Commissioning of Dean of Women's Ministry
Helen Garratt and Martha Mutikani were commissioned as Dean and Assistant Dean of Women's Ministry at Chichester Cathedral at Evensong on Sunday 6th February.
A warm welcomed was given to Helen Garratt and Martha Mutikani who were commissioned as Dean and Assistant Dean of Women's Ministry during Evensong at Chichester Cathedral on Sunday 6th February.
The Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, commissioned The Revd Helen Garratt as Dean and The Revd Martha Mutikani as Assistant Dean.
They were joined for the joyous occasion by family, friends, colleagues as well as representatives from Mother's Union.
The Dean of Chichester, The Very Reverend Stephen Waine, welcomed Helen and Martha and invited them and their guests to a reception after the service.
Helen is Associate Vicar of St Peter’s, Brighton: she is also Assistant Rural Dean of Brighton and an Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands.
Martha is Associate Vicar in the Uckfield plurality and works part-time as a nurse practitioner.
The new Dean and Assistant Dean will decide between them how to share the role, which includes membership of the Bishop’s Staff Meeting which closely monitors the work to expand the number of ordained women, and the range of posts held by women.
“Leadership and mission in the Church needs the unique voice and experiences of women called to ordained ministry,” Helen said on news of her appointment. while Martha spoke of the “great women who saw beyond themselves” and who have influenced and sustained her own ministry.
The quality and range of women’s ministry in the Diocese of Chichester owes much to those who pioneered against the odds to find acceptance.
As Ann Waizeneker hands on the responsibility for building on the work of others in expanding the role of ordained women, we say thank you to her for all that she has done to move the Diocese forward with a spirit of mutual understanding that is a tribute to her own style and example of ministry.