Two of Putney’s churches are getting new vicars this year, and they are at opposite ends of the same slow process. One has its replacement in a fortnight. The other may be waiting until 2027.
St Margaret’s, on Putney Park Lane, has had no permanent vicar since February. The Revd Dr Brutus Green left after seven years to run St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. The wait ends at 7pm on Wednesday 9 September, when the Bishop of Kingston formally makes the Revd Susan Wright the new vicar.
Wright joins from St Barnabas in Dulwich, where she was assistant curate. She worked in public policy before she was ordained, and has lived in Brixton, Budapest and New York. Her son and daughter were born on different continents, and her husband is a newspaper reporter. We profiled her appointment back in June. The family plan to explore Putney mostly by bike.
The service on 9 September is called a collation and induction. It is the point at which a priest is formally given a parish and legally takes charge of it.
At the other end of Putney
St Mary’s, beside Putney Bridge, is only starting the process St Margaret’s is finishing.
The Revd John Whittaker took his farewell service on Sunday 19 July, after eight years as Team Rector. His wife, the Revd Helena Whittaker, stepped down as an associate priest in the same parish two days later. The parish lost both of them inside three days.
Whittaker has become the Archdeacon of Gloucester, a senior post looking after clergy, church buildings and money across five deaneries in Gloucestershire. His Putney congregation is not letting him go quietly. The parish has booked a coach to Gloucester Cathedral on 6 September so people can watch him take up the job. The same thing happened when he arrived. In 2018 a coach came down from Hinckley in Leicestershire, carrying members of the church he was leaving, so they could watch him installed at St Mary’s.
Two priests are now covering the whole parish. The Revd Dr Daniel Trott, who is Team Vicar at All Saints’, has become Acting Team Rector. The Revd Sharon Hunt is Acting Team Vicar at St Mary’s, the church that hosted the Prime Minister earlier this year.
Finding a permanent replacement takes far longer than advertising a job. The parish first has to write a profile of itself setting out what it wants, which the Parochial Church Council expects to publish by 4 September. Interviews follow. An appointment then needs several parties to agree, and one of them is not in London.
The right to put forward a new priest at St Mary’s belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral. The arrangement dates back centuries, and Worcester has held the right ever since.
The parish magazine tells congregations that a Church of England vacancy can formally run for up to five years. It puts the realistic expectation for this one between Easter and September 2027.
Both churches carry on in the meantime. St Margaret’s runs its winter shelter with Glass Door, its community lunch and its playgroup as usual. At St Mary’s and All Saints’, the two acting priests are leading Sunday services and conducting weddings, baptisms and funerals.
Writing to his parish before he left, Whittaker said whoever follows him will inherit “the most wonderful job in the Church of England”.
What you can do
Meet the new vicar. The collation and induction of the Revd Susan Wright is at 7pm on Wednesday 9 September at St Margaret’s, Putney Park Lane, SW15 5HU. Call 020 8789 5932 or email office@stmargaretsputney.org to check whether it is open to all. Regular Sunday services are at 8am and 10am.
Follow the search at St Mary’s and All Saints’. The parish profile is due by 4 September and will set out what the parish is looking for. Parish office: 020 8788 4414. Clare Harbin, Church Operations Director: clare.harbin@parishofputney.co.uk. The Revd Dr Daniel Trott, Acting Team Rector: daniel.trott@parishofputney.co.uk or 020 8785 3951.
Have a say. Anyone who qualifies can join a parish electoral roll. Members of the roll elect the Parochial Church Council, which is one of the bodies that has to agree to the next Rector. Both parishes publish enrolment forms on their websites.
Lucky Putney! On The Lizard in Cornwall 21 parishes have been amalgamated under 3 priests and the system relies heavily on the laity and the retired. When I first knew the area there was a paish priest known and available to churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike.