Katie takes on a new religious challenge
Daughter of Kildonan couple follows in the footsteps of great grandfather and grandfather to become vicar
Katie Smith, daughter of George and Mairi Christie of Kildonan, has started her new vocation.
Katie, a former police officer then full time mum, has a talent for art and craft work and used this to good effect while her children were growing up.
During this period in her life, Katie had a strong calling to become a vicar in the Church of England, which she attended in Herefordshire.
She is following in the footsteps of her grandfather and great grandfather, both of whom were Church of Scotland ministers, the latter a missionary based in Aleppo where he founded the first Presbyterian Church.
They would probably have been horrified by this in their lifetimes as both lived in times when women were regarded as ‘helpers’, not leaders, and the Church of England would be a strange choice viewed from their strict Scottish Presbyterian backgrounds.
Undaunted by the four-year training, Katie, a graduate of Reading University, found her previous experience with the police and work with profoundly disabled young people very useful.
She took a teaching qualification while in the police and went into schools to represent the police on subjects including safety on roads with primary school children and cycling and drugs work with older pupils.
During her training, Katie learned British Sign Language as she was aware there were people in the area who used it. She has already found this useful when taking certain services.
The big event at the end of her training was, of course, her ordination at Herefordshire Cathedral.
This was postponed because of the pandemic and planned for the end of the year when it was thought everything would be back to normal. Her whole family, two sisters and brother - from Canada - with their families and parents George and Mairi planned to get together in Herefordshire for a few days. Some of them then planned to visit Arran, which they all love, but the rest is history.
Instead, the family watched the ceremony on Herefordshire Cathedral’s website.
It was beautiful, but bitter sweet for those who should have been there. The Christie ‘clan’ meet regularly on Zoom but has not been able to meet each other in person since last Christmas as no-one wants to risk bringing the virus to Arran. The family is all very proud of their sister and daughter and look forward to a big celebration sometime in the future.