St Mary with St Alban

Despite the wind and rain, St Mary with St Alban church was packed on the evening of Wednesday 2nd September for the collation and induction of the new incumbent, Revd. Joe Moffatt by the Bishop of Kensington the Right Revd. Paul Williams and the Archdeacon of Middlesex the Venerable Stephan Welch.

Other clergy included the local Area Dean, Revd. Derek Winterburn, Revd. Jack Knill-Jones (St Peter and St Paul, Teddington), Revd. Alex Walter (who presided over many of the services during the interregnum), Revd. Rob Gillon, (Rector of Holy Trinity and Area Dean of Chelsea) and Revd. Alison Craven, (Assistant Curate at Joe’s previous church of St Luke and Christchurch, Chelsea). Also present were Joe’s family and friends including his wife Jo and their two children, Evie and Daniel.

The service began with a warm welcome from the Area Dean which was echoed by the Bishop who gave his particular thanks to the Churchwardens, Sheila Cooper and Jerry Bryan, having worked tirelessly to keep St Mary with St Alban running during the interregnum. Joe made the ‘Declaration of Assent’ of his faith, his ‘Oath of Allegiance’ to the Queen and his ‘Oath of Canonical Obedience’ to the Bishop of London which was followed by a beautiful harmonised performance of ‘Steal Away to Jesus’ by the choir of St Mary’s and St Peter’s primary school.

In the Bishop’s sermon he described Joe’s arrival at St Mary with St Alban as ‘the best transfer that Chelsea had ever made!’ He then went on to speak about ‘what are we doing on earth’ and the church’s role on guiding us to ask questions, explore our faith in God, have fun along the way and how Joe and his family are enthusiastically committed to this role. He went on to talk about two key elements of Christianity which justify the church’s existence; firstly ‘service without fear’ or serving others in the wider community of Teddington as God has served us and secondly ‘forgiveness without measure’ and how each day is a brand new start as God forgives our sins through the sacrifice of his own son Jesus Christ. He also said that the most dangerous phrase in the English language was ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ as this approach meant that difficult problems faced by families such as drugs and debt are put off rather than being addressed and solved. Finally, the Bishop encouraged the congregation, together with Joe and his family, to embrace innovation and renew good tradition while having joy and fun along the way.

The service continued with the ‘Deed of Collation’ by which Joe was admitted to the ‘Cure of Souls' of this parish and the ‘Mandate of Induction' by the Archdeacon. Joe was then welcomed by the Churchwardens and members of the local community including John Logan (Headmaster of St Mary’s and St Peter’s school), Tony Dixon (Hampton Deanery lay chair), Jenny Dibsdall (Churches Together in Teddington), representatives from the RNLI and The British Legion, Kathy Gold (church’s youth organisations) and Malcolm Eady (local government representative).

During the church notices, Joe thanked his family, his friends and all in the congregation for their support at his induction. He also thanked the school choir and the generosity of welcome he and his family had received since arriving in the parish. He was particularly impressed that people from his previous church had attended, as it takes a lot to persuade Chelsea residents to travel in a coach!

After the service most of the 200-plus congregation gathered in the Parish Hall for a glass of wine and canapés provided by Josie Shantonas, June Demont and a team of volunteers. Bouquets were presented by Jerry Bryan to Josie and June for all their efforts in support of the induction, and also to the Vicar’s wife Jo. Finally everyone raised their glasses to toast Joe and his family’s arrival in Teddington.

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