SARAH FOSTER meets the Reverend Gilly Myers, who has just been appointed as the first salaried woman priest at Durham Cathedral.
ONE of the first things that the Reverend Gilly Myers tells me about her new job is that it used to entail looking after St Cuthbert's bones. While this may be a quirky fact to relate to friends and inquiring reporters, it hardly sets the tone for describing a modern role within a progressive church establishment.
Yet this is exactly what Durham Cathedral - as one of the region's most prominent centres of worship - aims to be. By appointing its first woman priest, it's moving in the right direction.
Over a thoroughly modern cup of decaffeinated coffee, Ms Myers, who holds the impressive title of succentor, sacrist and minor canon, reassures me that bone-watching is definitely not part of her brief. "Sacrist means technically that I'm responsible for the holy things," she says. "That means things like the vestments, chalices and patens that we use for communion. Historically, the sacrist was the person who had to look after St Cuthbert's bones, but as far as I know, I don't have to do that."
While this aspect of her job certainly sounds the most novel, it is her responsibilities as succentor which are the most important. The position, which has not been held at Durham Cathedral for some time, is literally assistant to the precentor. Between them, the two clergy are responsible for worship and music in the cathedral. "I lead morning and evening prayer and I sing whenever the choir sings," says Ms Myers.
When she explains her background, her appointment seems no accident. Ever since her college days, she has been interested in worship, and in recent years, she has played an active role in the development and dissemination of Common Worship - a new form to replace the temporary Alternative Service Book (ASB).
"The ASB was like a long, 20-year experiment," she says. "There's much more than a book these days. You can make an act of worship more creative. We have certain structures we should follow, but we have also got lots of choices." Ms Myers explains these in depth in several books, and is secretary of the national worship training organisation Praxis and a member of the Group for the Renewal of Worship (Grow).
Another aspect of her job is to serve as the adopted clergy member of the Durham Choristers School - once attended by Tony Blair - which supplies the cathedral choir. On the afternoon that we meet, she confesses to having just eaten spotted dick and custard in the school canteen, which she intends to visit for lunch on a weekly basis. As a mother of three teenagers, she is eager to get to know the Choristers' youngsters, and her broad smile and outgoing personality seem likely to recommend her to them. "If any of the boys or girls needed someone to talk to outside of school, I would be the obvious person," she says, her maternal instincts showing through.
Having come from being priest in charge of a rundown parish in Nottingham, London-born, Ms Myers' current job seems a change in direction, although she is keen to point out the common thread of worship. She acknowledges that compared with working in a red-light district with a high proportion of drug addicts, Durham seems idyllic. "This is the first time I've been in the North and Durham is a beautiful place," she says. "I'm quite overwhelmed by the sense of history and heritage and it's surrounded by such beautiful countryside."
While many may have been daunted by the prospect of being the first paid woman priest at Durham Cathedral, Ms Myers takes it in her stride. As one of the first women priests to be ordained into the Church of England, she is used to breaking new ground, and she feels that her career has been guided by fate.
"I went to college not knowing whether or not I would be a priest, and I was in the first term when the vote was taken to ordain women as priests," she says. "When I left college I did two curacies then I was priest in charge of the church in Nottingham. My contract was running out and I was wondering what I was going to do next when this job was advertised."
Having secured a five-year contract to work at Durham Cathedral, Ms Myers is determined to play an active part in its life as a modern place of worship. "Everything I do is to do with everyday life at the cathedral," she says. "It's not like a museum at all - it's a vibrant and happening place."
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