A new vicar for St Mary de Haura

At the time of writing, the temperature is stuck in very low figures and the sky is grey. The trees are bare and the wind chastens. And yet yesterday morning we received from the office of the Bishop of Chichester the news we had longed hoped for — a date for the licensing of our new incumbent Vicar. It is with pride, honour, and joy that I can announce that Revd Dominic Fenton (pictured) will be licensed as our new vicar on Thursday 13th March at 19:30hrs at St Mary’s. Mark the date in your diaries!

Rev’d Dominic brings incredible enthusiasm and experience. He has already begun to introduce himself to life in the benefice and twice visited the vicarage last week (measuring up his new home!) and made an appearance at the Good Shepard’s quilt exhibition. I know he is hoping to pop in at a St Mary’s event as well.

It is wonderful that he will be with us for the bulk of Lent (he has already been working with Revd Jane on a Lent course) and, best of all, with us for Easter. Noting the date in last year’s diary of Revd Andrew’s departure, our vacancy will have lasted a year and ten days. Goodness! Without a doubt, this has been a challenging year and I would like to thank each and every one of you who helps make our church the community it is. But what a wonderful time to now welcome our new Vicar and with him move forward.

We still have a few weeks to go, and the weather will still be cold and dreary. But I hope that you, like me, can feel that this wonderful news makes the temperature just that little bit easier to bear.

With the utmost gratitude for everything and everybody that makes up our Parish.

Ed Downes
Churchwarden, St Mary de Haura