It’s in my nature to lead - I can’t help it!

I was not brought up in church, yet I have been ordained now for eleven years; therein lies a story! Like everyone else in the church, and in Church of Ireland ministry, I have been, and still am on a journey. My particular journey has led me to ordination and to being a rector in a city centre church in Derry. I could never have imagined that we would be living as a family, very happily in Derry (where we had never been before my interview!), with Earl, ordained long before me, having started his own communications business. We can truly never know where life will bring us.

Bishop Pat Storey wrote this article five years ago in response to the editor’s book, Embracing Women. She has kindly agreed to release it, unchanged, for publication in Search, in the wake of her appointment as Bishop of Meath and Kildare. The original title was Working it out as a family.

* Full article available in printed copies.

Pat Storey

is Bishop of Meath and Kildare and President of the Church of Ireland Youth Department.