Twenty-seven men and women began a new phase of their lives in parishes across the County at the weekend as three ordination services took place at Blackburn Cathedral.

They were ordained as either Deacons or Priests to serve in The Church of England in Lancashire (Blackburn Diocese) and will support our ongoing work across the County; telling people about Jesus and supporting our ‘Vision 2026: Healthy Churches Transforming Communities’.

This year’s cohort consists of 15 men and 12 women. The youngest, at 24, is a Priest (Matt Gaze) who will serve at St Paul’s Hoddlesden, St Barnabas Darwen and St Mary’s Grimehills. The oldest, at 63, is a Deacon (Tim Cotterall) who will serve at St Saviour’s in Bamber Bridge.

Each of the 27 has their own personal faith story and journey to ordination to share. You can find out more, with biographies and ‘personal profiles’ available for each ordinand, here on the Diocesan website to read/download. Former or current jobs include a headteacher; police Detective Superintendent; electrician; music teacher; engineer; commercial director and occupational therapist.

Many of this latest cohort come from Lancashire itself and across the UK, but others were born in places as far afield as Ohio in the US; Cote D'Ivoire in West Africa and Nowshera in Pakistan.

Rt Rev. Philip North, Bishop of Blackburn, ordained this year’s group of Deacons on Saturday morning at the Cathedral and Rt Rev. Dr Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster, ordained our Priests on Saturday afternoon whilst Bishop Philip ordained more of our Priests at a further service on Sunday afternoon.

Senior clergy from the Diocese in attendance at the services alongside the bishops were The Dean of Blackburn, Very Rev. Peter Howell-Jones; Ven. Mark Ireland, Archdeacon of Blackburn and Ven. David Picken, Archdeacon of Lancaster.

They were joined by Rt Rev. Saju Muthulay, Bishop of Loughborough, who led the pre-ordination retreat for the ordinands at the Diocesan Centre for Christian Prayer and Discipleship at beautiful Whalley Abbey in the Ribble Valley. Bishop Saju served his title at St Thomas’, Lancaster in this Diocese and was ordained Priest in 2009.

• For information about all of our ordinands, including ‘personal profiles’; pictures and much more visit this page and this page on our Diocesan website.
• View ‘albums’ of pictures from the ordination weekend and also the pre-ordination retreat here and here on our flickr pages.
• Livestream recordings of all the services are available on the Blackburn Cathedral YouTube channel here.

All Priests and Deacons will serve, or continue to serve, across Lancashire in the following cities, towns or villages: Chorley, Ribbleton, Buckshaw, Adlington, Lancaster (x3), Preston (x3), Lower Darwen, Downham, Read and Simonstone, Higher Walton and Houghton, Rufford and Tarleton, Ashton-on-Ribble, Dolphinholme, Quernmore and Over Wyresdale, Brindle, Bamber Bridge, Burnley, Morecambe, Little Thornton, Blackpool (x2), Hoddleston, Darwen, Grimehills, Blackburn, Whalley, Sabden and Pendleton.

The ordination services were also anticipated in a special video released just before the weekend featuring five of this year’s cohort, which is still available on our YouTube channel. That video also features Bishop Philip and Bishop Jill.

The ordinands in the video are Emily Barry, Peter Dillon, Jennifer Guilder, Joseph Kochanski and Calum Mullet, who respectively serve in parishes covering Ribbleton, Blackburn, Poulton-le-Sands with Morecambe, Rufford and Tarleton, and Preston.

Commenting on the ordination weekend, Bishop Philip said: “We're a Diocese that has a strong commitment to growth and we believe passionately the gospel can change people's lives. We want to see parishes renewed, with the right lay and ordained leaders, confident in the Gospel. That's why the ordination season is so exciting. We have witnessed 27 men and women ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood, unleashing so many new gifts and so much vision and energy to churches around the Diocese.”

And Bishop Jill added: “It was very special to me to ordain our new Priests on Saturday as June 29 was also the anniversary of both my ordination and my consecration. At my ordination there were a number of friends from my old workplace and they suddenly realised that Jesus was real. That's very much my prayer going forward now – that through these ordinations even more people across Lancashire will encounter Jesus for themselves.”

Captions for the above pictures, top to bottom:
All pictures By Sara Cuff for Blackburn Diocese except * By Sam Cheesman

• Pic 1  All 27 ordinands from Blackburn Diocese pictured with Bishop Philip North and Bishop Jill Duff while on retreat at Whalley Abbey before the Petertide Weekend ordination services
• Pic 2  Our new Deacons gather with senior clergy after their weekend Ordination Service
• *Pic 3  Our new Priests gather with senior clergy after their weekend Ordination Service
• Pic 4  More of our new Priests gather with senior clergy after their weekend Ordination Service

Ronnie Semley, July 2024