In this occasional series we talk with several of our own Chaplains here in Hereford Diocese, offering a window into this fascinating and often moving role. For our Year of Engagement, we have been exploring ways that we as a Church take the message of a loving God out to those communities. For a Chaplain, The community where they work could be a place, such as a single school or care home, or it could be a dispersed community bound by a common thread, such as the local agricultural community – and there is a wide range of these communities in our diocese. As the national church says, “because chaplains are present with the 95% who will not regularly visit a place of worship, many people do encounter them and journey with chaplaincy as they explore questions of life and faith.”
"God knows, and that is enough.” It was some years ago that Jane learned the importance and power of those words from a wonderful Christian lady in her 90s. “I need to go somewhere, can you take me?” she asked. So I picked her up in the car and she had a bag of supplies – eggs, Penguin biscuits, tissues and a book on grace. When we reached our destination my friend left it at someone’s door and got back in the car. I said, “I think there’s someone there. Don’t you want to let them know who that’s from?” My friend replied, “God knows and that is enough." I learned a profound lesson in that moment and I hope never to forget it.
Anna Chaplains are part of the Anna Chaplaincy network and their ministry is with older members of the community and their families and carers. In Bridgnorth, Jane Peeler has been an Anna Chaplain since 2021, the second one commissioned in our diocese, after Diane Bates in the West Hereford Team. Those last four years have included a vacancy of two and a half years, prior to the arrival of Rev’d Suzan Williams. Over that time, the role of Anna Chaplain expanded to one of informal chaplain to the whole community. Says Jane, “I do know a lot of people! I consider Anna Chaplaincy as the local church’s gift to the community. I was already licensed as a Reader, so I was able to step in to fill some of the gaps during the vacancy. What’s important about Anna Chaplaincy is that the work is unique in each place, and it’s not just about older people. Older people have families whom they care about and who care about them, and many people in the community likewise are looking out for older people and feel they have a stake in their wellbeing, so many of them talk to me! They see me walking around the streets and say hello, stop me to chat about someone they know. I started this during covid and during our vacancy I made a point of doing this more. This way I get to know about the range of need in the community.
“In today’s world, I think there can be a culture of ‘ghosts’ – people who come into town on the bus, use the self check-out at the shops, go home again on the bus and don’t interact with anyone at all, hardly. So I try to find out their names and make a point to say them out loud. Someone said to me, “I’m not a ghost am I, Jane,” I replied, “No, Norah, you’re not a ghost!” I also work with the Butterfly Café at Bridgnorth Hospital, which is a dementia café, twice a month, so I get to know people that way too. Once someone followed me into Tesco, thinking I was the Vicar at St Mary Magdalene. I said no, I was just a chaplain, and he said, “Same thing!” His brother had died, and the family felt they hadn’t been able to say goodbye properly. I helped them to arrange a service of prayers at the church.
“I feel passionate about my ministry, the work I do. Anna is a quiet chaplaincy. For example, one of the more important things I have done was to sit and hold hands with an elderly lady in a care home. I have just started going to the Butty Van meet ups; people in the farming community get old too, or have older relatives they worry about. There’s advocacy involved too – like helping people discharged from hospital to find the best support. There’s a lot of joy in being an Anna Chaplain, but sometimes all you can do is sit and pray and cry with someone, which, surprisingly, can be a blessing. I worked in education for nearly 30 years and a few months ago, a former student passed away. The family asked for me to do the funeral, which I can as a Reader, and of 300 people there I probably knew a good 75% of them. The role is focussed on older people, but they don’t exist in isolation.
“We have a monthly lunch called St Mary’s Connect, pictured above, which has grown out of my funeral ministry. It started with a handful of people I knew who had been bereaved, an opportunity for them to get out of the house. Now we have about 25 people from all denominations. They say they’ll come once and they keep coming back. It’s a joy! And we have just started a new education series called Spiritual Care Series, it’s an 8-week course at the Methodist church, with 12 free places funded by the diocese and a local donor. The places were snapped up! It is a lot of work,” says Jane in closing, “but God calls and it’s right to do it, and Jesus is right there in the middle of it all.”
Anna Chaplains are sent by their local church and commissioned by their diocese, which has a headline agreement with the Anna Chaplaincy network, which falls under the BRF umbrella (like Messy Church). If you are interested in finding out more about Anna Chaplaincy, please talk with your parish priest or visit our website or the Anna Chaplaincy website.
ENDS