THE oversight of assistant curates as they serve their title has customarily been the sole province of the training incumbent: a master-and-apprentice model acknowledged to have served the Church relatively well over the centuries.
But it is well recognised that putting all the weight on this model has its drawbacks, and is considered by some to be unsustainable and not the most effective way of preparing priests for the complexities and diversities of ministry in the 21st century.
They have been doing it differently in the diocese of Lincoln since 2010, when the then Bishop of Grimsby, the Rt Revd David Rossdale, initiated what became the “triplicate scheme”. In recognition of an increasing need for priests to be able to navigate the diversity of different theological backgrounds, each curate is assigned a mentor and a theological reflector in addition to the incumbent: a three-pronged approach for the duration of the curacy.
The changing experience of ministry in the diocese, together with financial constraints, meant that clergy were being stretched to cover ever more responsibility; and the reduction in the number of clergy in benefices was having an impact on training incumbents, the Initial Ministerial Education Phase 2 (IME2) Officer for Lincoln diocese, the Revd David McCormick, remembers.
“There were all sorts of contextual things going on as well that suggested we strongly needed to anticipate that this trend was going to increase, and that we needed to be agile and creative in trying to address it,” he says.
“We needed to ensure not only that we were addressing the immediate needs of trying to recruit and get effective matches with curates, but, anticipating that they were going to face exacerbated challenges, we also needed to think about what kind of ministry we were modelling and preparing them for.
“We identified the need to model curates for patterns of ministry both with other ordained ministers and with lay ministers and officers in their congregations. So, there was a strong emphasis on encouraging collaboration between the triplicate members, the parish community, and the diocese — to engage in a non-defensive and open way that takes them seriously.
“Diversity of ministerial expression was equally important: the recognition that priests would likely take on incumbencies that were going to have different liturgical, spiritual and theological backgrounds. They would need to be agile and able to navigate that respectfully and creatively, in a way that could honour those things but also maintain their integrity in their own tradition in what they brought to the mix.”
CURACY is acknowledged to be something of a culture shock. An increasing number will have had secular jobs first, and are starting their ministry at a later age. “It can be quite disorienting for people,” Fr McCormick suggests.
“They can have a sense of their skills not being valued. They can conceive of the curacy in terms of the framework and boundaries of their previous work experience rather than seeing what are the transferable skills, and where they need to make adjustments because they’re working in a different culture, with ministerial colleagues, both lay and ordained.”
The Revd David McCormick, the Initial Ministerial Education Phase 2 (IME2) Officer for Lincoln diocese in front of the Old Bishop’s Palace, Lincoln, with a colleague
Transition into public ministry is another area where help is greatly valued, he says. “Responding to situations, not as a private person but as a public representative minister, puts them under the spotlight in terms of words and actions: a scrutiny they’ve not been accustomed to.
“Being able to work through that with a mentor or theological reflector and their training incumbent is very important. It’s managing the commitments of public ministry that don’t have defined boundaries in the same way that they may have been accustomed to in previous workplace situations — along with issues around time management, and the boundaries between the home environment and the public role. For example, we have curates who feel they are never doing enough.”
The model is one of shared responsibility, intended to lift the pressures on training incumbents. Curates will have two colleagues, in the mentor and the theological reflector, who can bring their perspective, wisdom, and experience. They are strongly encouraged to be in contact with them at any point.
THE Vicar of St Mark’s and St Martin’s, Grimsby, the Revd Matthew Rodgers, is both a mentor and a theological reflector. He has worked with curates from a tradition very different from his own, and has found it enriching. “It doesn’t depend on the traditional way you sit in the Church: you can still help someone to reflect on their own leadership and professional development,” he says.
“But also important, from my own perspective, would be how they’re getting on in their own Christian walk, and how their Christian life is going, alongside their training, their new experiences, and new patterns. I benefited myself — huge amounts, over many years — from having a mentor. It’s a very intentional relationship. It’s peer-to-peer, from one Christian to another, which has been enriching and life-giving.
“I’m not going to have all the answers, and I don’t see myself as highly academic, but I’m there as much to hold a conversation — to help them go deeper into themselves and keep an appetite for lifelong-learning.”
