RECTOR OF MANUKA (Parish Priest)

The Reverend Canon Dr Ben Edwards 

BA(Hons) BTh LLB(Hons) PhD GDLP AMusA  

Ben Edwards was inducted as Rector of Manuka in late 2018. He was made deacon and ordained priest in All Saints’ Cathedral, Bathurst in 2004/2005. He has held appointments in urban, regional and rural parishes and educational institutions. In addition to theological study (he is a graduate of St Mark’s, Canberra), his academic background includes a doctorate in History and a University Medal in Law. His doctoral research was on Protestant-Catholic sectarianism and the rise of the ecumenical movement.

Ben reflects that as a ‘cradle Anglican’, he was evangelised by and through the Prayer Book and he deeply values the Anglican heritage and tradition of worship, theology and spirituality which has formed him. Liturgical worship lies at the heart of his ministry and spirituality. His great passion in ministry is to synthesise the riches of our heritage and the creativity and insights of today in worship, and building community through hospitality.

Ben describes his approach to ministry as very conventional: focused on gathering and leading the worshipping community, proclaiming the Gospel, teaching and pastoral care.  He sees that the Church has a calling to be a place of community and hospitality, where people encounter the reality of God through the mystery of the sacraments and the proclamation and ministry of the Gospel, and where the faithful are to be encouraged to discover and equipped to exercise their baptismal gifts. 

Ben recognises that the Parish of Manuka enjoys a special opportunity to offer Christian hospitality in worship and community to the highly transient population of this Parish which includes diplomats, military personnel, civil servants, young professionals as well as established locals. He hopes to continue to lead the Parish’s development as a centre of excellence in Anglican liturgy that connects with people of all generations.

 As Rector of the Parish, Ben has a significant administrative and leadership role. He is supported in the general ministry of the Parish by the clergy team and lay people.

ASSISTANT CURATE

The Reverend Kay Pendlebury

BEc (Hons) MEc Dip Asian Stud (Sanskrit) Grad Dip Th Adv Dip of Christian Ministry and Theology BTh (cand)

Kay moved to Canberra in the 1980s and began worshiping at St Luke’s in Deakin. She joined the bell ringing band at St Clement’s in Yass, and also at St Saviour’s in Goulburn and in 2003 I started ringing and worshiping at St Paul’s. Kay joined the EfM group, and began to serve in the sanctuary. She was ordained deacon in February 2018.

Before children, Kay worked as a university tutor and lecturer (in Economics!), and after the children grew up, as a Hansard reporter in the Australian Parliament. 

Kay’s ministry at St Paul’s includes serving in the liturgy, mentoring the EfM group, facilitating the pastoral care team, visiting parishioners unable to attend church, preparing families for infant baptism, looking after the succulent garden, supervising the young singers in the Junior Choir, and generally hanging around the office and vestry. She preaches on occasion, and writes the odd article for the E-pistle. Unfortunately, she rarely gets into the bell tower these days.

ASSOCIATE CLERGY

The Venerable John Gibs

The Reverend Canon John Campbell

Teachers Certificate; B.Ed; M.Ed; Assoc.Th (Hons); Grad Dip Christian Ed.; Associate and Licentiate of Speech & Drama(AMEB); ATCL; LTCL; FTCL.

John was made deacon in Tasmania in 1985 and priested there in 1986. As one of ten children, after the death of his mother in 1954, John lived in an Anglican Boys Home in Tasmania for eight years.  It was there thathe came to know Christ. He consciously determined to serve him as an educator and clergyman. John taught for 42 years mostly in independent schools, 28 years of which were as a Headmaster or Chaplain.  John also taught Speech and Drama privately for many years and served also as an Adjudicator and Examiner from time to time as needed. He is a widower with four children and six grandchildren. 

As a clergyman, he has held appointments with the Bush Brotherhood of St Barnabas in Nth Queensland and in the Diocese of Bathurst. He has served as Warden of St David’s Close and as an Associate Priest in this Parish. He is an honorary canon of St Saviour’s Cathedral, Goulburn.

The Venerable John Gibson tss

The Reverend Elaine Farmer BTh (SCD) MTh (CSU)

The Reverend Elaine Farmer was ordained in 1993, among the earliest women ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Church of Australia. She has served in several parishes, taught homiletics and ministry formation, and been Associate Editor of St Mark’s Review, Australia’s oldest theological journal. She also served on the Council of St Andrew’s College, Sydney University, and is a Fellow of that College.

She has preached in Anglican dioceses around Australia and internationally, including in the United States, and the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey. She has been keynote speaker at various Australian and international conferences.

A book of her sermons, … And the Angels Held their Breath. Sixteen Reasons for Exploring the God-Option (Australasian Theological Forum 2006) was translated into Bahasa Indonesia by the Jesuits and given episcopal imprimatur and nihil obstat . She was also a contributor to Don’t Put Out the Burning Bush, a book on preaching and worship also published by the Australasian Theological Forum. Her most recent publication is Letters From Lockdown: Friendship Going Viral (ATF 2020).

