Every summer the Church of England celebrates the ordination of new deacons and priests.  It’s a wonderful and important occasion, as a new generation of clergy join others across our diocese.  Ordination is the Church’s official recognition of a person’s sense of calling to be a priest or deacon and this first step into ordination will give them the authority to do certain things in the name of God and the Church.  They are committing to help build our communities in various chaplaincies and leading prayer, teaching, and worship.   

This year we are ordaining 6 deacons in the Pro-Cathedral in Brussels: 

Daleen Bakker (Lisbon) 

Dan Culbertson (Budapest) 

Alison Heal (Luxembourg) 

James Morgan (Bern) 

Massimo Radice (Barcelona) 

and 

Betty Talbot (La Côte, Switzerland). 

In early July, Florence Lorrain will be ordained deacon in Poitou-Charentes 

The following is from William Gulliford (Diocesan Director of Ordinands):

"All of those preparing for ordination as deacons and priests this Petertide have spent years discerning God's call and then in formation for ministry. Testing a vocation is by its nature a demanding and sometimes costly exercise. Please pray for those to be made deacon and ordained priest; remember their families, the colleges in which they have trained, the churches which have formed and shaped them and the communities which will receive them. Please hold in your prayers too, all involved in discernment in the Diocese and wider Church of England. The opening of the Ordination of Deacons liturgy explains "Deacons ordained so that the people of God may be better equipped to make Christ known. Theirs is a life of visible self-giving. Christ is the pattern of their calling and their commission; as he washed the feet of his disciples, so they must wash the feet of others." In the Gospel reading at the ordination service in Brussels, on Sunday 30 June, the congregation will hear Jesus exclamation about the faithful servants, "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them." Christ, the one who came to serve and not to be served, leads by example. May we all be faithful in following him."

Each of these ordinands has kindly opened up to us to share something of their faith, why they feel called to take this step into ordination, and their hopes for working in the Diocese in Europe.  Please watch these video stories, share them with your chaplaincies and hold them in prayer. 

You can find the videos on our Facebook and Instagram accounts before the ordination, as we are gradually posting them there – if you watch, it would be great to share, like and leave a message of encouragement for them: 

You can also see all the videos on our YouTube channel as soon as they have been on our social channels: 

On 6th and  7th July, 3 deacons will be ordained as priests, which we’ll write more about nearer the time.