Tower and Town, October 2020 (view the full edition)Clergy LetterLast month, having reached the age of 70, I retired as an Associate Minister after 19 years service. So a time to reflect. Many reading this will know that I was a GP in Marlborough for 29 years and retired from medical practice in 2009.
My wife, Rachel, and I moved to Marlborough and joined St. Mary's Church. We quickly got involved with an ecumenical homegroup which led to further groups which have become a backbone of the church. A further initiative was the start of a monthly ecumenical informal service which met in St. Mary's Church Hall. This was led by lay people from St Mary's and Christchurch and usually one of the clergy would attend to keep an eye on us! This continued for a number of years and several of those involved went on to be ordained. I think it was as a result of this that I was invited to preach at the main morning service on an occasional basis. As time went on it was felt that I should have my ministry approved, either becoming a Licensed Lay Minister or becoming ordained. Over the years I was quite often asked by my patients whether it was true that I was leaving General Practice to become ordained and I always strongly denied it! However, after much prayer and consultation and going through a formal selection process it was felt right for me to seek ordination. I then had to do three years' course work with regular tutorials (while still a fulltime GP!) and was ordained in December 2001. During this process the Team Rector was Henry Pearson who was very supportive. Six months after I was ordained I was able to go part time in the medical practice which enabled me to do more for the Church. Now my patients would come into my surgeries and say how pleased they were that I was doing what I had always wanted to do! So as I enter a new phase of life I will continue to take services as do the other retired clergy in the Team. David Maurice |
Like this month's editor Nick Maurice who is my cousin, I was born and brought up in Marlborough. Nick's father and my father were brothers and we both took over from our fathers as GPs in the Marlborough Medical Practice. I joined the Practice in 1980.