Elaine now lives in Canberra with her husband, Bill, at the conclusion of his diplomatic career which included appointments as Ambassador in Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Indonesia. They have two children and six grandchildren.

The Venerable John Gibson tssf

The Venerable John Gibson tssf

Th.L Morpeth (Aust College Theology );  Dip R.E. (Melbourne College Divinity)

John was a parishioner here at St Paul’s when he entered St Johns Theological College in 1965. His roots go back to Northern Ireland where he was born in 1942 at Ballymoney, County Antrim.  He married Narelle at St John the Baptist Church, Canberra in 1970 and they have two married sons, two delightful daughters in law and five grandchildren.

John was made deacon at St Paul’s Church, Manuka on the Feast of The Presentation Of Christ In The Temple 2 February 1968 and priested at St John the Baptist Church, Canberra on the Feast of St Barnabas 11 June 1969.  He served in this diocese from 1968 to 1984 with curacies in the parishes of St John Baptist Canberra, St Matthew’s Albury and Havant (Diocese of Portsmouth England.)  On returning, he was rector of Gunning, Kooringal (inaugural rector) and Turvey Park, the latter two parishes both being in Wagga Wagga.

 In 1985 John accepted the invitation to be the inaugural dean and rector of the newly created Cathedral of St Alban The Martyr, Griffith (Diocese of Riverina). The following year he was appointed Archdeacon of Riverina and Administrator of the diocese, fulfilling this ministry until his retirement. After ten years at Griffith he then served as rector of  Berrigan and finally Narrandera. From 1992 until 2010 he also undertook ministry as hon Chaplain to the NSW Police Force covering at various times Griffith, Berrigan, Albury, Narrandera and Queanbeyan. In both dioceses he has also been involved with the Order of St Luke Healing Ministries.

On retirement from fulltime ministry John and Narelle returned to Canberra in 2007 and to St Paul’s, where he continues to serve as a hon Associate Priest  which has been interspersed with locums in the parishes of Kaleen/Giralang, St John’s Wagga Wagga, Deakin and three times at St Paul’s.

John is a tertiary (member) of the Anglican Third Order Franciscans who live under a common Rule of Life and are made up of laity and clergy, single and married. It gives him a wonderful framework to aim to live a life of celebration of prayer, work and study and a life of joy, humility and love. It is a lifelong pursuit! 

The Venerable John Gibson tssf

The Reverend Dr John Moses

is of Lebanese Antiochian Orthodox and Scottish Episcopalian parentage and was educated an Anglican by the Brothers of St Barnabas in Atherton NQ, then at All Souls’ School, Charters Towers. He is a “cradle” Anglican. His further education took place at St Francis’ Theological College in Brisbane, then at the University of Queensland and later  in Germany at the universities of Munich and Erlangen where he studied Reformation History, Eastern European History and completed a doctorate in German Labour History acquiring an expertise in democratic socialism, Marxism-Leninism and Nazism. He is especially interested in Church resistance to totalitarian regimes and this led to a book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer against Nazism and to many articles in academic journals on the Church in Communist ruled East Germany.    On return to Australia John Moses began teaching at the Uniiversity of Queensland and was ordained in 1975  an auxiliary priest by Archbishop Felix Arnott. He served in the Diocese of Brisbane together with some six other Anglican clergy who were at that time also full time members of the University staff.  For 17 years he functioned as a voluntary assisant curate in the Parish of Kenmore and after retirement served briefly in Canberra (Hall parish) and then in Armidale for 8 years. In 2006 after the move back to Canberra John Moses has been licensed to officiate at St Paul’s Manuka.  He is also a Professorial Associate at St Mark’s Theological Centre and continues research and publishing in a range of fields including Bonhoeffer Studies and ANZAC as a manifestation of civic religion.Currently he is working on a larger project that investigates the rise of Communism and National Socialism in Germany as so-called “murderous Utopias” or false religions. Finally John Moses might be designated as a “polemical Anglican” and a champion of ecumenism.

   

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Matthew Stuckings: Director of Music matthew.stuckings@gmail.com

Organists: Christopher Erskine, Mary Anne Neilsen, James Porteous

Junior Choir Director: Kate Edwards juniorchoir@stpaulsmanuka.org.au

Prep Choir Directors: Greta Claringbould & Alison Waddell

ADMINISTRATION

Parish Office Team: office@stpaulsmanuka.org.au (Belinda, Elizabeth, David & Joye)

Nimesh Gunasekere (digital administration officer) nimesh@stpaulsmanuka.org.au

CHURCH WARDENS

Bruce Glendinning, Greg Mills, Fiona Cochaud

wardens@stpaulsmanuka.org.au

Treasurer – Duncan Anderson treasurer@stpaulsmanuka.org.au