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WELCOME TO OUR NEW PRIEST IN
CHARGE
(and the new Fromeside Parish Partnership)
It was with feelings of joy and considerable relief that we received
confirmation in a letter from the Archdeacon on 13th June
that the Revd. Martin Clacker was to become our Priest in Charge,
and we were able to announce the news to the congregations in the
morning and the evening on that Sunday. We welcome Martin most
warmly. Some in our congregation know him well already, since he
has taken our Friday morning Holy Communion service throughout the
interregnum, The rest of us look forward to getting to know him as
he takes up his new post of Priest in Charge of Frampton Cotterell,
Winterbourne and Winterbourne Down this month.
The Archdeacon has explained that the service for all the parishes
being held in St Peter’s on 13th July at 9.30am will be
the diocesan “Service for the Inauguration of New Ministries” for
the new Fromeside Partnership. At that service Martin will be
licensed as Priest in Charge of three of the four parishes within
the Partnership, our own Jane and the Revd. Mark Evans of
Winterbourne Down will be re-licensed as Associate Ministers in all
three parishes and Malcolm will have his current Permission to
Officiate extended to cover Winterbourne and Winterbourne Down as
well as Frampton. All the licences will be with effect from 1st
July and ministry in the three parishes will be regularised on a
firm basis of collaborative ministry.
Owing to the fact that the Revd. Colin Lunt of St. Saviour’s will be
away on 13th July, the launch of the new Partnership is
being postponed until after the summer. The rather long delay is
due to the fact that the Bishop’s diary is very full during the
summer. At that second service, the Partnership will be fully
launched with all five priests working together.
We shall look forward to Martin taking some of our services but we
consider ourselves greatly blessed in having such a range of talent
available to us. Jane and Malcolm, on whom we have come to rely
during the interregnum and to whom we are so grateful, will continue
with us on many Sundays and eventually all five priests will be
making their contribution to our parish life and, more importantly,
to leading us in God’s work in Frampton Cotterell.
We have some concern that some of us could expect too much from
Martin in terms of time. He is taking on a heavy load as Priest in
Charge of three parishes and cannot and should not be expected to
attend every event, although we know that he will always be there
for us when we need him. He needs to be allowed time for reflection
and for his own family and we shall respect that and do all we can
to relieve him of some of the “non-essential” duties of being a
parish priest. That is the essence of collaborative ministry which
involves not only his fine team of clergy but also each one of us.
Martin has already proved himself to be a fine pastor and he will be
able to lead us, if we ourselves are willing, in the way that we
should go as the Church faces the enormous challenges (perhaps
greater than it has faced for centuries) of the 21st
century. During the interregnum we have managed amazingly well,
partly due to the foundations laid by Sue before she retired, partly
to the teamwork which has been built up and to which so many of you
are contributing, and perhaps most of all due to the dedication of
Jane and Malcolm. But we now need to move forward, particularly in
our mission to those outside or partially-outside the Church. There
is much to do, but with Martin at the head we hope now to be able to
move forward.
Thanks be to God!
MERLE and JOHN, your
church wardens
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