NEW clergy have been ordained to serve across Dorset, Wiltshire and the Channel Islands, in special services at Salisbury Cathedral this weekend.
Eleven men and women were ordained deacon on Sunday and most deacons serve in parishes for a year, leading services and supporting other clergy and the community in pastoral work, before being ordained priest next year. Eleven people were also ordained priest, on Saturday afternoon. Priests are able to lead services of Holy Communion and conduct weddings.
The ordinations were carried out by the Bishop of Salisbury, Rt Rev Stephen Lake, with the Bishop of Sherborne, Rt Rev Karen Gorham and the Bishop of Ramsbury, Rt Rev Dr Andrew Rumsey.
Rev Canon Jane Curtis gave the sermon at both ordination services. She said God has reached out to the world in creativity and love “and it is our turn now, to carry that on”.
Deacons have their feet washed during the service, as a sign of their ministry of service, and priests have their hands anointed, symbolising that they are now God’s hands in the world, she said. 
Rev Georginah Phillips from Jersey was at the Cathedral for the services but will be priested in a special service on Monday evening in Jersey, by the Bishop of Salisbury. The Channel Islands joined the Diocese of Salisbury in 2022.
Rev Georginah, who is at St Andrew’s Jersey and serves as a chaplain at Jersey General Hospital and hospice, has waited 14 years to be ordained, after beginning her journey in 2010 in Zimbabwe. Just before she was due to be ordained in 2014, the diocese voted against the ordination of women. Despite being asked to consider ordination in other churches, she decide to wait, she said. She moved to Jersey in 2016 and restarted her journey with the Anglican Church just a few years ago.
She said: “It feels like I have finally given birth to what I’ve been carrying all along. It is humbling, the support I have from the Bishop, the diocese, the whole island… its humbling and overwhelming.” Watch an interview with Rev Georginah below:
Rev Canon Nigel Done, director of ordinands who supports those exploring vocations and ordination, said: “When I met Georgie, where she was working as a lay chaplain in St Helier Hospital in 2022 and as I listened to her story I was moved to tears, because there were so many good reasons why she might have lost hope that the church would ever honour her call. Instead of was the greatest pleasure to have a part in helping Georgie finally receive the affirmation that she had patiently waited for, and amdespondence I met someone shining bright with faith and so calm and clear in her obedience to serve Christ in all who she met. It delighted that she is now ordained priest in Jersey. Grace, peace and God’s blessing on Georginah Phillips!”
Find more photos from the ordination weekend on our Flickr channel or on our Facebook or Instagram channels.
New Deacons:
Craig Bain – to serve at Christ Church Warminster
Natalie Davies - Swanage and Studland
Kate Edwards - Branksome Park All Saints
Matthew Haynes - Vale of Pewsey
Marianne Magham - Wimborne Minster and Wimborne Villages
William Mason - Guernsey St Stephen
Ruth Peers - Hamworthy
David Reed - Corfe Mullen
Lydia Reese - West Purbeck
David Charles Sinclair - Iwerne Valley
Gary Waldron - Broadstone
New Priests:
Jeff Adams – to serve at St James, Poole
William Burditt - Blandford Forum
Michelle Cobley - Lytchetts and Upton
Daniel Harland - Radipole and Melcombe Regis with Chickerell
Richard Holness - Lyneham and Woodhill
Deborah Mackay - Wilton with Netherhampton and Fugglestone
Rebecca McDonnell - Sherborne with Castleton, Lillington and Longburton
Samantha Park - Cannings and Redhorn
Georginah Tendal Phillips - Jersey St Andrew
Joe Stone - Salisbury St Francis and St Lawrence Stratford sub Castle
Belinda Ann West - Spire Hill