News of another new cathedral appointment comes even while the sounds of drum fanfares, young voices joining choral singing and messages of hope and love still echo from the installation of Lichfield Cathedral’s first female Dean, The Rt Revd Jan Mcfarlane, last Saturday (21 September).
The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave, has announced the appointment of a Canon Missioner for Lichfield Cathedral, the Revd Preb Ben Whitmore.
The Dean and the Bishop of Lichfield have created this new post which will provide a base for a priest within the cathedral but with a role largely outside it, extending across the diocese.
The Canon Missioner will make even more real the role of the Cathedral as ‘mother church’ of the diocese as a source of nurture and support. It is also a creative response to the challenges posed by the number of vacancies in parishes across the diocese, an issue faced in many dioceses at present. The role invests some of the money saved because of vacancies into supporting parishes in a considered and strategic way but with short-term benefit in a situation where the solution called for - more ordinations – will take some years to bear fruit.
Revd Preb Ben Whitmore said: “I am convinced that this is a practical way to sustain parishes and to use resources wisely for their benefit. I am committed to being the servant and critical friend of parishes to make this work as well as it possibly can.”
This role is a first for Lichfield Cathedral. Canon Ben as he will become, will be sustained by the cathedral’s rhythms of prayer and worship and the college of Canons, but his ministry will be among specific churches across the diocese where he will exercise a temporary ministry on an interim basis. He will give specialised input over a period of time to help parishes which are in challenging circumstances but which have potential to grow. He has been trusted to fulfil this type of role before, which makes him ideally suited to the task.
Ben will take up his new role in January 2025 and at the same time, will be licensed as Interim Minister for St Bartholomew’s, Wednesbury and St Paul’s, Wood Green with St Luke’s, Mesty Croft, the first place in which he will exercise this role as Canon Missioner. In the meantime, he becomes Rural Dean of Wednesbury on 1st October.
The Dean sees this appointment as only one among other visible signs of the cathedral drawing closer to the churches and ministers of the dioceses. She says:
“I long to see the cathedral not only thrive as the heart of the diocese here in Lichfield but also to share the heart of the mother church in other places.
“Through the Canon Missioner, we can be effective in supporting churches beyond the cathedral to make the ministry that all churches share more effective, as they seek to transform the lives of people around with Christ’s message of hope, love and service.”
The Bishop of Lichfield said: “This takes the best resources we have and shares them where they are most needed. It is expresses our common life together in a tangible way.”
Canon Julie Jones, Diocesan Secretary, said: “We are doing everything we can to address the number of vacancies as creatively as possible.”
The final thought belongs to Amanda Robbie, Chair of the House of Laity of Diocese of Lichfield’s elected governing body, Lichfield Diocesan Synod: “A high number of vacancies is always going to be a concern, but I am open to creative ways to solve this that benefit parishes indirectly through targeted support or indirectly through reducing their costs in long vacancies sooner.”