Minister swaps Texas for Ibrox
SHE has swapped the Texas Rangers for Glasgow Rangers.
Tara Granados has left her home in the Lone Star state to be ordained as the Church of Scotland’s newest minister, taking over the charge at Ibrox Parish Church.
The 28-year-old was drawn to the church because of its work with the LGBTQI community and its foodbank but also, in particular, its work with Richmond Hope, a child bereavement service.
She lost her mother, Susie Porr, to cancer when she was just 14 and that experience has helped shape her choices.
She said: “My parents had fallen away from the church. When my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer they felt they needed support and that’s when they went back so I grew up in the church.”
A history graduate who also has a post-graduate qualification in teaching, she had long thought about ministry while attending services at the First Presbyterian Church in Tyler, Texas.
“I enjoyed being in the church, it was a part of my life and I think I had been called but I didn’t want it,” she said.
“My dad told me to run away and if it was a true calling I wouldn’t be able to run away from it.”
She went on to study at Ivy League Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey before completing a year’s internship in Northern Ireland.
It was during her year in Northern Ireland that she visited Scotland, prompting her move to Glasgow.
Mrs Granados, whose husband Ramon was formerly in the air force, completed 15 months’ probation in Edinburgh.