We are pleased to announce that the Revd Dr Alastair Prince has been appointed as chaplain to Bishop Sophie.
Alastair will join the diocese in autumn this year and will work with Bishop Sophie and her recently appointed PA, Elizabeth Egan. This marks a time of transition at Bishop’s House, as we bid farewell to Christine Camfield, who is retiring in July after many years of outstanding service to our diocese, and welcome the formation of a new team at Bishop’s House
Alastair grew up on a farm on the Canadian Prairies, having been born in the city of Hull in East Yorkshire. His call to ordained ministry came in his mid twenties, and after a year in Liverpool City Centre as a Pastoral Assistant, he trained in Cambridge and then returned to Liverpool for a curacy in Toxteth Park in a context that was outside of his church tradition, before moving to St Cuthbert’s Croxteth Park to serve as vicar there for 8 years. Alongside his time as a vicar, he helped with the vocations team in the Diocese of Liverpool, hosting pastoral assistants over a couple of years, acting as Young Vocations Champion, and ADDO. He also completed a doctorate in Practical Theology looking at what clergy can learn from midwives and obstetricians in the pastoral care of people with addiction and mental health issues.
The call to Durham came, and he moved 8 years ago to become the Vocation Strategy Development Adviser (DDO plus lay vocations discernment) for the diocese. Alastair lives with a ‘Guide Dog Ambassador’ (Ambassador on a good day!) Alec, a black Labrador crossed with a Golden Retriever, who accompanies him most places. He enjoy walks with him, photography, all things horticultural, and has a passion for seeing both people and plants grow and flourish and become fully as God intended.
Bishop Sophie says:
"I am delighted that Alastair has accepted God’s call to come to the Diocese of Coventry and serve as Bishop’s Chaplain. Alastair brings a wealth of ministry experience from both Liverpool and Durham where he has served in urban and rural contexts as well as raising up a significant number of lay and ordained leaders, supporting them in their ministries. I am confident that he will quickly become a trusted colleague to many, and I look forward to working with him as he joins the team here in the diocese in the autumn."
Alastair says:
"It’s been a great privilege to serve the people of the Diocese of Durham, discerning with them the vocations of people called to a variety of lay and ordained ministries over the past 8 years alongside an amazing and deeply gifted team, and alongside this latterly to support the Benefice of Upper Weardale in a time of transition and reshaping ready for their next incumbent. I leave Durham with a heart filled with gratitude for all that has been, and look forward to discovering and joining with the people of God in the Diocese of Coventry for this next chapter that I feel called into. This is a vocational step that has been externally affirmed, and has come to be inwardly felt with a deep sense of peace about all that is to come. It will be a joy to work with Bishop Sophie as she begins her episcopal ministry in Coventry, and to support that ministry and all who minister alongside her throughout the diocese."
We look forward to welcoming Alastair in the autumn.