The ‘umble curate' says ‘Farewell’

I hate goodbyes generally, but as I prepare to leave my role as ‘umble curate’ at Truro Cathedral – last day in the office today (farewell lunchtime drinks with colleagues) and then my final 10am Eucharist (presiding and preaching) and Cathedral carvery (best in Truro!) this coming Sunday, 16th September – I’ve been very conscious of struggling to find the right words.  (Though I have managed to commit a permanent prayer of thanksgiving and blessing for you all onto a roof slate.)

How do you sum up a curacy?  All that you’ve experienced: mistakes and ‘successes’; the ways you’ve grown and learned - been blessed and stretched and challenged (in more or less equal measure?); all the support and encouragement and wisdom you’ve received; all the joy and laughter you’ve shared and the tears and heartache on occasion too …

Dean Roger told me from the outset that this Cathedral curacy would be a bit different from a normal parish curacy, that rather than just having one training incumbent, I’d be trained by the team (although he’s always been ‘the boss’!).  That’s certainly been the case and I’m incredibly grateful to all my clergy colleagues for their generosity in allowing me to learn from and with them.  But I’ve also learned from and been helped and trained by the entire Cathedral community: all who worship, work and volunteer here, as well of some of those I’ve met who come in and out our doors as visitors (free of charge – Alleluia!).  So, thank you, each and every one.

Canon Alan told me right at the beginning of my time here that, “The job of the curate is to be loved”!  And I’m profoundly thankful that that really has been my experience.  Being here at the Cathedral, being able to be myself, ‘Jane’ (or simply, ‘umble’ to those who know me best!), it’s easy to forget that not every diocese and congregation would be so open to somebody with the kind of ‘complicated’ background and home life I have.  I think that inclusive welcome is one of the great strengths of the Cathedral community and I thank you so much for extending its warm embrace to me. 

So how can I bear to leave?  

Well, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says,

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”.

It’s the nature of all curacies that eventually they must come to an end and mine is no exception.  I shall hugely miss so many aspects of the worshipping and working life I have shared with the Cathedral community these past three and a bit years, not least, all the people who make up that community.  But the blessing for me is that although I shall be sad to go, I shall have the privilege of moving on into a role with Truro Diocese that I’m really excited about.  Indeed, in many ways it’s a role – encouraging prayer and discipleship across Cornwall – that has grown out of some of the key things that I have done during my time in curacy at the Cathedral.

And the good or bad news – depending on how you look at it – is that I’ll only be just up the road …  so I’m sure that – as the Terminator would say – I’ll be back!