A mum-of-two and former computer programmer has been appointed as a new curate to serve Becontree.
Ruth Dowley was recently ordained at Chelmsford Cathedral by the Diocesan Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, after being an active member of St Cedd’s Church for six years.
It was after her first-born’s baptism Ruth decided to commit her life to God.
“It was a time of thinking about the meaning of life,” she said.
Previously an accountancy assistant with Redbridge Council and later a computer programmer, she gradually found herself drawn to a career in the Church.
She has been a reader, overseeing the pastoral needs of her congregation and leading study groups and Lent courses, as well as spending a year training at the St Mellitus ministerial college in south London.
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