Skip to main content

Placements - What, where and why?

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/circumstances so you can see a broad range of Christianity and the sorts of services and issues you may have to deal with.  Usually they go for a very different tradition to your own but as I am already attending St Tees which is a complete polar opposite to my home of St Barnabas they decided to show me rural ministry.
What does it involve?
So far it has just been a case of attending the churches to get a feel for the different styles and services.  I have also attended a PCC meeting and written then read some prayers of intercession.  However, now that Advent is upon us I am going to be very busy!  At the time of writing this post I am preparing for an exceptionally busy weekend shadowing Rev. Cindy as we go around 3 Christmas fairs, a Christmas tree festival, a sponsored 80 mile bike ride as well as the usual 3 Sunday services.  This is to get me used to the 'rush' of priesthood and how you need to be in many places at once.  I look forward to it and will relish the opportunity!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Board gaming ministry

What is one thing families across the country do on wet and miserable days whilst on holiday?  They break out board games… Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble….yawn…more like bored games!  The world of board gaming is going through something of a golden age at the moment.  There are hundreds of thousands of new, more exciting games out there with a wide variety of mechanics – from fun party games that can be played in 15 minutes, to epic legacy games which can provide hundreds of hours of entertainment to a group of friends.  It’s so popular that there are multiple websites and YouTube channels that are dedicated to them (check out Wil Wheaton's Tabletop , a YouTube series which has celebrities playing board games with Wil Wheaton from Star Trek that in 2014 broke records by crowdfunding $1,414,159 to continue making episodes!)  There are also board game cafes opening up around the country, where you pay for a table for 30 mins, an hour or 2 hours and they p...
2 comments
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday Sonnets - The Call by Charlotte Mew

Every saturday I hope to bring a poem or verse to you all that I have enjoyed or found has resonated with me.  Today's one is from the recent SCP conference I attended. The Call From our low seat beside the fire Where we have dozed and dreamed and watched the glow Or raked the ashes, stopping so We scarcely saw the sun or rain Above, or looked much higher Than this same quiet red or burned-out fire. Tonight we heard a call, A rattle on the window pane, A voice on the sharp air, And felt a breath stirring our hair, A flame within us: Something swift and tall Swept in and out and that was all. Was it a bright or a dark angel? Who can know? It left no mark upon the snow, But suddenly it snapped the chain Unbarred, flung wide the door Which will not shut again; And so we cannot sit here any more. We must arise and go: The world is cold without And dark and hedged about With mystery and enmity and doubt, But we must go Though yet we do not know Who called, or...
Post a Comment
Read more