The Rt Revd Christopher Herbert writes:
WHEN Canon Patience Purchas, who died on 22 November, aged 74, was
asked why she felt called to be a priest, among other things she
wrote: "I have a desire to nurture, encourage and bring out the
best in others . . . and I think that I have the ability to be
perceptive about people's motives and anxieties."
It was a statement that was typical of her: honest, clear-eyed,
self-aware, robust, and deeply loving, without sentimentality. They
were characteristics that she brought to her ministry in the
diocese of St Albans, in the General Synod, and in her wise and
strong championing of the cause of women's ordination across
England. Without being aware of it, she was herself the very reason
why so many people came to believe as she did. She embodied the
grace and blessings of women's priestly ministry.
Patience was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Educated
at St Albans Girls' Grammar School, she went on in 1958 to read
English at St Mary's College, Durham, where she was also the
President of the Women's Union, and took up acting. Afterwards, she
studied librarianship at the North Western Polytechnic, London, and
was awarded her ALA. She became a public librarian in Welwyn Garden
City, and later in Hatfield, and for the rest of her life her love
of reading never left her.
In 1969, she married her beloved husband Tom, then a curate at
St Etheldreda's, Hatfield, whom she memorably described as "my
greatest encourager". Later, in 1971, they moved to the rural
Bedfordshire parishes of Blunham and Tempsford, the latter famous
for having been the Second World War airfield from which members of
SOE departed for special ops in France. While in those parishes,
and now with two young daughters, Patience embarked on the
Ministerial Training Scheme, a radically new way of theological
training which came into being during Robert Runcie's time as
Bishop of St Albans.
In 1980, Patience was made a deaconess, and for one year ran the
Diocesan RE Resource Centre in Bedford. But then came a change of
parish to Wheathampstead, Herts; and a new and vivacious chapter in
Patience's life began, because she became heavily involved in local
broadcasting on Chiltern Radio, a pioneer in the field. She spent
15 hours a week doing that, including four years when she presented
a weekly Sunday programme. Among her guests were Cliff Richard and
Desmond Tutu. Her ease of manner, allied to her ability to ask
gently perceptive questions, made the programmes increasingly
popular. It was pioneer ministry, long before the phrase was
invented.
She continued her broadcasting work with BBC Bedfordshire, and
was in regular demand as a spokesperson. She regarded her
appearance some years later on the BBC's Question Time,
where her fellow panellists were David Steele, Tony Blair, and
Virginia Bottomley, as one of the most nerve-racking moments of her
life.
People still remember the programme, however, and refer to her
calm, confident, and articulate manner. It was not the only
national broadcasting that she did; for, at the time of the
women's-ordination vote in 1992, she was much in demand, and
appeared on the BBC's Woman's Hour; and she was on the
commentary team for BBC Bristol in 1994, when the first women were
ordained in Bristol Cathedral. All of this represented her desire
to proclaim the Christian faith with intelligent and appealing
clarity.
Her work in broadcasting prepared her well for her next post,
which was to be the Secretary of the Diocesan Board of Ministry. It
drew on her diplomatic and communication skills, her humour, and
all her perceptiveness, particularly at a time of great turmoil in
the Church. Her archdeacon wrote of her that she carried out her
task with "efficiency and cheerful competence", a very
archidiaconal phrase, whose sub-text is that she had to face some
stiff opposition, which she handled with grace and sanctified
savoir-faire.
In 1990, she was elected to the General Synod, where her
reputation for fair and clear oratory and just dealings stood her
in good stead. There, after only four years, she was elected as
Vice-Chairman of the House of Clergy in the Province of
Canterbury.
Meanwhile, also in 1994, she was among the first cohort of women
in the diocese of St Albans to be ordained to the priesthood. She
referred to her years as a deacon (since 1987) as being somehow
incomplete, and explained that it was from her life as a wife and
mother that she had drawn many of the insights that, she believed,
would help to fashion her life as a priest. She spoke perceptively
of the ministry of the priest as having a number of similarities
with the life of a rabbi: "the person who guards, represents and
teaches . . .", and explained that men and women working together
as priests would present "a model of partnership and wholeness to
our broken world".
In 1995, her work in the Synod developed further, when she
became one of the panel of chairmen, and was elected to the
Standing Committee. Here again, her fairness, her common sense, and
stalwart defence of the part played by women in the Church engaged
the respect of many, although inevitably she had some strong
opponents, with whom she engaged robustly and shrewdly.
She was the Bishop's Officer for Women's Ministry in the
diocese, a member of the Bishop's staff, and then became Assistant
DDO, a post she described as "the best job in the Church of
England". In this latter part of her ministry, she encouraged and
developed very many vocations, and brought to the task her deep
humanity, faith, and loving wisdom: as one of her young colleagues
said, "She was kind, funny, a bit outspoken, and an
inspiration."
There can be no question but that Patience was one of the great
pioneers of women's ministry in the Church of England. Supported by
the devotion of her husband and family, and living in a
large-hearted way, never taking herself too seriously, her gracious
bearing, salty sense of humour, faithfulness to her calling, and
humility before God meant that she was an inspiration to many. May
she rest in peace and rise in glory.