Father Bruce-Julian Batstone CJN to take up post as Pilgrim Chaplain at the Julian Shrine
Fr Bruce-Julian Batstone, who has served for fourteen years as Rector of Hornsey in the Diocese of London, is to be a new Pilgrim Chaplain from September.
His last Sunday in Hornsey will be Sunday 14 September, Holy Cross Day, and his Induction in Lakenham will take place on the morning of Sunday 21 September, the Feast of St Matthew.
The post at St Mark's Lakenham will be half-time, and, with the support of three years' funding from the Julian Fund (of which the present trustees are the Bishop of Norwich and the Archdeacon of Norwich), Fr Bruce-Julian has also agreed to serve as part-time Pilgrim Chaplain at St Julian's, ministering alongside Revd. Richard Stanton to the needs of pilgrims, visitors and retreatants, and helping to nurture the life of prayer, spiritual direction and contemplation at the Julian Shrine. Richard writes, "I am looking forward to having him as a colleague and am grateful to the trustees of the Julian Fund for their support in facilitating this new possibility for ministerial support. I also look forward to his assistance in the growing life and ministry of the Julian Shrine, and for the way in which we will be enriched by his particular gifts and attributes."
Fr Bruce-Julian trained for the ministry at St Stephen's House in Oxford and was ordained in 2000. After a curacy at St Margaret's Leigh-on-Sea, he served as a Hospital Chaplain in Camden and Islington alongside parish ministry in the Parish of Old St Pancras from 2003 to 2011, when he became Rector of Hornsey. He has been involved with the life of St Julian's in various ways over the years, and so is already known to many of you. His late partner Trevor died in 2021 and his cremated remains are interred in the churchyard garden at St Julian's. He is an oblate of the Order of Julian of Norwich, and convenor of the Companions of Julian of Norwich. He has written, published and taught on Julian of Norwich and the spiritual life for many years.