Dear All,

This month's Pilgrim includes an article in which our new curate, Andy Miller, introduces himself and his family. Andy is finishing off his studies at Cranmer Hall in Durham and will begin his work here in Barnard Castle at the beginning of July: I am really looking forward to the Miller's arrival and I am sure that they will find a warm welcome here in the town.

But what a change there has been in the training of curates. Barnard Castle has received curates for many years now but the expectations the wider church places upon curates, their Training Incumbents and their parishes have grown like Topsy in recent years. There was a time when curates were treated as 'slave labour' by their Incumbents! In my last parish people could remember the Incumbent casting his 7 (!) curates out of the Rectory (where they all lived in the 'servants quarters') after breakfast with the charge that they not return till 10 in the evening. What were they to do? An awful lot of visiting got done in those years as the curates sought out parishioners to feed them!

My own curacy was in Thirsk: there Kim and I spent four very happy years but I must confess that I have no recollection whatsoever of being actively 'supervised' by my Training Incumbent. It was assumed that I would 'learn the job' by osmosis: something of his gifts would rub off on me. Whilst Jane Grieve and Jan Skelley were in the parish, the role of the Training Incumbent was under review. At that time of there was not a lot of guidance as to what was expected of a curacy. However, the last three to four years have seen a major review of the continued training offered to curates. Now curates have Learning Outcomes they must address, there are Working Agreements to be discussed, signed and posted off to the Bishop and Training Schedules to be created. A curate should have a day a week for reading and regular (weekly) supervisory sessions are to be built into the week with their 'trainer'. Somewhere in amongst this some work will get done!

It's all a bit daunting and it will certainly mean that my own ministry will need to be reshaped to accommodate the charge to train Andy, so this month's letter is a request for your particular prayers. Welcoming a new colleague is a great privilege but we all have a part to play in making his training as valuable as possible.

Alec