A curate can easily get sidelined by the schedule and the calendar, he reflects. “If there’s a breakdown in relationship in any area, the mentor or reflector is walking with them and asking why it’s not working out, what needs to change, and what opportunities would they like to tap into.”
There is an acknowledged crossover between mentor and theological reflector; but it’s the sort of questions you ask that distinguishes between the two, he says. “When I meet [with my present curate] I tend to ask: ‘What do you sense God doing at the moment, and what could this mean?’ It’s not: ‘Tell me about you.’ It’s saying: ‘We’re going to work within your context, and allow you to reflect on that and connect the theology with the practice, but from a real lived experience.’
“So, if they’ve been involved, say, in a schools mission, it’s: ‘Where do you see God at work there, and what have you been reading around it, or writing, or journalling? What does all this mean for you and your vocation?’ That’s where the crossover comes with mentoring, but it starts to push a bit more into whether they’re realigning theology of practice with some of the learning that they’ve done.”
When he arranges a meeting, either as a mentor or as a theological reflector, he’ll message a few days beforehand, suggesting that the curate send two or three pointers that they would like to talk about. “There’s a difference between having a nice coffee and an intentional mentoring relationship,” he points out. “Everyone has limitations on their time. We want to make sure that the time spent is really meaningful and helps the training period progress.
“I’ve never had one that hasn’t worked out. But, if you had a first meeting and the chemistry wasn’t there, then there’s the opportunity to find someone else. That would be fine, too.”
THE Vicar of St John’s, Lincoln, the Revd Rachel Heskins, is variously all three: mentor, theological reflector, and training incumbent. The triplicate helps to redress some of the power imbalances that a training incumbent can have, she suggests.
“It’s a very intense, quite powerful relationship. I had a really good experience. It meant that there were always three people involved, with different perspectives; so, if relationships become stressed in any way, there are always two other people who can try to help to prevent conflict, but also create a kind of safety valve.”
The Revd Rachel Heskins, Vicar of St John’s, Lincoln
No curacy can prepare you for everything that you are going to encounter in parish ministry, she acknowledges. And the training incumbent is the key relationship: the person you interact with on a day-to-day basis. “But if, for any reason, that starts to become a bit frayed at the edges, there are two other people to whom you can say things and share things in a really safe space.
“My theological reflector would give me perspectives on experiences that I was having in parish ministry, and my mentor was able to create opportunities for learning through placements, or experiences that I wasn’t going to get in my curacy.
“Most people are able to choose who they want in these roles; so it’s quite a healthy thing in terms of training. And it also puts a lot of responsibility on the curate to steer their own training needs. It skills you for the rest of your ministry.
“I knew I was always responsible for what I thought I needed to do; so, just because I wasn’t doing things like the vicar, didn’t mean that I wasn’t doing things right. It meant that I was getting the chance to observe and learn from one person, but also to learn from other people’s perspective. It’s a win-win.”
In the parish where she was based for her curacy, she lacked an opportunity to experience the Book of Common Prayer. Her mentor enabled her to have that at her own small group of rural churches.
“It makes things so much easier,” she observes. “I wasn’t going to have to set up something complicated with people I didn’t know. I felt safe and supported in my curacy, and if there was a feeling of not having a voice, or needing advocacy, there were three people, all in my corner, who were supporting my learning.
“Many of us coming into ministry now have had careers elsewhere. I was a teacher. I had a family. Coming into ministry, you come with ideas — the triplicate just means that you’ve got some checks and balances.
“The old-school idea of your learning at the foot of the master — just ‘do what the vicar does, and you’ll be fine’ — is long gone; so having those additional perspectives, and experiences, and wisdom in your training, and that kind of triangulated focus on the curate, has been very helpful.
“Certainly, in my cohort, we all stayed the distance and finished our curacies. We felt very valued and nurtured. There can be nowhere to go if your relationship is becoming a bit strained, except either to your IME officer — and that’s a bit problematic, because they’re looking after so many — or to the Bishop.
“It’s a very vulnerable place, to be a curate. You may have relocated with your family to take that place, and, if it’s not working, then you are very, very vulnerable. So, having that extra support from these other experienced priests can be invaluable.”