The latest cohort of new Priests and Deacons – known as ‘ordinands’ – were ordained at the weekend during six services held at Blackburn Cathedral, to serve in The Church of England in Lancashire.  

The group of 24 ordinands was made up of 12 Deacons and 12 Priests. They had all been on retreat immediately prior to the weekend at our Diocesan Centre for Christian Discipleship and Prayer at Whalley Abbey. 

Watch a video recorded before the weekend featuring three of the Deacons and three of the Priests, which is still available to view on the Diocesan YouTube channel. The video also features all three of our Bishops, Rt Rev. Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn; Rt Rev. Philip North, Bishop of Burnley and Rt Rev. Dr Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster as well as the Director of Vocations, Revd Nick McKee.

• A full list of all the Deacons and Priests for 2021 and where they will serve across the Diocese can be viewed here. 
• Profiles and individual pictures of each new Deacon and Priest can also still be viewed here.
• Media coverage:
  • Catch up with the features from BBC Radio Lancashire about our ordinations ... all scattered throughout the Sunday morning programme from July 4 presented by Joe Wilson. Listen again here at 1.49.35 and 3.49.00
  • The ordinations were featured as a segment on That's Lancashire TV's evening news bulletin (Freeview channel 7); a clip from which can be seen on their Facebook page here.
  • The ordinations were also given excellent coverage in regional newspapers - both in print and online, including the centre pages of the Lancashire Post. 

On Saturday Bishop Julian, Bishop Philip and Bishop Jill each ordained four Priests at three smaller-than-usual services due to current covid restrictions. 

The three Bishops were joined across the services by The Dean of Blackburn, The Very Rev. Peter Howell-Jones; the Archdeacon of Blackburn, The Venerable Mark Ireland and the Archdeacon of Lancaster, The Venerable David Picken. Two group shots taken at each service are below ... 

All pictures are by Sara Cuff of CPictures for Blackburn Diocese. (CPictures website.)

Revd Andrew Holmes, Revd David Hargreaves, Rt Revd Julian Henderson, Revd Jane Parker and Revd Simon Lloyd   Front - Revd Andrew Holmes, Revd David Hargreaves, Revd Jane Parker and Revd Simon Lloyd. Rear – Archdeacon Mark Ireland, Bishop Julian Henderson, Bishop Philip North

Revd Kyle Mulholland, Revd Dan Freeman, Rt Revd Philip North, Revd Andy Dykes and Revd Matthew Robinson   Front – Revd Munawar Din, Revd Kyle Mulholland, Revd Dan Freeman, Revd Andy Dykes, Revd Matthew Robinson and Revd Sam Cheeseman. Rear, Revd Sarah Gill, Bishop Jill Duff, Bishop Philip North, Bishop Julian Henderson, Archdeacon David Picken

Revd Christina Walker, Revd Catherine Haydon, Rt Revd Dr Jill Duff, Revd Matt Guilder and Revd Angie Letchford   Front – Revd Sarah Gill, Revd Christina Walker, Revd Catherine Haydon, Revd Matt Guilder, Revd Angie Letchford; Canon Gary O'Neill. Rear – Canon Rowena Pailing, Revd Nick McKee, Bishop Philip North, Archdeacon David Picken, Bishop Jill Duff, Bishop Julian Henderson, Very Revd Peter Howell-Jones

Yesterday, Sunday, it was the turn of the 12 Deacons to be ordained across three further services by our Bishops.  

Revd Amy Bland, Revd Bryn Naylor, Rt Revd Julian Henderson, Revd Liz Gethin and Revd Revd Simon King   Front - Revd Amy Bland, Revd Bryn Naylor, Revd Liz Gethin and Revd Simon King. Rear – Canon Rowena Pailing, Revd Nick McKee, Very Revd Peter Howell-Jones, Bishop Julian Henderson, Bishop Philip North, Revd Victor Sohail

Revd Jordan McDermott, Revd Simon Griffiths, Rt Revd Philip North, Revd Matteo Zambon and Revd Mark Wooding   Front - Revd Jordan McDermott, Revd Simon Griffiths, Revd Matteo Zambon and Revd Mark Wooding. Rear – Archdeacon Mark Ireland, Bishop Jill Duff, Bishop Philip North, Bishop Julian Henderson, Very Rev. Peter Howell-Jones

Revd Anna Walker, Revd Ian McGrath, Rt Revd Dr Jill Duff, Revd Olivia Haines and Revd Barbara Houghton   Front – Canon Rowena Pailing, Revd Anna Walker, Revd Ian McGrath, Revd Olivia Haines and Revd Barbara Houghton, Revd Victor Sohail. Rear – Archdeacon David Picken, Revd Nick McKee, Bishop Philip North, Bishop Jill Duff, Bishop Cyril Ashton, Bishop Julian Henderson, Canon Gary O'Neill, Very Rev. Peter Howell-Jones

All the services at the weekend were available to view via livestreams for family, friends and church members who couldn’t attend in person. Recordings of the livestreams remain available to watch as recordings on the Blackburn Cathedral YouTube channel.  

Livestream recordings: Ordination of Priests

• 10.30am livestream 
• 1.30pm livestream
• 4.30pm livestream

Livestream recordings: Ordination of Deacons

• 10.30am livestream
• 1.30pm livestream
• 4.30pm livestream

Reflecting on the past few days, Bishop Julian said: “This past year has been a challenging one for everyone in our Diocese and for the whole County of Lancashire. The impact of the pandemic has been felt in so many ways. 

“Our ordinands continued their training in these unexpected and difficult circumstances, so it was a particular joy for Bishop Philip, Bishop Jill and I to be able to ordain them and to celebrate their response to God’s call.  

“We now look forward to seeing God’s plan for the ministry of these men and women being worked out at parish level, as our Diocese enters a period of ‘unlocking’ in the months ahead.  

“There are huge challenges and equally huge opportunities as we look to the future of Christian life in our nation and press forward locally with our recently refreshed Vision 2026, Healthy Churches Transforming Communities.  

“So, we also pray at this time that there may be some who (through those special moments we witnessed at the Cathedral over the weekend) may themselves hear God’s call to a new form of service for a new and different time.” 

As part of Vision 2026 we are committed to growing vocations and increasing the number of ordinands and curates in training. The Bishop’s Ordination Fund helps to fund the grants made to assist with living and removal costs of those in training. Visit www.blackburn.anglican.org/donate where you can donate to all our present funds, including the Bishop's Ordination Fund. 

Ronnie Semley, July 5, 2021