Reverend Lynch answers the call

Vicki Lynch is no longer merely Vicki Lynch. Since her ordination as a deacon last Saturday, to serve within the Drumcliffe parish and the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, the Coore-based mother-of-four is now Reverend Lynch.
A native of Workington in Cumbria, Vicki moved to West Clare with her husband, Steve, and their family in 1995. She can’t pinpoint what drew them to the West of Ireland and, in fact, her decision to seek ordination was almost equally impulsive.
“It’s difficult to explain but it really was that I woke up one morning and felt a call towards ordained ministry. And I didn’t even really know what that meant,” Vicki reflected.
Getting the call 12 years ago was well and good but some practical issues had to be surmounted before Vicki could realistically answer it. Living in scenic, yet isolated, Coore and tending to her family, all of whom were home educated, would be enough for most people.
“It’s not very easy to train for ministry as a mother, especially living in West Clare. My kids were home educated, so we lived very closely together. There was just an acceptance of it completely by the family. I encouraged them to get involved in things in church and they enjoyed it,” the newly ordained reverend explained.
Vicki remembers that her husband was a bit taken aback initially when she relayed her plans to him.
“He was very surprised when I told him but he has been extremely supportive. My family have been absolutely wonderful. They are just so incredibly supportive, patient and helpful,” she noted.
Of almost equal significance to Vicki and her family has been the support offered to them in Coore, Mullagh, Quilty and the Miltown Malbay area.
“There would have been local people at the ordination service. They are very interested and have been very supportive and I’ve never had anything but that. When we wanted to improve the church in Spanish Point, the community was hugely supportive. I’ve always had very, very positive experiences and I suppose people are interested because I am a woman. Of course, it’s predominantly Roman Catholic here and it’s not something that happens in the Roman Catholic Church,” Vicki said.
Although she was raised in a reasonably religious household in Workington, Vicki never felt compelled to attend church or explore the religious route.
“My family weren’t mad church goers or anything but they were positive about church. But it was ‘go if you want to’. I did like it and I did go. I don’t have any sort of bad memories at all about my upbringing as a Christian. It was all lovely and our church was beautiful,” she recalled.
“Then, I suppose like most people, late into my teens, I kind of drifted in and out. But I would have always gone to church and my children would have been baptised but I wasn’t a fanatical church goer. I had a time, after my mother died, when I really didn’t have anything to do with Church for a while,” she revealed.
The family’s move to Ireland wasn’t planned with military precision. Perhaps displaying some of the faith that she is now spreading, Vicki never set foot in her new house in Coore until the day she moved in for good.
“You’ll think I’m mad by the time we’ve finished this conversation! We were in England. We’d started home educating our kids. We felt that they could do with a better environment and somewhere rural we thought would be great. It was me actually who said ‘could we not look at Ireland?’ We saw the house that we live in, in a magazine,” she remembers.
Steve was sent to Coore to view the house and a short phone conversation later, the Lynch family had bought their new home.
“I bought it over the phone if you like. I’d never been here. The first time I saw this house was the day that I moved in. I’d never been to Ireland. I just felt Ireland was the place to come to. I don’t know why,” Vicki mused.
Their youngest daughter Nixie (12) is being educated at home, while Andrew works for Lyric FM, having completed a Masters degree in music therapy. Patrick has qualified as a graphic designer and Anna is studying at the Limerick School of Art and Design.
“All the life experience that you have, obviously you bring that to your ministry. But being a mother, I think, is so like being in ministry. All the different things that you do as a mother; the loving, the caring, the empowering and the nurturing are certainly things that you need in Christian ministry,” Vicki feels.
While studying to become a deacon, Vicki was employed by the diocese as a youth ministry and diocesan development officer. Although now a deacon, she will continue to work in the same role.
“It’s an exciting job. I do enjoy it. I work very much in parish development. Although half of my title is about youth ministry, you can’t develop youth ministry without developing community. It doesn’t happen in isolation,” she said.
Like their Roman Catholic counterparts, the Church of Ireland must work to establish a continued meaningful role in the lives of their congregation.
“It’s quite obvious that the Church, maybe, has been a little behind in engaging with people. The Church has remained static if you like and society has changed around it. Church communities need to respond to that. They need to be more mission-focused and to meet people where they are,” she suggests.
“Churches have always expected to sit there and people will come to us when we open our doors on a Sunday morning but now we have to be more outward-looking and respond to the needs of communities as they really are. I think that has to start with listening to people and finding out what people’s lives are like and remembering that God has never lost interest in people. God is still lovingly interested. It’s not like we’re telling a new story. We just have to tell it in a new way and find new ways to communicate and really build relationships with people,” Reverend Lynch believes.
The search for the new way starts this week for the new reverend.