Revd Clair.   Revd Clair talked to us first about what it means to be a NSM, where you stay in your full time job but you assist in running/run a church on a Sunday. She talked about how fulfilling it was and how she managed to balance work out of the ministry with work within the ministry. She then helped us see the problems with modern built churches, especially in areas where other religions or other denominations have much more grandiose buildings. Her church 'looks like a fire station' so people often don't realise it's there and it is invisible to most passers by. Again it boiled down to trying to increase community awareness and involvement. She also put it down to what she called the village effect. The are had been a village so the community for the church was pretty insular consisting of a select few families and that could put off newcomers,so you need to find ways to avoid that.

Father Michael is one of the funniest, most eccentric people I've met. He talked us through how he used to force feed his grandma bread and sherbert water and read from the Bible at her on weekends as a young boy, he called it attic eucharistic syndrome. He told us about the odd situations you can find yourself in as a vicar and how varied life can be.   He also spoke about his parish and how, over 20 years he's become a key figure in the community and part of the ties that knit the local villages together as he runs 2 local churches.   He also proved that you can be a vicar and still be irreverent and daft, for instance he runs a monthly coffee morning called 'more tea vicar?'

After telling us about their lives we had a group sharing activity where we offered suggestions of books we had found interesting and useful in exploring our discernment.   Suffice to say I'm going to be poor next month due to the number of interesting books, films and poems I need to purchase!

We then went to try and visit a local medieval church but sadly the doors were locked so it was back to Manchester and St Chrysostoms for reflections on the day and for vespers.   There were many interesting comments in how a church can have a wow factor yet be quite impractical or be very practical yet lose the wow factor for it. Also everyone picked up on how the community is the driving force and that it was nice to see.

The sisters of the community of the holy name gave us a quick talk on their order and how they worship God through their lives. It was refreshing to see two people as devout and as pleasant as Sister Diane and Sister Jean.

That evening we headed out for curry and had a good chat about everything together as well as a thoroughly enjoyable meal. The 5 of us lads went to wetherspoons for another pint before heading back to bed shattered!

Sunday we went for morning prayer at St Chrysostoms and Father Ian talked to us about the discernment process and the next steps. Specifically how we can improve our spirituality in church and see if we can become more involved in the running of services and pastoral visits to show we have the knowledge and abilities required of a vicar.

We then had a chat with an ordinand training, Neil, about his experiences and what training is like. It was good to hear about the different colleges there are and how they accommodate everyone, including your partners which was good to hear!   He suggested definitely getting used to a life of prayer as an ordinand in training always shall find themselves praying at set times every day.

We celebrated sung mass with the congregation and then had lunch with Bishop Mark who talked to us about what he looks for in a candidate. He said the most important parts were honesty, stickability and being able to confidently and truthfully state your gospel - what is it that Jesus and God mean to you and what will people see in you of Them.

We finished the course with a service of benediction, where it felt like God was amongst us and we were blessed by the Bishop and given chance to pray for everyone on the course's success in finding their true vocations.

Overall it has been such a wonderful weekend. I have learnt so much and had my feeling of call and vocation affirmed and indeed had the proverbial flames stoked ever higher so it was a wonderful weekend.  I'd like to think I have made colleagues for life during the weekend and hope to keep in touch with them.   All the talks were wonderful but the best part was definitely being able to network with like minded people and actively talk about these feelings and have them understand!
Thankyou to all who helped make the weekend a success.