Rev Deborah says it’s her calling to serve town
New priest will move hundreds of miles to Paisley church
A Paisley church is getting ready to welcome a new priest.
Sixty- two- year- old Rev Deborah Davison is coming from Newbury, Berkshire, to take up the post at the Anglican Holy Trinity & St Barnabas’ Church, which was vacated by Rev Dr Tom Wilson in 2017.
Mrs Davison is an associate priest at St John’s Church, in the south-of-England town.
And she was clear about her motivation for coming to Paisley. “The Holy Spirit!” she said. “I had a sense of calling.
“I was attracted by the church, the place and the people.”
A priest since 2011, the mother of three grown-up sons Algy, Ben and Steve, she is a former nurse and is herself the daughter of a priest, the late Rev Thomas, who along with his wife Rosamund was against the ordination of women as priests in the Church of England.
Her father died before Mrs Davison was ordained but her mother lived to see to see that happen.
“She came round and was absolutely lovely,” Mrs Davison said.
Holy Trinity & St Barnabas’s new priest is looking forward to coming to Paisley and finding out more about the town, its people and the ecumenical work carried out here.
“There is a good sense of doing things together,” she said.
The Church has more than 200 members of all ages, and parts of the church building go back to 1933, although there has been an Episcopalian presence in the town since 1817.
Mrs Davison will also be priest of The Church of the Good Shepherd, in Hillington, Glasgow.
Valerie McVey, vestry secretary at Holy Trinity & St Barnabas, said everyone is delighted at the new priest’s appointment.
She added: “Deborah’s institution as Rector of Holy Trinity & St Barnabas, Paisley, and The Church of the Good Shepherd, Hillington will take place on the evening of Thursday, August 15.
“Presiding will be The Most Reverend Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.”
I was attracted by the church, the place and people Rev Deborah Davison