ruthh.bsky.social
Vicar in Newcastle. PhD student at York St John: feminist ecclesiology and women's vocations. Apparently I'm "surprisingly orthodox"!
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I took over as Chair of Governors from a predecessor who allowed meeting to ramble on indefinitely, often until nearly midnight. First meeting in the chair, I announced the meeting would last no more than 2hrs. Finished at 1hr55. And they all just... sat there. Couldn't believe it was over, I think.
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Music intended to be learned and sung unaccompanied by a congregation of non-musicians. In churches without anyone who plays an instrument, I'm struck by how different it feels to sing unaccompanied compared to with a backing track. More communal, if that makes sense. We do it a lot here.
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3m for 99p! Bargain.
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I walked the length of Hadrian's Wall as a student. But we didn't visit any of the bits that cost money! It was a wonderful experience though.
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It's brilliant! Absolutely fascinating.
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Truly! And I will definitely be back, I got an annual membership. And a postcard for my former Latin teacher. 🥰
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(This is the only photo I took that isn't a closeup of a hypocaust. I do love a good hypocaust! Once a classicist, always a classicist...)
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Having been at the periphery of the incident which precipitated introduction of mandatory psychological assessments into the process, I am very glad they are now in place, however uncomfortable they may be.
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Certainly tested my commitment to responding kindly to parents of small children in public places. After the 4th ineffectual "I think that's a bit loud, darling" I was ready to lean over and say "yes it bloody is, so could you do something about it please". But at least it was not the Quiet Coach.
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I recently spent a three hour train journey opposite a small child who had got a plastic whistle free with their magazine.
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Well, that's a new one to add to the list of ways General Synod can be bad for your health!
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Depends what you mean by 'acceptance' I guess. Awareness of the existence of women priests? Probably yes. But the creation of such a popular stereotype/caricature of what women priests would/should be like has if anything hindered the acceptance of who we actually are, I'd say.
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I also seem to remember someone at the same BAP as me needing to have her interviews not back-to-back and not too early (or perhaps not too late, I can't remember - it was a while ago) in order to manage fatigue, and again it wasn't a problem at all.
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A very different situation, but I broke my hand just before my BAP, and they were super lovely about making last-minute adjustments, and didn't make me feel awkward about it at all. So I'd say whatever you need, do ask. By and large people want to help you be your best self in this process.
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Is that something I could wave to indicate that I have, yet again, just realised at the offertory that I've left the corporal in the vestry? (And hope someone recognises the signal and fetches it.) Or is it for more serious liturgical incidents?
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When people ask me how I manage to fit in a PhD alongside full time ministry and domestic/caring responsibilities, I often reply "I've lowered my standards." They think I'm joking...
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Registration of the marriage
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This was very much our mantra as ordinands. And then one of the important tasks of curacy was working out which tasks of ordained ministry this approach can be applied to, and which it really can't.
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This is brilliant. I love it so much.
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Does your diocese not keep a list? Standard practice in the CofE. And while I personally have never successfully found a SD from the diocesan list (for various reasons) it is a good starting point for many people.
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I used to love going in to do assemblies in a school with classes named after famous scientist. "Albert Einstein, I shouldn't be able to hear you talking", "Michael Faraday, I've asked you already to sit on your bottom and face the front", "Marie Curie, I can see you're doing good listening", etc 😂
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Years ago I asked a group of children why we come to church, and one immediately replied "for the crisps" 😂 She is now a thoughtful and compassionate young women with a strong and lively faith. Crisps can be a good starting point!
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Honestly, moving to a diocese which doesn't do the 'get what you pay for' model of ministry has made a huge difference to me, on a spiritual level. (Also, tbh, the only kind of diocese that still offers the kind of job I want and feel called to.)
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My manure delivery arrived this morning, and I want to get out and get digging... but instead I must write the sermon, fill in the baptism register, and sort out some marriage prep resources. Then digging.
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One of the things I am enjoying about interview-based research is the variety of unexpected things that people mention, and I then have to learn a little bit about.
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Isn't it?! Genuinely inspired. I'm so thrilled.
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Indeed. "Obviously we want to acknowledge your full humanity and equality. Just as long as it doesn't involve having to have an uncomfortable conversation with anyone ever."
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Ah yes, just a few small and uncontroversial issues there.
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Oh dear. I just... I completely understand the anxiety *and yet* this is really not the way to encourage people in the faith.
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The thing about plastic school recorders is they are very cheap, virtually indestructible, and do not need (are not capable of) tuning, which makes them the only really viable option for a class of 30 with no specialist music teaching and no budget, which is the reality for most UK primary schools.
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Oh, I remember that! It brought back visceral memories of boys following me and my friend home from school trying to set fire to our hair with lighters "for a laugh". One of my earliest personal encounters with how casual and normalised MVAWG can be.
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Moped (the vehicle - I thought it was pronounced the same way as moped, the past tense of mope)