Welcome to the diocese Mercia!
On Easter Day, St Columbanus, Ballyholme welcome Revd Mercia Flanagan as their Associate Minister (part–time).
It’s Mercia’s first time serving in Down and Dromore and her journey includes being among the first women to be ordained priest in the Church of England.
Meet Mercia
“For most of my life I have been Mercia Malcolm, brought up (as a nominal Presbyterian) in East Belfast, going like so many of my vintage across the water to university, (St. Andrews in my case) and not returning for many years.
“Post–university I explored different career paths, from academia, to teaching, to the Civil Service before realising that my real passion lay in the service I was giving to the church and perhaps full time ministry was the direction in which God was leading. This was the early 1980s in London and I was worshipping by then in an Anglican parish in Croydon. Having got on God’s track, things moved rather rapidly and I started training for ministry in 1984 and finished training just in time to be in the first group of women ordained as deacons in 1987.
“I served my title for four years in a parish in Dartford in Kent and then moved for a further three years to be Deacon in Charge of a daughter parish in a team ministry at St. George’s church in Stockport . As the Church of England took another 7 years to agree to the ordination of women to the priesthood I was ordained priest in Chester Cathedral in 1994, again in the first group of women priests.
“For family reasons I returned to work in the Church of Ireland in 1995, initially as a part time chaplain to the University of Ulster at Jordanstown and curate at St. Patrick’s, Jordanstown. I became full time University Chaplain in the late 1990s, which was a very creative and exciting time to be involved in the inter–church team of five Chaplains. Since 2003 until the end of January this year, I have been Vicar of Carnmoney Parish in Connor Diocese, which like all parish ministry has brought joys and challenges in almost equal measure.
“However my life changed radically just over two years ago when one Colm Flanagan contacted me to do an interview for Premier Christian Radio on some research I had done on a sabbatical in 2012. Colm is a BBC trained sound engineer and radio producer and in semi–retirement he has a brief from Premier to produce short pieces with a Northern Ireland flavour that might be of wider UK interest. My research on how Lewis’ friendship with Tolkien had challenged some of his inherited sectarian prejudices fitted the bill. Long story short, we connected so strongly that we ended up getting married last year in Carnmoney Parish Church.
“Having been given this gift late in life, we knew we needed to have more opportunity for time together and so, when we found a bought a house in Bangor, I stepped down from full time ministry and we moved to Ballyholme Parish in March. However I am delighted to have also been appointed as part–time Associate Minister in Ballyholme for the next two years. I very much look forward to sharing in the life of the parish and the diocese.”